Vebnet, the employee benefits specialist, has reported a half-year pre-tax profit of £218,000, following last year's £100,000 loss.

The Alternative Investment Market-listed group said trading since the half-year had been encouraging. The shares, which doubled in a fortnight last summer from a low of 84p, rose 1.5p to 140p yesterday.

Total revenues increased by 23% to £2.58m, with an 18% increase to £2m in core "Fix & Flex" sales.

Vebnet's customer numbers rose from 119 to 137 and employees using the system at the end of 2007 topped 282,000, an increase of 15% over six months.

Costs increased by 7%.

Last September consultancy Mercer, one of the top four global employee benefits consultants, signed a 10-year licence agreement to use Vebnet's technology as the core application of its UK-based flexible benefits services.

In January Mercer's rival Watson Wyatt agreed a five-year deal for promotion of the system in its 21 Asian offices.

Broker Seymour Pierce said the deals "demonstrate that Vebnet punches above its weight for a company of relatively modest scale".

Derek Scott, chairman, said: "Our services are now capable of delivery on a global scale and we expect to see solid growth through a number of international partnerships in the foreseeable future."