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ilion figures let down by UK – again

Still holding out for a takeover offer

Last month, ilion announced that trading during the first half of the year had been what it called satisfactory. Interim results for the six months ending 30 June are now out. Turnover was up 10 per cent to £132 million and while that must have been cause for some celebration over in Chessington, it's hardly the 'record high' that was referred to last month. The UK was, again, a source of trouble for the networking distributor, with sales down 35 per cent - pretty much as expected. Pre-tax profit was £610,000 - down from last year's £1.16 million. According to analyst Richard Holway, ilion's share price crept up by 4.5p this morning to 111.5p, which is a far cry from £4 two years ago but much better than the low of 42p last year. However, it is still lower than the 114p Landis was offering for each ilion share when it mounted its failed takeover bid in July. ilion chairman Michael Sayers described the second half's prospects as encouraging but said a takeover was still the favoured outcome for the company. In June ilion lost its UK Cisco franchise, considered by many to be the distributor's only remaining trump card and the main reason why anyone would be interested in a takeover of the group. With that gone ilion was left facing a tough battle. Around the same time that Cisco pulled the plugs on ilion, the distributor became embroiled in a legal battle with Cisco reseller Ciscom after an alleged £500,000 fraud was uncovered. ® See related stories: Cisco fall-out sees ilion sue Ciscom ilion says no thanks to Landis bid offer ilion loses UK Cisco franchise Ciscom employee fined £1000 for abusive email

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