Small caps round-up: Advanced Power, Gemfields, FW Thorpe

17th Mar 2011 15:21

First half pre-tax profit at Advanced Power Components - the electronic components group - has more than doubled from £42,000 to £100,000, due to reduced administrative and finance costs.While revenues for the six months ended 28 February are expected to be flat at £6.5m, the order book has increased from £3.8m at the start of the period to £4.5m, as a result of the steps taken to "focus on customers at the early stages of their design cycle and form improving market conditions", the group said.Gemfields' latest auction of (predominantly lower quality) rough emerald and beryl held in Jaipur produced the second highest total auction revenues to date of $9.9m. There was a 148% increase in quality-for-quality per carat prices since March 2010 and total year-to-date revenue from rough emerald auctions now stands at $37m. Gemfields' next auction of (predominantly higher quality) rough emeralds is scheduled for July 2011.Lighting specialist FW Thorpe increased interim revenue by 11.5% to £31.5m, from £28.3m, and pre-tax profits by 7% to £5m despite a "serious" increase in commodity costs over the period. Investment income also remains depressed due to the continuing low levels of interest on offer. Chairman Andrew Thorpe added he is "cautiously optimistic." The interim dividend rises by 4.9% to 4.3p.