Small caps news round-up

Oil and gas companies Premier Oil and Rockhopper Exploration announced the termination of a joint venture drilling contract with Ocean Rig in the Falklands. They said the termination followed "a number of material operational issues” at the Eirik Raude rig during the term of the contract to date.

Housebuilder Cairn Homes has inked a deal with real estate group Hines Ireland to buy two sites on the Cherrywood site in Dublin for €21.5m (£16.7m). The Irish company will also have the option to purchase a third lot for €9.2m on receipt of planning permission.

First-half results from Monitise showed underlying losses cut by a third as the painful restructuring of the financial software group grinds towards what is expected to be a profitable second half. However, reported operating losses before tax ballooned to £211.6m compared to £58.1m a year before, with sales slipping to £33m from £42m. Management have written off £167m from the value of its old non-cloud assets.

Europa Oil & Gas's Irish activities received a boost this week, with the news that it had been awarded one of a tranche of Licensing Options in the southern Porcupine Basin, offshore Ireland. The AIM-traded oil and gas exploration firm understood it would shortly be issued with a formal letter of award from Ireland's Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DECNR), at which point Europa would confirm its acceptance.

North River Resources was brimming with confidence after releasing a positive update on its drilling campaign at the Namib Lead-Zinc Project in Namibia. The miner had drilled 4,828 metres since August 2014, with the results boosting management's confidence in the previously-announced JORC-compliant Mineral Resource Estimate.

StatPro strengthened its hand in the South African market on Friday, acquiring 51% of its existing partner in the country - InfoVest - in a cash-free transaction. InfoVest is a software provider specialising in data warehouse, ETL and reporting software for the asset management industry.

Paragon Entertainment, the designer of tourist attractions, announced a new partnership on Friday, with Latvia-based museums, attractions and heritage-based projects designer H2E.