Thus, the Scottish telecoms outfit behind the Demon Internet brand, reckons it's on course to make some cash.

For the six months to the end of September, turnover was up 10 per cent to £157.5 million, compared to £143 million last year.

At the same time, Thus narrowed its pre-tax loss by 67 per cent to £10.2 million - down from £30.8 million during H1 last year.

In its Internet business, turnover grew 10 per cent to £48.6 million with the number of broadband punters topping 50,000. In the UK, Thus now has 39,000 punters, while Demon Netherlands has more than 14,000 high-speed Net users.

In a statement Thus chief exec William Allan saidthe telco had "delivered sustained turnover growth…demonstrating rapid progress towards our target to be net cash flow positive on a sustainable basis".

Although still cautious about the economy and the state of the telecoms sector, he said the business is on a "steady trajectory to turn operating profit positive in the second half of the next financial year ending 31 March 2005".

And even though revenue from its contact centres dipped - following the loss of a Microsoft account - this part of Thus' business is "confident of recovery". Last month, Thus announced it was planning to create 250 new jobs at its call centre in Glasgow. ®

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