Small caps news round-up

Nostra Terra Oil and Gas announced a new acquisition on Monday, with the purchase of producing assets in the Permian Basin of New Mexico from Alamo Resources II. The AIM-traded company agreed to pay $3m to acquire a 60% working interest in the producing assets located in the southwestern US state. $2.7m was due by 31 March, and an additional $0.3m was due one year later, payable in cash or shares in Nostra Terra at its own discretion.

Atlas Development & Support Services announced on Monday it had begun ground-clearing at its Chancho Project in Ethiopia, a new facility which, once completed, would have the capacity to produce 105 million 330mL glass bottles per annum. The AIM-traded firm said an official groundbreaking ceremony was held last week, and attended by local dignitaries and members of the board.

Harvest Minerals was full of confidence on Monday, announcing the completion of its geological mapping programme and ground geophysical survey at the Maximus Prospect, part of the Arapua Fertiliser Project in the Brazil. The AIM-traded company said the work programme was devised to define the extent of a large area of highly mineralised phosphate and potassium-rich rocks identified during an earlier auger drilling programme, and assist in planning the upcoming drilling campaign.

Savannah Resources revealed the remaining results from its reverse circulation (RC) and diamond drilling programme at Blocks 4 and 5 in Oman on Monday, which were prospective for copper and gold. The AIM-traded resource development firm said it had also completed the preliminary compilation of data from the historic Lasail deposit in Block 4, which was the largest historical mine in Oman.

A better-planned spread of income saw revenues and earnings drop significantly at Gemfields in the six months to 31 December, though the company remained confident in making up for it in the latter half of the financial year. The AIM-traded company saw revenue decline 9.1% over the same period a year earlier, to $94m (£66.77m), from $103.4m.

Eden Research took its vineyard-saving fungicide to another of the world's largest wine producers on Monday, with authorisation from Spanish authorities for the use of 3AEY in the country. The AIM-traded microencapsulation technology company said 3AEY would be sold in Spain by partner Sipcam Iberia, under the trade name ARAW, with Eden receiving royalties from sales.

AIM-listed call centre service provider IPPlus said on Monday that it swung to an interim pre-tax profit and expects to report a good second half. For the six months ended 31 December, pre-tax profit came in at £130,385 compared with a loss of £116,917 in the first half of 2014, as revenue rose to £4.1m from £3.4m.

A newly integrated Inspiration Healthcare was confident in its annual results on Monday, updating the market on its expectations for the year ended 31 January 2016. The AIM-traded company said it expected to report revenue for the year in line with market expectations, with profit before tax ahead of expectations due to improved trading margins and deferred research and development expenditure.

Trinity Exploration & Production has agreed to extend its $13m (£9.2m) debt repayment deadline for a 22nd time. The AIM-listed oil and gas exploration and production company said on Monday it had agreed an extension to the moratorium on principal repayments until the end of the week.

Daily Internet founder Abby Hardoon has resigned from the company he founded nearly 10 years ago. The AIM-listed managed hosting and cloud integrator announced on Monday he had tendered his resignation as a non-executive director, effective immediately.

Product designer Litebulb has been given a stay of execution by its lenders in order to find further funding. Litebulb, whose produce range spans Peppa Pig wooden toys, Star Wars tableware and Mary Berry cookware, said it was now in "active discussions" to raise £2m by issuing new equity, as well as restructuring at least the £800,000 of convertible loan notes that were due for repayment last Saturday 20 February.

Elektron Technology updated the market on its financial year to 31 January on Monday, ahead of its full results, and saw muted revenue across its divisions amid a cloudy trading environment. The AIM-traded global technology group said group revenue from continuing operations amounted to an unaudited £43.5m, down 2% from 2015's £44.4m, with revenue in the second half of £22m.

Fastnet Equity shares have been suspended from trading after it said it is in advanced discussions for a reverse takeover of Amryt Pharmaceuticals. The AIM-listed company said on Monday if the acquisition proceeds, the enlarged group will become a late stage, specialty biopharmaceutical company.

Television producers were set to have a new virtual studio solution available on Monday, with the announcement that the Vicon division of Oxford Metrics Group (OMG) was forming a strategic partnership with Vizrt. The AIM-traded technology group said the partnership would integrate Vicon's tracking solution with Viz Virtual Studio, allowing production teams to quickly deploy virtual sets with precise camera lens calibration and accurate tracking abilities.