Results for the half year ended 30 June 2002 are in line with guidance issued in early July, with revenues at £6.8 million (2001: £8.7 million) affected by the ongoing difficult trading environment.

Commenting, Roger Foster, Financial Objects chairman, says: "The difficult market conditions in our sector are likely to continue throughout the second half of this year and there is no indication yet of when the banking software market will improve."

He adds that financial institutions continue to take longer to make decisions on investment in new software and in quite a number of cases decisions have been put on hold. "We are also seeing increased pressure on software pricing and all decisions are being closely scrutinised by banks for their return on investment."

The company has also been hit by delays in live beta testing of the IBIS/S2 product. Revenues against this product fell to £3.6 million in the period compared to £4.4 million last year. They include fees for contracted maintenance that have remained constant at around £3 million.

Revenues relating to the ActiveBank products also slipped from £4.3 million to £3.2 million, "primarily due to the way the income arises on a large contract won during the first quarter".

The company says that by the end of July it had signed four new ActiveBank licences compared with two in the whole of 2001. Most of the revenue on these contracts is yet to be recognised.

The total value of the group's order book at the end of June was £9.3 million, slightly up from December 2001 when it stood at £9.2 million. The ActiveBank order book has risen from £2.2 million to £3.2 million during the period.