There was a lot of big news in the world of small caps today.
We start with niche lender S & U (LON:SUS), which has completed the disposal of its home credit business, Loansathome4u, after shareholders approved the deal yesterday (Aug 3).
Mike Mullins and Mike Thompson have resigned as directors, while Manjeet Bhogal stepped down as company secretary as these three are to remain with Loansathome4u.
Chris Redford has been re-appointed as company secretary of S & U, it added.
The firm announced the sale of its home credit business to Non-Standard Finance for £82.5mln in early July.
Elsewhere, African Potash (LON:AFPO) signed a deal with Comesa, a free trade union of twenty African countries, to provide 500,000 tonnes of fertiliser over three years.
The deal could be worth as much as US$1-3mln worth of revenue from the firm’s initial fertiliser trade deal with Comesa could come through in the next couple of months.
In other fertiliser-related news, Polyhalite, the fertiliser product that will be produced by Sirius Minerals (LON:SXX), received further endorsement from an ongoing programme of crop studies at US college Texas A&M and Brazil’s University of Sao Paulo.
Sticking with agriculture, David Lenigas’s agriculture venture AfriAg (LON:AFRI) told investors it had ‘another strong performance’ in the first half of 2015.
Some 907,000 kilograms of produce was air freighted by the group in the six months to June 30, it explained.
To mining, and Xtract Resources (LON:XTR) has intersected a second high grade gold reef system at the Colin target at Chepica in Chile.
In other gold news, Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) expects construction to start shortly on its new gold mine at Kiziltepe in western Turkey after payment of the forestry permit fees of US$960,000.
Elsewhere, Jubilee Platinum (LON:JLP) confirmed it was in advanced talks over a debt funding of around ZAR255 million (£12.9mln) to bring its two surface platinum processing plants into operation.
In oil & gas news, Petroceltic (LON:PCI) will turn back to the bond market in September, according to chief executive Brian O’Cathain.
The Irish oil and gas firm yesterday revealed that a proposed US$175mln bond issue had been put on hold due in part to what it called “volatile market conditions”.
Meanwhile, IGas Energy's (LON:IGAS) proposed amendments to its bond terms have been accepted by the vast majority of lenders.
Online, Youtube marketing specialist Rightster (LON:RSTR) launched two digital video campaigns in Asia for Procter & Gamble (P&G) as part of a collaboration with the consumer products giant.
It also settled the bulk of its earn-out liability for 2014 acquisition Base79 through the issue of new shares.
blur Group (LON:BLUR) has launched a new online business tool as it continues to attract larger buyers and service providers to its enterprise services platform.
Elsewhere, MediaZest (LON:MDZ), the media and audio visual installer, saw shares surge nearly 10% as it detailed new business wins through projects totalling more than £500,000.
In bioscience news, Rex Bionics' (LON:RXB) robotic exoskeleton has been used in conjunction with mind control technology.
Meanwhile, Epistem (LON:EHP) announced the surprise departure of its chief executive alongside an update on trading and a significant deal with the US government.
In other news, Breedon Aggregates (LON:BREE) had a bumper first half of the year and is tipped by broker Cantor Fitzgerald to continue outperforming.