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PANMURE GORDON & CO. PLC (PMR.LN), an investment banking and
equity research group, Wednesday said it will report a loss for the
second half of the year after recent severe market turmoil caused
the deferral of a number of sizeable investment banking
transactions from the fourth quarter of 2011 into 2012 in both the
U.K. and the U.S.
At 1535 GMT shares -2.5 pence, or 19%, at 11 pence.
SILVERDELL PLC (SID.LN), an environmental support services firm,
is looking to make acquisitions away from its core asbestos removal
business, possibly in the field of water hygiene testing, the
firm's chief executive said.
CEO Sean Nutley said the U.K. asbestos market, in which
Silverdell is the biggest player, was relatively mature, adding
that growth opportunities, both organic and through acquisitions,
existed elsewhere.
Shares +0.5 pence, or 4.5%, at 11.625 pence.
NOSTRA TERRA OIL & GAS CO. PLC (NTOG.LN), a U.S.-focused oil
and gas producer, said it plans to buy its own leases in the oil
and gas region of Oklahoma and use modern drilling and production
techniques to accelerate growth in revenue, production and
reserves.
The company already has assets in Oklahoma as well as Kansas,
Texas and Colorado, but in partnerships with other companies.
Shares -0.02 pence, or 3.3%, at 0.445 pence.
INTERNATIONAL MINING & INFRASTRUCTURE CORP. PLC (IMIC.LN), a
mining-focused investment firm, said it has signed a partnership
deal with African Iron Ore Group Ltd. to jointly buy, finance and
develop iron ore mining and related infrastructure projects in
Africa.
It expects the deal to be formalized within three months.
Shares +0.02 pence, or 14%, at 0.21 pence.
ALTERIAN PLC (ALN.LN), a marketing software provider, is eyeing
a return to revenue growth in 2013 as its recent strategy overhaul
begins to bear fruit, the company's chief executive said.
The company, which is currently the subject of takeover interest
from translation software provider SDL PLC (SDL.LN), is cutting
costs by merging offices and reducing staff following a series of
profit warnings earlier in the year.
Shares +1.5 pence, or 1.5%, at 104.5 pence.
MOUCHEL GROUP PLC (MCHL.LN), an outsourcing company, posted a
much wider fiscal year pretax loss, blaming takeover speculation
for hurting its ability to win new business, and said it wouldn't
breach banking covenants after amending its credit facilities.
The firm said the outlook for the current year is considerably
worse than fiscal 2011, as public sector spending cuts continue to
put pressure on its revenue and margins.
Shares -5.5 pence, or 31%, at 12 pence.
CRESTON PLC (CRE.LN), a marketing and public relations group,
hasn't seen any let up in client spending or suffered any project
cancellations despite a worsening economic backdrop, the company's
chief executive said.
Don Elgie told Dow Jones Newswires the global reach of Creston's
customers have helped it weather an uncertain environment that has
hit trading at some of its peers.
Shares -1.75 pence, or 2.3%, at 73 pence.
CHARIOT OIL & GAS Ltd. (CHAR.LN), a Namibia-focused oil
explorer, said its plans to drill its Tapir South prospect,
offshore Namibia, before the end of the year have been delayed
until the second quarter of 2012, after the drilling rig it
anticipated using was contracted by another operator.
The company noted that the market for deepwater rigs has
tightened significantly, making it more challenging to secure an
appropriate rig to carry out a one-well drilling program in Namibia
without paying a significant premium.
Shares -16.75 pence, or 13%, at 109.75 pence.
PLEXUS HOLDINGS PLC (POS.LN), which supplies wellheads to the
oil industry, said it has continued to perform strongly in its
fiscal first half, having made some significant new customer and
contract wins, and it expects further growth in the rest of the
year.
Chairman Robert Adair said, "We now have a larger number of
international oil and gas operator customers, in a greater range of
territories, than ever before."
Shares +3.0 pence, or 3.6%, at 86 pence.
GEM DIAMONDS LTD. (GEMD.LN), an Africa-focused miner, said that
Project Kholo, its plan to double production from its Letseng mine
in Lesotho, has been approved by the board.
Project Kholo will start in January, and will ramp up to full
production by July 2014. The total project capital expenditure is
estimated at $280 million and will double annual diamond output to
200,000 carats.
Shares -7.1 pence, or 3.5%, at 194 pence.
GEMFIELDS PLC (GEM.LN), a colored gemstone miner, said that
strong prices and increasing demand resulted in a record $11.0
million in revenue after auctioning 9.8 million carats of lower
quality emeralds in India.
The company said that only five months into the current fiscal
year to June 30, and after only its second auction, it has already
exceeded last year's total revenue by $2.4 million, currently at
$42.6 million.
Shares +1.87 pence, or 8.1%, at 25 pence.
DAISY GROUP PLC (DAY.LN), a business telecommunications firm,
posted a narrowed first-half pretax loss and said it is confident
of meeting market expectations for the full year despite a tough
economic backdrop.
Daisy, which has made a number of acquisitions over the past two
years, said all buys have now been integrated into the group.
Shares flat at 103.0 pence.
GOLD OIL PLC (GOO.LN), a Latin America-focused oil and gas firm,
said that as part of its plan to expand rapidly into Colombia and
capture its growth potential, it has appointed Julian Garcia as its
in-country manager.
The company noted that Garcia has considerable experience in
Colombia, having previously been the president of Gran Tierra
Energy Inc. (GTE.T) in Bogota as well as having been the Technical
Director of the National Hydrocarbons Agency of Colombia.
Shares -0.1 pence, or 3.6%, at 2.7 pence.
FTSE UK Small-Cap +0.8%
AIM +1.4%
-By Peter Evans, Iain Packham and Tommy Stubbington, Dow Jones
Newswires; +44 (0) 20 7842 9296; uksmallcaps@dowjones.com