ELECTRONICS group Stadium has revealed its first annual results since announcing a shake-up of its business.

The Hartlepool group, which earlier this week sold its plastic injection moulding business to a management buy-in team for £7m, reported a pre-tax loss of £9.57m in the year to December 31.

That compared to a pre-tax profit of £2.3m a year earlier. However, the figures take into account exceptional costs related to the restructuring of the business.

Before those costs were taken into account, Stadium made a profit of £700,000.

The disposal programme, announced last June, has so far led to proceeds of £13.7m.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Rogers, chief executive, said: "Since the strategic review announced in June 2001, radical action has been taken to redirect the group, and enhance prospects for the business and its shareholders."

He added: "While the global electronic manufacturing services market place continues to be highly competitive, we remain confident of the growth prospects of our electronics business, which is gathering momentum by offering customers the benefits of design expertise and low cost manufacturing skills."

The group, which employs about 200 staff in Hartlepool, anticipates further disposals in the current financial year.

Shareholders will receive a final dividend of 1.85p per share, bringing the total dividend for the year to 2.8p per share, compared to 5.6p in 2000.