Mid and small cap news: Misys, Propability, Game Group, Cranswick, ValiRx, Amphion Innovations, Fusion IP

Beleaguered computer games retailer Game Group (LON:GMG) emerged among the top performers in London on Friday after its lenders agreed to revise its borrowing facilities.

Game said the revised terms mean it will operate at a lower borrowing level than previously but the new terms will allow it to continue to trade.

The group added it now expects a loss before tax and non-recurring items of £18m for the year to 31 January 2012 but it would not now breach its loan covenants.

Game warned three weeks ago it was in danger of breaching its EBITDA test after a slump in trading over Christmas.

But after receiving support from its stakeholders and lenders, the retailer said it will meet its covenant tests for the period to 31 January 2012 when they are tested on 27 February.

Biotech firm ValiRx (LON:VAL) and intellectual property commercialisation company Amphion Innovations (LON:AMP) also did well this week. While ValiRx was granted a patent in Europe, Amphion said its patents were re-examined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) with a positive outcome.

ValiRx shares shot up around 35 percent on Thursday after the unexpected news that a newly acquired screening product for skin cancer had been granted a European patent.

The test is for a biomarker, called NAV3, which is part of an already ‘well-developed’ test kit.

Landing the patent means that ValiRx can start marketing the product to the oncology research industry and fellow drug developers, while planning a larger product launch into the wider market.

The news sparked an exciting period of trading on the AIM market with around 140 million shares, or 14 percent of the company, changing hands by lunchtime.

On the same day, Amphion Innovations (LON:AMP) said its ‘402’ US patents that have been re-examined by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), prompting an increase of over 10 percent in its share price.

DataTern Inc, Amphion’s wholly-owned intellectual property business, has received confirmation that 20 of its original claims can be patented. It has also clarified three patent claims that were added during the re-examination process.

The group has been working to reinforce its IP position in recent years. In 2009, it had its group of ‘501’ patents re-examined and approved – this kept all original patents intact and added 26 new ones.

It said the determination by the USPTO is an important part of the further validation of the group’s outstanding patents.

"This outcome is an important validation of the strength of DataTern’s IP,” said Amphion chief executive Richard Morgan.

“Both key patents 402 and 502 have now been re-examined by the USPTO with positive outcomes.”

Fellow IP company Fusion IP (LON:FIP) said semiconductor testing equipment associate Mesuro racked up sales of US$1.25 million in its last quarter.

Mesuro is a spin-off from Cardiff University and focused on commercialising RF test and measurement technologies coming out the university's Centre for High Frequency Engineering.The latest orders came from three customers, Fusion IP said. It has a 47% shareholding in Mesuro.

Richard Emsley, chief executive of Mesuro said the sales demonstrated the huge potential of its RF technology.

In the cleantech sector, Kedco (LON:KED) has secured £403,000 before costs through a placing of 31 million new shares at 1.3 pence each with a number of investors.

The waste to energy group focusing on the production of clean energy in the UK and Ireland will use the money for working capital purposes and for continuing investment in its portfolio of biomass electricity and heat generation projects.

It also allotted 8,801,259 new shares at 1.775 pence per share to its 22.14 percent shareholder Farmer Business Developments (FBD) in a loan note conversion, Following the share issue and the loan note conversion, FBD maintains its stake in Kedco.

Meanwhile, in IT, software group Misys (LON:MSY) confirmed it is currently in discussions with Temenos Group AG over an all-share merger.

“Discussions are continuing and there can be no certainty that a transaction will ultimately take place, nor as to the terms on which any transaction might be constituted,” Misys said in a statement.

Fellow FTSE 250 constituent food producer Cranswick (LON:CWK) reported a ten percent improvement in sales in the final quarter of 2011 compared to the final three months of the previous year, largely due to strong growth in sales of bacon and fresh pork products.

The uplift in sales and capital expenditure has resulted in an increase in Cranswick’s net debt from £48 million to £59 million during the quarter. The group said its financial position was robust with unsecured facilities of £100 million, providing it with “generous headroom” going forward.

In the meantime, broker Numis this week drew investors attention to gaming software specialist Probability (LON:PBTY), calling it a “logical partner for Facebook as the social media giant seeks to boost its mobile revenues.”

Facebook this week filed its listing documents ahead of an IPO that could value the company at US$100 billion.

The documents showed that nearly half of its monthly active users access Facebook through mobile devices, but at present the group does not generate any ad revenue in part because mobile screens are considered too small by advertisers.

Numis sees one way for the social media group to monetise this customer base is to permit gaming.

The broker said Facebook met up with gaming companies in Europe before Christmas and though it did not name which companies it saw, Numis believes Probability would be a logical choice if it decided to go ahead with mobile gaming.

Probability’s customers are largely people who gamble only on mobile and as the number of smartphones grows so does the appeal of providing gambling on mobiles, Numis added.

“Probability is a pure play on that dynamic,” Numis said. It has a buy rating on Probability shares and a 150p price target.