Late breaking news from Waterford Wedgwood, which released its interim results to the world at 6.26pm this evening. Not quite last minute, as the regulatory news service's close of business comes at 6.30pm, but pretty close.
Don't let the late hour put you off reading the results, though, which can be seen here. They show that the company, which is badly in need of cash, made a pre-tax loss from its continuing operations of €63.2m in the six months to October 4 – up from €49.9m a year ago.
There's also a warning from chief executive David Sculley, that the company needs a large injection of fresh funding.
"We are currently in negotiations with a number of interested institutional investors about a possible investment in the Company on terms which, if consummated, would be different to those described in the prospectus and which, more significantly, are likely to require as a pre-condition a comprehensive financial restructuring. As a result, any such investment would therefore be larger than the Company's originally planned equity funding," he explained.
The company, famous for its crystal, has been trying to hammer out a deal with its investors. As the Financial Times explained yesterday, chairman Sir Anthony O'Reilly, who is also the proprietor of Independent News and Media, was already expected to agree to a significant dilution of his shareholding.
