Small caps news round-up

Latin American precious metals mining firm Minera IRL was doing its level best on Tuesday to convince the market it was moving past internal wrangling, and accusations of mismanagement in Peru. The former AIM-traded firm said the main stipulations of the memorandum of understanding published in February have been complied with by all parties involved.

Craven House Capital announced on Tuesday it has successfully completed the incorporation of three new subsidiaries in Angola, Argentina and Nigeria. The AIM-traded company’s announcement followed a placing of new shares on 17 May and ongoing discussions with additional prospective investors about the possibility of further subscriptions, as the fledgling merchant bank ramps up operations.

Commercial real estate investment company Custodian REIT has turned in a strong full-year performance that saw profits, revenue, dividend and net asset value (NAV) increase. The company saw its NAV per share firm to 101.5p, from 101.3p, as its pre-tax profit reached £11.2m, from £8.7m. Revenue was £19.0m, from £11.6m.

Energy Assets Group has hiked its full-year pre-tax profit and revenue as it invested £22.9m in assets to generate long-term recurring revenue for the business, from £22.5m a year ago. Pre-tax profit was £10.5m, from £9.3m, on revenue of £45.3m, from £36.2m.

RWS Holdings, a provider of intellectual property support services, reported a 28.7% increase in first half pre-tax profit to £13.9m as revenues grew on the back of its acquisition of Corporate Translations Inc. Adjusted profit before tax rose to £13.9m in the six months ended 31 March 2016 from £10.8m the same period a year earlier. Revenue jumped 25% to £56.9m, driven by a £9.4m contribution from a strong performance in CTi in the first five months of trading. A 277 basis point increase in gross margins also gave revenues a boost.