Small caps: Charles Taylor, 888, Amerisur...

1st Jul 2010 11:52

Insurance specialist Charles Taylor reports trading in May and June has met expectations with continued good performances from its insurance, run-off and loss adjustment businesses. Personnel costs have risen in management services, because of the continued increase in Standard Club tonnage, and a slow start from the newly created Charles Taylor Insurance Services.Dragonfish, the independent B2B division of 888 Holdings, has signed an agreement with MTV Networks UK & Ireland to provide a bingo product to launch on the Dragonfish network. The launch of the bingo offering, which will initially be a skin on the Dragonfish network, will be MTV Networks' first step into online gaming. Paraguay-focused oil explorer Amerisur's revenue for the year increased to £1.73m from £348,000. Net profit was £511,000 (2009: £47,000). "We have an ambitious forward programme to fund a 3D seismic programme and up to six new wells on the Platanillo block; two offset wells and two further exploration wells on the Iguasa and Isabel trends on the Fénix block; and a 2D seismic programme on San Pedro block in Paraguay to mature the prospect inventory," it said. Ascent Resources has increased its interest in the Petisovci project in Slovenia, following the transfer of Kulczyk Oil Ventures 30% stake in the Dolina shallow oil field and 10.5% stake in the Globoki deep gas field. A royalty will be paid by ASL to KOV of an additional $60,000 for each billion cubic feet of independently certified 2P gas reserves produced in the future.Cash shell IncaGold says that its proposed acquisition of a renewable energy business has fallen through. IncaGold intends to cancel its AIM quotation and re-register as a private limited company. Proposals will be sent to shareholders next week. Managed Support Services, a provider of compliance and technical building services, said it is now trading profitably after making a loss in the year to 31 March 2010.The company announced a loss of £4.9m on revenue of £15.3m compared to a loss of £0.2m on revenue of £26.3m the year before. The 2010 results were dented by numerous one-off charges, including £0.6m of restructuring charges, £1.2m of closure costs and £1m impairment of goodwill.The company said that profitable trading has been re-established and it expects the first quarter to be in line with management expectations.