SINGAPORE - Investment holding firm IPCO International, which has been linked to firms involved in last year's October penny stock crash, has managed to stem most of the red ink, based on its latest quarterly results.

It said on Friday that the loss for the second quarter ended Oct 31 was $392,000, narrowing from the $114.7 million loss incurred over the same period a year ago.

This was because IPCO avoided fair value losses of of $82.2 million on its financial assets and a net loss of $29.5 million net loss on the disposal of assets in the same period last year, during the throes of the October penny stock crash.

The company has made strategic investments in Blumont Group and Innopac Holdings.

Revenue for the quarter was up 11 per cent to $8.8 million.

Stocks of LionGold, Asiasons Capital and Blumont rose by between 40 and 160 per cent in August and September last year, before it plunged by between 91 and 96 per cent in a matter of days in October.

IPCO made a net profit of $961,000 for the six months to Oct 31, compared with a loss of $102 million in the same period a year ago.

Earnings per share was 0.02 cent for the period ended Oct 31, from a loss of two cents for the same period a year ago.

Net asset value per share was two cents at the end of October, unchanged from Apr 30.