Hybridan Small Cap Wrap: A better view from 3D, i-Designs on banking, Lighthouse - a shining light, Scientific Digital - not insignificANT

A better view from 3D, i-Designs on banking, Lighthouse - a shining light, Scientific Digital - not insignificANT

3D Diagnostic Imaging (LON:3DD) (3DD 2.88p / £4.9m)

3D Diagnostics, which owns the protected rights to a technology platform with a number of significant potential commercial products, announced that it has entered into a UK distribution agreement with DenPro for its CarieScan Pro product. This gives the Company significant territorial coverage having already signed agreements covering China, India, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and North America. Covering dental practices throughout the UK, DenPro supports a group of well-established regional dental distributors who collectively have 18 representatives, and they intend to showcase the CarieScan PRO at the British Dental Association Conference (one of the UK's largest dental conferences) in Manchester on 19 - 21 May 2011. 

AFC Energy (LON:AFC) (AFC 49.5p / £85.8m)

AFC Energy, a developer of alkaline fuel cells, has signed a binding Heads of Terms with N(2)telligence GmbH relating to the use of alkaline fuel cells for fire protection. AFC and N2 will work together on an exclusive basis, whereby AFC will only supply the exhaust air from its alkaline fuel cell systems to N2 for fire protection and low oxygen environments and N2 will only source the air from AFC. N2 has licensed patents from Airbus to develop fire protection systems that use the exhaust air from fuel cell systems to create low oxygen environments.

Alecto Energy (LON:ALO) (ALO 3.38p / £6.29m)

AIM listed resource investment Company announced the details of Phase Two of its exploration programme located in Mauritania.  The consultants SRK Exploration Services have been appointed to conduct Phase Two of exploration to commence by the end of May 2011, taking six weeks. Samples will be sent to an independent laboratory for analysis, and results published to the market on receipt. The Phase One exploratory work identified two well defined copper in soils anomalies, with strike lengths of over 800m and 900m, located at the Wad Amour license area. Early indications demonstrate solid grades.  Phase Two will focus on these as a high priority and also upon areas indicating gold pathfinder minerals. Trenches will be excavated where appropriate on targets delineated from geochemistry, mapping and geophysics.   

Altona (LON:ANR) Energy (ANR 11p / £46.36m)

Altona, the AIM –listed Australia-based energy company, announced last week that its major shareholder, Tongjiang International Energy, had subscribed £1m for new shares in the company to provide additional working capital for the company.  This was followed by news this week that the company has signed an evaluation agreement for production of renewable ethanol from CO2 with Icelandic based clean energy company, CRI. Under the agreement Altona and CRI will work together to evaluate the application of CRI’s technology at the Arckaringa coal-to-liquid project in South Australia. The Arckaringa project is a joint venture between the company and CNOOC- NEIA, a subsidiary of Chinese oil major CNOOC under which CNOOC - NEI will fund the bankable feasibility study. The chairman commented: “The CRI technology has the exciting potential to further advance the Arckaringa project through applying the captured CO2 as a feedstock for the commercial production of renewable methanol, significantly improving the carbon footprint of the project, whilst adding to the gasoline pool and energy security of South Australia.”     

Andes Energia (LON:AEN) (AEN 24.5p / £32.68m)

Andes, the oil and gas, electricity distribution and hydro-electric power Company, announced the successful conclusion of a farm-in agreement with YPF S.A, Argentina’s largest oil and gas Company. The agreement is subject to the formalisation of new UTEs (joint ventures). Following completion, Andes will hold a 28 per cent carried interest in the blocks and is also entitled to a 2 per cent share of YPF’s interest in net production. Under the agreement, YPF will fund exploration work program commitments up to the stage of commercial discovery. Furthermore, YPF will further fund the first US$12m of Andes’s share of production costs following a declaration of commerciality. Juan Carlos Esteban, CEO of Andes Oil and Gas comments: “We are delighted to have secured a second agreement with YPF, following the previous one in respect of our Neuquen licences. We have conducted a significant amount of work on these blocks and we are particularly pleased, based on the results of this work, that YPF has recognised the development potential in these blocks by entering into this second agreement with us. This relationship with YPF will help us to develop these six areas and catch up with our original development plans. This agreement further consolidates our relationship with YPF, the largest oil and gas development Company in Argentina.”

 

Designcapital (LON:DESC) (DESC 14.5p / £10.09m)

AIM listed investment company dedicated to contemporary furniture design yesterday  announced that its Paris based subsidiary, Forum Diffusion, has secured a significant contract to supply furniture to the Paris head office of a major French international group. The contract is initially for the supply of 1,700 workstations, to the value of €1.9m, although the directors expect that additional requirements are likely to increase the size of the order in due course.  The furniture will be sourced by Forum predominantly from Italian and German manufacturers and it is anticipated that delivery will begin on June 15^th 2011 and shall last until November 2011.

ECR Minerals (LON:ECR) (ECR 1.6p / £8.59m)

Mining company ECR Minerals announced that a total of 900 metres of outcropping gold-bearing quartz veins have been identified at its El Abra gold prospect in La Rioja Province, Argentina. The surface geochemical sampling returned high gold grades including, 80.78 g/t Au, 44.98 g/t Au and 39.74 g/t Au. The high grades are broadly distributed across identified veins. More drilling and geophysics are proposed to evaluate continuity of mineralisation at depth. As well as further mapping and geochemical sampling at El Abra and within the wider Sierra de las Minas project area, ECR proposes to undertake a 1-2,000m drilling programme at El Abra with the objective of enabling the completion of an initial gold resource estimate. Prior to the detailed planning of this programme, ECR may seek to complete a ground based geophysical survey over the prospect. In addition, the Company intends to rehabilitate certain historic mine workings at El Abra to achieve a degree of safe access sufficient to allow sampling to take place up to 20m below surface level. The Company is also evaluating the prospectivity of the Sierra de las Minas project area for the discovery of copper porphyry mineralization and an additional objective of the proposed drill programme at El Abra would be to test for porphyry potential.

Elektron (LON:EKT) (EKT 42p / £44.69m)

Elektron, the global technology based provider of engineered solutions, last week announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 January 2011.   The results represent substantial growth in revenues and profits. Revenues increased by 67  per cent to £50m with profit before tax of £3.6m (2010: £0.20m).  In addition, this profit figure reflects £1.5m of non-recurring and special costs relating to the re-organisation of the Elektron businesses and the costs related to the Hartest acquisition.  These significant increases were a result of both organic growth and the acquisition in September of Hartest. The acquisition of Hartest provided the Company with a greater critical mass as well as further quality, technology driven brands which complement the company’s existing portfolio. The challenge for the current financial year is to lay the foundations for a step change in the scale of the group; reflecting the changes in the business, the Company is to be renamed Elektron Technology. The chairman also reported that Elektron has begun trading strongly this year and the integration of Hartest Holdings is nearing completion. 

Frontier Mining (LON:FML) (FML 4.25p / £79.09m)

AIM listed gold and copper exploration and development Company, has announced that it has received official approval and registration of the resource estimate for its Maminskoye gold ore deposit. The Maminskoye gold deposit forms part of the Maminskoye Exploration License Area situated in the Southern Ural region of Russia. The license area consists of three deposits: Maminskoye, Gabievskoye and Bezimyanny-Vostochny. Of these, the Maminskoye deposit is the most explored but has the smallest surface footprint at 300m wide, 650m long and to a known depth of over 250m, representing approximately 8 per cent of the targeted exploration ground within the license area. Whilst the other two exploration targets are considerably larger and display similar geological characteristics to Maminskoye, they have not had extensive exploration as yet. The Exploration and Resource Report on the Maminskoye Gold Deposit, as a substantial exploration finding, had been submitted by the Company to the State Resource Committee of the Ministry of Natural Resources of the Russian Federation at the end of last year. The Company has now received formal approval of the registration of the Maminskoye reserves to the State Balance of the Russian Federation. The Company plans to produce an initial JORC report on the Maminskoye resource in 2011, followed by a Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) in 2012. Frontier also released a Pit Optimisation Study for its Benkala deposit. This study is a key component of the BFS being undertaken by KazCopper LLP on the oxide section of the Benkala deposit. A mineable oxide reserve has been estimated by Wardell Armstrong from the compliant oxide resource previously disclosed. Erlan Sagadiev, CEO of Frontier Mining, commented: “The Pit Optimisation Study is a key part of the BFS. The report confirms and further reinforces the quality of the Benkala deposit and shows more than acceptable mining parameters. This allows us to continue the ongoing development of the deposit while we wait for the completion of the remaining components of the BFS.”

 

Gulfsands Petroleum (LON:GPX) (GPX 271.75p / £331.51m)

Gulfsands Petroleum, the oil and gas production, exploration and development Company, announced that it has suspended the Khurbet East 101 (KHE-101) appraisal well as a potential future oil production well following a drill-stem test that achieved a potentially commercial stabilized flow rate of 447 barrels of oil per day from the Triassic aged Butmah Formation reservoir. The KHE-101 well was planned to be drilled to a total depth of 3200 metres and found at 2456 meters (True Vertical Depth Subsea) a gross vertical oil column of 69 metres with a net to gross ratio of 35 per cent and average porosity of 21 per cent based on preliminary interpreted wire line logs. Crosco E-501 rig will now be moved to the Yousefieh 7 well location on the northern flank of the Yousefieh field. Drilling operations in Syria Block 26, using the Crosco E-401 and E-501 drilling rigs, are continuing as planned and have continued without interruption during recent months. Oil production and revenue receipts from the Khurbet East and Yousefieh fields continue without interruption. Expect combined production from these fields to be increased to 24,000 bopd by the end of 2011 with the drilling and tie-in of additional development and delineation wells, and via minor upgrades and de-bottle necking of existing surface facilities.

I-Design (LON:IDG) (IDG 28.75p / £4.06m)

i-design, the developer and supplier of  a leading market solution for ATM’s and self-service machines last week announced that it had signed a major new banking customer agreement with Barclays Bank. The contract to supply atmAd, covers Barclays entire UK estate of c. 4,000 ATM’s and kiosks and helps to underpin market forecasts for the current financial year.  This news follows a positive update issued in March on trading for the first six months of the current financial year to 30 September 2011. We look forward to the half year results to be announced at the end of June with interest.   

Lighthouse (LON:LGT) Group (LGT 8.38p / £10.69m)

At last week’s annual Financial Adviser Life and Pension Awards, the Group won the Large IFA of the Year Award 2011, the second year running that they have won this accolade. The 2011 award was based on a formal submission which highlighted the various ways in which Lighthouse's three operating divisions were successfully meeting the multiple challenges of regulatory change; migrating to a post-RDR world whilst enhancing the client experience in a difficult economic environment; building a substantial capability in the workplace and affinity marketing; developing an increasing presence in the corporate pension de-risking market and increasing the Group's turnover and profitability without any debt. Allan Rosengren, Joint Chief Executive, commented: “It was most gratifying to win this prestigious award for the second year running……..we aim to maintain our track record over the coming year and it would be great to win this again next year, though the odds against are obviously increased”.

Max Petroleum (LON:MXP) (MXP 16.25p / £150.0m)

Oil and gas explorer Max Petroleum announced that an appraisal well on the Zhana Makat Field in Kazakhstan has found 18 metres of oil in three reservoirs. The ZMA-ET2 appraisal well was drilled to a depth of 1,492 metres and found oil at depths ranging between 1,283 and 1,358 metres in three sandstone reservoirs. The Company said the reservoir quality appears “excellent”. MXP will complete tests on the well after obtaining the requisite governmental approvals and results will be announced as soon as possible.

Medicsight (LON:MDST) (MDST 3.12p / £4.86m)

AIM listed industry leader in the development of Computer-Aided Detection and image analysis software to assist in the early detection and diagnosis of disease, last week announced its unaudited results for the three months ended 31 March 2011. The group cash balance at 31 March 2011 was £4,373,000 (31 December 2010: £5,336,000) and net revenue from external customers was £30,000 (31 March 2010: £39,000) of which £26,000 was for ColonCAD (2010: £39,000) and £4,000 was for the MedicCO2LON Insufflator (2010: £Nil). The operating loss before interest and tax was £1,467,000 (31 March 2010: £1,299,000). MedicSight responded to the US Food and Drug Administration in March on a series of informal questions including a request for additional statistical analysis on the submission data for ColonCAD, received European approval and launched ColonCAD 4.1 on 25 March 2011. The market awaits news as the Company continues to make progress toward finalising its regulatory approvals in the US and Japan.

Next Fifteen (NFC 84.5p / £46.89m)

Worldwide digital marketing communications group last week announced the acquisition of CMG Worldwide Limited, trading as Bourne, a global, full-service digital agency with offices in Glasgow, London and New York. Bourne is the latest investment by Next Fifteen in the digital marketing arena. Bourne provides high value, strategic planning services across all digital channels. It is headquartered in Glasgow and has clients that include: Dell, Ricoh, Lumesse and Symantec. The move gives Next Fifteen an 80 per cent shareholding in Bourne, a business with £2.5m of revenue in calendar 2010 delivering adjusted profits before interest and tax of £750,000. The remaining 20 per cent holding in Bourne is the subject of put and call options and it is anticipated that these shares will be acquired by October 2018.

Next Fifteen also announced that Richard Anthony Eyre aged 57, Chairman of the Internet Advertising Bureau and the Eden Project has been appointed as Chairman of Next Fifteen. He replaces Will Whitehorn, who has chaired the Group for the last seven years. Eyre will bring to the role 35 years' experience across the media and marketing industries, including time as Chairman of RDF Media plc, GCap plc; mobile games publisher Digital Bridges, mobile tech company, Rapid Mobile, Bess Media Ltd and Bess Technology Ltd. He was also a director of the Guardian Media Group plc. Eyre's appointment will be instrumental in moving Next Fifteen further into the digital space, according to Group CEO Tim Dyson. Next Fifteen’s recent strong results reflected the opportunities the Group is experiencing as a result of the market transition to the digital arena.

One Media Publishing (OMPP 3p / £1.3m)*

PLUS quoted consolidators and acquirers of music and video content last week announced that Michael Infante, Chairman and Chief Executive won the award of PLUS-SX Chairman/CEO of the Year at the PLUS Awards 2011. The ceremony, which took place on the 12th May 2011 at the headquarters of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), celebrates the achievements of companies listed on PLUS-SX and nominees have been selected across seven awards categories. One Media recently put out a great set of financial results and certainly knows how to do deals in its space; we believe it will continue to build its portfolio.

Oxford Catalysts (LON:OCG) Group (OCG 96p / £86.55m)

Oxford Catalysts, the leading technology innovator for synthetic oil production, last week announced its final audited results for the year ended 31 December 2011. Oxford Catalysts designs and develops technology for the production of synthetic oil from both conventional fossil fuels and renewable sources such as biowaste.

The Company reported a successful 2010 in its continuing transformation from a development organisation to a commercial product provider. Market conditions for synthetic fuel production, especially through smaller scale gas –to-liquids projects, have improved considerably over the past year and the company is enjoying high levels of interest in its technology. A first order was received from SGCE for a commercial scale Fischer –Tropsch reactor followed by a second order post year end. 

Year end cash was £5.7m but has been subsequently strengthened by a £21m placing in March 2011.  

Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI 16p/£2.88m)

SDI (LON:SDIG) a specialist company in the scientific instrument space, announced that its subsidiary, Synoptics Ltd, has had its Syncroscopy technology used for the first time by Punjabi University Patiala who is using it to produce a classification guide of some of some of the world’s most unusual ant species. Furthermore, The California Academy of Sciences will also be using the same Auto-Montage Pro technology to document its 'Antweb' project, which aims to produce images of 95 per cent of all known ant species.

Synoptics develops and manufactures scientific instruments and systems that exploit digital imaging technology for a range of disciplines. This is a significant use of the technology, which will produce in-focus 3D images of ants from around India and the Himalayas in the case of Punjabi University Patiala, and produce images of a total of 8,000 ant specimens in five years from major ant collections around the world for The California Academy of Sciences.

SDI's Chairman, Harry Tee, said: "For such well respected research institutions to be using Auto-Montage Pro is a great endorsement for our product and so far the resulting images have been truly breathtaking. We are proud to be able to assist with such valuable research and we look forward to continuing our relationship with all institutions involved."

Sefton (LON:SER) Resources (SER 5.1p / £14.28m)

Recently a total of 300 million shares changed hands in just two days for US onshore oil and gas play Sefton Resources. What excited investors was a Competent Person Report which for the first time put a Present Value on the company’s oil and gas resources in Kansas of $100.1m (£60m). Whilst gas prices have been under pressure in the US, the board has been making a series of opportunistic investments at down to earth prices. Up until the last few days, investors’ attention had been firmly focused on the other side of the business which is oil production at Tapia Canyon in California where Sefton has 3.8m barrels of proven oil reserves. Profitable Sefton produces heavy oil and has a pilot steam program running at Tapia which is investigating the use of steam to heat the reservoir and improve recovery which will not only allow production to rise but also reserves to increase. The company is awaiting the findings of a report by heavy oil expert Dr Ali Farouq which should reveal the true development potential at Tapia. The plan this year is to substantially boost production, increase reserves and to establish cash flow from Kansas. Each of these moves will not only add value but keep the spotlight firmly on Sefton Resources.

Serabi Mining (LON:SRB) (SRB 28.75p / £18.39m)*

Brazilian focused gold exploration Company yesterday published its unaudited financial results for Q1 2011.  For the three month period ended 31 March 2011 the Company recorded a net loss of US$742,642 compared to a net loss of US$953,599 for the comparative period last year.  The decrease in the loss reflects reduced administrative costs and a foreign exchange gain recorded during the period of US$187,297, compared with a foreign exchange loss in the comparative period of US$1,180.  At the same time in the corresponding period in 2010, the Company had limited gold production which yielded a gross profit of US$78,866.  There has been no mining operation during the three month period ended 31 March 2011 and as a result the Company incurred a gross loss of US$183,822. In January 2011, Serabi completed an additional 8,000 hectare helicopter borne electromagnetic survey over adjacent areas to the original 2008 mine site survey area within the Jardim do Ouro project. In February 2011, the Company received the positive outcome of its appeal to the Instituto Brasileiro do Meio Ambiente e dos Recursos Naturais Renovaveis that the original penalty of Brazilian Reals 3,597,300 (US$2.2m) was cancelled with immediate effect, and also in February positive geochemical results received from trenching over the Piaui drill target including 1 metre at 33.6 g/t and 3.2 metres at 16.1 g/t. In April 2011, results were received for the first five drill holes into the Piaui target indicated significant gold mineralization in all five holes including 1.93 metres at 22.86 g/t and 2.5 metres at 6.22 g/t. On 30 March 2011 an IPO was completed in Canada at a price of C$0.55 per share for gross proceeds of C$4.95m. Serabi's  short term strategy for the JDO Project (phase  1) is to be followed for the  next  six months  and continues  to  focus  on  'head-frame' exploration with the objective  of discovering  more Palito  style deposits. 

Summit (LON:SUMM) Corporation (SUMM 5.75p / £9.68m)*

UK drug discovery Company last week announced that it has nominated SMT 19969 as the preclinical development candidate in its programme developing new antibiotics that target infection caused by the hospital 'superbug' Clostridium difficile. The selection of SMT 19969 as the development candidate achieves a further research milestone in Summit's collaboration with the Wellcome Trust and has triggered a £925,000 payment to Summit to advance SMT 19969 towards clinical trials. Summit anticipates that an application to regulatory authorities to commence clinical trials will be submitted in Q3 2012. The share performed well on the back off this news and has gone up two pence in just a week. Summit has a portfolio of drug programmes and an innovative Seglin technology platform for the discovery of new medicines. We look forward to Summit reporting results of ongoing studies involving the use of Seglin based technologies.

 Tertiary Minerals (LON:TYM) (TYM 10.12p / £12.03m)

Tertiary Minerals, a diversified mineral explorer and developer with a strategic position in the fluorspar sector, has announced positive results from sampling of archived drill core from its Lassedalen project in south-west Norway. The core is from holes drilled in the 1970s by Norsk Hydro A/S (Norsk). The Company also reports that it has obtained from Norsk an extensive archive of data which reveals that evaluation of the project progressed further at the time than public records suggested. Norsk’s activity included pilot scale test work demonstrating the feasibility of production of acid grade fluorspar and included the design of a mine, process plant and infrastructure. The metallurgical reports from the 1970’s projected fluorspar recoveries in excess of 80 per cent. Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman, comments: “These are highly encouraging results – it has been an important step to confirm historical assay results and the archive data will certainly help us to fast-track further evaluation of the Lassedalen fluorspar project at a time when fluorspar spot prices are rising strongly”.

Tristel (LON:TSTL) (TSTL 44.5p / £17.79m)

Further to our article last week, where we announced that the AIM listed manufacturer of infection control, contamination control and hygiene products, had received approval for its Wipes System in Australia and Hong Kong as part of its continued geographic expansion, this week brings news that the Company has received an administrative licence that will enable the use of its Stella decontamination system in China.

Stella is a sophisticated micro-processor controlled tray in which medical instruments are immersed in Tristel's chlorine dioxide disinfectant and offers significantly reduced costs when compared to endoscope washers. Having received regulatory approval for Stella last autumn, receipt of this licence enables use of the system in hospitals, with the Company's China subsidiary, Shanghai Stella Medical Equipment Co. Ltd., having appointed six distributors and purchased 30 units for training and evaluation. Tristel has already sold 63 Stella units in the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, Italy, Dubai, New Zealand and Germany, and this new license could pave the way for a leap in sales going forwards.

Zeta Compliance Group (ZCGP 50.5p / £4.43m)*

Zeta yesterday announced its final results for the year ended 31 January 2011. It increased revenue by 28.0 per cent to £2,983,523, increased EBITDA by 37.3 per cent to £653,209, excluding new initiatives, namely the acquisition of the Fire Strategy Company and instigation of a Carbon Reduction service. Ongoing development of ZetaSafe 2.0 continued, with a release set for late in 2011 and an Operations Director was recruited, David Downer. Zeta Chairman, John Caines, commented: "2010-11 was a year of achieving growth and profitability.  The  impressive  growth  and profitability  of  the services business has been achieved by the continuing  excellence  and dedication of its staff and executives at all levels.” The Company announced it maiden dividend of 0.5p per share to be paid subject to ratification at this year's AGM. An objective of the Company is to make regular returns to shareholders provided that neither liquidity nor the capacity to invest in the future is practically impaired. Zeta has an impressive list of blue chip clients, and we expect to see further news for Zeta as its client list grows and contracted revenues increase, and as the Law surrounding this area, business productivity issues and brand protection drive clients to Zeta.

 

Zytronic (LON:ZYT) (ZYT 219p / £32.21m)

AIM listed specialist manufacturer of internationally award-winning touch sensor products, announced interim results for the 6 months to 31 March 2011. Positive results were recorded, with an 11 per cent growth in revenue to £9.1m (2010: £8.2m) and a 19 per cent increase in profit before tax to £1.3m (2010: £1.1m). Other significant events during the period include the appointment of a new Chairman, Tudor Davies, and a growth in sales of the Group’s touch sensor products which now represents 66 per cent (2010: 56 per cent) of total revenues.

Zytronic’s leading touch sensor products are based upon its unique projected capacitive technology (PCT), which is similar to the technologies used on the iPhone, but PCT provides better durability and stability and works better on large screens (min 6” screen). Applications of this technology takes a variety of forms, and in particular the period has seen growth in the supply of touch sensors for Coca Cola Freestyle™ vending machines, to Bosch und Siemens Hausgerate for its new Gaggenau induction cook top, and increased supply for Digital Signage applications and the Gaming/Entertainment market. Wider geographical spread of sales is also being achieved, partly due to an increase in sales via Value Added Resellers (from 27 per cent to 35 per cent).

With increasing acceptance of touch sensors across an expanding number of geographic regions and applications, the Company believes this will provide a good platform for continuing growth and shareholder value.