Small caps round-up: Real Good Food, Griffin Mining, Probability...

26th Jan 2010 08:08

Orders from big name customers such as Marks and Spencer's and Costa Coffee has been keeping ingredients and bakery products supplier The Real Good Food Company busy.The firm has reduced bank borrowings from £29.1m to £21.3m and improved its sales performance. Strong sales have also been aided by home baking coming back into fashion, according to Real Good Food. Griffin Mining is at a two-month high after it was granted a new 16-year mining licence to dig below the 1300 level at its Caijiaying zinc-gold mine in China. 'Although a long time in the coming, the issue of the new mining licence at Caijiaying is very welcome as it allows the mining of Caijiaying to be guaranteed for the currently known mine life at zone III at a production level optimized by the company,' said chairman Mladen Ninkov. Mobile gaming software specialist Probability is trading in line with expectations following a 'very encouraging' December that saw record bets taken and net gaming revenues 30% higher than November.Net gaming revenue actually fell 8% in the third quarter to £1.14m as players cashed in their winnings in November to pay for Christmas.'We anticipate that Probability may become cash generative again as early as the Spring and we look forward with confidence to profitable future growth from the excellent prospects in our marketplace,' said boss Charles Cohen.Cashpoint advertising specialist i-design Group has seen a steady start to the new financial year after growing revenues by 14% in the year to September 2009. Last year saw an 81% increase in media sales on the back of a much larger estate of cash machines, and the board expects media sales revenues to increase again this year. Rambler Metals climbed after the gold miner said it would be investigating the resource potential of a new gold facility it has acquired in Newfoundland, Canada.Also in mining, Metals Exploration shares ticked up after the Pacific Rim-focused natural resources explorer and developer said it expects to receive an updated resource estimate for its Runruno gold and molybdenum project on the Philippine island of Luzon.Ultimate Finance, the AIM-quoted factoring, invoice discounting and financial solutions provider, says results for the six months to December are in line to meet market expectations for the full year. "Trading has been good, with demand for the company's services remaining strong. The quality of enquiries seen by the company has increased, and as such, so has the quality of the business written," it says.David Liddell has resigned as stockbroker Panmure Gordon's Chief Financial Officer, with effect from 31 March 2010, to pursue other business interests. The board will commence a formal process to appoint a new Chief Financial Officer. Liddell has been with Panmure Gordon since May 2005. Software solutions provider Corero said results for the financial year ended 31 December were in line with expectations and showed an improvement over those for 2008.Trading profit, subject to audit, is expected to be in excess of £300,000, reversing the declared trading loss for the six month period ended 30 June 2009 of £180,000. Shares in Eleco dropped after the construction components and software group said it expects to report an operating loss for the first half.600 Group said conditions in certain of its markets remained difficult during the period from 27 September to 25 January but added that positive signs of recovery continued within its machine tools and laser markets, particularly in North America.