Beyond the Footsie: Thursday close

13 April 2012

SMALLER company shares closed fractionally lower, outperforming the broader market as broadly positive company news lured investors away from the blue chips. At the close, the FTSE SmallCap index was down 0.5 of a point at 2,162.3.

Contract news pushed Ultima Networks sharply higher. The shares added 1.50p to 3.75p after the group announced the first deal for its renewable energy division - a contract to install solar panels at 15 schools in Hertfordshire.

After two days of heavy losses following the announcement of recapitalisation plans, Lombard Medical rallied 0.75p to 1.75p.

Property developer Artisan rose 0.62p to 3.37p after reporting much narrower-than-expected full-year results and providing an upbeat forecast of its future prospects. Seymour Pierce welcomed new signs of openness from management, rating the stock a 'speculative buy'.

Hansard was another firm feature, up 2 1/4p to 12 1/2p after confirming that it is in preliminary discussions over a takeover by US group Sky Venture Capital. But the PR firm stressed talks are still at an early stage.

Home delivery food group Domino's Pizza jumped 19 1/2p to 137 1/2p. It said trading in the first half of the year was strong and that profits are well up on last time and will be ahead of current estimates.

Intelligent Environments rose 0.87p to 8.12p after saying it expects to report a profit of £200,000 when it releases its first half results in mid-September. This represents a turnaround from a loss of £1.6m the previous year and follows an R&D tax credit payment from the Inland Revenue.

There was takeover news on IDS Group, up 3p to 27 3/4p. Schroder Ventures increased its recommended offer for the software developer to 27p a share from 23p, valuing the company at £15.4m.

Alltracel Pharmaceuticals advanced 2p to 17 1/2p. It said its first half sales were boosted nearly 40% by strong European demand.

Former FTSE 100 constituent Baltimore Technologies slumped 5 1/2p to 36 1/2p after announcing that it is no longer involved in takeover talks for the sale of the whole company. However, it said negotiations regarding the disposal of certain managed service related offerings will continue.

Another former technology star, Vocalis, also fell sharply, losing 0.13p to 1.12p after announcing that Colin Garrett, a non-executive director has resigned. Last week the company said it has not received any new orders for more than three months.

Cenes slid 0.37p to 4p, hit by news that it is to transfer its listing to AIM from the LSE official list from August 8.

Coffeeheaven lost 0.10p to 0.92p after placing 36m new shares at 0.80p to raise £288,000. This will be used for working capital, and to buy back preference shares from Bakery Services, the company from which it demerged in 2001.

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