Tangent, whose shares fell 18.9% following a first-half profits warning in August, was also hit by a 31% drop in sales at Goodprint, the web-to-print business it acquired for £10.2m in 2012.

The drop in Goodprint's sales (to £1.2m) was counteracted by a 30% increase in sales (to £3.6m) at Printed.com and a 17% increase in sales (to £4.1m) at Ravensworth, which resulted in the Online segment posting a 9.3% increase in revenue (to £9m) and an 11.2% increase in external revenues (to £8.8m) for the six months.

However, underlying operating profit for the division fell 4.4% to £1m and operating margin fell from 13.1% to 11.4%, suggesting that the £570,000 of lost Goodprint work has been replaced at a lower margin.

Tangent Communications chief executive Timothy Green said: "Online sales are up 11% on 2013, with Printed.com seeing particularly strong first-half sales. Online profits are in line with the prior year after the strong growth delivered by Printed.com and Ravensworth, but were offset by the under-performance of Goodprint."

Green added: "Competition in the market for selling business cards continues to intensify and attracting one-off customers at any cost is not part of our plan. Rebuilding the customer base will take time. The new management team will lead a redesign of the website and launch new products, which will incur higher costs."

While Goodprint's sales slide continued an unwelcome downward trend (following its 20% sales drop in Tangent's 2013/14 results), it was the drop in sales and profits at Tangent's Agency division that led to the 51.6% drop in group operating profit.

Agency sales fell 15.9% to £4.6m (excluding inter-segment sales, revenue fell 16.7% to £4.4m) while underlying operating profit collapsed 76.5% to £158,000. Including a £226,000 charge relating to redundancies at Tangent Snowball, the division's operating result slid from a £671,000 profit to a £68,000 loss.

The Agency segment also saw a significant drop in underlying operating margin, from 12.4% to 3.5%.

Green said: "Tangent Snowball revenues [which fell 22% to £3.2m] were affected by budget cuts from two key clients and the previously announced divestment of operations in Australia. Headcount has been reduced and Tangent Snowball is now a leaner and more agile business."

In spite of its first-half problems, the group still reported a pre-tax profit of £727,000 (H1 2013: £1.5m) on sales that were flat at £13.3m; net profit for the period was £416,000 (H1 2013: £1.1m).

"We remain committed to being a leading player in the online print sector. The opportunities are growing and we are determined to seize them," said Green. "The company expects the second half of this financial year to show an improvement in the Tangent Snowball division compared to the first half; however, current softness in the Goodprint division and investment to improve the performance results in further prudence for the full year."