Mirada stops pressing the red button

AIM-listed tiddler Mirada, one of many companies offering 'TV anywhere' media interaction software, has moved into the black for the first time in its history.

Profit before tax in the six months to the end of September may only have been £25,000 but the move into profit represents a milestone for a company which posted a loss of £0.93m at the interim stage last year.

Revenues rose to £2.46m from £2.28m at the half-year stage last year. The bulk of these came from digital television, where revenues rose 32% to £2.12m from £1.61m a year earlier. Of these revenues, 90% were generated overseas (outside of UK and Spain), growing to £1.91m from £1.31m in the same period last year. The Digital TV earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation improved to £0.96m from £0.46m.

Revenues earned by the Broadcast division were £0.12m for the period compared to £0.43m for the six months ended September 30th 2011, largely reflecting Mirada's withdrawal from "red button" TV services at the end of June 2011.

Chief Executive Officer Jose Luis Vazquez said the investment made in its flagship products, iris and navi, is beginning to pay off with customers signing up and generating recurring licence fee revenue for the company.

Navi is described as a content navigation tool for digital television viewers. Iris is the group's "TV everywhere" multi-screen product, mainly targeted at the cable television market.

"We expect to continue to improve our performance and we look forward to providing the market with continued news flow of our achievements during the following months," Vasquez said.

The shares rose to a 52-week high on the trading update.