Mosaic plummets to loss

MOSAIC Investments, best known for its link with the cartoon characters Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Tom and Jerry, spent nearly pounds 1m on professional fees while keeping its head above water through 18 troubled months, writes Robert Cole.

The payment formed part of pounds 15m of exceptional and extraordinary items that tore a hole in Mosaic's profits for the year to 30 April.

Operating profits at Mosaic, briefly chaired by Greg Hutchings of the conglomerate Tomkins, fell from pounds 5.3m to pounds 1.5m, but losses after tax, exceptional and extraordinary items were pounds 14.6m against a profit of pounds 606,000.

The company provided for pounds 12.3m in asset write-downs on businesses earmarked for sale. It spent a further pounds 700,000 on redundancies.

Mosaic lost pounds 1.9m before tax, following a profit of pounds 3.9m. It is eliminating borrowings with the issue of pounds 2m worth of preference shares. The issue is backed by Montagu Private Equity, a venture capital arm of Samuel Montagu, the merchant bank.