The fortunes of accounting and financial services groupStockfordhave continued to wane after it announced yet another profit loss last week.
The consolidator group reported a $3.9 million loss for the half year to the end of December 2001, a figure almost $3.5 million worse than the corresponding period in 2000.
The loss came despite a significant upsurge in revenue.
The group’s revenue grew by almost 400 per cent to reach $60.2 million for the half year, up from just over $12 million in the corresponding period in 2000.
However the revenue growth was offset by a significant escalation in costs.
Stockford’s expenses grew from $12.8 million to $63.7 million to more than wipe out the revenue increase.
Stockford executive chairman, Bryan Clayton, blamed the loss on what he said were a number of significant one-off costs, including the payment of $1.4 million for the lease of unused office space in Sydney.
News of the loss comes three months after Stockford announced at its annual general meeting a three-point plan to improve its performance.
The three-point plan involved steps to improve its overall operations, increase cross referrals through the group and create further cost savings.
The plan was announced in response to a disappointing first year as a listed company for Stockford, which saw it report a net loss of $5.7 million for the 2000-2001 financial year.
Clayton says the latest result is in line with expectations and that the company is on track to achieve its full year earnings forecast of $12 million.
