Amstrad sales not sweet for Sugar

TOUGH-TALKING TV business guru Sir Alan Sugar might need to get Nick Hewer in, talk to a pretend secretary and have his own heart break by facing the mirror and telling himself he's fired.

The Apprentice star, former Spurs chairman and UK computing pioneer saw set-top box sales decline year on year in the second half of 2006, sending revenues and profits south.

However, it was not all bad news. The company is still very profitable, making £10.5m before tax on £40.6m in revenue. Also, stocks of the Emailer product are now sold out but the phone/net/email/video device is bringing in an annualised £6.4m in services, according to the firm's statement. Perhaps those appearances in Alan Partidge's temporary home helped.

Amstrad's Integra in-home beauty facial treatment that can "visibly reduce the appearance of lines and wrinkles in 28 days" is in the bag, but what next for Amstrad?

For one, an HDTV PVR will ship until the second half of this year. Amstrad is also researching the VoIP smartphone market. Try giving your kids one of those when they've demanded an iPhone and stand well back. µ