There wasn't any positive change in the lowly share price of Dowding & Mills shares following poor interim results. The electrical calibration group suffered from problems at its US subsidiary which produced an operational loss of £600,000 on falling sales of £6m. The UK operation continued to improve, boosted in part by three acquisitions, but overall group turnover edged up only slightly to £59.8m. On the surface, the improvement in pre-tax profits to £5.5m from a mere £844,000 looks impressive, however, last year's figures included an exceptional charge of £5m. Profits for the year have been downgraded from £13m to £12m by house broker Albert E Sharp which has put paid to any improvement in the shareprice over the short term.