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Altitude finds the clouds, Angel spreads its wings and Rockhopper Exploration explores further wells

Last updated: 00:04 17 Aug 2011 AEST, First published: 23:04 16 Aug 2011 AEST

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Small Cap Wrap will be on holiday for the 23rd and the 30th of August. Back on 6th September after the holidays.

Having touched 4,900 early on Tuesday, the FTSE 100 made a recovery to close the week where it opened at 5,300 points. Similarly, the AIM ALL Share recovered to close slightly ahead of where it started the week, having suffered drops midweek too. Global market woes continued on the back of the global debt crisis and economic growth announcements by France and Greece, which came in at 0 per cent and a shrinking of 6.9 per cent for the second quarter respectively. Looking ahead, the rest of the week sees inflation, unemployment claims figures and retail sales being announced by the BoE.   

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Altitude Group (LON:ALT)

Altitude this week provided a trading update along with notice of its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2011. Following the disposal of the promotional products division in June, Altitude is now a pure provider of information and technology services to the promotional products industry, under the Trade Only brand. The Company’s primary focus is now on the launch of its integrated cloud-based business management system, scheduled for the last quarter of 2011 in both the US and UK. It also confirmed that the Company continues to grow and develop in line with management’s expectations.

Allocate Software (LON:ALL)

Allocate Software, the leading provider of workforce and compliance optimisation solutions, announced last week that it had acquired Zircadian Holdings, the UK based SaaS provider of software used to plan the rotas of junior doctors and consultants in the NHS. Its products are used by 142 healthcare organisations in the UK and are complementary to Allocate’s existing nurse rostering software, HealthRoster. The total consideration is up to £7m structured as an initial payment of £5.5m and two further payments, subject to certain conditions, totalling £1.5m. The acquisition, the sixth by the Company, is expected by the directors to be earnings enhancing in the first full financial year of ownership by the Company.

Angel Mining (LON:ANGM)

Angel Mining has confirmed its first completed gold sale. Last week the Company sent a shipment of 5 dore bars weighing 11.5 kilograms from Nalunaq to Switzerland for refining. The initial x-ray assay estimates the gold and silver content to be 9.93 kilograms (87 per cent) and 1.0 kilograms (9 per cent) respectively. The final assay results are expected in a few days. In anticipation, the Company has sold 300 ounces, worth $530,000 to Auramet Trading. Further to this initial good news the Company announced that it is building up its production capability. Angel Mining is looking to operate close to optimal efficiency through the purchase of a new atomic absorption machine, which is expected to be delivered by mid-September.  This will enable the Company to produce 2,000 ounces of gold per month by early 2012. This will provide the Company with cash flow which will be partly allocated to funding Angel Mining’s Black Angel project, a three phase process aimed at extracted high grade zinc/lead based around a previously developed mine in the north of Greenland. The Company also plans to allocate the funding to further explore Nalunaq and to reduce its debt burden. 

Avacta (LON:AVCT

Leading provider of analytical and diagnostic technologies and services to the pharmaceutical and animal healthcare sectors last week announced a trading update for the six month period to 31 July 2011. Underlying revenues have grown and operating losses have been reduced significantly; both are in line with market forecasts.  Avacta Analytical’s commercial partnerships are progressing well. The Company now has commercial agreements in place, to sell Optim, with Pall Corporation in North America; Isogen Life Sciences in mainland Europe; DKSH in Japan and Cold Spring Biotech in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The Company has exceeded market expectations for sales of its Optim protein analysis system with 14 systems ordered during the year. The Company already has orders for the new financial year and an encouraging pipeline of high quality sales leads in place.  Management hopes that these partnerships will lead to a growth in sales going forward.  At Avacta Animal Health, the previously announced issues with the manufacture and injection moulding of the AX-1 disposable cartridges that have delayed product roll-out are now resolved. The Company is now building stock of the new cartridges and AX-1 units and will be supplying the AX-1 point-of-care diagnostic system to customers later in 2011. Avacta announced two new appointments at Avacta Animal Health; Ged Holmes has been appointed Chief Executive Officer and Professor Andy Peters as consultant to the Company. 

Beacon Hill Resources (LON:BHR)

Beacon Hill has announced an update on recent developments with respect to logistics at its Minas Moatize mine in the Tete region of Mozambique. The Company has recently completed a trial trucking of coal from the Minas Moatize mine to the port of Beira, ready for the Company’s maiden export shipment for the end of this year. The trucking is anticipated to be capable of transporting 0.5 Mtpa of coal to the Beira port. The Company is also in talks with the Sena Rail Line which will enable them to transport six million tonnes of coal per annum. This has been identified as a long-term solution for the Company. These are positive developments in terms of transport as it allows Beacon Hill to be independent in its transport facilitations rather than dependent on third part infrastructure. 

Last week, the Company announced that its exclusivity agreement with Global Minerals & Metals Pte Limited for the acquisition of License 1165L in the Moatize coal basin in Northern Mozambique had been extended for a further 60 days to 3rd October 2011, though the acquisition is an opportunity for the Company to “significantly expand” the Company’s acreage and resource base. The delay, though unavoidable, is a chance for the Company to conduct further due diligence on the property, including a small drill programme. With sound progress in terms of transport logistics, we look forward further announcements surrounding the acquisition of License 1165L.

Beowulf Mining (LON:BEM

Beowulf Mining has announced updates on its wholly-owned Kallak Iron Ore Project in Sweden. The Company has confirmed completion of drilling at the Kallak South drilling programme revealing the presence of more than 400 Mt of iron ore. Moreover, the drilling programme has confirmed that the magnetite iron mineralisation extends for 2,2000 m in the north-south direction and mineralised E-W cross sections of more than 200m in width that extend to depths of more than 275m. Assay results conducted for the Kallak South mine confirm the presence of high grade iron mineralisation at over 30 per cent iron over significant widths. A further drilling programme is also underway in Kallak North. The Company is hoping to complete maiden inferred resource estimates for both Kallak deposits by the end of the year to reveal that the deposits form a single large iron ore deposit which is believed to extend 4 km in length.

Bloomsbury Publishing (LON:BMY

Last week, Bloomsbury announced it has reached an agreement with the Practical Law Company, the leading provider of legal know-how, transactional analysis and market intelligence for lawyers, to license Bloomsbury law content. The deal will provide a direct route for the Group’s data to the desk tops of all major law firms and corporate and public sector legal departments dealing with English or Scots law. 

Bloomsbury’s recent reorganisation, One Global Bloomsbury, has now been delivered. Effective from March this year, and aligning the business by service divisions as opposed to geographic territories, the reorganisation has brought the company closer together with a global vision and global book acquisition. This has resulted in a more integrated approach to sales and marketing, and fits well with the increasing globalisation of the publishing business and the growing demand for digital content. Across the trade division the Company has enjoyed some notable recent successes including the winner of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, Mao’s Great Famine by Frank Dikötter, and the inclusion on the Man Booker Prize Longlist for Pigeon English by Stephen Kelman. Sales of Bloomsbury’s editions of the 2010 Man Booker Prize winner, Howard Jacobson’s The Finkler Question, have now reached 717,172 copies worldwide. In addition, following the release of the film of the final Harry Potter book, Bloomsbury has enjoyed a surge in sales of the seven Harry Potter books.

In July and early August Bloomsbury saw a significant improvement in sales compared to the soft conditions in previous months, partly attributable to strong e-book downloads for summer holiday reading and partly to good sales of a number of Bloomsbury titles through high street retailers. 

Corac Group (LON:CRA)

Corac, the specialist engineer supplying the oil and gas sectors, announced interim results for the six months to 30 June 2011. The Company, which develops compressor and power electronics technology for these industries, delivered revenue of £190,000 (2010: £50,000) and a pre-tax loss of £2.35m (2010: £2.76m), and the Company has been working towards furthering its portfolio of contracted development projects, with reliability enhancements on the DGC project, a broader platform of applications having being built for the IGC programme and an MoU having been signed with a major global industrial compressor company for the identification and potential application of the Company’s technology applications. The Company believes it is well positioned to deliver the technology and realize value within the significant markets of global energy and industrial compressors, and we look forward to further developments and announcements.

Corin Group (LON:CRG)

Leading manufacturer and supplier of orthopaedic devices has renewed its agreement to distribute the LARS ligament augmentation system for a further two years through to 31 December 2013. Under the terms of the agreement, Corin will have the exclusive rights to distribute LARS ligaments in a number of countries including the UK and Australia, as well as non-exclusive rights in a number of other countries.        

Datatec (LON:DTC)

The AIM Listed, South African based provider of ICT products, solutions and services announced a partnership extension of its subsidiary, Logicalis Group, with Promon in Latin America. Promon is a privately held technology group which has partnered with Logicalis Group (Promon Logicalis Latin America Limited) - Promon has now extended its ownership of this venture from 30 per cent to 40 per cent for a consideration of $15m, which demonstrates continued commitment to the venture. Logicalis represents one of the four main arms of operation for Datatec, which also include Westcon (global distribution of advanced networking and communication products), Westcon Emerging Markets (distribution of business interests in Africa) and Consulting Services (which is involved in strategic and technical telecommunications IT Consultancy). The recent news is strong evidence of the continued activity in the Latin American markets and could continue to provide a strong territorial focus for the Company. 

DQ Entertainment (LON:DQE

Leading animation, gaming, live action entertainment production and distribution Company last week announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2011. Revenue was up 23 per cent to $45.29m (2010: $36.76m) and profit before tax was up 12 per cent to $7.24m (2010: $6.46m). The order book currently stands at $112m including contracted forward production revenues and signed licensing & distribution deals and cash stood at $15.98m (previous year: $12.63m). Tapaas Chakravarti, Chairman & CEO of DQE, commented: ‘... Whilst the global economic downturn continues to impact markets in the USA, Canada and Japan there are encouraging signs of recovery across Europe. In response to this broader macroeconomic backdrop DQE has continued to develop its business model of self-sufficiency by focusing on 'production collaboration' as well as managing IP development. This achievement is in part due to the global success of our 3D TV series The Jungle Book as well as several other high profile products. DQE will continue to expand its portfolio of classical properties for worldwide exploitation across all platforms of audio-visual formats while Licensing and Distribution will add to the production revenues of the Group. Exploitation through newer delivery formats such as online and mobile content will be a focus area for exploration and growth for the company owned IP's." 

Enova Systems Inc (LON:ENV)   

Enova Systems has announced its financial results for Q2 2011, which has seen $2.5m of revenue and a 23 per cent positive margin from its last quarter. This gives the Company eight quarters of consecutive positive results. Currently, the Company is looking to expand its market opportunities through various joint ventures with First Auto Works, Freightliner Custom Chassis, China Southern Rail Corporation Limited, Optare, the US Air Force and US government to provide electric driven transport systems. The Company has also made advances in providing three technological products: OMNI Inverter, OMNI charger and OMNI DC/DC converter, all green efficient products designed for commercial vehicles.

Faroe Petroleum (LON:FPM)

Faroe Petroleum has recently announced the commencement of drilling at the Butch Prospect located in the Norwegian North Sea. The exploring Company has a 15 per cent stake in the well, which is being drilled by Centria using the Maersk Guardian drilling rig. The drill is targeting a ‘strategic pinch-out trap,’ which will test the prospect in the Jurassic Ula Formation, which has already proved successful in the Ula, Tambar and Gyda fields. The drilling for this well is expected to be completed in Q4 2011. Further work in the Company’s portfolio includes drilling in the Fulla prospect West of Shetland.Centrica currently hold 40 per cent stake in the licences for the Butch prospect, with Suncor ASA holding 30 per cent and Spring Energy Norway holding 15 per cent.

GETECH Group (LON:GTC)

Listed specialist in exploration data and petroleum systems studies has announced the sale of a second aeromagnetic dataset for over $500,000; their first dataset sale was in July. They signed an exclusive marketing agreement with the Geological Survey of Iraq in December 2010. This good news follows on from their announcement that they expect to report a record level of revenue for the year to July, together with a trading profit ahead of market expectations. 

GGG Resources (LON:GGG)

GGG Resources have released an update on the Bullabulling Phase One drilling programme which has added 2.6m ounces of JORC compliant gold to the portfolio. The Phase One infill drilling has achieved 35,000 metres of drilling focused on a 2.3km stretch between the Bacchus and Phoenix pits. The drill has converted 711,700 ounces from inferred to indicated resource.  The Phase 2 programme is expected to run to the end of 2011, this is expected to upgrade 1.9m inferred resources to indicated status by the end of 2011. The phase two drilling programme is also expected to explore 20,000m in the Bullabulling Trend such as Gryphon, Kraken, Minotaur and Edwards, which is expected to provide further resources. The preliminary project optimisation studies have indicated a potential for a high conversion rates from resource category to reserve category once the planning for the project has been finalised. 

Immedia Group (LON:IME)

Immedia, which provides marketing services consisting of bespoke radio and in-store media solutions for retailers, announced a five-year deal to extend its existing contract to supply ‘SPAR Live’ radio to SPAR, the convenience store retailer. Having launched the service nearly ten years ago, it has become one of the most well established in-store radio stations in the UK, currently supplying 1,168 stores and is looking to take on another 1,200 in the next five years, which ultimately could deliver up to £2.3m in revenue to the Company. The Company provides its services to a wide variety of large and small customers, and has created a collection of generic music channels for a wide variety of retail business sectors which will enable Immedia to deliver content in the UK as well as other EMEA territories. Clients currently include Game, IKEA, Lloyds Pharmacy and HSBC (with which, back in June, the Company announced a contract extension for ‘HSBC Live’.)In March, the Company announced a pre tax loss of £60,444 for the year to 31 Dec 2010 (2009: £59,942), though we hope the progress demonstrated in the recent announcement will serve the Company well for the next set of financial results. 

Oilex Ltd (LON:OEX)

Oilex Ltd announces that all eight stages of the Company’s fracture stimulation in the Cambay-76H have been successful. These tests will indicate the production potential of the YZone interval of the extensive deep Eocene ‘tight’ reservoirs in the onshore Cambay Production Sharing Contract Area in Gujarat, India. So far, the horizontal section in the Cambay-76H well has been pumped successfully, and the Company is now moving to the clean-up phase. This will involve preparation for flow to surface to remove any stimulation fluids from the formation. This will be followed by flow tests to provide ‘proof of concept’ to evaluate the production potential of the YZone of the reservoirs in the onshore Cambay Production Sharing Contract.

Plexus Holdings (LON:POS

Following on from last week’s positive announcement, Plexus has entered into a separate agreement with Senergy, to provide Dana Petroleum  (Dana) with proprietary POS-GRIP Well Head equipment for oil and gas exploration activities in the UK North Sea.  The initial contract will be for one well with a value of approximately £250,000 commencing in December 2011, however this may be expanded. The operational benefits of POS-GRIP are being increasingly recognized across the industry, particularly for subsea related activities, as these recent contracts highlight.

Probability (LON:PBTY

AIM listed mobile casino gambling specialist enjoyed a 45.3 per cent increase in net gaming revenues in the final quarter of the financial year to March 2011.  The recent move of operations to Gibraltar, will help to optimise cost savings, and the company is now poised for profitability.  Smartphones have also made a huge impact on business this year, helping to turn mobile from a niche to a mass market.  IPhone and Android customers represented 37 per cent of in-game deposits in March 2011. This figure has continued to increase since the end of the period. During the first three months of 2011, Probability mobile casino games registrations grew by 175,000 new mobile customers.

Red Emperor Resources (LON:RMP)

Red Emperor Resources has announced that the Company’s initial drilling at the Mukhiani Well in Georgia confirms the Company’s anticipated lithology. The 8.5 inch pilot hole has been conducted jointly with venture partners Strait Oil, Gas U.K Ltd and Range Resources Ltd. The drill has reached a planned depth of 700 meters and serves to confirm the hypotheses of lithology tests. This initial drilling is planned to open up to 17.6 inches. This will be followed by the running and cementing of a 13 3/8’’ case. An already conducted geochemical survey undertaken by the JV partner and Range Resources has confirmed suitability of the first drill location with oil exploration and development prospectivity complementing earlier seismic work completed on the target. Drilling is expected to follow to produce a total depth of 3,500 metres by mid-September. 

Renewable Energy Holdings (LON:REH

REH should receive a positive boost from Carnegie Waves’ (CWE: ASX) recent announcement that they had completed their Irish study and Payment had been received for their CETO wave energy system. REH originally owned the CETO business directly, but swapped its  position for an indirect 26 per cent equity stake in CWE in 2009.  Currently that equity stake is worth around £11.3m which represents about a third of REH’s market capitalisation.  

Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH)

Rockhopper has released an update on the results of the fast track seismic data over acreage on the PL032 and PL033 licences. The seismic shows  the Sea Lion Main Complex to extend to the south and new high case area to extend over 90 km2. Moreover, the Company has identified two fan prospects within the seismic basic, Casper and Kermit. Rockhopper has also new 3D seismic data which will be available for interpretation by the end of 2011. In further news, following on from the completion of drilling operations on well 14/10-6, Rockhopper announced the drill of three further wells using the Ocean Guardian drilling unit. The Company is also in talks discussing the possibility of drilling additional wells under an assignment agreement.

Stellar Diamonds (LON:STEL)

Stellar Diamonds, the development Company that focuses on West Africa has announced the appointment of the South African mining company CAE Mining as independent technical consultants. The team headed by an experienced resource geologist Executive Consultant Dr. Matthew Field and he is expected to verify and model the Company’s work to date and guide future drilling. The work is also expected to prepare the maiden resource estimates at the Droujba and Tongo kimberlite projects in Guinea and Sierra Leone respectively. Resource definition drilling underway at the Droujba pipe has already reached over 6,000m to date. Resource drilling at the Tongo dyke is expected to commence shortly. 

Sigma Capital (LON:SGM)

Sigma Capital Group Plc has recently acquired the group Inpartnership to add to the Company’s property development and investment activities.  Inpartnership has already established partnerships with three major UK city councils: Salford, Liverpool, and Solihull. This partnership provides Sigma with a total development value to be estimated at £2bn. Sigma anticipates that with its additional expertise in the area and access to finance the Company will be able to add significant value to this portfolio with these partnerships.

TyraTech (LON:TYR)

TyraTech, which develops pesticides for human, animal and environmental health has announced its interim results for the 6 months to 30 June 2011. Revenue for the Company impressively increased by 85 per cent to $5m (2009: £2.7m) whilst gross profit increased to $3.5m (2009), and the loss from continuing operations improved to $0.5m (2010: $3.1m). These results are partly down to the delivery of three new insect control products to Terminix, which has resulted in milestone payments to TyraTech, and the Company believes this may result in a new revenue stream in 2012.  TyraTech also continues to advance its functional food project with Kraft, which has now transferred its technology to a manufacturing facility and initiated field trials. Other key operational highlights during the period include the successful relocation of the Company’s operations to now have all research, product development and commercial activities in one location at the Research Triangle Park, good progress in the regulatory filling process with the expectation that three new products will be registered by the end of the year, and the Company now being in advanced stages of developing, and discussing with potential partners, three new animal health products with a further two in the pipeline. A strong and healthy update for this environmental health company.  

Water Intelligence (LON:WATR)

Water Intelligence, a leading provider of water monitoring products and leak detection and remediation services, this week announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2010. The group was established following completion of the reverse takeover of Qonnectis by American Leak Detection Holding Corp in July 2010 and the results therefore constitute 12 months by American Leak Detection and five months trading from UK operations, including plc costs. Total revenue was $5.68m with a loss before tax of $567,000. The integration is now complete with revenue for the six months to 30 June 2011 approximately 14 per cent higher than in the same period in 2010.     

Zenergy Power (LON:ZEN)

Zenergy Power, the superconductor energy technology company, last week announced its interim results for the six month period ended 30 June 2011. Following the recent board reorganisation, the company is concentrating on discussions with a number of major industrial technology companies with a view to concluding value enhancing licensing and strategic deals. Last month the Company announced significant progress with the development of its 2G HTS wire plus the award of a €3.5m German Government grant to assist in scaling up the 2G wire manufacturing process. The chairman commented that the Company remains confident that considerable value exists within its portfolio of technologies and work is continuing apace to secure the right licensing and strategic deals.

 

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