Marketing and print firm St Ives said half year pre-tax profit fell by two thirds but it remains confident it can reposition and make progress in the full year.

Pre-tax profit for the 27 weeks to February 1st shrank to £2.0m from £6.4m a year earlier. Revenue for the interim period fell 2.8% to £161.7m. On a like-for-like basis, not including acquisitions, revenue increased by 2.9%.

CEO Patrick Martell commented: "The group is in a strong financial position and we remain confident that we will make further progress in the full year to reposition the group, extend our propositions and drive organic and acquisition growth in our Marketing Services businesses.

Commenting on the trading environment, he added: "The UK economy is showing only tentative signs of improvement with confidence still fragile and consumers continuing to be under financial pressure. However...we remain confident that we will make further progress in the full year."

Underlining its confidence in future trading, the interim dividend has been raised by 14.3% to 2.0p per share.



Greka Drilling reported a 39 per cent increase in 2012 revenues following a strong operational performance for the year.

The China-focused oil and gas driller posted revenues of $60.9m for the year ended December 31st, up from $43.8m the previous year.

Total assets grew by $25.7m to $114.m, a 29% jump year-on-year.

During the year, the company drilled 90 wells at a total of 147,126 metres compared to 50 at 88,224 metres in 2011.

However pre-tax profits fell $4.7m from $4.6m the year before due to higher administrative expenses as total headcount rose to 665 from 520 to support a rig fleet increase to 32.

"I am delighted to report that we have continued to grow the business on time and within plan," said Chairman and Chief Executive, Randepp Grewal.

"For the full year we have increased revenues, evaluated many unconventional basins in China, India and South East Asia."

The company anticipates profitable growth in China this year, complemented by expansion into India.

Greka also expects to establish the corporate headquarters in Singapore, to facilitate the growth outside China.

"We are concluding our discussions with several clients and expect to announce our expansion into India as the first step out from China within the widened Asian expansion plans," Grewal added.

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