Hybridan - A resourceful update from Amara, Bisichi steams along and Charaat explores a joint construction

The main indices continued to decline last week with the FTSE 100 falling 160 points to 5,607 and the AIM All Share falling 12 points to 681. CPI Inflation was last week announced to have risen to 2.7 per cent in October from 2.2 per cent the month before, and this week UK Unemployment fell by 49,000 to 2.51m in the three months to September whilst France saw its debt being downgraded by Moody’s. The week ahead sees mortgage approvals data from the British Bankers’ Association, CBI Industrial Trends, MPC minutes and the meeting of Eurozone ministers to decide whether to release the next Euros 33bn of bailout needed by Greece. If you would like to unsubscribe, please email enquiries@hybridan.com with “unsubscribe me”. Disclaimer- This document, which does not constitute research, has been issued by Hybridan LLP for information purposes only- please refer to the disclaimer in full below.

Amara Mining (LON:AMA) (formerly Cluff Gold), has announced a resource update for its 100 per cent owned Baomahun Gold Project in Sierra Leone. There has been an increase in resource in the indicated category through addition of low grade halo around the existing high grade, from 25.6mt at 2.50g/t totalling 2.06m oz to 38.4mt at 1.82g/t totalling 2.24m oz. The updated resource model is significantly more robust following structural re-analysis and additional exploration targets have been identified. The project remains on track for first gold production in 2015 with the feasibility study expected to be completed in H1 2013.

ATH Resources (LON:ATH)  one of the UK's largest coal producers, has reported that it has been notified by its lenders, HSBC and Clydesdale Bank (trading as Yorkshire Bank), that the BECAP Fund LP has acquired some of ATH Resources and its subsidiaries' banking facilities and their related rights. As a result of initial discussions with representatives of BECAP Fund LP, the Company believes that a comprehensive review and restructuring of the business will be required and that, given the existing level of liabilities in the Company, it is unlikely that existing shareholder value will be maintained. Following completion of the review, the new lender may be prepared to inject new capital into a restructured business.

Auhua Clean Energy (LON:ACE) AIM quoted environmental technology group based in the Shandong Province of China, announced this morning that its products have been awarded a five star certification for the quality of its split-unit solar water heaters, the highest grade obtainable under the Shandong  Solar Energy Industry Association’s industry standards for solar water heaters. Auhua is the first company to have its products obtain the five star certification in Shandong province.

Avingtrans (LON:AVG) which designs, manufactures and supplies critical components and associated services to the global aerospace, energy, and medical sectors, announced that it has agreed to acquire the trade and certain business assets and liabilities relating to the manufacture of aerospace components from PFW UK Limited's Farnborough site for a cash consideration of £1.85m. The acquisition is due to be completed on 3 December 2012, following the completion of final targeted due diligence and employee consultation. The acquisition will reinforce Avingtrans' position with certain existing customers as well as introducing new customers to the Group. It will also broaden the Company’s process and design capabilities to expand aerospace market its offering. PFW Farnborough generated revenues of £7.5m and a trading loss of £1.8m during the year ended 31 December 2011. However, the Board believes that its current run rate and the potential are materially higher. The net book value of the assets and liabilities being acquired has been valued at £2.3m as at 30 September 2012. PFW Farnborough employs 102 people in the UK, all of whom are expected to transfer to Avingtrans following an appropriate consultation process.

Bango (LON:BGO)   the mobile payment solutions company, announced that operator billing for purchases on Facebook, powered by Bango, and is now live for Orange France subscribers. Orange France has some 26 million subscribers and customers are now able to pay for digital goods and services on Facebook's mobile website, charging the cost to their phone bill. This is further to its announcements recently outlining the deal with Facebook.

Bisichi Mining (LON:BISI) which is focused on direct coal mining operations in South Africa, has reported that in 2012 to date the South African coal market has benefited from the improved performance of the South African railway network, Transnet. This improved performance, along with the weakening of the South African Rand against the US Dollar, has helped offset the impact of the weaker international coal prices. Black Wattle, its South African coal mining subsidiary, has continued to build on its strong performance in the first half of the year and has been able to take advantage of the market conditions outlined above. In particular, in the second half of the year to date, the mine has achieved an average monthly production of 170,000 tonnes, compared to the 150,000 tonnes achieved in the first half of 2012 and the 135,000 tonnes achieved in the second half of 2011. Furthermore, Bisichi's UK property portfolio continues to perform well despite the sluggish conditions in the UK economy and reported difficulties in the retail property sector.

Cathay International Holdings (LON:CTI) an investment holding company and a leading investor in the growing healthcare sector in the People's Republic of China, has provided an update for the period from 1 July 2012 to 19 November 2012. During the period, Lansen has performed in line with management expectations, with a continued focus on raising the visibility of Pafulin, Tuoshu and Mycophenolate Mofetil (an immunosuppressant drug) and developing the product pipeline in its specialty markets. Lansen anticipates the expansion of its Pafulin extract production plant to be completed in early 2013. In September, Haotian finished its first scaled trial run of inositol and DCP production, at 70 per cent of its designed capacity on an annualised basis. The outcome from the trial showed an improvement in both the production costs and output efficiency and the second scaled trial run will commence later this month. At Botai, the expansion of the collagen injectable filler production facility is expected to complete in early 2013. In preparation for the launch in China of Botai’s collagen injectable filler product, Fillderm, the company is continuing its pre-marketing activities as well as setting up its sales offices and building the sales team.

Centaur Media (LON:CAU)  the business information, events and marketing services group, issued an interim management statement for the period from 1 July 2012, based on results for the four month period to 31 October 2012, with commentary on trading up to 13 November 2012. Reported revenues across the Group increased by 14 per cent in the period with EBITDA margins continuing to benefit from recent restructuring initiatives, including those completed in the past four months. Underlying revenues across the Group declined by 4 per cent, reflecting the impact of stronger comparatives and continued market weakness affecting advertising revenues, principally across the financial and marketing sectors. The Group continues to build strong momentum in growing digital and events revenues, which accounted for 38 per cent and 30 per cent of total revenues in the period, up from 32 per cent and 22 per cent in the same period last year. Operating cash out flow in the four months to 31 October 2012 was lower than in the same period last year. With earnings and cash flows heavily weighted towards the second half of the financial year, the Group expects the ratio of net debt to EBITDA to reduce by 30 June 2013. Deferred revenues at 31 October 2012 were £13m, 30 per cent ahead of the same period last year. Geoff Wilmot, Chief Executive, commented: “We have seen a significant improvement in our revenue profile and cost base at the start of the 2013 financial year, and the business has demonstrated strong momentum in growing its revenues from digital and events. Whilst trading conditions remain challenging in some markets, we are well placed to deliver further growth in 2013 and continue to make good progress towards our medium-term targets. We anticipate trading to be in line with our expectations for the current financial year.”

Chaarat Gold Holdings (LON:CGH 20.38p/£51.03m) Chaarat, the gold exploration and development company operating in the Kyrgyz Republic, has announced that Shandong Gold Mineral Resources Group Co., the third largest gold producer in China has secured Chinese regulatory approval to negotiate an investment into Chaarat Gold. The Company has announced the signing of a MOU between its 70 per cent owned subsidiary, Kichi Chaarat, holder of a deposit adjacent to the Chaarat asset and China Gold International Resources Corp. This MOU relates to the joint construction and sharing of the cost of a power line from Chatkal, the entry point to Chaarat, to the national grid of the Kyrgyz Republic. The design of the line by Xinjiang Electric Power Design Institute has already commenced. Upon construction and commissioning of the power line, the projected cash cost of gold production at Chaarat is expected to decrease considerably. In addition, the need to transport large quantities of diesel by road will be eliminated. This will enable a more rapid development of the deposit overall.

Clean Air Power (LON:CAP)   the developer of Dual-FuelTM combustion technology that enables heavy-duty diesel engines to operate on a combination of diesel and natural gas, announced that it has received a significant Genesis Edge systems order from a European logistics operator. The Company, which launched a new Renault Magnum compatible Genesis Edge Dual-FuelTM retrofit system earlier this year, has received an order for a further thirty systems. This is in addition to an order previously received for fifty systems from the same Spanish customer announced in April. These new systems will be delivered to the customer during 2012 and is further confirmation that this new system is being well received and delivering the expected financial and environmental benefits.

CML Microsystems (LON:CML)   The designer and manufacturer of semiconductors, primarily for the global communication and data storage markets, provided interim results for the six months to 30 September 2012, in which revenues increased by 3.3 per cent to £12.70m (2011 H1: £12.29m), and profit before tax was up 19.5 per cent to £2.41m (2011 H1: £2.02m). The Company’s net cash position was £6.51m (2011 H1: £4.37m), with borrowings reduced by £1.66m to £1.35m. Whilst growth continued in the Americas and Far East, Europe presented difficult conditions. Semiconductor flash memory controllers showed growth in sales during the period, though sales of products for telecom applications were flat and whilst industrial wireless voice and data products were lower in H1 it appears balanced by order intake for H2. The Company expects a firm full year advance in both revenues and profitability.

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (LON:CGNR) * Conroy announced successful results from ground geophysics on its Clay Lake gold target in Co. Armagh located four and a half miles (7km) along trend from its Clontibret gold target. The Clay Lake gold target, which is larger than the Clontibret gold target and has gold-in-soil values twice those of Clontibret, appears to be a black carbonaceous shale hosted deposit. Such deposits can be very large. Drill intersections of 63 meters at 0.62g/t gold and 1g/t silver and 50.75 meters at 0.61g/t gold have been intersected suggesting potential for high tonnage and overall gold content. The geophysical programme was conducted by Golder Associates on behalf of the Company. The programme comprised IP and Resistivity totalling 960 line metres in four survey lines over the Northern area of the target. The survey was performed to determine the geophysical signature of the mineralisation and hosting lithologies, together with geological information on the subsurface features. Strong features were seen in all four lines and interpretation of the results depicted an anticlinal folding sequence of the gold bearing black carbonaceous stock work zone, which had been seen in the drill holes previously.  These geophysical results, combined with the drilling results, provide excellent information for future drilling in particular regarding the apexes of the anticlinal structures as mineralisation tends to accumulate in such structures. The results also support the view that the Clay Lake gold target could host a large gold deposit.

Densitron Technologies (LON:DSN) announced the creation of an Optical Bonding Facility in Taiwan. Optical Bonding is the process that allows displays to be bonded to touch screens and cover lenses and is becoming an increasing requirement in the industrial marketplace that the Group addresses. The Group has taken a significant level of orders in advance of the opening of the Facility. The operation will be a joint undertaking with Forward Electronics Co. Ltd (part of the Tatung Group) who will provide the 346 m2 state of the art 10,000 class clean room and the operational staff to run the Facility. The management of the Facility will be undertaken by Densitron personnel with the Densitron Group sourcing opportunities through its network of subsidiaries, distributors and directly from display suppliers in Taiwan that have a requirement for a bonding solution. This is a major progression for Densitron as it moves the business up the supply chain from being an added value distributor to providing a service and solution to customers worldwide. It also accelerates the Company’s long term strategy to create intellectual property to provide a full range of solutions.

Ffastfill (LON:FFA) the software and services provider to the global financial community, provided interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2012, in which it saw good growth in revenue to £10.9m (H1 11/12: £7.3m) (organic growth of 14 per cent), and the Company swinging to a pre tax profit £162,000, versus a pretax loss of £107,000 for the year ago period. Operationally, the Company secured nine new mandates across all product lines including three new customers, as well as the extension of geographical coverage across the product suite particularly in Asia and expanded offer and connectivity by adding Asian exchanges including Japan.

Good Energy Group (LON:GOOD)  announced the UK's first Local Tariff to reward households near its wind farms with lower electricity bills, pioneering a blueprint to put community interest at the heart of renewable energy generation across Britain. Customers who live within two km of the company's flagship 9.2MW Delabole wind farm in north Cornwall will qualify for its new Local Tariff, offering a 20 per cent discount on its standard electricity prices. It will currently save an average Good Energy customer in the area around £100 over a year. Good Energy's Local Tariff is replicable across the country and will be offered at the company's other wind farm sites (over 4 MW) as they are developed. The tariff fulfills a long-standing ambition of the company to ensure communities benefit from their local wind farm. Good Energy plans to develop 110MW of new renewable sites by 2016 across a number of technologies.

Halosource (LON:HALO 39p/£10.37m) The clean water technology company announced that the Chinese Ministry of Health has approved the Perfect multi-stage water purifier. Earlier this year, HaloSource announced its new partnership and supply agreement with Perfect Water Purification Manufacturing Co. Ltd, a leading global supplier of consumer goods in China. Under the terms of the supply agreement, Perfect holds the exclusive right to sell pressurised water purification devices powered by HaloPure technology through its direct sales channels in China. Martin Coles, CEO of HaloSource commented, "HaloPure was the first water purification technology to be approved under a rigorous standard developed by China's Ministry of Health in April 2011 and we are delighted that the collaboration with Perfect has resulted in another approval. This serves to validate further the potential of our proprietary HaloPure media and continues our strategy to build partnerships with leading companies that are able to deploy products which leverage our technology."

Ilika (LON:IKA)  the cleantech materials discovery company, has announced that Energizer Battery Manufacturing Inc., has decided not to extend its joint development agreement with Ilika beyond the current phase of the project, which was expected to conclude in January 2013, due to their recently announced enterprise-wide, multi-year cost cutting programme. This decision will reduce the level of milestone and royalty payments expected from this relationship both in the current financial year and beyond. As a result, revenue from continuing operations for the current financial year to 30 April 2013 is now expected to be 10 per cent below that achieved in the previous financial year to 30 April 2012. The management is focused on identifying new partners to commercialise Ilika’s expertise in this area, however, given the timelines required to conclude these discussions, the positive benefit to revenue is likely to be seen in the next financial year.

IPSA Group (LON:IPSA)  the developer, owner and operator of power generation capacity in southern Africa, announces that it has now exchanged contracts for the sale of its two remaining Siemens Westinghouse 701 DU gas turbines to Iris Eco Power Sdn Bhd, a Malaysian power development company, for a consideration of US$31m, as first announced on 15 October 2012. Under the turbine sale agreement, completion is expected to occur on or before 30 November 2012. A further announcement will be made once the completion payment is received.

Nakama Group (LON:NAK)  The AIM quoted recruitment consultancy working across UK, Europe, Asia and Australia providing staff for the Web, Interactive, IT and Digital media sectors, announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2012. Revenue grew by 81 per cent to £8.64m (2011: £4.78m), primarily reflecting additional revenue following the acquisition of Nakama in Oct 2011.  EBITDA before exceptional items increased to £191,411 (2011:£156,080). Net fee income (NFI) rose by 134 per cent to £2, 078, 782, (2011: £887,000) whilst the net profit decreased to £11,000 (2011: £152,000). New offices were opened in Singapore and Munich with the Singapore office being profitable in the year to date and performing well and the recently opened Munich office expected to make a contribution next year. The half year outcome has been substantially reduced by £120,000 relating to significant mismanagement and misappropriation of funds in the Hong Kong office, although this was the Company said dealt with fast and efficiently. All other Nakama offices were profitable.

New World Oil and Gas (LON:NEW) the oil and gas exploration and development Company focused on Belize and Denmark, has announced that further to the announcement dated 15 November 2012 the Blue Creek#2 well located in Northwest Belize reached a total depth of 10,490 feet on 19 November 2012. Oil and gas shows have been present in mud logs recorded throughout the upper and middle Cretaceous intervals, including the Y1, Y2 and Y3 intervals of the Yalbac formation and the Hillbank formation.  The next stage, which is currently underway, is to run electric wireline logs in the well which will amongst other things measure certain rock formation characteristics and enable the Company to calculate fluid saturation levels, porosity, and determine rock  thicknesses. Subject to the results of this exercise, New World will then determine at what depth intervals to carry out further evaluation.

Omega Diagnostics (LON:ODX) Group, the medical diagnostics company focused on allergy, food intolerance and infectious disease, announced that it has been awarded a grant of up to £150,000 from Scottish Enterprise. This is a Regional Selective Assistance grant for scaling up manufacturing facilities for the Company's new CD4 test for monitoring HIV positive patients at its Headquarters in Alva, Central Scotland. This will be payable in three instalments dependent on the attainment of employment targets and capital expenditure. The first instalment of £32,000 is expected to be received in the current financial year.

One Media IP (OFEX:OMIP)  * One Media last week announced that the Group intends to pay an interim dividend of 0.037p per ordinary share in respect of the six month period ended 31 October 2012. The dividend will be paid on 29 November 2012. The Board reported that the Company has remained profitable and debt free with trading for the year ending 31 October 2012 remaining strong. One Media retains a strong cash position and will continue to explore acquisition opportunities, it has said. The last financial year has seen considerable investment in the portfolio of popular audio and video material as the consumption of digital content continues to increase in line with the growing proliferation of smart phones, digital devices and improving broadband speeds. Michael Infante, CEO and Chairman of One Media said: "As the entertainment industry continues to go digital, our proven business model of acquiring, exploiting and repackaging past hits for the likes of iTunes, Spotify and YouTube looks like a strategy that has the potential to provide excellent returns for shareholders."

Orsu Metals (LON:OSU)  , which holds a 94.75 per cent interest in a copper deposit license located in Karchiga in the Kurchumskiy District of the Eastern Kazakhstan Oblast, has announced that, further to its press release dated July 31 2012, it has signed a non-binding term sheet with RK Mine Finance (Master) Fund II LP, a part of the Red Kite Group. The principal terms include, subject to certain conditions, provision of sub-ordinated secured debt finance facilities of up to $25m for the Company's Karchiga project, comprising a $15m sub-ordinated loan and a sub-ordinated standby facility of up to $10m, and an off-take agreement for 100 per cent of any future annual production of copper concentrate at Karchiga for the life of the mine. If completed, the RK Mine Finance debt offering, when added to the funds from the sale of Talas to Gold Fields and the potential proceeds from the $90m senior debt facility, completes the pre-production finance package required to achieve the goal of starting construction at Karchiga.

Stadium Group (LON:SDM)  , provider of electronic equipment manufacturing services and power supplies, provided a trading update in which it stated that further softening demand since the interim statement has resulted in the Company now expecting revenue and normalised profit before taxation for the second half of the year to be below those reported in the first half. Full year results will be significantly below current market expectations. The Power business has continued to perform despite the challenging conditions, and will deliver similar revenues and operating profit to that achieved during 2011, whilst the Electronic Manufacturing Services business is currently seeing its options being reviewed, with existing capacity in the UK, and reducing fixed operational costs in the UK and Asia being some of the options considered. Disposal of the Hong Kong building is expected to complete before the year end, delivering a one off £3.0m cash inflow and a £2.2m exceptional profit.

Tarsus (LON:TRS) (LON:TRS 184.5p/£176.06m) , the international business-to-business media group, provided an interim management statement in which it stated that Trading for the period has been in line with the Board's expectations, with forward bookings of 95 per cent of anticipated full year revenues, and that it has already accomplished its Project 50/13 target to derive 50 per cent of revenue from Emerging Markets, which was previously targeted for by 2013. The Company continued to perform well across both the US and emerging markets divisions. Tarsus also recently completed the purchase of CYF Fuarc%u0131l%u0131k A. (CYF) in Turkey for a maximum consideration of TL18m (approximately £6.2m) adding two annual business-to-business exhibitions in the ornamental flowers, plants & landscaping sector and the construction materials sector.

Ultimate Finance (LON:UFG)  A leading provider of financial solutions to SMEs today held its AGM. At the meeting Roger McDowell, Chairman of Ultimate Finance, made the following statement: “I am pleased to confirm that trading in the first quarter of our current financial year has been in line with our expectations. Although our markets remain demanding, SMEs are demonstrating signs of improving confidence whilst, at the same time, there is evidence of a reduction in some of our competitors offering non-commercial terms to buy market share. Ultimate Finance is launching a range of new products over the coming months which, through initial pilot schemes, have proven to be very popular. These new products underpin our confidence that we will continue our track record of consistent revenue growth and achievement of expectations.”

ViaLogy (LON:VIY)  announced it has initiated work on a North Sea project for one of the largest geosciences companies. This project challenges ViaLogy's QuantumRD technology to discover and delineate producible hydrocarbon bearing sand bodies that have not been found with sufficient precision by other techniques. ViaLogy CEO, Robert W. Dean, said: "A successful outcome of the North Sea project could open up a large customer base for us. The problem set we are addressing will significantly extend the reach of QuantumRD for offshore analysis. In October the UK Government awarded 167 licences for oil and gas projects on the UK Continental Shelf and highlighted that there are up to 24 billion recoverable barrels of oil equivalent remaining in the North Sea, supporting our view that the North Sea could be a lucrative new area for ViaLogy's QuantumRD technology."

Xenetic Biosciences (LON:XEN)  A bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of high-value differentiated biologics and vaccines and novel cancer drugs yesterday announced the commencement of a Phase I/II (a) human clinical trial of MyeloXen™, its novel vaccine candidate for the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The three-part, multicentre, open-label study is being conducted in compliance with Russian regulations under a protocol that includes a total of 26 subjects.  The end point of the trial is to demonstrate that this novel candidate is safe and well tolerated in patient use; additionally, surrogate efficacy and mechanism of action indicators will be examined. The vaccine has been formulated using the Company’s patented ImuXen™ liposomal entrapment technology and is one of up to six candidates (including both novel biologic and vaccine candidates) under the Co-Development Agreement (CDA) between Xenetic and Pharmsynthez in St Petersburg.  Scott Maguire, CEO of Xenetic, has commented: "The commencement of this MyeloXen™ trial represents two pivotal “firsts” for our Company.  It is the very first vaccine candidate developed under our ImuXen™ technology to enter human clinical trials; it is also the first product candidate to emerge from our collaboration with Pharmsynthez. I expect that it will not be the last on either count! This important outcome validates the de-risking strategy that has been adopted by the Company and increases the number of candidates now in clinical development to four, being in six distinct therapeutic areas.”

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP