Small caps round-up: ATUK, Getech, Skywest, Caretech

10th Apr 2012 10:08

ATUK, the cloud e-Commerce marketplace, has announced it is working with Visa to establish a new business-to-business partnership. The aim is to enhance the value of commercial payment solutions in the Asia Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East and Africa regions. Geosciences firm GETECH, which specialises in improving the efficiency of exploration activies with the oil and mining sectors, has announced its largest licence of its onshore US gravity data to date, worth $1.2m The firm said delivery is planned to take place by December 2012, although the majority will be delivered before the end of July. Raymond Wolfson, Chief Executive, said: "Gravity and magnetic data are used by oil and gas companies to assist with their exploration programmes and the contract reported here provides further evidence of the value placed by them on our data, particularly in the US domestic market." Australian airline Skywest has announced an A$8m investment from Virgin Australia as the firms strengthen their co-operation. In equity terms, the investment would amount to a 10% stake but currently is in the form of a convertible debt instrument. The business model is certainly interesting; the two firms are cashing in on the Aussie mining boom, as commodity companies seek to move staff between different sites around the country. Caretech, the social care service provider, had risen 0.7% by 09:53 after announcing it has managed to increase capacity by 60 places to a total of 2,116. Occupancy levels have been maintained at approximately 92% in established services, with "largely organic" growth. The firm also says negotiations with local authorities indicate it will not be increasing fees significantly in the new fiscal year.