An investor-led management takeover at telecommunications billing software developer eServGlobal in June has precipitated a minor turnaround after a broom was put through the business. But annual results were still posted in red ink yesterday. eServ's new management team, led by former Mincom chief executive Richard Mathews, yesterday produced a net loss after tax of $34.7 million for the full year ended June 30, down from a profit of $10.4 million in the previous corresponding period. Shareholders are unlikely to be spooked by the result. An entity run by Mr Mathews and a close associate, Craig Halliday, now eServ's chief operating officer, has soaked up around 12 per cent of stock in eServ over recent months. Shadowing their movements on the shareholder register is Ron Brierley's investment house, Guinness Peat Group, that has taken up 18.3 per cent of eServ's stock, a position that sits just below the trigger point for a mandatory takeover bid declaration. The first order of business for eServ's new team was a spring clean of the company's operations. Annual revenue dropped to $147 million for 2009, a fall of 17 per cent compared with $178 million in the previous corresponding period, after what the company described as "difficult conditions" in the global prepaid mobile telephony market. Lay-offs and write-downs were the main contributor to the lacklustre result, which was signalled to the market well in advance. The shedding of about 100 jobs, primarily in France, chalked up $7.7 million in costs and eServ booked a goodwill impairment charge of $12.5 million and a tax expense of $5.4 million. The company booked earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $2.4 million (before restructuring costs) in 2009, down from $24.2 million the previous year. Mr Mathews said the company would continue to focus on prepaid billing applications for telephony operators given the growth potential for the sector in markets including Asia, the Middle East and Africa. He said eServ had about 80 of the world's biggest telecommunications operators as customers that relied on the company's software to get paid. "It's not like we're selling pens and pencils to these people," Mr Mathews said. One nascent market the company will target is so-called mobile phone remittance, that allows consumers to transfer funds to each other and businesses in the form of mobile phone credit.