News

The reverse takeover of mortgage broker Brightside by Group direct has been completed. The company also completed the placing of 55.7m, raising gross proceeds of £10.6m.

Shares in Polo Resources advanced after the mining company announced the completion of drilling at its Khasaat coal project in Mongolia.

"The project is conveniently situated for coal export lying 70 kilometres from the nearest railway terminal and approximately 205 kilometres from the Chinese border," deputy chairman Neil Herbert said.

"Khasaat coal is typically good quality thermal coal much in demand in China and the project's thick seams and low stripping ratios indicate attractive extraction costs."

Mobile data specialist Crimson Tide saw its losses rise despite higher revenues, due to increased operating expenses.

Pre-tax losses in the year December 31 climbed to £408,000 from £297,000 on turnover that climbed to £1.7m from £1.1m. Crimson Tide said that the losses were in line with expectations and reduced during the second half of the year.

Crimson Tide, whose clients include Marks and Spencer which monitors contractors cleaning its stores with Crimson Tide technology, said it had made a good start to the year.

Oil & gas exploration company Petroceltic International has entered into a strategic alliance and financing arrangements with Spanish utilities group Iberdrola to develop its oil and gas assets in North Africa and Italy.

Iberdrola will invest $55m in cash in Petroceltic through a placing of 215.8m at 13p per share, giving Iberdrola a 22.64% take in Petroceltic.

Petroceltic also said revenue fell to $549,000 from $1.26m before, while losses increased to $2.46m from $4.69m.

China-focused shipping and power generation company Arko tumbled into the red in 2007 after shutting down its power plant and writing down its value.

Arko made a loss of $10.7m at the pre-tax stage in 2007 versus a pre-tax profit of £1.9m in 2006. Turnover improved to £10.9m from £9.3m.

The board expects results to be positive in 2008 but warned that the potential slow-down in the global economy and, in particular, the Chinese economy, could endanger this optimistic outlook.

AxisMobile said it is actively looking for alternative sources of funding that might support the business until financial breakeven and during its ongoing discussions with potential buyers.

Business supplies group Office2Office says first half figures are in line with expectations with higher than anticipated input costs offset through price increases and lower costs. Recent acquisitions TripleArc and Accord Office Supplies have made satisfactory progress, it added.

Exhibitions group Tarsus reports first half trading has met management's expectations. Tarsus expects to report like-for-like revenue growth of approximately 12% for the period, or approximately 20% if the 2 new launches in Dubai, GESS (education supplies) and AIME (aircraft interiors), are included. Overall the business continues to perform well and we are once again seeing good visibility for the year as a whole, it added.

Care homes group Care UK said that it is in talks with certain shareholders and Life Healthcare Group, its joint venture partner in Partnership Health Group, regarding the possible acquisition of the 50% interest in this joint venture not already owned by the group.

Care UK also said it is trading in line with expectations and remains confident about the outlook for the current financial year.

Shares in 1pm jumped on news that the business financing group swung to a full-year pre-tax profit of £79,868 compared to a loss of £223,707 last time.

Department store Beale saw pre-tax profits increase slightly to £881,000 in the 26 weeks ended 3 May from £875,000 last year and said that it does not anticipate any significant improvement in its sales performance during the remainder of the current financial year.

Central China Goldfields is optimistic that further high-grade gold pods will be identified after drill results from Hole RC30A and Hole RC24 confirmed the presence of very high-grade gold-silver-base metal mineralisation under the oxide gold.

Amteus reported an unchanged first-half loss of £1.6m and said it is confident that the significant sales growth achieved in the third quarter to 30 June will be maintained for the full year.