Smartlogik days from collapse

SOFTWARE firm Smartlogik has warned it is just days away from falling into administration, unless it can secure a funding lifeline. The firm has been in talks to sell its assets or merge with a private company since instigating a strategic review in January.

It said that if neither transaction was completed by the end of the month it 'will have no choice' but to seek to appoint an administrator. 'The group would no longer have sufficient cash resources to act as an ongoing concern,' the firm added.

The stock dived 62% in early trade to 0.125p. Shares in the business reached 188p at the height of the tech boom two years ago.

Smartlogik emerged from the ashes of failed high tech venture Bright Station last summer when it raised £12m to fund a push to profitability. But the tech slowdown hit orders for its software - designed to help firms search through information. An update at the end of February said it only had remaining net cash of just £1.6m.

The firm has nearly halved its workforce and now employs 71 people in London, Cambridge, Chertsey and the US.