Small cap round up

Shares in mixers and tonics maker Fever-Tree Drinks fizzed higher on Tuesday as the company said full-year results will be “materially ahead” of its expectations following strong growth in the second half. Sales in the second half are expected to be up 75% on the prior year and as a result, full-year revenue is expected to be 73% higher than 2015 at about £102.2m.

Savannah Petroleum announced the completion of 3D seismic acquisition over an 800 square kilometre portion of the R3 license area on Tuesday, approximately two weeks ahead of schedule and on budget. The AIM-traded company said the data acquired will now be processed and interpreted, with further updates being provided in due course.

Digital communications group Next 15 announced a pre-close trading update on Tuesday, ahead of its results for the year ending 31 January, which are due to be announced in early April. The AIM-traded company said it expects results to be in line with market expectations, with the board adding that it anticipates the group to make further good progress in the year ahead.

Horizon Discovery Group, a maker of gene editing technologies, saw revenue increased last year, driven by better-than-expected sales volumes. For the 2016 calendar year, revenue climbed 19% to £24m compared to the previous year, with gross margin increasing to the mid-50% range, from 49%, driven by product sales volumes, which were ahead of expectations and due to low costs for goods sold.

Staffing group Empresaria’s full year profit rose “slightly” ahead of expectations, while it continues it ‘invest and develop strategy’. In an update for the 2016 calendar year, adjusted pre-tax profit before tax grew 23% year-on-year, a record profit level for the company. Net fee income increased 20% and diluted adjusted earnings per share rose 12%, compared to the prior year.

Swiss security software firm Defenx anticipates that its maiden full year results will be in line with expectations, as revenue rose and a strong second half brought the company into profitability. For the 2016 calendar year, revenues surged 57% year-on-year to €7.3m on an organic basis, or a 63% increase if including the contribution from Memopal, a cloud computing firm, which the company bought in August for €2.3m.