Gresham – still loss-making, disposes of its NonStop support business

(By Philip Carnelley, 28 Aug 2009, 09:30) Gresham Computing, the loss-making financial solutions provider, has sold its subsidiary Gresham Software Labs Pty Limited, a software and support business specialising in storage software and support for HP NonStop systems. The sale is for a total consideration of £470k, in two tranches, much of which goes to clear debts by the subsidiary to its parent.

Gresham also reported today its interims to 30 June: it made a trading loss of near £1m (2008: £0.5m loss) on revenues of £5.6m – down 22%, in part due to the disposals last year. In 2008 Gresham lost £800k in the year (a big improvement from the prior year), so things seem to have gone backward. Gresham’s annual report shows that £100 invested in the company in 2003 would be worth around £10 today – whereas if invested in the FTSE Techmark Index it would be around £120. Full marks to Gresham for honesty. Gresham has a long history (35 years) in the UK market – let’s hope they can deal with the challenges.