Small caps round-up: Smartfocus, Inditherm, Meridian Petroleum, Burst Media...

24th Sep 2009 08:51

Marketing software provider Smartfocus moved into the black in the six months to June 30 as big name customers such as Sony, Betfair and Virgin Games continued seeking to harness digital technology as a means to market their products.Pre-tax profits totalled £200,000, compared with a loss of £600,000 over the same period the previous year as revenue climbed to £5.6m from £5m.Heating solutions firm Inditherm swung to a loss in the first half and said it anticipates making a loss in the second half of the year. The group said first half trading levels were depressed in the face of global recessionary pressures, with turnover excluding sales to Smiths Medical, down by 32% to £555,000. The pre-tax loss came to £635,000 compared with a profit of £22,000 last time.Meridian Petroleum swung to a half-year loss in what it called a challenging trading environment with lower energy prices, particularly for US natural gas, and lower production levels. The group made a loss of $1.84m in the six month ended 30 June compared with a profit of $1.32m as revenue dropped to $3.1m from $8.7m last time.Healthcare staffing group Pinnacle failed to move into profit in the six months to July 5 as conditions remained difficult. Pre-tax losses for the period totalled £425,000 compared with £6.23m over the same period the previous year as turnover fell to £19.3m from £19.9m.Waste management group Water Hall said trading conditions remain difficult, making it difficult to predict the outcome of future trading periods.'Although there appear to be some signs of improvement in the economy, the Group's business is driven by local demand arising from the construction industry in parts of Hertfordshire and North London and not by the wider economy,' it said.Faroe Petroleum, which has an oil and gas portfolio in the Atlantic Margin, Norway and the North Sea, posted wider losses in the six months to June 30 as it continued exploration activities. Pre tax losses totalled £6.05m, compared with £2.06m over the same period the previous year as revenues climbed to £2.94m from £690,000.Stockbroker Panmure Gordon narrowed half-year losses and said it is seeing signs that the IPO pipeline is beginning to build. Net loss came to £3.7m in the six month to June compared with £19.5m last time, reflecting a reduction in restructuring charges. Net revenue increased to £28.4m, up by 23% in sterling terms.Lighting supplier FW Thorpe is to pay a special dividend of 12p per share after strong exports helped it hold steady last year, despite the difficult economic backdrop.Sales in the year to June rose by 3% to £53.4m with profits down 2% to £11.5m. Export sales rose by 22% to £11.1m (2008: £9.1m), helping operating profit to rise by 2% to £11.5m. The dividend for the year rises by 1% to 16.2p, not including the special."The company is in good shape to continue to capitalise upon the market that is there both home and abroad," Thorpe added. Osmetech has terminated its us their US distribution agreement with Fisher HealthCare, a division of Fisher Scientific Company, The deal only began in March but Osmetech now wants to build its own direct sales force in the US with the objective of targeting key molecular diagnostic testing laboratories.IT group Maxima told shareholders at its AGM that August produced the highest monthly sales bookings so far in 2009 confirming its belief that trading remains consistent with market expectations for the full year. 'We have increased our efforts in cash collection which is supporting the board's cash flow and net debt expectations for the full year,' it said.Commodity investor Commoditrade's underlying losses rose to $3m (2008: $2m) in the half year as total revenue fell to $9.6m (2008:$12.9m).Loss after including non-cash items totalling $9.3m was $12.3m (2008: $23.6m).The challenging market conditions experienced at the end of 2008, as anticipated, continued into the first half of 2009 and the tightening of liquidity in the base metals markets negatively impacted upon the first half revenues. We expect the business to benefit from more normalised market conditions in the second half of the year, it added.Online ad group Burst Media's net losses climbed to $0.7m from $0.4m in the half year to June, as total revenue fell to $12.1m (2008: $13.4m). Media revenue was flat at $10.8m, while adConductor revenue fell to $1.3m'Overall, Burst's brand and performance advertising sales strategy led to positive results for its key media businesses in the first half despite a difficult trading environment. Management believes that as the economy recovers the positive results will continue, and we look forward to the balance of 2009,' it said.