Small cap-round-up

Brammer scrapped its dividend on Thursday as it said it swung to a loss in the first half.

For the six months to the end of June, the company made a loss of £13.9m compared to a profit of £9.1m in the first half of 2015 despite a nudge up in sales to £372.3m from £365.6m.

Self-storage company Lok’n Store signed management contracts to develop and operate two new stores in Hertfordshire and Kent to continue its expansion strategy.

Building work is to start immediately, funded by the owners of the sites and should open in 2017.

Scotgold Resources announced a sharply discounted share placing and delays in the proceeds from gold sales, sending the stock sharply lower.

The miner placed 62.5m ordinary shares at 0.008p each on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's junior market, and the Australian securities exchange, in a bid to raise about £500,000 before expenses.

Portmeirion announced its performance for the six months to 30 June on Thursday, with revenue of £28.5m up by 2% on the £27.9m a year ago.

The AIM-traded company’s profit before tax was down by 22% to £1.4m, from £1.8m, and its EBITDA slipped 8% to £2.1m from £2.3m.

AIM-listed Zamano said on Thursday that it will look to make bolt-on acquisitions as it repositions the business into higher added-value, growth orientated activities.

In a statement ahead of its annual general meeting, Zamano said a strategic review carried out on behalf of the company found it needed to focus its acquisition programme on the mobile advertising, social and billing areas.

Matchtech said on Thursday that profit for the year was likely to be in line with its previous expectations, adding that it has not yet seen any impact from the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

In a trading update for the 12 months to the end of July, the AIM-listed specialist engineering and technology recruiter said group net fee income (NFI) of £73.2m including the full-year effect of the Networkers acquisition completed on 2 April 2015, was up 34% on the previous year.

Mobile workforce management software company ServicePower Technologies posted an update on trading for the six months to 30 June on Thursday, and said trading was in line with management expectations with “positive momentum at the end of the period”.

The AIM-traded firm said this was driven by improved gross margin, with June being EBITDA and net income positive.

Broadcast and photographic service provider Vitec’s revenue grew in the first half of the year, in line with expectations, as it benefitted from weak sterling.

For the six months ended 30 June, revenue increased by 9.7% to £171.1m and operating profit increased by 6.1% to £17.4m, compared to the same period last year. This was due to a weak sterling, as at constant exchange rates revenue grew 3.1% while operating profit declined 5.2%. Profit before tax increased by 6% to £15.5m. Adjusted earnings per share increased by 6.5% to 24.5p per share.