Small caps round-up: Share, Jetion Solar, Futura Medical...

2nd Mar 2010 12:38

Share, parent company of retail stockbroker The Share Centre, lifted profits last year to £2.35m from £1.46m on turnover of £14.1m, up from £12m.There was a significant increase in retail investor activity - especially online with deal volumes up by 75% on 2008, Share said. The interim dividend is 0.25p per share, up 14%.Solar cells manufacturer Jetion Solar has bought out the minority stake in its European marketing joint venture. The consideration will be satisfied by the issue of 1.132m new shares.Sexual dysfunction treatment specialist Futura Medical's loss last year declined slightly to £1.39m (2008: £1.93m). The group added "CSD500 (condom safety device) is moving ever closer to launch, and we share our commercial partner's belief that it is destined to become a highly successful product. With an appropriate commercial agreement, PET500 9 premature ejaculation) could be launched in the USA in the foreseeable future giving Futura the potential to have two products in the market generating revenue" it added.Internet telephony group Coms generated unaudited revenues for the year to January of £3.23m, an increase of 33% on the previous year. The company will still report a loss for the period but for the first time the company was profitable in the month of January, it said.Shares in drug discovery technology and information company Cyprotex jumped after it said it has received a 'highly preliminary and unsolicited approach regarding a potential offer'.TV and Radio advertising distributor Independent Media Distribution has strengthened its position in Ireland with the acquisition of the remaining 50% of IMD Adsat that it doesn't already own. IMD Adsat distributes finished TV commercials to broadcasters in Ireland and has more than 50% of the market.Water treatment group Hydro Group saw profit before tax diluted to £1.8m in 2009 from £2.7m in 2008, as revenue dipped to £27.3m from £30m.The group said its business continued to be affected by the slowdown in housebuilding and commercial and industrial site development, but the group is seeing signs of stabilisation in the residential housing and commercial construction sectors.The final dividend has been maintained at 3p. The net asset value of intellectual property commercialisation specialist IP Group remained relatively stable in 2009, dipping to £171m at the end of the year from £173.8m at the end of 2008.Chief executive officer Alan Aubrey said the funding environment for early stage businesses remains constrained.The company saw its loss before tax in 2009 narrow to £6.5m from £40.5m in 2008 as the size of the write-down in the fair value of its equity and debt investments narrowed dramatically to £1.4m from £35.5m the year before.Oak Holdings shares lost a fifth of their value Tuesday as the leisure business operator raised £1.5m through a placing of shares at 5p each, less than half the mid-market price of the shares on the day before the share issue was announced.Directors of the group have spent in aggregate around £0.55m to buy the heavily discounted shares.