LONDON (Thomson Financial) - Financial services company Merchant Securities Plc. said full-year pretax loss widened to 778,000 pounds from 438,009 pounds year ago, reflecting the investment made in restructuring the company and difficult market conditions.

The group as a whole has continued to trade at a loss in the current financial year, Merchant Securities said.

To mitigate this, all costs are under detailed scrutiny, it added.

The company said it expects market conditions to remain difficult, but believes that the diversity of its business activities, combined with a reduced cost base, will assist the group.

For the year ended March 31, the company posted revenue of 5.33 million pounds from 4.09 million pounds last year. TFN.newsdesk@thomson.com ypv/ak

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