Small caps news round-up

Pressure Technologies issued a dire warning about the state of oil and gas services on Wednesday, signalling its struggle through the first six months of the trading year were even more difficult than previously anticipated. The AIM-traded company had highlighted difficult trading conditions in the oil and gas market at its February AGM, and at the time indicated that no significant pick up was expected this year.

LGO Energy excitedly announced the start of production from a new interval in well GY-671 on the Goudron Field in Trinidad on Wednesday.The AIM-traded company had added a total of 208 feet of perforations to the Upper C-sand reservoir after setting a packer to isolate the zone. It had previously not been completed in any of the surrounding wells.

Materials innovation and solid state battery company Ilika announced its contribution towards solving one of the digital age’s biggest problems on Wednesday, with the launch of its miniaturised solid state battery technology Stereax M250 for the so-called internet of things (IoT). The AIM-traded company said the Stereax family will enable smaller, higher energy-dense batteries to help accelerate IoT products to market.

Internet top-level domain group Minds + Machines saw billings and revenue rise significantly in 2015, it revealed in its annual results on Wednesday, but a lack of auction activity and the burden of historic contracts saw the company swing to a loss. The AIM-traded firm reported a 58% rise in billings during the year to $7.9m, from $5m a year earlier, with revenue up 232% to $6.3m, from $1.9m in 2014.

Media, technology and healthcare investor Armstrong Ventures announced a plan to acquire virtual reality music experience company MelodyVR on Wednesday, for a total consideration of £5.12m. The AIM-traded firm said the cost of the acquisition would be satisfied by the issue of 465,702,743 new ordinary shares at 1.1p each.

Metals project developer Ferrum Crescent had a somewhat fatter wallet on Wednesday, having conditionally raised £0.65m before expenses through a placement of 403,846,154 new ordinary shares, and a direct subscription of for 96,153,846 new ordinary shares. The triple-listed AIM, ASX and JSE traded firm said both the placing and subscription shares were at a price of 0.13p each, and both were oversubscribed.

Wishbone Gold’s share price rose quickly in afternoon trading on Wednesday - so much that the company’s board was forced to issue a statement. The AIM-traded firm announced that it is currently in discussions with “various parties” in the UK and Middle East regarding debt funding of approximately £2m for its gold, precious minerals and gem trading operations.

Panther Securities reported a near-doubling in profit in its 2015 final results on Wednesday, with its profit before tax for the calendar year standing at £8.47m, compared with £4.38m at the end of 2014. The AIM-traded company’s revenue was broadly flat at £14.44m, against a restated £14.83m in 2014. The largest part of its revenue was rents receivable, which increased slightly to £12.84m during the year from £12.51m.