Electronic component supplier Acal (LON:ACL) is eyeing up more acquisitions after making a flying start to the new year.
Acal makes and distributes customer-specific electronic products and solutions to around 25,000 industrial customers.
Nick Jefferies, chief executive said: “The order book remains strong and we have a healthy pipeline of acquisition opportunities, with debt funding resources available.”
Noratel acquired in July 2014 and Foss in January this year, both started the New Year well, he said.
Cross-selling of the acquired products and technologies to existing customers had helped this, he added.
It was one of a mixed newsbag on Wednesday - a day heavy on big cap results, but in the small cap world, oil was popular.
Hurricane Energy’s (LON:HUR) newly expanded acreage position in the West of Shetland region of the North Sea has ‘game changing’ potential, according to chief executive Robert Trice.
The AIM quote North Sea firm, which is preparing to push ahead with an initial development of the Lancaster field, today revealed it had been offered promising additional assets nearby.
Two blocks containing a known prospect (called Warwick) and a possible extension of one of the group’s existing prospects (Lincoln) were given to the company by the government on a ‘drill or drop’ basis.
Also today, LGO Energy (LON:LGO) is rapidly moving towards the completion of its seven-well programme at the Goudron field in Trinidad and is now putting together plans for additional drilling later in the year.
So far this year the new wells at Goudron have targeted the deeper C-Sands reservoirs, but the next programme will use a smaller rig to tap the eponymously named shallower Goudron Sandstone reservoirs.
A total of 13 new wells, drilled in 2014 and 2015, have observed the Goudron Sandstone reservoir at depths of up to 1,7000 feet, and have measured an average of 288 feet of net oil pay in each well.
In mining, Eurasia (LON:EUA) wants to re-start exploration at its Monchetundra platinum licence in Russia after continuing interest in the project from third parties.
Christian Schaffalitzky, managing director, said detailed discussions with possible partners were continuing but it was important to move things forward on the ground while these were underway.
Eurasia was recently awarded a mining permit for its West Kytlim alluvial deposit in the Urals in Russia by prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, but this is a much smaller project than Monchetundra.
In another statement, Africa-focused budget carrier Fastjet (LON:FJET) repeated that it is trading in line with market expectations in response to today’s share price movement.
Shares were 5.75% lower to 82p at lunch, having hit an earlier low of 77.2p, but the company said it knew of no trading reason for the movement.
In its most recent announcement earlier this month, the budget airline said it carried 65,216 people in June compared with 53,232 in June the previous year.
The figures were “particularly pleasing” chief executive Ed Winter said at the time, “given the fact that June incorporated Ramadan, a period that reduces demand considerably."