Impax

AVOID

01/04/2003

Impax is trying to establish itself as a leading niche corporate finance house focused on environmental infrastructure and technology. But it is having enough trouble with its own finances, without worrying about anyone else's. Results for the year to September showed a loss of �3.9m (including �2.8m of asset write-offs), leaving a stretched balance sheet with only �380,000 in cash, outweighed by current liabilities. Indeed, in its notes to the financial statement, the board admits'the accounts have been prepeared on a going concern basis, on the grounds that the group is able to secure future financing to meet its working capital requirements'. Most pertinently, the company is relying on the sale of its Starks Oil Field in Louisiana, USA. It has agreed a price of $1.3m (�850,000) for these loss-making assets, but a sale is yet to be completed and there can be no assurance that it will. But, even if this deal does go through, further finance is likely to be required sooner or later, since chairman Stuart Bickerstaff admits that difficult stock market conditions 'have made our journey towards future profitability both longer and harder'. The group is managing the �50m Impax Environmental Markets fund and has won a tender to manage a new �5m Recycling Fund. But the business clearly faces serious and pressing immediate problems.