Small caps round-up: Sinosoft, Shanta Gold, Avingtrans...

9th Sep 2009 09:41

China-based software and IT company Sinosoft has surged close to a 12-month high on news it has won four tenders for its e-government services worth about £444,000.Sinosoft will install systems to help standardise procedures within local government departments in Jiangsu province in areas such as housing and business licence applications and building permits. 'Following the announcement of a stimulus package in early 2009, it is very pleasing to see that investment in e-government software is beginning to pick up,' said chief executive Ms Xin. Shanta Gold raced ahead after it identified additional gold bearing targets and extensions to known mineralisation on Prospecting Licence (PL) 2787/2004 in the Chunya Project area, southern Tanzania.The miner said excellent results from the first stage of its 2009 exploration programme at Chunya, focused on known ore bodies and new targets, suggests that the extent of mineralisation on the PL and incorporated Primary Mining Licences will be increased 'significantly'.Engineer Avingtrans has kept its recent rally intact following in line full year results and an upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' by broker KBC Peel Hunt.Profit before tax adjusted to add back amortisation rose to £2m in the 12 months ended 31 May from £1.8m last year. Turnover was up 8.9% to £37.6m.Chairman Roger McDowell was pleased with the numbers, but cautioned that trading conditions will remain tough for the foreseeable future.KBC said: 'Action taken on costs will ensure a stronger platform once the economic recovery materialises.' It raised its target price to 60p from 55p.Shares in Uruguay Mineral moved higher even after the gold miner announced production of 13,173 ounces of the yellow metal, slightly below its target of 13,655 ounces.Also in South American mining, shares in Chilean miner Herencia Resources gained 30% after the firm was given permission to mine at an additional 10 locations on its Paguanta zinc-silver-lead-gold project in the north of the country.REIT A&J Mucklow held its dividend last year despite another big loss on its property portfolio. Losses for the year to June hit £52m, compared with a pre-tax loss of £26.7m, after a £64.2m write down. Basic NAV fell to 266p from 371p.'Mucklow remains very well positioned to ride out these turbulent times and benefit from the distressed market,' it said. The dividend is unchanged at 17.68p.Newmark Security's sales for the first four months of this year overall were 5% ahead of last year and it still expects the operating profits for this financial year to be satisfactory, it told shareholders at its AGM.Sales in the electronic division for the first four months were nearly 9%ahead of the same period last year, which was largely due to a substantial recovery of sales in Grosvenor Technology's OEM division. Sales in the asset protection division for the first four months are in line with last year.One-off reorganisation costs of £1.35m saw pre-tax profits collapse at surveillance technology supplier Quadnetics in the year to the end of May. Profit before tax slumped to £0.47m from £4.39m a year earlier on revenue that declined to £70.66m from £79.17m.Despite the reduced profits the company is proposing a final dividend of 4.5p, down from 7p last year.Workforce supply scheduling company Allocate Software said it had 14 contract wins in the three months to the end of August. The company, formerly known as Manpower Software, said the contract wins included orders for MAPS Healthroster software from 10 National Health Service Trusts.IT consultancy group Tikit said first half profits were below expectations but is expecting a stronger second half based on a reduced cost base and the feeding through of contract wins that had been expected to close in the first half of the year.Group revenues fell 4% to £13.06m in the six months to June 30 from £13.64m in the first half of 2008. Profit before tax dipped to £0.93m from £1.56m. The interim dividend has been maintained at 1.9p.