Small caps round-up 2: Skywest, Symphony, Uruguay,...

8th Jul 2009 13:30

Degradable plastics and waste-to-energy outfit Symphony Environmental Technologies has topped expectations at the half-year stage, it said today.Revenue for the six months ended 30 June 2009, due to be confirmed on 10 September, rose 59% to £3.65m from £2.3m a year earlier.The firm has also cut the level of interest bearing debt by more than £400,000 since the start of the year. There's also been a rise in the number of distributors to 48.Results from the first six holes of Uruguay Mineral Exploration's Arenal infill program have exceeded expectations and shown the continuity of higher grade mineralization."It is anticipated that these holes will improve the geological resource currently being used for the underground pre-feasibility study," chief executive David Fowler said.Three of the holes intercepted better than predicted grades and widths, two confirmed the predicted grade and thickness and one re-defined the limit to mineralization on this section. An infill and extension drilling campaign of Arenal Deeps should be completed by January next year. Western Australia's largest regional airline, Skywest, saw the number of charter services increase by 53% in June, but passenger numbers dropped over 10%.Charter services were up to 234 last month from 153 a year earlier, while just 29,000 passengers flew Skywest, down from 33,000 in June 2008.The load factor, a measure of how well an airline fills its planes, was a fraction lower at 55.29%.Shares in Ramco Energy dropped after the Aberdeen based energy investment company said the state-owned Iraqi Drilling Company (IDC) had terminated a joint venture agreement with Ramco's associate Mesopotamia Petroleum.Mobile email and data synchronisation provider Synchronica has won a contract with an undisclosed mobile operator for an initial 50,000 user license of its mobile email product Mobile Gateway. Gemfields said preliminary takeover talks with RoxC have been discontinued, adding that it doesn't know whether RoxC will pursue its interest in a possible offer on the same or revised indicative terms.