Small caps news round-up

West Africa focused oil and gas exploration and development company Lekoil announced on Thursday the execution of a new debt facility totalling NGN 5bn. The AIM-traded company said the agreement was for the Otakikpo asset and was agreed withSterling Bank, subject to the fulfilment of conditions precedent which are near complete.

Eastbridge Investments reported results for the 2015 calendar year on Thursday, and revealed it had significantly narrowed its loss to £0.43m from a restated £12.19m in 2014. The AIM-traded firm said this equated to a loss per share of 0.24p, against 20.3p last year.

Vertically-integrated pallet developer, manufacturer and supplier RM2 International reported on year in which it quadrupled its revenues on Thursday, reaching $8m compared with $2m a year ago. The AIM-traded firm significantly widened its operating loss in the 2015 calendar year, however, to $57.2m compared with $42.4m in 2014.

Sierra Leone-focused multi-commodity exploration company Sula Iron & Gold reported on a “busy” first half on Thursday, with some promising drilling results and a somewhat wider loss in the six months to 31 March. During the period, a 1,556.2m diamond drilling campaign was completed with gold mineralisation greater than 0.5 g/t being intersected within eight of the ten drillholes.

Integrated collateral management, regulatory compliance and reporting solutions provider Lombard Risk announced on Thursday that it has been appointed by two major unnamed banking firms in North America to supply its COLLINE solution. The AIM-traded firm said COLLINE was chosen for its ability to deliver agile and adaptable solutions in a highly complex organisation.

Provider of online platforms to the UK conveyancing and financial intermediary market,ULS Technology, announced on Thursday that it has signed a five-year agreement with challenger mortgage lender Belmont Green Finance, to provide its proprietary conveyancing comparison technology platform eConveyancer. The AIM-traded firm said the agreement, whereby ULS receives a fee per completed transaction, is for a new deployment and is expected to launch with a number of intermediaries later in the year.

Mercia Technologies reported a full year loss as it expanded its investment portfolio and was cautious about the uncertainty Brexit has bought to the technology investment industry. The technology investment firm’s revenue rose to £1.8m for the financial year ending 21 March 2016 from £500,000 the previous year. However, the group reported a pre-tax loss of £1.7m, down from a profit of £2.0m in 2015, which was attributed to growth of its investment headcount to scale its expanded funding model.

Home safety products supplier Sprue Aegis announced on Thursday that it has reached agreement with its third-party Chinese battery manufacturer on a warranty claim. The AIM-traded firm said the claim was over a supply of batteries that potentially cause a premature end-of-life low battery warning chirp in some of Sprue’s smoke alarms.

Tau Capital posted its results for the 2015 calendar year on Thursday, revealing a total operating loss of $1.04m - much narrower than the $6.56m in 2014 - as it continued its attempts to offload its last remaining asset. Operating expenses were reduced during the year to $0.6m from $0.8m, taking the total comprehensive loss for the year to $1.64m, down from $7.36m.

Stobart Group pledged to hike the level and frequency of its already generous dividend after generating cash from an asset sale and seeing encouraging developments from its three divisions. Directors have proposed paying a 3p dividend each quarter, beginning in October, and possibly increasing the level of the payout or returning cash to shareholders through share buybacks or special dividends when cash surpluses allow.

Gold and base metals exploration and development company Stratex International reported changes to the board of Goldstone Resources - in which it holds a 33.45% interest - on Thursday. The AIM-traded firm said that, following her initial appointment as interim CEO on 18 February, Emma Priestley has been formally appointed as executive director and CEO of Goldstone with immediate effect.