Small caps news round-up

AIM-listed self-storage company Lok’nStore Group reported a 155.5% jump in first-half profit as revenue grew and costs declined. In the six months to the end of January, pre-tax profit rose to £3.79m from £1.48m in the same period last year, on revenue of £7.99m, up 4.7%.

Nigeria-focused oil and gas production and development company Eland Oil & Gas was celebrating some impressive test results from its joint venture OML 40 project on Monday, after re-entering the Opuama-3 well and completing the perforation of two new intervals. The AIM-traded company said that, following the production logging tool runs in both strings of the Opuama 3 well the water ingress was identified to be coming from the lower D5000 producing interval. A cement plug was placed across the interval of the D5000 reservoir with a coiled tubing intervention to isolate it.

GVC Holdings delivered impressive earnings figures for 2015 and has shot off to a strong start for 2016 since completing the acquisition of Bwin.party at the start of February. For 2015, fully listed GVC, which moved up from AIM and expanded its board on completion of the deal, generated net gaming revenue (NGR) of €248m that represented a 10% on the prior year.

Shares in St Ives fell sharply after the AIM-listed marketing services group warned underlying pre-tax profit for the current financial year is likely to be below management’s current expectations, with the following year also affected. The group said trading in the eight months ended 1 April has continued to be broadly in line with management expectations, with revenue approximately 5% ahead of the equivalent period last year. However, the outlook for the final quarter, and the following financial year, has deteriorated.

Shares in Snoozebox fell out of bed on Monday after chief executive Lorcán Ó Murchú followed his chairman in resigning from the portable accommodation company, which has delayed the release of its accounts as it conducts a review of the business. Ó Murchú resigned from the board but has agreed to remain available to assist the company for six months.

Immunodiagnostic Systems confirmed sales will fall year-on-year as demand trends have not improved substantially since November, while significant asset write-downs could send it into the red. Total revenues are expected to fall 13.3% to roughly £39m for the year to 31 March, the AIM-listed company said, while also warning that it expects to make "significant asset write-down of goodwill and capitalized costs", though the level was unquantified it stated these would not affect cash levels.

Ukraine real estate developer and shopping centre operator Arricano made a quick-fire purchase on Monday, in a bid to make the management of its Crimean property more efficient. The AIM-traded company had struggled to operate effectively in the region since its virtual annexation by Russia as part of the ongoing conflict between the two nations.

Jersey Oil & Gas on Monday said it was confident of grabbing a “number” of North Sea acquisition targets in 2016 as it full-year pre-tax losses narrowed to £1.4m from £44.4m. A cut is sales costs helped reduce the losses, although revenues were hit by the falling oil price, down to £4m from £13m.

Sterling Energy was bearing the brunt of the oil glut in its first quarter, reporting much lower production and earnings in an interim management statement on Monday. The AIM-traded company reported net production to the company from the Chinguetti field averaging 106 barrels of oil per day, down significantly from 382 barrels per day in 2015.

Branded hotel owner, developer and asset manager Action Hotels brought some stability to its finance department on Monday, announcing the appointment of Andrew Lindley as its finance director. The AIM-traded company confirmed Lindley was taking over on 1 June from Katie Shelton, who had been acting as interim CFO.

Russia-focused oil and gas exploration and production company PetroNeft Resources managed to avoid a particularly fraught shareholder meeting on Monday, reaching agreement with its largest shareholder Natlata Partners to restructure its board.The AIM-traded company confirmed that, as a result, Natlata has agreed to withdraw all of its resolutions due to be considered at the reconvened extraordinary general meeting taking place today.

Africa-focused agricultural and forestry business Obtala Resources announced a number of board changes on Monday, including a new chairman. The AIM-traded firm has appointed Miles Pelham, who joined the board in August last year as a non-executive director, as non-executive chairman with immediate effect.

Electronics retailer Darty has received a 170p-a-share takeover offer from Paris-based Fnac. Fnac, which had agreed to buy Fnac last year before the deal was railroaded by South Africa's Steinhoff International, has snapped up 18.27% of the London-listed company's shares at that price from several institutional investors on Monday.

Rapid health information technology developer Akers Biosciences saw its founder and namesake Dr Raymond Akers step down as executive chairman on Monday, instead focusing on the firm’s products and research.The AIM-traded company’s current non-executive co-chairman, Thomas Knox, would become the company’s sole chairman.