The university commercialisation company said that the money from the grant will enable Fault Current to develop and test its next-generation fault current limiter for sale to distribution network operators and renewable energy generators.

Fault Current has devised a unique magnetic fault current limiter design that protects utility electrical distribution networks from unanticipated power surges. Fusion IP said there is a growing need for fault current limiters as energy demand increases and more clean energy sources, such as wind and solar, are added to an ageing and already overburdened national electrical infrastructure.

Unlike competing faults current limiters currently in service, Fault Current’s unique solution is designed to be a completely passive, 'fit and forget' permanent magnet device, that requires no external power or back-up, and which will recover automatically when a fault is cleared.

“This is a great example of a brilliantly simple idea being turned into a potentially world class product,” said Peter Grant, Operations director of Fusion IP.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

It is issuing 6.6 million shares at a penny each, raising £50,000 in cash, and it will use the proceeds to settle £16,000 worth of loans, the firm said.

Earlier this month, the group bolstered its board with the signing of Kevin Everett as a non-executive director.

Everett is currently treasurer and chairman of the Sir John Cass Foundation, one of London’s oldest education charities. During his 23-year tenure he led the restructuring of the foundation, increasing its assets from £16mln to £120mln and boosting its grant capacity and benefit from just £300,000 to more than £5mln.

Security specialist Westminster Group (LON:WSG) sees exciting momentum ahead as it continues to expand its global reach.

The firm is delivering on its vision, has a solid order book, growing recurring revenues, improving gross margins and clear strategic goals, it said, announcing its 2012 results.

As reported earlier this year, Westminster reorganised its business to form two new divisions: managed services and technology.

The managed services arm concentrates on long term contracts such as security in airports, while the technology division will focus on sales of tech led options involving surveillance and interception.

Chief executive Peter Fowler told investors: "We have a truly global footprint with representation in 48 countries; we have a track record of successfully delivering complex security solutions around the world, an increasing number of which are multi-million pound in value; an example of which is the 15 year airport security contract we announced in February 2012 with a potential value in excess US$150mln over the first 8 years of the contract alone."

In addition, the firm is currently negotiating a number of similar long term recurring revenue contracts and earlier this month said discussions about a further security service contract for an airport in East Africa were at an "advanced stage".

Contracts won in 2012 in the Middle East include electronics countermeasures system for police, airport security screening and surveillance equipment.

In the year to Dec 31, the firm said its sales pipeline grew by 123% to £783mln, while revenues came in at £9.46mln (2011: £10.07mln).

The firm reported an operating loss of £1.21mln (2011: loss of £1.63mln).

In April this year, the company agreed an equity financing facility (EFF) with Darwin Strategic, providing it with a facility of up to £5mln that can be drawn down at any time over the next three years, when it chooses.

Fowler added: "The strength of the Westminster brand globally is testament to the successfully executed contracts to date and the quality of the Westminster team and agent network. The momentum in the business is very exciting and puts Westminster in a very strong position for 2013 and beyond."

Cogent Technology will manufacture the Parsortix automated machine, while the Parsortix cassette will continue to be produced by specialist nano-manufacturer thinXXS.

Parsortix is a non-invasive device used to capture and identify circulating tumour circulating cells (CTCs), which the company believes has the potential to change the way cancer is identified and treated.

The automated machine to be built by Cogent can be configured either for the counting and identification of CTCs in the blood, or for the capture and harvesting of the CTCs from the blood for further molecular analysis.

Using a specialist manufacturer will enable it to increase manufacturing volumes to meet expected demand, initially for the research market and then for the clinical market, ANGLE said.

Cogent will provide the necessary quality assurance methods for electro-mechanical products destined for critical markets such as healthcare, it added.

Andrew Newland, ANGLE's founder and chief executive, said the appointment of a specialist, larger scale manufacturer with the necessary quality systems would help it meet the substantial market demand expected in the future.

"We have already initiated the roll out of Parsortix into the research market and look forward to continuing the roll out into the clinical market once regulatory authorisations have been received."

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

Digital media company Milestone (LON:MSG) has bolstered its board with the signing of Kevin Everett as a non-executive director.

Everett is currently treasurer and chairman of the Sir John Cass Foundation, one of London’s oldest education charities. During his 23-year tenure, he has led the restructuring of the foundation, increasing its assets from £16mln to £120mln and boosting its grant capacity and benefit from just £300,000 to more than £5mln.

“We are pleased that Kevin is joining the board at Milestone Group,” said chief executive Deborah White.

“The company has recently launched the first stages of the Passion Project, a social engagement project aimed at helping to match young people’s skills and passions with real training and employment opportunities.

“Adding Kevin's experiences, expertise and skills from the commercial, public and third sector to the existing team will ensure that the company delivers shareholder value as well as creating a positive social impact.”

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

---Adds share price and broker comment---

ANGLE (LON:AGL) described the sales prospects for its Parsortix cancer diagnostic device as "significant", as it has now automated its cell harvesting function.

As revealed in January this year, the medical technology firm, having proved its ability to capture and count very rare circulating tumour cells (CTCs) in the blood, had also developed a process for recovering captured cells from the Parsortix cassette for analysis.

This means the system now has the potential to provide a form of "liquid biopsy" for analysis.

Having established the technique manually, the firm can now harvest the cells using a new software control process, it said.

"This opens the way for the cells to be analysed to identify the specific mutations of the individual patient's cancer using a wide range of genetic and molecular techniques," said the company in a statement.

In turn, this then offers the prospect of personalised medicine with treatment specifically to address the individual's own cancer with better outcomes and lower costs, it added.

ANGLE's founder and chief executive Andrew Newland told investors: "We have seen widespread demand from researchers and clinicians for CTCs to be made available in a test tube after isolation from blood.

"It is testimony to the versatility of our separation technology that we have been able to introduce and automate this capability in such a short time.  The consequent prospects for our Parsortix sales are significant."

House broker Cenkos said it was an "important " milestone for the firm as it provided key differentiation to major competitors.

"We await further newsflow surrounding further important milestones, but see this announcement as further evidence of the company's ability to successfully deliver rapidly and successfully on milestones," it said, repeating a 'buy' recommendation.

Shares in the firm advanced 20% on Monday to stand at 54p each. Cenkos has a fair value for the shares of 200p each.

The private placement is part of the acquisition funding of $18.5 million at an issue price of $0.32 from that Hughes raised to buy Reichdrill Inc and new production rigs to respond to increasing production drilling demand.

The purchase price included of US$8.9 million comprised US$5.2 million payable to the seller as well as US$2.5 million applied to pay out existing debt and US$1.2 million to be paid as deferred consideration.

The acquisition is expected to be earnings accretive on a normalised 12 month basis and after the accounting elimination of profits on sales by Reichdrill to Hughes.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China. 

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

NGLE (LON:AGL) may receive European regulatory approval for its Parsortix cancer screening device by the end of the year, according to the company appointed to oversee the process.

Medical Device Management (MDM), a specialist in regulatory submissions of medical devices, will manage the approval process for the clinical use of Parsortix.

In the European Union, marketing authorisation will be via a CE Mark, which will give approval for clinical sales throughout the EU.

In the US, the process will involve a submission of a 510(k) application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Authorisation under 510(k) will allow the company to make the product available throughout the US for use in treating patients.

MDM's initial analysis agrees with ANGLE’s expectation of regulatory authorisation in the EU by the end of the current calendar year and a submission to the FDA in the US in early 2014.

ANGLE added it has had a stream of potential users expressing interest in the product, particularly in its harvesting capability.

Parsortix is a non-invasive device used to capture and identify circulating tumour circulating cells and has the potential to transform the way the disease is identified and treated.

Major hospitals, leading research groups and several commercial companies from the UK, US, Canada and Australia have already expressed interest, ANGLE said.

Andrew Newland, chief executive, said: "We are very pleased to have put in place a plan for securing regulatory authorisations in Europe and the United States.

"MDM are experts in this field and it is reassuring that they have expressed confidence in our ability to secure the authorisations needed to enter the multi-billion dollar market for the clinical use of our cell separating technology."

MDM has a client base that ranges from small innovative companies to international medical devices businesses.

Shares rose just over 2% to 49.5p on the day of the announcement.

AIM-listed security systems group Westminster (LON:WSG) has agreed a strategically important equity financing facility (EFF) with Henderson subsidiary Darwin Strategic to give it more flexibility in its financing.

Westminster, which has been a stellar performer with its share price reaching new highs recently, considers the EFF gives greater choice in its future development plans.

The EFF agreement provides Westminster with a facility of up to £5mln that can be drawn down at any time over the next three years, when it chooses.

Peter Fowler, Westminster’s chief executive, said: “One of the key benefits of the Darwin facility is that we remain at all times in complete control over the pricing and timing of any issue of equity.

“The facility, which can be used entirely at our own discretion, de-risks our future financing requirements.”

Fowler added: "We are delighted to receive further institutional support from Darwin and the fund management team at Henderson Volantis.

“This new £5 million facility provides Westminster with access to efficient, cost effective financing as required."

The additional funding will underpin the roll-out of further major projects, similar to the recently announced airport security project, said the company.

Westminster Group supplies security, defence, fire protection and safety products and systems worldwide.

Shares today were 42p and have more than doubled over the past twelve months.

Fusion IP (LON:FIP), the firm that commercialises hi-tech ideas spun out of Britain’s universities, has just released interim figures, but they already feel like yesterday’s news.

The report covers the six months until the end of January, but since then Fusion has moved on, having raised £20mln in new funds and begun new partnerships with Nottingham and Swansea universities.

The company is now aiming to ramp up the number of companies it creates with its four university partners dramatically over the remainder of the year.

“The £20mln will allow us to fund the current portfolio but will also allow us to fund spin outs from our new university partners and current university partners, so we should see quite a significant increase in the number of companies we are spinning out,” says chief executive David Baynes.

“But we'll also probably see an increase in the amount of money we are putting into our current portfolio because, clearly, we are better financially armed.”

In the past, the company has tried to spin out two companies a year but now aims to double this to four, if not more.

“In the short term it may be more than [four],” says Baynes, “because when we first engage our university partners they tend to have a backlog of projects - so it's exciting times”.

With a portfolio that now includes 23 firms, speculation is building that it could soon be time to sell some off, with the potential for some very significant returns.

Last year Fusion sold SIMCYP for £6.4mln on an investment of just £20,000.

The broker Cenkos has been running the rule over several companies in Fusion’s portfolio and thinks the firm could cash out on a number of the projects in the next 18-to-36 months, either through stock market flotations or trade sales.

Baynes says this conclusion is a reasonable one.

However, he adds that time horizon means plans are not yet under way to sell as he would anticipate wrapping any deals up “rather more quickly than that”.

“We have about 10 [companies] in the strongest grouping and I think what we've seen is …they’re getting stronger and getting more mature and certainly in the sort of timescales you're talking about it is realistic to expect floats and additional sales,” he told Proactive Investors.

He points out there is a very practical reason for this.

“We always said we wanted more [relationships with] universities and that's because you need enough new universities so that you’re getting enough new companies at one end, so later down the track you're getting a sale every year, which is where you probably want to be getting to,” he says.

So Fusion has to hope the good ideas keep being churned out by British academics.

Baynes has every faith the gems will keep coming.

“As a country we are extremely good at it and we've always have been,” he says.

“There's a report we saw from a Japanese think-tank that looked back over the last 30 years and it looked at the best 100 ideas that had been created over that 30 years and 40 out of 100 came from Britain.”

Instead, his concern is what happens to these ideas when they emerge.

“We're outstanding at this, what we haven’t always been so outstanding at is making economic benefit out of it,” Baynes says.

“All these great idea have come from Britain are often owned and commercialised in America, Japan and China and everywhere else."

The period following the results, which cover the six months to the end of January, has seen Fusion raise £20mln in new funds, and start new university partnerships with Nottingham and Swansea.

“Our portfolio continues to gather strength and we expect a number of new companies to be created over the course of 2013," said chief executive David Baynes.

"This is an exciting time for our company and we very much look forward to the future and to working with our university partners.”

Fusion said many of its portfolio companies were now well funded but cautioned only limited uplifts were expected in the second half of the year as net asset value was based primarily on the last funding round.

However, the directors believe that a number of companies are increasing in value, which would be reflected in results in the longer term.

Cash and deposit balances of the group at the end of January were £4.1mln, down from £5.9mln at the end of July.

The group’s reported loss from operating activities for the period increased to £1.9mln, compared to a loss of £1.8mln for the six months ended 31 January 2012.

The movement in reported losses mainly arose from additional spin-out expenses due to new subsidiary companies.

Revenue and portfolio returns in the first half of the year showed revenue and portfolio return of £307,000, down from £376,000 the previous year.

PH Therapeutics is a new company that has been formed under Fusion’s exclusive agreement with the University of Sheffield.

The company has been founded on the research of Dr Allan Lawrie from the Department of Cardiovascular Science, and aims to develop biologic treatments for the rare disease Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH).

PAH is caused by the thickening of the walls in arteries that take blood from the heart to the lungs, making it harder for blood to flow through them resulting in high blood pressure.

Current therapies only attempt to alleviate the symptoms of this disease through relaxing the vessels, but PH Therapeutics is developing therapies that specifically target molecules thought to be responsible for cell wall thickening. This may lead to control, and importantly reversal of the disease.

PH Therapeutics founder, Dr Allan Lawrie, said: "Although several treatments exist for treating the symptoms of PAH, these have not been shown to be as effective as hoped for patients suffering from this life-threatening disease.”

PAH affects around 1 in 5,000 people in the European Union and is classed as an orphan disease – a disease that has not been addressed by the pharmaceutical industry because it offers insufficient material reward for the big players. Orphan drugs have an easier route to market in the US and the EU.

Peter Grant, Operations Director of Fusion IP, commented: "This is another example of commercialisation of IP for an orphan or rare disease with the potential of bringing real benefits to patients".

In accordance with its agreement with the University of Sheffield, Fusion will start with a 60% shareholding in PH Therapeutics Ltd.

The broker has been running the rule over several companies in Fusion’s portfolio and has been suitably impressed by the quality and calibre of the businesses, several of which are already at the commercialisation/revenue stage.

From the outside, it appears to Cenkos that Fusion IP (FIP) is looking to cash out on a number of these in the next 18 to 36 months, either through stock market flotations or trade sales. The returns could be very significant, the broker reckons.

“We would characterise FIP in the same league as Imperial Innovations and IP Group – however, one obvious difference to us is that FIP has fewer invested companies in its portfolio, with a greater degree of focus – which given the calibre of companies it has in its stable justifies a significant fair value uplift,” argues Dr Navid Malik, head of Life Sciences Research at Cenkos.

One thing that looks to be playing in Fusion IP’s favour is the introduction this month of the “patent box”, which will see the rate of corporation tax cut to just 10% for any income that is derived from patents based in the UK.

“FIP and its investee companies have the majority of their intellectual property based in the UK and FIP is effectively a low cost semi-virtual business with low overheads and a small commitment to maintaining intellectual property, which will reap the rewards of this low tax environment.

“The UK patent box is, we believe, a very generous tax rate which is chargeable on UK patent royalty income. Fusion IP and investee companies are in a strong position to take advantage of this important change in tax legislation because the vast majority of its future income is expected to be derived from patent based royalties,” Cenkos notes.

Cenkos has kicked off its coverage of Fusion with a ‘buy’ rating.

Proactive Investors Australia is the market leader in producing news, articles and research reports on ASX “Small and Mid-cap” stocks with distribution in Australia, UK, North America and Hong Kong / China.

The appointment follows the departure of Mike Bennett, who has left the group “to concentrate his efforts on other business interests”.

Groucutt has 14 years' experience in digital media and was formerly creative director for Crystal CG International and before that held the same role JPMH.

An award winning animation director, he has worked on digital commissions for the London Olympics and Paralympics.

Milestone chief executive Deborah White said: "It is a pleasure to welcome Darren to the team to lead Oil Productions.

“He brings a wealth of experience in driving business, managing teams, creating exciting concepts and delivering projects.

"We are delighted that Darren has joined Oil at this key stage to take the company forward and assist in the delivery of Milestone's Passion Project."