Forbidden Technologies (LON:FBT) led the way on London’s junior market, rising sharply on the back of the success of its video editing platform during the Olympics.
Shares soared 25% on the news that the widespread use of the technology during the Games boosted revenues in 2012, while sales growth exceeded the 50% predicted by analysts by “a respectable margin”.
FORScene, Forbidden’s flagship cloud-based video editing software, was used by NBC and YouTube for web video coverage of the Games, with thousands of hours of content handled by its software.
NBC used FORscene to edit video for web, mobile and some broadcast delivery. Outside NBC, the web video for over 60 countries was edited in FORscene, said Forbidden.
Reflecting that, revenue from the News and Sport sector grew by over 80% in the year.
That Olympic success has also sparked a lot of interest for work in future with partnerships developing with major both news and sport broadcasters and the potential for significant licence annuity sales in both areas.
In the small cap oil space, Sound Oil (LON:SOU) made some early noise after confirming its strong funding position as the Nervesa appraisal well nears the start of operations.
The Italian oil company has closed the fifth and sixth tranches of its share placing, generating a total of £1.9mln. The seventh and final pricing period will expire next month.
The new funds leaves Sound’s cash balance at a healthy-looking US$12.4mln, with US$14-15mln expected by the time it starts drilling at Nervesa.
Sound’s chief executive James Parsons said: “Sound Oil now has one of the strongest balance sheets in the small cap oil & gas sector and we are continuing to evaluate various alternatives which would enable the company to complete the entire 2013 drill programme without equity dilution.”
Shares lifted 6% in early deals.
Green Dragon Gas (LON:GDG), meanwhile, started the day 8% higher after it revealed it exceeded its production goal for 2012.
The coal bed methane specialist produced 2.6 billion cubic feet of gas per year (BCFPY) from its operations in China last year, better than the 2.5BCFPY it had been aiming for.
While Green Dragon made big strides in its LiFaBriC production drilling – the company’s state-of-the-art technology for extracting CBM – at the GSS block, it expects 2013 to be the year that it enhances the technology to bring another exploration block into commercial production.
Elsewhere in the sector, Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) will be another to keep an eye on after a technical update from the explorer.
The company said first pass seismic interpretation over the Kiernan prospect proved positive, sending shares up 8% early on.
Meanwhile, Antrim Energy (LON:AEY, CVE:AEN) has confirmed that production from the Causeway and Cormorant East fields has been halted.
The cause of the “shut-in” is a possible leak in pipelines used by the Cormorant Alpha platform.
The disruption has affected over twenty other fields in the Northern North Sea.
EMED Mining (LON:EMED) says it has now secured insurance for the Rio Tinto mine after it reached agreements with the Andalucía authorities, and it continues to wait for the green light from the government for the start up.
In today’s quarterly update, managing director Harry Anagnostaras Adams said the company has now brought the project to the threshold of commencing preparations for construction at its first and largest mine.
EMED maintains its target of establishing an initial base case production rate of 37,000 tonnes of copper in concentrate per year by the end of 2015. This is based on first production in 2014 and starting construction later this year.
That said, Adams told investors that significant expansion plans, which will involve an ambitious exploration programme, are also being formulated, aimed at re-establishing the Rio Tinto project as a ‘mining field’ with several mines operating a central processing plant.
Mobile gaming specialist Probability (LON:PBTY) says it has maintained the momentum seen in the first half of the year in its third quarter, which saw net gaming revenue rise 23%.
The company was buoyed by the contribution from business in Italy, adding that there are opportunities for even more growth once its slot games are given the green light by regulators there.