Small caps news round-up

Half-time results from video games retailer Game Digital disappointed investors as the 'rebasing' to a lower dividend and shifting consumer demands outweighed the beating of profits guidance issued in January. January's guidance was admittedly a downgrade on the prior year but it was better than the company feared when it issued a profit warning just before Christmas.

Lombard Risk added another customer to its AgileREPORTER automated regulatory reporting product on Wednesday, announcing it had signed up Bank of Cyprus UK. The AIM-traded provider of integrated collateral management and regulatory reporting solutions said the bank was regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority, and was required to submit regulatory reports to the Bank of England, the FCA and the European Banking Authority.

Frontier Resources became an AIM Rule 15 cash shell on Wednesday, having completed the disposal of Frontier Oman Resources andFrontier Resources International. The AIM-traded firm must now make an acquisition or acquisitions which constitute a reverse takeover under AIM Rule 14, including seeking re-admission as an investing company, within six months.

AFH Financial Group dropped its interest in acquiring Lighthouse Group on Wednesday, blaming a lack of engagement from its target for the decision. The AIM-traded company made an initial approach on 9 March, and confirmed its interest in Lighthouse on 17 March following a 35% price movement in the shares of Lighthouse since discussions were first mooted.

Animation, gaming and live action entertainment company DQ Entertainment was set to be cancelled from trading on Thursday, with the firm being unable to appoint a replacement nominated adviser. The AIM-traded group notified the market on 4 February that it had approached a number of prospective nomads to replace its previous adviser, but given issues within DQE, none of the prospective nomads consented to act for it.

Russian oil and gas explorer PetroNeft said it had executed the first tranche of a $35m loan from Oil India to start a work programme in western Siberia. It said the first tranche was an unsecured loan of $10m. Principal repayments will commence in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Northcote Energy said it has raised £0.45m by issuing 1.43m new shares at a placing price of 0.0315p each to spend on general working capital and fund certain growth initiatives, including potential participation in opportunities with MX Oil in Mexico and Andalas Energy & Power in Indonesia.

Algy Cluff, the wily boss of Cluff Natural Resources (CLNR), has taken advantage of the oil price slump to sign an agreement to pay £1 to acquire a share of three North Sea licences that the company said offered the potential for 400m barrels of recoverable oil in the near-term.

AIM-listed stockbroker Cenkos Securities reported a drop in full year profit as revenue declined and the dividend was cut. For the year to the end of December, pre-tax profit slid 26% to £19.9m on revenue of £76.5m, down from £88.5m in 2014.