UK distributor Northamber PLC shares fell as its pretax loss widened in the first half and it warned it sees no near-term turn to profit on the horizon.
Northamber said its pretax loss for the half to the end of December was £547,000, higher than the £292,000 loss a year earlier. Revenue fell to £32.5m from £35.7m, hit by slow commercial sector sales and disruption surrounding the release of Microsoft Windows 10 software.
Microsoft announced the cancellation of Windows 9 in March and launched Windows 10 in July. This drove uncertainty in the commercial user sector and, after the release of Windows 10, reports of problems with the product led to this hiatus continuing, it says.
Northamber said the uncertainty in the market at present made it difficult to forecast any near-term return to profit, though it remains confident on the medium and long term.