Beyond the Footsie: Friday close

MEDIA group

Its second alert came on February 13, when shares in the group plummeted 83%, further weakened by news it has initiated talks with its main banker about funding. Shareholders were therefore relieved to hear that its principal bankers have confirmed the availability of short term facilities to allow the company to pursue this strategy.

At the close, the FTSE Small Cap index was 5.7 points higher at 2465.3.

Interactive Digital was in demand as an upbeat outlook on the software group's business offset news of little or no revenue in the period from February 26 to September 30 2001. The group, which reported its maiden set of results on Friday, was set up in August with the aim of targeting the London five star hotel market, but after the terrorist attacks in the US it had to focus on other ways to market the technology.

Shares in CybIT jumped 40% higher after the wireless communications firm said that it bought the business assets and intellectual property rights (IPR) of Trafficmaster's Fleetstar subsidiary for £1.5m. The shares were 1/2p higher at 1 3/4p.

Shares in Electric Word - up 25%, or 3/4p, to 3 3/4p - after revealing that it went cash positive in the second half of 2001.Its full year results were ahead of expectations after a 122% leap in turnover for the period, driven by demand for the company's public sector management information products.

In the pharmaceutical sector, Henderson Morley gained 1/4p to 4 1/4p on the back of news it has signed an assignment agreement with the Medical Research Council for the PREPS Vaccine.

There was little of interest on the downside amongst the small caps. Shares in African Lakes dropped back 1p to 7 3/4p after its recent impressive gains, which were prompted by the disposal of its Malawi automotive unit for e6.9m cash.

Smaller companies spotlight