Small caps news round-up

Financial advisor Lighthouse Group said it had renewed its contract with Parliament Hill Limited as the preferred provider of expert financial advice to its members for another two years. No financial details were disclosed. The contract covers advice on retirement planning, mortgages and investments, Lighthouse said

LED lighting and laser designer ProPhotonix posted it first ever profit in more than a decade thanks to the effect of the same currency fluctuations which had led to revenues declining. The US-headquartered company, which has its manufacturing operations base in Cork, Ireland and research facilities near Stansted airport in the UK, reported revenue down 12% to $14.4m in calendar 2015 from $16.4m, which would have been down 9% to $15.8m without the currency effect.

SDL reported a wider full year pre-tax loss for 2015 as it booked an impairment charge related to the group’s restructuring. In the year to the end of December, the company, which specialises in content management and language translation software and services, said the pre-tax loss widened to £25.2m from £9.4m in 2014. SDL booked an impairment of £33.3m and £5.8 in one-off costs related to the company's restructuring.

Verona Pharma has published further encouraging clinical results for its RPL554 drug to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD). Tests among asthma patients found the inhaled drug, which has both bronchodilator and anti-inflammatory properties in the same active molecule, performed very well compared to current asthma treatment salbutamol.

Investors were keen to get their hands on a 'world class and robust' Sirius Minerals on Tuesday afternoon, as the company let slip some positive rhetoric ahead of the release of the definitive feasibility study for its polyhalite project in North Yorkshire. The AIM-traded company announced to the market that it expected to unveil the findings on Thursday at 0700 GMT.

Shares in Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company were rising on Tuesday afternoon, with the firm revealing its new choice in nominated adviser, after the resignation of Sanlam Securities on Monday. The AIM-traded resources company, with a portfolio of assets in the US and Egypt, announced it had appointed Strand Hanson as nominated and financial adviser, and joint broker to the company, with immediate effect.

A sense of normalcy returned to penny stock Kimberly Enterprises on Tuesday, as a long-running dispute over the controlling interest of one of its parents was resolved.The AIM-traded Eastern European residential property developer had initially announced on 20 May last year that its controlling shareholder would become Gabay Group, after 2.87 million ordinary shares in Engel Resources and Development (ERD) were to be transferred to Gabay from previous holder GBES.