Small caps round-up: Altitude, Amerisur Resources, Rugby Estates...........

30th Apr 2010 11:02

Promotional merchandise company Altitude lost £624,000 last year, much more than the £33,000 deficit recorded in 2008 as revenue tumbled 15%.Revenue fell to £15.3m from £18m as the end user businesses, the largest part of the group, saw sales drop to £10.2m from £13.6m."2009 was the most difficult year on record for a promotional products industry that was hard hit by reduction in discretionary spend by large and small corporate users," explained chairman Colin Cooke.Amerisur Resources shares responded well to news of a placing to raise £13.7m at 16.5p a share to fund ongoing exploration and appraisal in South America.The money will be spent on the 100%-owned Platanillo and Fenix blocks in Colombia and a 2D seismic programme on the San Pedro block in Paraguay to mature the prospect inventory."Amerisur opens a new chapter in its well managed and rapid growth. We look forward to delivering positive news flow in the months ahead," chairman Giles Clarke said.Property investor and adviser Rugby Estates has moved back into profit in the year to January 2010. Write-downs were reduced from £18.5m to £2.9m and this was behind the swing from a loss of £15.8m in 2008-09 to £184,000 profit in 2009-10.Rugby will receive £3.1m from the takeover of Rugby Estates Investment Trust.Rugby intends to return 100p a share in cash to shareholders in the next few months. Marine electronics firm Raymarine, which is the subject of a 15p a share bid from rival Garmin, reported a loss of £28.6m in 2009. Revenues fell from £134.9m to £104.4m. Healthcare Enterprise Group has raised £80,000 via a placing at 25p a share. The company is also using shares to pay debts of £62,000. Animated programmes producer DQ Entertainment's 75%-owned Bombay-listed subsidiary has reported a post-tax profit of $5.57m on revenues of $36.76m in the year to March 2010. The order book is worth $95.95m. Alba Mineral Resources, which is exploring for uranium, nickel and gold in Mauritania, Ireland and Scotland, reported a reduced loss in the year to November 2009. It fell from £1.03m to £195,000. Alba needs to raise additional cash but there is no certainty it can do this.