Small Caps round-up - M J Gleeson, Off-Plan Fund, Red Leopard...

26th Oct 2009 11:42

Urban regeneration and strategic land specialist M J Gleeson has named Jolyon Harrison as the managing director of its Gleeson Regeneration & Homes division.Harrison, 61, who's spent 40 years in the house building business in the North of England, will replace Colin Rossiter on 2 November.He bought 1m Gleeson shares, or 1.9% of the business, in June.The Off-Plan Fund, which buys UK residential properties off-plan to either sell on or rent out, is returning £3.9m to members and winding down its activities.It proposes that shareholders redeem one participating share for every two shares held at 70p. The group is seeking offers for the remaining properties.Red Leopard has responded to a jump in its share price by confirming speculation regarding the possible acquisition of a residential property-related business. "The company can confirm that it continues to look at various opportunities in the leisure and hospitality market as well as property-related businesses but any transaction or transactions remain at a preliminary stage and no formal agreements or contracts have been entered into," read a short statement.Emulsion fuel producer Quadrise Fuels narrowed its loss after tax to £4.97m in the year ended 30 June versus £22.46m a year earlier. Chief executive Bill Howe said 2010 will be "a watershed year for the company", with negotiations for implementation of the first Multiphase Superfine Atomised Residue (MSAR) project at Mazeikiai in Lithuania."Despite delays arising from energy price volatility and the current economic climate, we hope for a positive outcome on this matter during the first half of 2010," Howe said.African Aura, the miner focused on sub-Saharan Africa, says its Putu iron ore project in Liberia has an Independent Mineral Resource of 1.08 billion tonnes of iron ore at 37.6% total iron.Its 61.5% project partner Severstal Resources is investing $30m and working with the company towards a pre-feasibility study during 2010.A separate statement said the firm's main shareholder and director Guy Pas bought 50,000 shares, increasing his stake to 9.57%. He'd bought 560,250 shares at 61.5p each on 20 October. Shares in Europa Oil & Gas jumped after the firm said the opportunity to drill its Hykeham-1 exploration well near Lincoln had arisen earlier than expected.The well is expected to be completed by early December, the firm said.Shares in Volga Gas edged up after it announced that drilling at its Grafovskaya #1 well in the Saratov region of Russia is progressing ahead of schedule. Avanti Communications announced a contract win and major strategic partnership with Hughes Network Systems. The group said Hughes purchased capacity and managed services using Avanti's Virtual Network Operator service on HYLAS over a ten year period to an initial value of £7.5m in order to continue to grow its own established European networks business with clients in sectors such as oil and gas and lotteries.Superconductor energy technology company Zenergy has received a further order for a Magnetic Billet Heater (MBH) from a major industrial producer of metal goods. The MBH is a low-energy high-productivity superconductor induction heater.