Small caps round-up: Northacre, Lipoxen, Acal ...

29th Nov 2010 14:36

Property developer Northacre said the residential property sector is still suffering from a shortage in bank finance which is limiting the pipeline of new development opportunities.The company narrowed its loss before taxation in the six months ended 31 August to £1.26m from £1.98m at the interim stage last year. Group revenue edged up to £2.99m from £2.82m the year before.Bio-pharmaceutical company Lipoxen said its collaboration partner, Pharmsynthez, is now listed on the Moscow Central Stock Exchange in a flotation that has raised funds that will be used to accelerate growth. Lipoxen has six projects, three PolyXen and three ImuXen candidates, currently in pre-clinical co-development with Pharmsynthez.Component distributor Acal's ongoing revenue rose by 78% to £127.3m in the half-year to September, with like-for-like sales up 25.5%. Underlying profit before tax was £2.6m, against a loss of £2m, with pre-tax losses of £0.4m. The interim dividend is maintained at 2.33p per share "Trading since the half year remains encouraging. The Electronics division continues to perform strongly with sales growth in October and November of around 20% and a continuing positive book to bill ratio, indicating continued future growth," Acal added.CCTV supplier Croma's sales improved comfortably during the year to June reaching over £7m against £6.52m for 2009. Due to lower finance charges, the pre-tax profit for the year was over £90k against the prior year at £12,000.Internet hosting group Iomart's interim profits to September rose to £1.16m from £0.52m including an exceptional net gain of £0.9m arising from the renegotiation of deferred consideration payable. Revenue rose to £11.4m from £8.4m."Trading in the second half is progressing well with our pipeline of new business continuing to strengthen," it added. " We are in a market set to grow significantly over the next few years and with a strong asset base and the expertise to deliver a complex set of cloud services, we expect to continue the growth we have enjoyed recently." Media software house Pilat's third quarter profits fell to £53,000 from £1.13m after exchange rate movements and costs setting up a new development centre in the Ukraine. Revenues over the three months rose 8.7% to £5.25m. Nine month revenues rose 19% to £15.7m with a profit of £1.42m against losses of £379,000.The new centre in Ukraine will lower the average cost of software developers and improve gross profit, Pilat said, adding a full year's benefit of this lower cost resourcing initiative will be realised from 2011 onwards.German property group Speymill's property valuation at end June showed a 4.9% or €70.0m for the year, on a like-for-like basis. Whilst it is disappointing that this downward trend has continued during the year, when compared against other European countries, Germany's residential real estate sector still shows signs of resilience and real growth prospects. Reported NAV fell to €0.34 from €0.74.At the time of writing, discussions are ongoing in relation to the interested parties, with the Board's preferred outcome being an injection of fresh capital, and possibly additional resources and expertise in property asset management. Agriterra posted higher revenues in the year to May 31, but losses also swelled as the African agricultural group suffered a delay in the start of milling operations and was hit by low demand for meal products. Pre-tax losses totalled $3.9m, up from $171,000 the previous year, while revenues climbed to $8.8m from $4.9m. 'Since the year end, the situation has greatly improved particularly with regards to pricing and we have made substantial progress in all areas of the business,' the company said.Investors had a strong appetite for shares in China Food Company after it announced that its new soy sauce factory in Shou Guang City it about five weeks ahead of schedule, with more than 50 silos filled for fermentation.Bottling is expected to begin next month, with capacity at the facility to be ramped up in months ahead.A major gas discovery in Mozambique has fuelled a sharp rise in the share price of Cove Energy.Drilling at the Lagosta discovery well, in which Cove has an 8.5% working interest, encountered a total of more than 550 feet of natural gas.Mobile data solutions company Crimson Tide has jumped after receiving an order from Manchester City Council for its advanced mpro mobile data solution, which will be used to deal with registrations and payments for use of leisure centres and parks.Car dealer Cambria Automobiles more than doubled underlying profit before tax in the year to 31 August from £2m to £4.2m on turnover up 53% to £392.1m, or 41% on a like for like basis."Current trading is resilient and in line with the board's expectations," chief executive Mark Lavery said.Malaysia-based gold explorer and producer Peninsular Gold made its maiden profit in the year to 30 June, with post-tax income of £0.24m compared with a loss of £4.79m the year before. Revenue surged to £10.07m from £2.61m the year before from unhedged gold sales.International investment firm Gartmore Global Trust saw its net asset value (NAV) per share rise 9.5% in the three months to 31 October to 345.3p, ahead of the 7.2% increase in the index it uses as a means of benchmarking its performance.The company said that it has been unaffected by the recent turmoil at Gartmore, its investment manager, but the board continues to monitor the situation and to assess what actions it might need to take should the circumstances change.