Small caps round-up: Andrews Sykes, Northbridge, Sceptre...

29th Sep 2010 13:47

Air conditioning unit hirer Andrews Sykes lifted profits to £7.11m, from £6.5m, in the half year to June, despite sales weakening a little to £27.6m. Overall, the board is cautiously anticipating a reasonable performance for the rest of 2010, it added.India-focused investment group EIH increased net asset value at end June to $0.964 from $0.961 per share at end December.Indian power group KSK has raised £62.5m gross through a placing of 12.3m new shares at 510p each. The placing shares represent approximately 8% of the total in issue and will help fund growth opportunities across various areas said chairman TL Sankar.Industrial services group Northbridge Industrial lifted sales and profits by about 28% to £7.8m and £1.4 respectively in the half-year to June. "Trading improved in the majority of our activities during the first half of the year and we expect this to continue for the second half," Northbridge said, adding it will benefit from the acquisition of Tasman from 1 August. The interim dividend increased by 11% to 1.55p.Amusement machine renter Sceptre will supply coin operated amusement equipment to approximately 30% Punch Tavern's estate under a new deal. Sceptre also revealed full year revenue to April increased 9% to £42.8m with pre-tax profit up 37% to £1.9m.Syndicate Asset is to buy the IFA business Co-operative Bank Independent Financial Advisers. CIFA, which has been established for more than 20 years, has approximately 55,000 customers with funds invested of approximately £1bn. The consideration of £450,000 in cash is largely for all of CIFA's trail commission receipts. Biofutures International, the investment company focused on the energy and utility sectors, saw losses widen to £0.45m in the first half of 2010 from £00.30m, primarily because of a £0.17m charge for share based payments relating to options granted on 5 February 2010. Cash at the end of June stood at £5.18m, down from £5.44m at the end of June 2009. Cluff Gold made a maiden profit of $6m in the first half of 2010, compared to a net loss of $29.5m in the first half of last year. Cash at the end of June stood at $8.1m, up from $2.3m at the end of 2009. Algy Cluff is to pass on his chief executive role to Peter Spivey, currently the chief operating officer of the company. Cluff will remain executive chairman of the company he founded in 2004.Argentinian energy group Andes Energia swung to a profit of $11m, from a loss of $4m, in the half year to June as revenue rose to $88m from $69m.Mobile phone services group Zamano had tough first half to June with revenues falling to €8.75m and losses soaring to $6.5m after goodwill write-offs. Underlying earnings fell to €0.95m, but the firm says it is seeing some stability in to the second half.Fuel cell specialist Jetion Solar has lost its FD Eric Chan for family reasons. Results to June showed turnover almost tripled to $147m and pre-tax profit hit $4.8m ($3.2m).Ukraine property group KDD's net asset value at 30 June 2010 increased by approximately €40.4m from December to €256.9m. "The board is confident that the fundamentals of the broup and its projects remain solid, and look into the future with optimism, Petro Slipets, chief executive commented. Lansdowne Oil posted a loss after tax of £626,000 for the first six months of 2010 compared to a loss of £714,000 for the first six months of 2009. "With our licences extended and an improvement in market conditions, we will now seek to re-launch the company and accelerate our exploration and appraisal activities, " it added.Oxford Advanced Surfaces says it is in a strong position to deliver first commercial licence deals and exclusive partnerships in the second half of 2010. "Following license we expect our ARC technology to require up to 12 months of further development for each specific application before first commercial product is available to the market," it added. First half losses were £795,000 against £897,000. Penny stock Imaginatik put on a spurt on Wednesday after it announced a contract win. The software firm has been selected as a strategic innovation solutions provider by QinetiQ North America in support of the United States Government General Services Administration (GSA), in a six-month deal that is worth $400,000. Under the agreement, which could be extended by six months, Imaginatik will use its Idea Central Collaboration Platform to assist GSA in identifying innovation strategies to enhance business practices. It includes licenses for GSA's 15,000 associates, facilitation and programme management support, and various training initiatives to foster collaboration at GSA.