Shearwater Group PLC on Tuesday said its loss widened in the first half of its financial year, as a weakening sterling drove lower earnings.

The London-based cybersecurity services provider recorded a pretax loss of £1.6 million in the six months to September 30, from a loss of £518,000 the year before.

Shearwater said this was driven by lower earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, which declined to £61,000 from £1.3 million the year before. Ebitda was hit by the weaker sterling against the US dollar during the period.

Shearwater shares were down 21% to 90.00 pence on Tuesday morning in London.

Revenue increased slightly to £10.8 million from £10.6 million, driven by new client wins and contract renewals.

Shearwater remains confident of a full year revenue performance in line with expectations.

‘We are bolstered by a pipeline of further advisory work, penetration testing and managed security services opportunities, as well as the launch of our new software capability which have been received well,’ Chief Executive Officer Phil Higgins said.

‘With good visibility of revenues and an expanded, global footprint, there is growing momentum across the group as we move into a more favourable macroeconomic environment in the second half, with confidence levels higher than they were this time last year.’

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