Online learning specialist ThirdForce lost €324,000 before tax in its first full year of trading, figures released yesterday show.

The group, formed from a Rapid Technology spin-off that merged with two other operations, yesterday reported a turnover of €12 million for 2004.

Gross profits were €9.7 million and it had licence income of €134,000. However, operating expenses came close to €10 million leaving it with an operating loss of €150,000. The group also had an interest bill of €174,000, pushing the pretax deficit to €324,000. A tax bill of €235,000 left it with losses for the year of €559,000. It posted a loss per share of 0.43 cent.

Shareholders' funds were virtually unchanged, ending the year at €8.2 million, a fall of close to €300,000 over the year.

However, the balance sheet shows that the company had €1.8 million cash at the end of the year, compared with €5 million at the beginning of 2004.