Small caps round-up: Sirius, Catalyst Media, Globus Maritime...

2nd Dec 2009 07:59

Sirius Petroleum has raised £1.1m through a placing at 6p to cover the costs of due diligence on an as yet unnamed acquisition target and to provide working capital. The fund raising is part of Sirus's strategy to neter joint venture partnerships on marginal fields.Shares in Catalyst Media jumped after the investor in betting technology posted a nearly ten-fold rise in profits.Catalyst, which owns a 20.54% stake in Satellite Information Services, a provider of live television pictures, data display systems and broadcast services to bookmakers, posted a pre-tax profit of £1.02m in the six months to September 30, compared with £103,000 the previous month. Marine transportation group Globus Maritime has reached an agreement to sell two Handymax bulk carriers to an unnamed new owner for a total of $34m. Globus described the sales as part of its fleet renewal programme and said it intends to use the money to repay debt and strengthen liquidity.Shares in gold miner Leyshon Resources jumped after it said it had sold its Zheng Guang gold project in China ahead of schedule.It now has over US$44 in cash.Berkeley Resources reports that a scoping study has confirmed the "outstanding potential" of the Salamanca uranium project in Spain.Permitting timelines indicate that Berkeley's objectives to re-commission production by 2012 are achievable.China-focused content management group Geong posted a 26% rise in revenues to £6.5m in the six months to September 30 as growth continued in the east Asian economic powerhouse.Pre-tax profits were up by 179% to £1.08m, but chief executive Wang Weidong said: 'Whilst we are delighted with our exceptionally strong interim results we would like to stress that at this stage we foresee our full year results being in line with market forecasts.'Blue collar recruitment group Staffline has acquired training group Peter Rowley for £1m.CD and DVD cases maker Coral Products said it expects the increase in sales seen in recent months to continue for the rest of the financial year. Turnover in the six months to 31 October fell to £6.65m from £7.78m a year earlier, while loss before tax narrowed to £0.19m from £0.79m.'Our objective remains to focus on the delivery of higher-margin products and to increase shareholder value in what is likely to remain a challenging marketplace,' said company chairman Geoffrey Piper.Marketing software firm smartFocus has bagged gaming giant Rank as a customer for its Intelligent Marketing software. Financial details were not disclosed. Zafarullah (Zafar) Karim, chief financial officer of global payments provider Earthport, has been made an executive director of the company. 'Over the past months Zafar has been key in strengthening the financial function within the company,' said chief executive officer, James Bergman.