COMPANY SNAPSHOT: Thomas Cook, Chariot Oil & Gas, Europa Oil & Gas, SacOil, North River Resources, Continental Coal

A day after rival TUI travel (LON:TT.) reported on the last quarter of 2011, Thomas Cook (LON:TCG) released its financial results for the final three months of last year, saying revenues rose three percent to £1.86 billion mainly as a result of increased activity in Northern Europe and Airlines Germany.

The company also benefitted from a maiden contribution from the Co-operative and the Russian joint ventures, which amounted to £68 million.

Operating losses increased from £37 million for the same period of 2010 to £91 million due to tough trading conditions and rising fuel costs.

Like TUI, the company’s performance was hit by the unrest in the Middle East-North Africa region, one of the hottest tourist destinations.

“I have been encouraged by how our bookings have developed, particularly in the UK where our market share for both the winter and summer seasons remains broadly stable,” said chief executive of Thomas Cook Sam Weihagen.

“As expected, the first quarter has been adversely impacted by the uncertain economic environment across Europe, input cost inflation and the ongoing disruption in MENA.”

Meanwhile, Chariot Oil & Gas (LON:CHAR) and Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) were the most followed companies in the oil and gas sector. Chariot has completed the 3,500 square kilometre (sq km) 3D seismic acquisition programme across its central blocks offshore Namibia, while Europa announced a significant uplift inproduction.

Chariot’s survey targeted an area in the north east section of the licence that contains 11 leads with a combined prospective resource potential of 3.972 billion barrels of oil.

Data processing and interpretation is now underway with Chariot expecting to report the results in the second half of the year.

“This 3D seismic survey is the largest undertaken by Chariot to date and...has provided excellent quality data despite difficult weather conditions at times,” said chief executive of Chariot Oil & Gas Paul Welch.

“The Central Blocks are the least mature of our portfolio and we look forward to receiving the processed information, which will enable us to identify further targets to include in our long term drilling campaign.”

Moving to Europa Oil & Gas, the group saw its production in the UK has improve significantly, which has resulted in a 61 percent increase in revenues to £2.4 million in the six months to end January.

Output surged from 151 barrels of oil per day (bopd) a year ago to 187 bopd as the West Firsby WF-9 well came on stream and downtime was reduced, while oil prices have improved from US$82.7 per barrel last year to US$108.9 per barrel.

“Our UK production continues to generate more than enough cashflow to cover our operating costs and provides a solid foundation from which we can develop our other highly exciting assets,” said chief executive of EOG Hugh Mackay.

Sticking with oil and gas companies, SacOil (LON:SAC) has revised the terms of its partnership with Transnational Corporation of Nigeria and Energy Equity Resources (EER). Under the terms of the amended agreement, farm-in fees for SacOil and EER have been reduced from US$32.5 million to US$24.5 million.

Transcorp will remain the operator of the OPL 281 and will cover 60 percent of the capital expenditure to first production, while SacOil and EER were to cover 100 percent of capex under the initial agreement.

Sector peer Wentworth Resources (LON:WRL) has agreed to sell its 100 percent owned 18MW gas-fired power plant and associated assets to TANESCO for US$13.5 million in cash.

The company, which operates in the Rovuma Basin of East Africa, said the sale will allow it to streamline its Tanzania operations and focus exclusively on exploring for oil and gas and developing and producing its known natural gas resources.

“This transaction provides us with further non-dilutive capital as we look to focus on our core strategy of exploring for hydrocarbons and developing known natural gas resources,” said managing director of Wentworth Geoff Bury.

“We look forward to continuing to be a reliable, long-term gas supplier to the Mtwara Power Plant and to being a gas supply partner with TANESCO in other parts of Tanzania.”

In the mining sector, North River Resources (LON:NRRP) has completed the acquisition of a 50 percent interest in Brandberg Energy, which holds Exclusive Prospecting Licences (EPLs) 3327 and 3328 in Namibia, after paying US$800,000.

Brandberg Energy intends to complete a 1,100 metre drill programme planned by its owner Extract Energy. Drilling will begin once the Radiation Management Plan ('RMP') is approved by the National Radiation Protection Authority in Namibia.

Another small cap miner Continental Coal (LON:COOL) announced that it has signed a binding a subsidiary of Barclays (LON:BARC) for the previously announced US$65 million of debt funding.

The company also told investors that development activities at the Penumbra coal mine have accelerated significantly in 2012. Preparation of the twin declines through the installation of spilling bolts into the perimeter of the excavations was completed in late January and early February 2012.

Drilling of the first rounds for blasting the initial 2m of advance was completed on 4 February 2012, with the first blasts in the decline completed two days later.

Elsewhere in the markets, Sphere Medical Holdings (LON:SPHR) has published two studies that support the utility of real time propofol measurement in routine clinical use.

One of the studies, which was carried at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham UK, showed that the use of Sphere Medical's Pelorus 1000 propofol measurement system has the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of patient dosage.

“The Queen Elizabeth Hospital study provides clear evidence that the Pelorus 1000 propofol measurement system could be used to improve the accuracy of propofol dosing using target controlled infusion,” said chief executive of Sphere Medical Stuart Hendry.

In IT, SocialGo (LON:SGO), which provides software as a service (SaaS) social media applications, said that since the launch of Version 2 of its proprietary software, the service has been trialled by thousands of visitors to its site that were seeking to create online communities.

The software has received positive comments from customers, particularly in relation to the stability and flexibility of the platform, said SocialGo.

Revenue from Version 2 has been growing month on month and SocialGo has recently introduced its regular 'Concierge' version of the product.

Sales of new subscriptions in January were double that of December and with the latest improvements to the on-boarding process, the group has seen a significant increase in customer trials, which it said was encouraging.

Filtering antennas for mobile and wireless devices manufacturer Sarantel (LON:SLG) also had news to report to investors today, announcing a its largest order to date from a leading military radio manufacturer for a range of different Sarantel antenna products.

This order is for GeoHelix GPS antennas which the manufacturer uses across a variety of products and is expected to be delivered over the next 12 months and will have a significant impact on Sarantel's revenues and cash flow in the current financial year.

“This is the largest order that we have secured so far and we expect it to have a material impact on our revenues,” said chief executive of Sarantel David Wither.

“It is a great endorsement of the importance of our technology to world leading customers.”

Finally, mobile messaging services provider Synchronica (LON:SYNC) has signed a letter of intent with the Toronto-based Intertainment Media, which develops rich media applications including the real time experiential language platform, Ortsbo.com.

The companies will integrate Synchronica’s messaging platform Mobile Gateway with the Ortsbo experiential language technology, enabling Mobile Gateway to provide users with real-time translation between more than 50 languages potentially across Synchronica's growing client base of over 100 mobile operators and device manufacturers.

Under the terms of the agreement, Intertainment will invest up to C$10 million in Synchronica at a minimum price of 16 pence per unit, consisting of one share in Synchronica and one ordinary share warrant exercisable at 40 Canadian cents per share.