Accident management group Helphire has warned its short-term profitability is being affected by a decline in credit hire volumes and dip in referrer contracts.

The company said progress is being made to reshape the business and improve cashflow.

Helphire has been examining its referral contracts and, where they are not suitably profitable, will not renew them.

It is reducing its cost base further with the aim, said its statement, of creating "a smaller but higher quality business as a platform for the future."

Such actions should enhance future profitability, but at the expense of short-term profits.

Richard Rose, chairman, said: "Based on the work I have commissioned since my appointment as chairman I believe that there is significant potential to generate cash from this business and by unwinding some of the poorly-controlled growth of recent years I believe we will be able to re-establish satisfactory profitability.
Fundraising transactions take time in the current climate but we are making steady progress."