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Besides the US terrorist attacks that have hit most stocks, techMARK has been beset by its own particular problems, most notably in the TMT sector. The fall from grace of Marconi, and the eviction from the FTSE 100 of a string of other technology companies, left techMARK at 1331.08 – down 15 per cent on the month.

US weakness

But, as the post-summer results season has amply demonstrated, smaller cap technology firms are also being hit hard by the global downturn, especially in the US. With about 30 per cent of its sales going to the US, Domino Printing Sciences is most definitely exposed to the downturn, and proved its vulnerability with a second profit warning in three months, blaming it on the US slump. However, the board managed to partially mitigate the effect on the shares with a couple of share buybacks. Nevertheless they still languish at 101.5p, well below a 52 week high of 240p. Competitor and fellow profit maker Linx Printing Technologies is suffering similarly from US weakness, and its shares fell 11 per cent to 241p over the month, though Eaglet Investment Trust showed its confidence with a small top-up. Analysts are expecting a stalling of growth this year.

Networking software firm Tadpole Technologies also continues to struggle in the US, fleshing out its interim warning by confirming that it expects operating losses of £7 million for the year to 30 September, on about £24 million sales. The shares halved to 8.75p.

Densitron Technologies was also downgraded despite producing some good interims, with profits doubled to £500,000. Its US business is expected to make a £1 million profit for the year as a whole, compared to £7 million in 2000. At 32p, the shares are nursing a loss of 26 per cent for the month. Meanwhile Advanced Power Components lost 27 per cent to 51.5p after saying that it expects to announce a £1.1 million loss for the year to August, due to a number of cancelled and delayed US contracts.

Local struggles

US business may seem to offer the worst environment at the moment, but the UK offers its fair share of problems for many companies, as warnings from IT consultancies Terence Chapman and Axon illustrate. The latter reported interims showing pre-tax profits up £800,000 to £3.6 million (on sales up £5.4 million to £22.6 million), but cautioned that its sales for the year will probably show no increase on last year's due to a collapse in internet projects. Chapman has now warned the market twice since its May interims, though it does still expect to be profit making for the whole year. Axon lost nearly two-thirds of its value, falling to 105p, while Chapman fell 33 per cent to 35p.

Public sector-focused software firm Comino slumped after it warned that it expects to see a first half loss, then a 'significantly reduced' profit for the year as a whole. The company blamed this on a drop in new orders from busy local authorities and increased development expenditure, but reassured that it does not believe it has lost out to competitors. The shares fell 46 per cent to 160p. ARC International, the semiconductor technology licenser, looks even more troubled after yet another warning and the sacking of chief executive Bob Terwiggiler. All of this left the company's shares bereft at 31.5p, a new low and 93 per cent below its high of 429.5p.

Shining a light

It cannot fail to impress when a company's directors back up their bullish words with deeds. Immediately following the release of Transware's first results since being demerged from Gladstone, company chairman Brian Raven dipped into his pocket to pick up 100,000 shares, and a colleague's wife picked up 200,000. This is after Raven reported 'a very successful year', with pre-tax profits doubled to £1.6 million, and a confident outlook. However, the shares still languished down 34 per cent for the month at 38.5p, indicating the terrible state of the market.

Coming up

As we move into the autumnal months, the number of companies reporting figures will start to ebb away somewhat. But one event well worth looking out for is the US Federal Drug Administration's decision on whether to approve use of Osmetech's sniffer device for the detection of the micro-organisms that cause urinary tract infections. Analysts at Teather & Greenwood and Bell Lawrie White fully expect the green light, which should provide a boost to the company's shares from the current depressed price of 8.25p, just off a 52 week low.