Small cap news round-up

Upstream oil and gas company President Energy's shares are up almost 5% after it said current production from the Puesto Guardian Concession is now running at a steady rate in excess of 800 bopd.

In an update on its Argentina operations, President Energy also said DP1001 was performing stronger than expected.

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Traffic data and transportation industry software provider Tracsis announced on Tuesday that it made a strategic investment of up to £1.3m into Vivacity Labs, a provider of smart, hyperlocal data for smart cities and intelligent transport systems, in return for up to a 28.1% equity stake.

The AIM-traded company said Vivacity developed novel machine learning software and sensor technology which is applied to solve a wide range of traffic and transport issues - most specifically for the automatic counting and classification of pedestrian and vehicle flows in a variety of environments.

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Analytics and ‘big data’ software provider Fusionex announced on Tuesday that, ahead of the official launch of its significantly upgraded big data platform, ‘GIANT 2017’, the company won a five year, multi-million dollar contract with an unnamed Asia-based insurance company for its “next generation solution”.

The AIM-traded firm said the new GIANT 2017 platform, which was targeted to be launched within the current quarter, would not only accumulate and cleanse disparate external datasets for the client but also be used to find historical patterns and predict future trends in all types of data, including structured, semi-structured and unstructured information.

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Belvoir Lettings' shares fell about 2.5% as it flagged uncertainty in the property sector alongside a rise in full-year pre-tax profit and a steady total dividend.

Chief executive Mike Goddard noted a background of uncertainty within the sector due to Brexit and regulatory changes in the buy-to-let market.

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Asa Resource Group said on Tuesday that its board received certain anonymous allegations relating to the operations at Freda Rebecca Gold Mine in Zimbabwe, in which the company has an 85% interest.

The AIM-traded firm said the allegations referred to “certain aspects” of the financial management at Freda Rebecca.

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Healthcare provider Circle Holdings is to develop a £32.3m hospital in Birmingham after gaining financial backing from a US real estate investment trust.

The AIM-listed company has agreed with affiliates of Medical Properties Trust (MPT), to build the hospital within the old Pebble Mill site in Edgbaston, which is currently being developed by Calthorpe Estates to become a healthcare campus.

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Flowtech Fluidpower's shares are up more than 6% as it reported a surge in first-quarter 2017 revenue after confirming a rise in its 2016 pre-tax profit and total dividend.

The company said group revenue for the three months ending 31 March totalled £17.48m, which was up 31.8% on the £13.26m recorded previously.

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Oil and gas exploration and production company Regal Petroleum updated the market on its operational activities at its Ukrainian gas and condensate fields on Tuesday, which comprise the Mekhediviska-Golotvshinska (MEX-GOL) and Svyrydivske (SV) fields, and the Vasyschevskoye (VAS) field, all of which are 100% owned-and-operated.

The AIM-traded firm said average gas, condensate and LPG production from the MEX-GOL and SV fields for the period from 1 January to 31 March was 131,025 cubic metres per day of gas, 33 cubic metres per day of condensate and 17 cubic metres per day of LPG, for 1,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day in aggregate.

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Bowleven's shares are down almost 3% after it confirmed its strategic review had concluded and that it was not in active discussions with any third party in relation to a corporate deal, such as a merger or sale of the company.

"The Panel on Takeovers and Mergers has confirmed that the company is therefore no longer in an offer period for the purposes of the Takeover Code," it said in a statement.

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Utility cost management consultancy Utilitywise reported a small jump in interim profit on Tuesday as revenue grew and the company lifted its dividend.

In the six months to the end of January 2017, adjusted pre-tax profit rose 4% to £9.4m, on revenue of £46.1m, up from £41.6m in the first half of last year.

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Clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercialising innovative therapeutics for the treatment of respiratory diseases, Verona Pharma, announced on Tuesday that the first patient had been enrolled and dosed in a Phase 2a clinical study to evaluate its product candidate, RPL554, as a treatment for cystic fibrosis.

The AIM-traded firm said the Phase 2a single-dose trial was being conducted in the United Kingdom, and the primary objective of the double-blind, placebo-controlled study would evaluate the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics profile and tolerability of RPL554 in up to 10 CF patients, as well as examine the effect on lung function.

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India-focussed fashion e-commerce retailer Koovs updated the market on its trading for the year to 31 March on Tuesday, ahead of its annual results.

The AIM-traded company said its strategy continued to deliver significant growth with sales up by 87% to £18.6m for the full year, underpinned by a year-on-year 100% increase in both units shipped and repeat customers.

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Shares in AdEPT Telecom are up almost 12% after the company said it sees underlying EBITDA up 26% on the year, and recommends an increased final and therefore total dividend.

"Turnover is expected to be approximately 16% ahead of the previous year and above market consensus expectation," said the company in a trading update for the full year.

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Ireland and UK-focussed oil and gas exploration, development and production company Europa Oil & Gas announced its interim results for the six months to 31 January on Tuesday, with revenue rising marginally to £800,000 from £600,000.

The AIM-traded firm narrowed its pre-tax loss to £0.2m year-on-year, from £600,000, and reported net cash used in operating activities of £300,000, down from £500,000 in the first half of the prior year.

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Nanoco Group, maker of cadmium-free quantum dots that enhance colours in TVs and other LCD screens, produced a solid first half result but warned on full year profits as sales in the second half "have not yet materialised".

"Nanoco is engaged with more near term commercial opportunities than at any time in its history, so it is frustrating not to be able to report significant revenues to date and it is essential that sales commence as expected," said chief executive Mike Edelman.

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Brownfield housebuilder Inland Homes has secured planning permission to construct 58 homes in Middlesex.

The AIM-listed company has secured a resolution to grant planning permission at its site at the former Randalls department store in Uxbridge to develop 58 homes, including a conversion of part of a listed building into eight flats.

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AIM-listed pharmaceutical Shield Therapeutics has poached Stadium Group’s chief financial officer.

Joanne Estell will be the company’s new CFO and a member of the board from 1 May, joining from AIM-quoted technology manufacturer Stadium Group, where she was CFO and company secretary.

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Communications firm Satellite Solutions Worldwide Group has won a £500,000 contract from the Norwegian government to build a new fixed wireless network in the country over the next 15 months.

The AIM-listed company will build a wireless network in the county of Sør-Trøndelag that will deliver broadband up to 75 megabytes (Mb), which will be operated and maintained by Satellite for 10 years.

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AIM-listed Helios Underwriting has bought Charmac Underwriting, a member of the Lloyd's of London insurance market, for £2.24m as part of its strategy to increase capacity through acquisition.

The acquisition was completed on Monday following approval by Lloyd's on Charmac’s change of control.

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Telematics and data firm Trakm8 has won a £1.7m contract extension from car insurer Young Marmalade to provide insurance telematics solutions.

The AIM-listed company will add to its initial provision of T10 micro hardware and data services to Young Marmalade for its young drivers insurance product, which was first announced in February 2015.

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Sprue Aegis says it has made a solid start to 2017 after emerging from an at times challenging 2016 as a fitter, leaner and better placed company to capitalise on a number of pivotal strategic initiatives.

"Our strong performance in the second half of last year gives a clear indication of the positive momentum we are now experiencing across the business," said executive chairman Graham Whitworth.