Christie Group, a professional-services provider, announced on Monday that it experienced a pretax loss of £1.9 million ($2.4 million) for the first half of 2023, compared to a profit of £1.7 million during the same period in the previous year. The company attributed this loss to transaction delays by its agency and advisory business, as well as higher costs.
Operating loss for the period was £2.4 million, down from an operating profit of £2.3 million in the previous year, due to increased employee costs and other operating expenses. Despite these challenges, Christie Group remains hopeful for a more positive second-half trading performance.
Revenue decreased slightly to £33.1 million from £33.7 million, which can be attributed to lower transactional volumes resulting from reduced activity levels and market sentiment.
According to Chief Executive Dan Prickett, the resumption of more positive transactional activity levels is expected once the market adjusts to changes in interest rates and inflation.
The board has declared an interim dividend of 0.5 pence per share, a decrease from the 1.25 pence payout in the previous year.