Small caps news round-up

Oil and gas firm LGO Energy has reapplied to the Spanish government to extend its concession in the country, after it was denied an extension in January. The La Lora concession, which has a carried value of £7m and is owned by the the company's subsidiary, Compañía Petrolífera de Sedano (CPS), was not granted an extension by the Spanish Ministry of Energy, Tourism and Digital Agenda and had to close operations in January.

Shares in Genel Energy are up more than 5% as it reported output from the Tawke field totalled 39 million barrels in 2016. Genel holds a 25% working interest in Tawke. At 31 December, 2016, Tawke gross proved (1P) reserves were estimated by DNO ASA at 348 million barrels, compared with 387 million barrels at end-2015, the oil and gas producer said.

Shares in BrainJuicer fell more than 1% despite it posting a 38% hike in full-year pre-tax profit to £6.2m, helped by a 24% surge in revenue to £31.24m. Nevertheless, while reporting generally chipper geographic updates, the company also said gross profit fell 7% in the UK, its second largest market, for client-specific reasons.

Updating the market following mixed reports from its rivals, DFS Furniture posted solid half-year revenue growth and said its expectations for the full year profits remained unchanged. In a trading update covering the 26 weeks to 28 January, the company said gross sales rose 7% and that it was working to offset the impact on product profit margins from the weakness of the pound, with good cash generation continuing.

Industrial services and rental company Northbridge issued a pre-close trading statement on Thursday, in advance of its preliminary results announcement for the year ended 31 December, scheduled to be released during the week of 24 April. The AIM-traded company said recent trading had been consistent with internal forecasts, and consequently the group expected the result for 2016 to be broadly in line with management's expectations.

Xtract Resources announced on Thursday that it had reached an agreement with Auroch Exploration, regarding the outstanding amounts owed by the company to Auroch in relation to the acquisition of the Manica Gold Project. The AIM-traded firm said the settlement reached was over the outstanding debt of $1,75m, with $0.75m to be settled by the issue of a convertible loan note to Auroch.