Small cap round-up

Porta Communications, an AIM listed communications and marketing group, announced changes to its board of directors on Thursday as chairman Bob Morton stepped down from his role.The company has appointed former group managing director Steffan Williams as chief executive. He will replace David Wright, who will take up the position of executive chairman.

Game Digital reported a big drop in full-year profit as revenue declined amid a challenging UK trading environment, particularly in consoles. Pre-tax profit slumped 81% to £4.9m in the 53 weeks ended 30 July compared to the 52 weeks ended 25 July, as revenue fell 5.1% to £822.5m.

Specialist asset management group Polar Capital Holdings posted a quarterly update of its unaudited assets under management on Thursday. The AIM-traded firm reported assets under management of £7.7bn at 30 September, compared to £7.3bn at the end of March.

Arbuthnot Banking Group issued an update of trading for the three months to 30 September on Thursday, claiming it continued to trade well during the quarter.The AIM-traded firm said its overall lending pipeline showed good growth, although the period of time between approval and drawdown of loans marginally increased.

Precious metals exploration company Orogen Gold announced on Thursday that it has signed a drilling contract for an initial programme of reverse circulation drill testing on Galileo Resources’ Silverton property in Nevada, United States.The AIM-traded firm has the right to earn a majority interest in the property under the terms of an earn-in agreement with Galileo, which was first announced on 27 June.

Miner DiamondCorp has been struck by yet another incident at its Lace mine in South Africa, which was shut down by authorities after a fire broke out on a dump truck.Thursday's incident comes on top of drilling difficulties in recent weeks from fallen pieces of kimberlite blocking the main site.

First-half trading at Vianet Group, the leisure and vending sector service provider, has topped the performance from last year and the board perceived signs that the rate of pub closures was slowing down.The company’s core Brulines beer flow monitoring operations have continued to strengthen its UK market position, while the vending telemetry service has contributed towards growth in the first half as well as extended its reach in European.