Hybridan Smallcap Wrap - Atlantic trawling for more, sweet music from Cello, Fusion bubbling up and no copying this Symphony

Animalcare (LON:ANCR) Group (ANCR 140p / £28.40m)

The leading supplier of veterinary medicines announced that the half yearly report for the six months ending 31 December 2010 will be released on 17 February 2011. In their trading update they applaud their disposal of the group’s agriculture and related business. In doing so it has brought clarity to the group’s strategy and helped to continue the strong performance of the veterinary medicines business. The development and sale of generic medicines for companion animals continues to accelerate the group’s growth. Revenue is 10 percent ahead at 31 December 2010 compared to last year. It would seem that the group is experiencing good growth after disposing its agricultural businesses. A strategy that may yield strong returns in 2011.

Atlantic Coal (LON:ATC) (ATC 1.36p / £29.75m)

The coal miner has said that it is on the lookout for deals in Pennsylvania to enable it to raise production and export more coal to resource-hungry nations like China and India. ATC is expecting to produce 250,000 metric tonnes of anthracite coal from its Stockton colliery in Pennsylvania this year. Nearly all the coal will be sold into the domestic market, where it is used in steelmaking, glassmaking and home heating. The Company is examining acquisitions and joint ventures to boost production to meet a rising international demand for anthracite coal. China is now a net importer of coal due to its rapid economic expansion. Pennsylvania produces 1.7 million tonnes of anthracite a year and the Company estimates that there is roughly 300 million tonnes of reserves located within 10 miles of ATC’s colliery.

Avanti Communications (LON:AVN) (AVN 612.5p / £520.32m)

The broadband satellite provider has won 2 contracts to further develop and demonstrate technology to deliver video to the edge of terrestrial networks using Avanti’s satellite capacity. NXY, which will develop video caching technology in conjunction with MPEG 4 IP, is a €500,000 project funded by the European Space Agency, whilst a £216,000 contract win from the UK’s Technology Strategy Board to setup hotspots for testing new business models (to be called Digital Advanced Rural Testbed, or DART) is the second of the Company’s contract wins. With demand for data bandwidth increasing around the world, satellite technology appears to be a solution that is at the very forefront and we think this bodes well for Avanti. The contracts bring sizeable revenues to the Company, and demonstrate the potential sizeable growth ahead.

Bpc (LON:BPC) ( 17.5p / £172.79m)

Following up on last year’s seismic data indicating the potential of super-giant traps of hydrocarbons on the Company’s licences in The Bahamas, the Company has engaged Osprey Navigation to perform a close grid 2D seismic survey in order to define drillable targets and resource potential in place. In a new announcement Bahamas reports that the seismic survey has now commenced.

Cello Group (LON:CLL) (CLL 60p / £36.84m)

AIM listed marketing group has announced strong profit growth backed by good cash conversion. The board expects that the full year headline pre tax profits will be ahead of expectations and net debt will be better than expected at less than £9m. The group’s market research and consulting business experienced a strong second half with robust like for like revenue growth. Operating profits are expected to have risen by more than 20 percent. This is reflected by continuing strong spending patterns, a growing international blue chip client base (due to significant gains in their blue chip client wins in 2010, the group intend to expand its US West Coast office more aggressively in 2011) and improving operating margins. Performance has been particularly strong in the pharmaceutical and health related client sector which now constitute the primary area of the group’s research and consulting activity. The group is carrying a forward healthy pipeline of activity into 2011, a good investment.

Encore Oil (LON:EO.) (EO. 133.5p / £390.75m)

Keep an eye out for an announcement from EnCore in the next three weeks regarding drilling results from the Catcher North appraisal well which was spudded on Monday. The drilling is being done in order to appraise the Tay and Cromarty reservoirs to the North of the Catcher discovery made last summer. The Company continues to demonstrate its active approach to drilling.

Falkland Oil & Gas (LON:FOGL) (FOGL 99.5p / £145.68m)

Falkland Oil and Gas said last week that in order to provide further drilling options across its Falkland Islands acreage, the company will undertake a new site survey programme in the first half of 2011. As well as the survey programme, 1,300km of 2D seismic may also be acquired to assist with prospect definition and selection of drilling locations. Negotiations are currently underway with respect to securing a suitable deep-water rig for drilling on FOGL’s acreage. This vessel is currently mobilizing to the Falklands and the survey programme is expected to commence in late February. Data from the site surveys will be incorporated into environmental impact statements, to be submitted to the Falkland Islands Government later in 2011 as part of the approval process for drilling, so the success or otherwise of this survey is a little way off yet.

Forte Energy Nl (LON:FTE) (FTE 8.97p / £52.26m)

The uranium and rare earth metals company has announced a capital raising of A$15m at 8 pence per share in order to progress the Company’s West African uranium portfolio. This follows encouraging assay results from drill holes at the Company’s uranium project in Mauritania. So far, 27 holes out of 120 drilled have been processed enabling the Company to start a more detailed geological interpretation of the project’s geology.

Moving forward, a more detailed study of the origins of the high grade core will be undertaken as part of the resource modelling process once all assays are received. The proceeds from the capital raising will enable Forte to remain on track to release a JORC compliant resource for the A238 uranium prospect during the first half of 2011, further explore other high priority prospects in Mauritania as well as to commence pre-feasibility work at the Firawa project in Guinea.

Fusion Ip (LON:FIP) (FIP 31.50p / £17.09m)

Fusion has added Perlemax to its intellectual property commercialisation portfolio. Perlemax is the brainchild of Professor Will Zimmerman at the University of Sheffield who has invented a fluidic oscillator which enables the super efficient generation of micro sized gas bubbles in a liquid. Micro bubbles represent a major step forward in chemical engineering allowing for a dramatic increase in the rate of transfer of gas into a liquid. The technology is of particular relevance to chemical processes employed in water purification, wastewater treatment, biodiesel manufacture and carbon sequestration; all fast growing multi-billion dollar markets. The Company is at a stage where it is already conducting a number of pilot scale trials with commercial partners. Perlemax is not the only excitement bubbling in Fusion’s portfolio; a number of other companies are seeing very positive progress which may at some point allow Fusion to record some significant value uplifts. In addition, Fusion’s share price is trading well below net asset value so investors may benefit from appreciation in both.

Instem Life Science Systems (LON:INS) (INS 229p / £26.83m)

Instem, a leading supplier of IT solutions for the early development healthcare market, announced a trading update ahead of its final results for the year ended 31 December 2010 that was in line with expectations. Highlighted notes in the period include Instems’s successful admission to AIM in October 2010, its continued dominance in its niche market (the Early Development and Safety Assessment Market) with several new customer additions and its advance into the broader IT applications market through the launch of its new product Centrus. Things are looking good for Instem.

Judges Capital (LON:JDG) (JDG 420p / £17.56m)

AIM listed Judges Scientific confirmed that the financial year ended 31 December 2010 concluded well. The robust momentum shown in the first six months of the year continued during the second half and produced a satisfactory order intake, sales, improved margins and cash generation. As a result the board is confident that the adjusted EPS for 2010 will be above market expectations. This is a positive outlook for Judges Scientific; however the Company may face challenges with the potential strength of Sterling and the possible impact of budgetary discipline in the European Public Sector in 2011.

Kenmare Resources (LON:KMR) (KMR 33.7p / £810.03m)

The AIM listed company, which is engaged in the operation of the Moma Titanium Minerals Mine located in Mozambique, provided an operations update for the second half of 2010. Production of heavy mineral concentrate at the Company’s Moma Titanium Minerals Mine increased by 8 per cent to 496,190 tonnes, with a 12 per cent increase in the production of ilmenite and a 21 per cent increase in the production of Zircon. Total finished product for the period was 346,202 tonnes. Further, the Company announced that its production expansion project (to increase production by 50 per cent) is on schedule, with full mobilisation to site planned by the end of the first quarter of 2011. Demand for all products continued to increase during the fourth quarter of 2010.

We last wrote on Kenmare back in October 2010 when a settling pond adjacent to the Kenmare Moma Mine breached its southern wall causing a non-toxic discharge of water, sand and clay that flowed through part of the nearby village of Topuito and resulted in the suspension of its mining operations. News since then has been largely in the form of operations updates which have been most encouraging, and this latest update is likely to be well received by the markets.

Mariana Resources (LON:MARL) (MARL 48.5p / £87.46m)

AIM listed exploration and development company focused in Argentina and Chile, announced further encouraging results from the third drilling campaign at the Calandria Norte prospect, one of several key target areas of the company’s 100 percent owned flagship Las Calandrias gold – silver project. The first 16 holes from the campaign at Calandria Norte indicated the potential for developing significant high grade gold – silver mineralisation within an extensive rhyolite dome – hosted stockwork zone. The results of the drilling indicate strong resource potential at Calandria Norte, with further exploratory and infill drilling planned.

Ncc Group (LON:NCC) (NCC 620p / £210.61m)

NCC Group, the Escrow and Assurance services business, has reported results for the 6 months to 30 November 2010. Performance was highly impressive with a 49 per cent growth in revenue to £33m (2009: £22.2m), whilst profits from continuing operations increased by 26 per cent to £7.4m. Although the Escrow business contributes high margins to NCC, it now represents a smaller portion of the overall business (2010: 36 per cent, 2009: 49 per cent of revenue), with the assurance business now responsible for 64 per cent of revenue (2009: 51 per cent). Overall, the Company has demonstrated sound improvements, with Rob Cotton, the Company’s chief executive, stating that there was a surge in demand for NCC’s services following the high-profile attacks associated with the Wikileaks website. NCC has demonstrated its confidence in its prospects by announcing a 19 per cent increase in interim dividends to 4.15p- we’re inclined to share such positive thought, with the Group being well positioned to take advantage of the growing opportunities in this space.

Nighthawk Energy (LON:HAWK) (HAWK 11p / £39.39m)

The US focused oil development and Production Company has announced the completion of the Schlumberger Data and Consulting Services (SDCS) Eclipsea reservoir simulation study and the commencement by Gaffney, Cline and Associates of the first reserves and contingent resources study on the Jolly Ranch Area. The SDCS study shows oil in place per acre in the target Cherokee and Atoka shale formations approximately 14 times higher than previous oil in place estimates. The simulation study underlines the potential of Jolly Ranch but operational work needs to be undertaken to demonstrate that oil can be economically and consistently recovered from the field, so the company is still some way from commercial production; however the share price jumped 10 per cent on the news suggesting that the shares still have their fans.

Oilex (LON:OEX) Ltd (OEX 29.5p / £73.83m)

The oil and gas E&P Company based in Perth Australia announced a revised oil sale agreement for the Cambay Field India. The revised agreement includes a new price structure whereby the price paid by the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to the Cambay Field Joint Venture for Cambay crude oil and condensate will be based on the new international benchmark crude of similar assay quality. The new price structure will be applied retrospectively so that the Cambay Joint Venture will receive an adjustment payment for a portion of the field’s past production. There will be an increase of approximately 34 percent to the price received for the Cambay Field oil sales. This is good news for Cambay production, as it makes the whole concept much more financially viable.

Serabi Mining (LON:SRB) (SRB 32p / £14.33m)*

Serabi last week announced its unaudited financial results for the nine months to 30 September 2010. As part of a Canadian listing process the Company will be required to include in its prospectus the financial results of the nine month period, and if its listing application is successful, will be required to report its financial results on a quarterly basis as part of its on-going reporting obligations under Canadian requirements.

An operating loss for the nine-month period of US$3.84m (2009:

US$7.41m) was reported, including non-cash elements of US$1.7m (2009:

US$6.27m), being primarily depreciation charges. The cash expended on operations of the Company during this nine month period was approximately US$2.9m (2009: US$285,000). The suspension of mining operations at the Palito Mine, following the issuance of a suspension notice by IBAMA in June 2010, contributed to a gross loss for the nine month period of US$733,581 compared to a gross profit of US$224,875 for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2009. While the suspension notice was lifted on September 23, 2010, it is not foreseen that there

will be any immediate resumption of mining activities which was in any event limited to the processing of oxide ore mined from small scale surface mining activities. For the 3 month period the operating loss was US$1.58m (2009: US$2.98m). The level of the loss for the quarter reflects the fact that there was negligible revenue US$22,909 (2009: US$1.19m) following the suspension of all mining activities. The higher than normal

level of administrative expenses for the quarter of US$561,015 (2009:

US$192,978) reflects the recording of settlements of past labour claims

in Brazil that have been made in 2010. Overall however the administration costs for the 9 month period of US$1.40m are comparable with the costs for same period in 2009 of US$1.37m.

On December 2, 2010, the Company announced the placement of Special Warrants raising gross proceeds of $5,538,500 and a resolution for a consolidation of the Ordinary Shares on the basis of one New Ordinary Share for every ten Existing Ordinary Shares. The proceeds are intended to be applied to Serabi's on-going exploration activities at and around the Palito mine and in the evaluation of the wider 60,000 hectare Jardim do Ouro tenement holding that surrounds the Palito Mine, and for general corporate purposes. We believe that the dual listing, on a Canadian Stock Exchange, will assist in creating greater liquidity in the ordinary shares, which will provide all shareholders with increased flexibility. The Company's target is to establish a resource of 1.5m ounces (gold equivalent). Investors can continue to look forward to an interesting series of news flow over the foreseeable future.

Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX) (SXX 17.25p / £125.60m)

Sirius Minerals, the potash development group, has announced that it has received the assay results for its initial drill hole on its wholly-owned Dakota Salts Project (the project) in North Dakota. The company is “very pleased” that its first drill hole has confirmed the continuity of the Saskatchewan potash beds into North Dakota and in the project. The potash mineralization is in the form of both sylvite and carnallite which is similar to Esterhazy Member type mineralization seen in the Saskatchewan Prairie Evaporite Formation. The Company and its consultants are planning the next stages of its exploration programme which may include additional seismic lines, geochemical and regional studies prior to initiating further drilling.

Symphony Environmental (LON:SYM) Technologies (SYM 15p / £17.59m)

Specialist in degradable plastics has announced that it has further strengthened its portfolio of products. The latest addition is the d2Detector, an anti-counterfeiting and quality control device. Essentially the technology provides brand owners of established products with an effective and low-cost way to protect their brand. The detector is a hand-held scanner which can detect d2w additive in plastic packaging within 60 seconds, enabling users to ensure that the correct level of the additive has been used and that the packaging is genuinely biodegradable. It provides an additional benefit for companies who wish to guard against counterfeiting of their products. By sealing the products in d2w plastic and using the detector, companies will be able to tell instantly whether their products are likely to have been counterfeited. The detector was unveiled this month at the 10th Arab International Plastic & Rubber Industry Trade Show & Conference in Dubai – the use of Oxo-biogradable plastic technology is now compulsory in the UAE. Symphony, through their distributor Eco-Polymers, is a Government-authorised Oxo-biodegradable additive supplier in the UAE and was the first company to obtain certification to supply the technology in the UAE.

Vialogy (LON:VIY) (VIY 4.12p / £28.56m)

AIM listed provider of geophysical imaging and hydrocarbon sizing services to global oil and gas customers announced last week that under contract to its client, a large independent E&P company based in Texas, another successful well has been drilled and is in the process of being completed. ViaLogy CEO Robert Dean said: "This is another indication of the consistency and repeatability of QuantumRD to predict reservoir properties such as lithology, fluid-presence, porosity, and delineate stratigraphic reservoirs in a variety of geological settings. Industry acceptance of QuantumRD continues to increase." He added, "While our focus continues to expand to working with global majors on applying QuantumRD to larger exploration and development blocks, and complex deepwater formations, we have a significant backlog of onshore areas in the US where QuantumRD can make a significant contribution in de-risking." This is backed by ViaLogy’s recent announcement that it has raised £1.25 million through the placing of new shares at a price of 3p per share with certain existing shareholders. The net proceeds of the placing will be used in further expanding Vialogy’s energy business which uses the QuantumRD technology. This funding will help provide a firm financial base for 2011 and allowing the expansion of their capacity to meet anticipated contract demands for new offshore prospects in the near future. Given the previous series of successful wells in Texas, Vialogy is making strong strides in becoming a strong player in the niche market as a servicer for global E&P companies with is QuantumRD sidekick.

Wasabi Energy (LON:WAS) (WAS 2.75p / £55m)

AIM listed global renewable energy and clean technology investment company made an announcement regarding Australian Renewable Fuels Limited’s (ARW) convertible notes and the terms in which they propose to purchase BPL (Biodiesel Producers Limited) based in Barnawartha Victoria, by way of assumption of convertible debt. The payment and structure of the ARW notes will be linked to the future performance of BPL’s plant over a 5 year period. The acquisition remains subject to due diligence, formal legal documentation and ARW shareholder approval. This purchase will increase the capacity of ARW to over 150 million litres per annum and will allow ARW to better service the bio-fuels market and the growing demand in the industrial and transport sectors.

William Sinclair Holdings (LON:SNCL) (SNCL 164.5p / £28m)

William Sinclair Horticulture Ltd, a supplier of growing media, announced that it recently opened a new satellite distribution depot in the Midlands. The new storage facility is to be used for the purposes of storing the Company’s increased level of finished goods- this is to meet the expected growth in sales that Sinclair is expecting over the coming year. The facility is being provided by The Canute Group, with which Sinclair already have a well established relationship- Canute has a transport manager placed at William Sinclair to provide specialist support to the distribution team.

Sinclair has seen good share price growth since the beginning of Q4 2010, having made a number of important acquisitions (that of Growing Success Organics, a specialist of environmentally friendly garden care products, and Monro Horticulture Limited’s premium decorative aggregates business). The latest piece of news is certainly a good indicator of growth prospects for the Company- keep your eyes peeled on this one.

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP