Small caps round-up: Lees, Pubs 'n' Bars, Parity...

4th Dec 2009 08:14

Scottish cake and sweet maker Lees Foods has reached an 'amicable settlement' with the former directors of Patisserie UK after a dispute over the disappointing performance of the pastry supplier following its acquisition by Lees.Under the terms of the settlement, Lees will receive about £225,000, comprising £125,000 in cash and all of the 65,000 Lees shares issued to the directors as part of the transaction.Lees bought Patisserie in 2007 but sales did not materialise as originally forecast, leading to a dispute between Lees and the former directors and shareholders of Patisserie.Shares in Pubs 'n' Bars, which operates nearly 100 pubs mostly in the south of England, have been suspended 'pursuant to recent announcements.' Last month the firm reported difficult trading conditions and a lack of supplier credit to the business, which it said is having an adverse effect on its working capital.Shares in IT services group Parity slumped after it said the rate of improvement in revenues from its solutions division will be slower than anticipated.Shares in Mediterranean Oil & Gas fell after its partner on the Guendalina Gas Field offshore Italy, the Italian oil giant ENI, said it expects costs for the project to be ahead of expectations.Ascent Resources' Hungarian subsidiary, PetroHungaria, said its PEN-105 well on the Nyirseg South permit has yielded an initial flowrate of over 2.75 million standard cubic feet per day of gas (MMscfd)."We are pleased with the completed test results on the PEN-105 well and expect that it will be on production in February 2010, allowing us to take advantage of the strong Hungarian gas pricing," said managing director Jeremy Eng.Housebuilder Abbey swung into profit at the half-way stage, making €3.60m in the six months ended 31 October versus a loss of €5.39m a year ago. The housebuilding business completed 222 sales (UK 170; Ireland 49; Czech Republic 3), providing a turnover of €36.27m and operating profit of €2.54m. Broadband satellite operator Avanti Communications has signed a €663,000, five-year contract with Spain's Satconexion for broadband services on HYLAS 1, Avanti's satellite launching in 2010. Interior Services says demand for its London fit out services is starting to recover. Allocations for the calendar year 2010 under the framework agreements with our Food and Banking Retail customers are strong. The Regional Construction businesses will have a strong current year, but are likely to see reduced activity going into the next financial year."The group's current order book is £755m (June 2009 - £822m), of which £500m is for delivery in the current financial year and £240m in the next financial year," it added.iPoint-media's revenue for the year ending 31 December 2009 will be materially below market expectations and that the Company will incur a significant loss before interest and tax after contract delays. Two major tenders with telecoms companies which were anticipated to be signed and delivered prior to 31 December 2009 have slipped and decisions on awarding the contracts have been delayed into 2010. Revenue for the year ending 31 December 2009 will be approximately $1.2m, representing a 37% increase on the 2008 revenues and the loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for 2009 will be of the order of $0.5m.Energy sector investor Parkmead Group saw its net asset value per share slump to 1.52p at the end of June from 4.40p a year earlier, after it took a write down of £3.5m on the value of its investments. Loss before tax was £6.33m, compared to a loss of £0.37m a year earlier. The company is not paying a final dividend. On the bright side, the group said it had emerged from the reporting period with net cash of £2.5m 'and, more latterly, we have seen an improvement in the performance of our investment portfolio.'Latin American oil and gas explorer Geopark has successfully drilled Pampa Larga 15, a new development gas well on its 100%-owned Fell Block in Chile.The well is currently producing gas at a rate of around 4m cubic feet per day (mmcfd), and condensate of around half a barrel a day, though these volumes may change after analysis of daily production rates.Yangtze China, the investment company focused on unlisted small and medium-sized growth businesses within the consumer sector in China, saw its net asset value per share ease to $0.95 at the end of September from $0.97 at the end of March.The company, which still has $6.6m of cash in the kitty, sees signs of recovery in the Chinese economy and is on the look-out for further investment opportunities. In an interview with Sharecast in October Steven Feng, chief investment officer at Yangtze Ventures, the advisory arm of the company, suggested the company would be looking at green technology, and also the consumer finance sector.