Architect SMC fell £5.2m into the red in 2007 after a disastrous first-half of the year that accounted for £4.5m of the loss.

Its poor performance was blamed on too many underperforming acquisitions in a short space of time. After several profit warnings, the share price plummeted from 193p in January to 8p in December 2007.

The loss followed a pre-tax profit of £1.7m in 2006. Thanks to the acquisitions, turnover grew 42% from £31.2m to £44.2m.

A rights issue in January raised more than £13.3m to pump back into the company, which it said had provided the business with “a restructured business platform from which to move forward and grow profitably”.

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