Bosses at troubled schools technology supplier RM Education revealed the firm has slumpd into the red over the past year.

The company, which axed 300 staff at its headquarters in Milton Park, near Didcot last September, blamed Government public sector spending cuts along with an unsuccessful international expansion programme and a lack of innovation.

The group was hit hard by Government moves to scale back or cancel unfinished Building Schools for the Future projects, including seven for which RM was the preferred bidder worth £200m.

RM made a pre-tax loss of £23.4m in the 14 months to November 30, compared to profits of £23.9m for the 12-month period ended September 30, 2010.

A strategic review announced in September has seen it dispose of several businesses including a hardware firm in the United States, its Australian operations and its share of a joint-venture in Lego Education Europe.

In October chief executive Terry Sweeney resigned and his duties were taken over by chairman Martyn Ratcliffe. Managing director Rob Sirs also stepped down at the end of last month.<<jan>> The company said it has reduced its headcount by 17 per cent to 2,358 over the year to November of which about 1200 are employed in Milton Park.

Spokesman Suzanne Kyle said there had been no further Oxfordshire job losses since the September redundancy programme.