Small caps round-up: Solo Oil, British Polythene, Antrim Energy...

16th Nov 2009 10:26

Solo Oil lost almost a quarter of its value after it announced plans to raise £6.4m and said it has signed a farm-out agreement with Aminex to earn a 12.5% interest in the Likonde-1 well in Tanzania.The group has placed a total of 1,280,000,000 new ordinary shares at a placing price of 0.5 pence each. 'Likonde -1 is the first hole being drilled in one of the last unexplored major onshore basins in Africa,' said chairman David Lenigas.Heavy plastics maker British Polythene hit new highs Monday on predictions full-year results will be at the top end of expectations. "July was a much better month than in 2008. The same pattern continued into August, September and October and we are well positioned to have a much better year than in 2008," it said.Antrim Energy reported an increase in its third quarter net loss to $1.75m from $1.51m a year ago, although revenue rose to $4.24m from $3.34m a year ago. The Argentina-focused firm said average production in the country grew to 2,011 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) from 1,358 boepd in 2008.XP Power, a maker of power controllers for electrical equipment, says trading since August's interims has continued to be "resilient" and it's on track to beat last year's record annual earnings. Business has been supported by new product introductions and early signs of an improvement in demand. XP is encouraged by this trend, but remains cautious on calling a broader recovery in demand. Broadcast content provider UBC Media paid a maiden dividend of 0.102p a share after swinging to a profit of £620,000 from a loss of £2.04m the previous year. Revenues climbed to £1.935m from £1.776m.Eastern European property investor Atlas Estates posted a rise in revenues to €33.6m in the nine months to September 30 from €30m over the same period the previous year, but said losses widened to €23.6m from €7m. During the period it completed its Platinum Towers residential development in Warsaw.Shares in Lipoxen jumped after the bio-pharmaceutical company said it has signed a collaboration agreement with Russian drug group Pharmsynthez to apply its technologies to drugs for treating MS and HIV.Shares in Empyrean Energy rose after the oil and gas group said it had encountered more significant and minor fractures at its Riverbend project in Texas.Shares in Xtract Energy fell back after the energy and mineral investor posted a pre-tax loss of £22.5m in the year to June 30 from a profit of £955,000 the previous year after 'a tough period marked by financial turmoil and declining commodity prices which made for extremely challenging investment conditions.'ILX, the e-learning software provider, saw profit before tax and non-recurring items ease to £0.49m in the six moths to 30 September, from £1.07m a year earlier. One off charges rose to £0.27m from £0.13m, largely as a result of restructuring costs. Revenue dipped to £7.40m from £7.87m, as the finance training market contracted.Mobile email and data synchronisation provider Synchronica has won a contract to provide its Mobile Gateway product to 20,000 users on a West African mobile network. The contract is worth £0.2m.