The group made a trading loss of £1.0m, compared with an underlying loss of £6.4m in the second half of last year.

Pre-tax loss was £3.1m, against a previous H1 profit of £2.7m.

Scapa finished the period with a net cash balance positive of £2.9m after funding £3.5m of exceptional costs. Previously announced restructuring was largely completed and will benefit the second half.

Sales performed slightly better than the anticipated 20% decline with turnover of £86.7m, 16.7% lower on an underlying basis.

Closure of the Bellegarde facility in France was completed in July 2009 despite industrial action.

Production and supply issues associated with automotive tapes, coupled with a spiked demand from some customers, resulted in higher than normal overtime and express freight costs. Over £1m of extra cost resulted from the transfer much of the group's production to Italy.

'These problems have now been largely resolved and the business is well positioned to benefit from a further reduction in costs in the second half,' said Scapa.

No interim dividend was proposed.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire