itim Group PLC on Wednesday reported a widened interim loss as costs increased due to investment in new headcount.

Shares were down 22% at 65.00 pence each on Wednesday afternoon in London.

For the six months that ended on June 30, the London-based click-and-collect retailing software firm said its pretax loss widened to £377,000 from £108,000 a year earlier.

Revenue climbed 6.3% to £6.8 million from £6.4 million, while cost of sales jumped 24% to £4.6 million from £3.7 million.

itim explained that costs increased ‘significantly’ in the period to ‘support growth’. It awarded pay rises to existing staff in line with inflation and hired additional staff.

itim said the objective of this investment is to ‘build the required capability ahead of potential new subscription sales and to increase staff capacity to cover busy periods’.

As a consequence, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to £336,000 from £1.2 million a year earlier.

Chief Executive Officer Ali Athar said: ‘We have continued to invest significant sums in product development and ensuring that we have the resources to deliver a first rate service to our growing, high quality customer base. In these testing economic times, I see the deployment of itim’s products and services as being vital in helping clients weather the storm.’

Looking forward, itim says it is mindful of economic challenges and looks to the future with ‘cautious optimism’.

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