It said the results reflected a continuation of the weak conditions its markets during the opening months, with group sales down 13% at £7.18m.

But it said reductions in operating costs and other earlier steps to improve efficiencies contributed to a material increase in gross margins and a reduced pre-tax loss for the period.

The loss per share improved to 7.06p (2008: loss per share 11.21p).

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire