Totalise loss soars to £4.4m

Shares in Aim-listed e-commerce venture Totalise slipped 32 per cent to 4.75p as the company delivered full year losses up from £1.9 million to £4.4 million despite a 300 per cent revenue rise to £4.3 million. Elliott Davis reports.

Totalise's (TOT) disappointing figures for the 12 months to April included £564,000 of restructuring expenses and £1.1 million of exceptional costs from the launch of several new businesses. Two of these, a fledgling Australian internet service provider and an e-commerce investment operation, have already been closed. Plans to launch an on-line banking service have also been shelved.

For Totalise followers, however, the worrying signs did not end there. Today's statement heralded news that founder, and chief executive, Peter Gregory is once more providing the company with additional funds – £375,000 of fresh capital is being injected by way of a loan and the guarantee of a bank overdraft. When Totalise moved from Ofex to Aim almost 12 months ago Gregory helped secure £1.2 million of a £2 million fundraising through similar measures.

Chairman David Bruce's assertion that management 'hopes to be able to develop the group into a profitable enterprise' also fails to instil much confidence as a declaration of intent.

Among recent positives are the extension of a contract between Totalise's car import operation Eurekar and Direct Line's e-tailing site jamjar.com. Eurekar has been installed as jamjar's preferred supplier of imported cars for a further two years. This business, along with Flowers2send and communications business Totalise Telecom, is expected to become cash positive this year.