Small caps round-up: Ithaca, Ambrian Capital, Providence...

6th Jul 2010 12:07

Oil and gas firm Ithaca Energy said it increased production throughout the second quarter of 2010 and remains on target to achieve forecast 2010 production levels.Production in the second quarter averaged 10,217 barrels of oil per day, a 17% improvement over first quarter production.Stockbroker Ambrian Capital said it is likely to report a breakeven result for the first half of the year. The group said profits generated by Commodities and Principal Investments were offset by a loss incurred by Corporate Finance & Equities.Oil and gas firm Providence Resources said that the site survey of its Dunquin acreage (FEL 3/04) off the west coast of Ireland has kicked off. The work is being carried out by the licence operator, ExxonMobil, on behalf of the Dunquin co-venturers and is to assess the site for the drilling of an exploration well. Providence holds a non-operated 16% interest in FEL 3/04.AIM-listed mining tiddler Tertiary Minerals saw its shares rise after it announced the completion of an independent scoping study on its wholly owned Storuman Fluorspar project in Sweden. A viable fluorspar project is predicted with a Base Case generating US$616m in revenue over an 18 year life of mine for $46m of initial capital costs. Net pre-tax operating cash flow of $17m per annum is predicted in the first five years of production with a 2.8 year payback of capital, pre-production strip, and further feasibility costs, the company said. NetDimensions, the provider of performance, knowledge and learning management systems, said revenue in the first half of 2010 rose by 11%, in line with market expectations, to $3.38m from $3.05m in the first half of 2009.The company's cash pile was down by $0.5m to $6.3m at the end of June from a year earlier, partly as a result of the April acquisition of the enterprise knowledge platform business from the company's UK partner. The cash pile is equivalent to 16.7p per share, the company said.Trading remained strong at Alliance Pharma during the first half of 2010, with sales up 77% on the year before. The firm, due to publish numbers in September, said sales have risen to £23.4m, up £10.2m on the first half of 2009. Excluding revenue from products acquired over the past year, sales rose 40%.Care home builder Ashley House held its dividend at 4p last year even though profits tumbled from £5.5m to £1.7m. Revenue rose 5% to £24.9m with NAV up 19% to £46m. "Trading conditions during the year have been very challenging for both ourselves and our NHS partners. Although we continue to operate in an uncertain market, we believe that we are now better positioned for growth and the future success of the business, "it said.Cash management software specialist Gresham's trading has continued to improve through the second quarter to the half year. As a result, trading remained ahead of expectations. Wind farm operator Indian Energy's remaining 8 turbines of its 16.5 MW wind farm at Theni have been installed, pre-commissioned and are now ready for connection to the grid.Africa focused oil and gas exploration company Chariot has taken possession of the processed 3D seismic information for both the Northern and Southern blocks of its offshore Namibian assets, and the quality of the data set has exceeded the company's expectations, which will boost its chances of signing up an operating partner on favourable terms.Video search engine firm blinkx has announced partnerships with Food Wishes, Weelicious, Feed Me Bubbe and Cooking with Cathy to offer cooking related programming. Blinkx will place contextually relevant advertising against the videos and share resulting advertising revenue with the partners.Support services group Cape has been awarded a letter of intent to provide thermal insulation works on the Borouge Phase 3 petrochemical project in Ruwais, Abu Dhabi. The contract is worth around $18m and has been made by Consolidated Contractors International Company and Linde Engineering, the main engineering, construction and procurement contractors for the construction of the ethane cracker.