Gloom at Intelliplus and Market Age

Shares in The Market Age, a derivatives trading software firm, and Intelliplus, an internet group, ended the year close to their all-time lows after unveiling heavy interim losses.

Shares in The Market Age, a derivatives trading software firm, and Intelliplus, an internet group, ended the year close to their all-time lows after unveiling heavy interim losses.

Market Age, which supplies City institutions with software to analyse forex and derivatives markets, warned that a shortfall in new contracts meant results for the full financial year would fall "significantly short" of expectations. Its shares almost halved to 51.5p.

Shane Smith, Market Age's chief executive, denied the company had attempted to bury bad news by choosing to release interim results on one of the year's quietest trading days. "The timing was not designed for them to disappear into a puff of smoke on New Year's Eve. We simply moved as quickly as we could," he said. Trading in the AIM-listed stock resumed yesterday after a four-week suspension.

Intelliplus, which floated on AIM in May through a reverse takeover of Internet Action, saw its shares fall 10 per cent to 2.25p after revealing "disappointing results". The internet service provider and telecoms operator said pre-tax losses in the six months to 30 September were £912,000 compared with £1.1m a year earlier on turnover down 26 per cent to £3.1m. The group had also raised £1.5m through an institutional placing to secure the purchase of Medius Networks.

Market Age reported pre-tax losses for the six months to 31 August of £1.2m compared with £1.6m a year earlier. The chief executive said the group has sufficient working capital to continue through to April but it was considering other options.