Overspending on research and development and failure to close a number of large corporate deals was blamed for Sirius' pre-tax loss of half a million pounds in 2003.
Sirius chief executive Steve Verall said: "Last year we spent £750,000 more on research and development than we expected to."
He admitted that the company had failed to close a couple of large corporate contracts. It is understood that one of the deals is with broker Marsh.
Sirius announced a pre-tax loss of £513,255. The company's pre-tax profit for 2002 was £1.9m. The company's turnover reduced slightly from £22.6m in 2002 to £20.5m in 2003.
Sirius also increased its borrowing. It announced in December 2003 that its results would not meet expectations. The announcement saw its share price fall 18% to close at 74.5p on 22 December. Sirius shares lost more than 10% in early trading last week. The company said that for 2004 it would introduce a "more contemporary licence pricing strategy".
The strategy would see it "move away from higher value initial licence fees to an annually renewable fee" so that it could retain more predictable and sustainable profit.
Verall said: "The move to term licensing will result in reduced profit." He added: "This is a sacrifice that the business should make in order to reap the benefits in the medium term and beyond."
