LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Technology investor Drumz reported first-half revenue of £30k on Friday, rising from £18k year-on-year, as its operating loss narrowed to £0.18m from £0.26m.
The AIM-traded firm said that at the end of the period on 30 June, its two principal assets continued to be its holding in Acuity Risk Management - a business specialising in risk management and cybersecurity; and its legacy holding in KCR Residential REIT - a company listed on AIM that owns property in the private rented residential sector.

Acuity's principal product is 'STREAM', which Drumz said is used by private and public sector clients to manage their cybersecurity and other enterprise risks.

"Acuity is in a sector where customer demand is exceptionally strong, as more businesses seek to protect their data for financial, reputational and regulatory reasons," said Drumz chairman Simon Bennett.

"Acuity continues to perform well and showed a 26% increase in turnover for the year ended 31 March."

In line with current accounting practice, Drumz's investment in Acuity was shown at cost, and so did not reflect the improvement in valuation that its growing turnover would suggest.

The share price performance of KCR in the six months ended 30 June, meanwhile, continued to be "disappointing", Drumz said.

It reported a holding value as at 30 June of £0.32m, down from £0.39m on 31 December, representing a further book loss on the investment of £73k.

"I am, however, pleased to report that in recent weeks the KCR share price has improved somewhat and at the date of this announcement, the book loss suffered in the first half has been reduced by approximately £50k," Simon Bennett said.

For the first half as a whole, Drumz's basic and diluted losses per share amounted to 0.04p, narrowing from 0.08p year-on-year, with no dividend declared.

At 30 June, the group had cash resources of £0.41m, up from £0.38m, and shareholders' funds of £1.37m, compared to £1.28m a year ago.

"We continue to be pleased with the progress at the award-winning Acuity," Bennett added.

"The improvement in the number and the quality of the sales leads Acuity is now generating is a growing testament to the progress that has been made and bodes well for the future.

"We continue to look for new investment opportunities and I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues and our shareholders for their continued support."

At 1322 BST, shares in Drumz were down 7.8% at 0.92p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.

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