Small cap round-up: Nighthawk, Renold, Scapa...

14th Oct 2010 11:51

US-focused oil and gas group Nighthawk has secured a £25m equity finance facility "to continue the development of the company's asset base."Chain-maker Renold has continued to see strong sales. "The strengthening order book gives good confidence for the third quarter," it said. "While visibility into the fourth quarter is more limited and macro-economic uncertainty continues, the group is optimistic of maintaining the current improving profit trend in the second half." Scapa, the supplier of technical adhesive tapes, has kept up the positive momentum from the first quarter through the final months of the first half, led by strength in medical and industrial markets."While remaining cautious in the face of increasing commodity prices and currency fluctuations, the board expects full year performance to be ahead of current market expectations," it said ahead of results on 24 November.Mariana Resources has bought the freehold surface rights to the 23,400 hectare area of its flagship Las Calandrias gold and silver project in the prospective Deseado Massif gold district in southern Argentina. The purchase secures access to the project and gives the company more flexibility in the future to fast-track the exploration and development of the project. Accumuli, the tech-focused investment company formerly known as NetServices, made a post-tax profit of £3.1m in the year to 31 August after making a £4m net profit on the sale of its trading business in May."We believe the forthcoming year will be a transformational period for the company," said chairman Graham Norfolk. "I look forward to providing updates in the very near future as we execute our investing strategy and build a substantial business in the managed security services sector through carefully targeted acquisitions."Cash shell Sirius Petroleum has raised £15.69m by way of a placing of 313.9m shares at 5p each. The funds from the placing will be used to provide working capital for the development of the Ke oilfield in Nigeria, in which the company is proposing to acquire a 40% stake.The company, which is changing its year end to December 31, said it made a loss of $0.83m in the five months to 30 June, compared to a restated loss of $0.35m over the corresponding period of 2009.Translation group SDL reports its recent performance is in line with consensus expectations for the full year, with both revenue and operating profit ahead of the same period in 2009 and continued strong cash flow.Shares in Amerisur Resources fell back as it revealed the complexity of the Fenix structure in Colombia requires further study and testing to establish its potential."The remedial work we have performed on Iguasa was successful in removing the formation damage caused during the drilling process; however the apparent permeability of the intervals remains low, in direct contrast to the behaviour of the same geological units in the Isabel well. I believe the study led by Fronterra Geosciences is essential to resolve this issue and define the way forward," chief executive John Wardle said.Europa Oil & Gas has raised approximately £1.5m before expenses through an institutional placing of 13.4m shares at 11.5p . "We are pleased that the funds raised from the placing will allow us to push ahead on two fronts: the testing of our oil exploration prospects in Romania and the development of recently identified incremental reserves at West Firsby," said Paul Barrett, Managing Director of Europa.