Intercede Group (AIM:IGP) is in demand despite a fall in revenues and profits as its turnaround plan continues.
The cybersecurity firm said a decline in full year revenues from £11mln to £9.9mln was in line with expectations, and came after delays in securing large contract wins due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Profits for the year fell from £1.5mln to £0.7mln.
Its future strategy includes focusing on consistent revenue growth, along with looking for suitable acquistions.
Chairman Chuck Pol said it had been a challenging and uncertain period, but he added: "We enter [the new financial year] with positive momentum and lots of opportunities. When I look at the various elements of this business; particularly the experienced management team, the high growth cybersecurity market, the blue-chip customer base, the pipeline and the resilient response to market conditions in the last two years, I remain confident of thegGroup's future prospects. Significant progress was made in 2022 and I am excited for the year ahead."
Analyst Andrew Darley at finnCap put a 125p target price on the shares and said the company's strong balance sheet should allow it to consider M&A.
He said; "While the year has been a challenge, the opportunity is undimmed, and a recovery in large orders, whether cloud or licence sales, gives the opportunity for significant upside."
In the market its shares have jumped 11.83% to 52p.
2.48pm: Sanderson Design Group signs up TV expert for new ranges
Sanderson Design Group PLC (AIM: SDG), the luxury interior design and furnishings group, has signed a three year collaboration deal for its Harlequin brand with designer and broadcaster Sophie Robinson.
Robinson, whose TV programmes include Channel 5's Dream Home Makeovers, will design a collection of wallpapers and fabrics for the Harlequin brand, expected to launch in Spring 2023.
Lisa Montague, Sanderson Design Group's chief executive officer, said: " Sophie has a huge following among those interested in contemporary interiors and we look forward to the launch early next year of the first collection from this exciting collaboration, which aims to show people how to put colours together to suit individual styles."
Its shares are 3.05% better at 152p.
2.32pm: Sound Energy slides as it raises £4mln in share issue
Sound Energy PLC (AIM:SOU) is on the slide after it unveiled a £4mln fundraising.
It is raising the money with a £2.88mln placing with institutional and other investors at 2p a share and a £1.12mln direct subscription.
In the market its shares have lose 20.41% or 0.5p to 1.95p.
The funds will be used on a number of projects, principally the pre-development work on the Tendrara Phase 2 pipeline in Morocco as well as corporate new ventures.
Executive chairman Graham Lyon said: "Today's fundraise provides Sound Energy with a stronger financial base in order to progress our activities to deliver planned business growth, including enabling pre-development work up to a final investment decision on our Phase 2 gas pipeline development, and complements the project financing that we have secured for our Phase 1 micro LNG development."
11.42am: Serinus Energy says drilling preparations in Romania are ahead of schedule
Serinus Energy PLC (AIM:SENX) is moving higher after reporting progress in its drilling programme in Romania.
The company said the work to prepare for drilling is ahead of schedule. It plans to drill two wells sequentially into two separate natural gas prospects located near the Moftinu gas field and gas plant. Subject to the results of the first two wells the company anticipates drilling a third well to complete this 2022 drilling programme.
The two prospects to be drilled are the Canar prospect in late June or early July and subsequently the Moftinu Nord prospect. It said its recently completed 2D seismic acquisition program has confirmed the attractiveness of these prospects.
Serinus said it was fully funded for its 2022 capital programme in Romania and Tunisia.
Its shares have jumped 11.11% to 13.5p.
10.26am: CleanTech Lithium lifted after test work produces high quality battery grade sample
CleanTech Lithium PLC (AIM:CTL) is in demand after a positive result using direct lithium extraction (DLE) technology,
The exploration and development company, specialising in sustainable lithium projects in Chile, said DLE test-work had been completed to produce a 1kg sample of lithium carbonate.
Brine from CleanTech's Laguna Verde project was processed by its partner, Beyond Lithium, to produce the sample.
The benchmark for battery grade Lithium is more than 99.5% Li2CO3, and laboratory testing confirmed the sample had very low impurities with a grade of greater than 99.9% Li2CO3
Chief executive officer Aldo Boitano said: "We are very pleased with the results of the laboratory scale DLE testwork producing a high-quality battery grade sample with a Lithium Carbonate grade exceeding 99.9%.
"This is a proprietary process developed for the Laguna Verde brine, which is designed to be scalable, cost effective and to minimise the projects environmental footprint. We look forward to the next stage of advancing to pilot scale work to further optimise and de-risk the process in line with our mission to produce material quantities of battery grade lithium, with near zero carbon emissions and low environmental impact , offering the EU electric vehicle market a green lithium supply solution. "
Shares in CleanTech are 10.85% higher at 29.38p.
9.31am: Journeo accelerates after Nottingham council contracts
Shares in Journeo PLC (AIM:JNEO) have jumped after new contracts with Nottingham City Council.
The firm, which provides information systems and technical services to transport operators and local authorities, has won two deals for software, information systems and 5-year support services totalling £1.7mln.
It will upgrade 1,600 existing LED outdoor displays, as well as supplying messaging software to allow the council to integrate travel disruption information with scheduled and real time departure data for over 10,000 bus stops throughout the region.
Around £0.5mln of the total value of the agreements will come during this financial year.
Journeo is up 10.91% at 122p.
8.40am: Coral Products boosted by positive update
Coral Products PLC (AIM:CRU), the plastic products maker, has seen its shares climb after an upbeat trading statement and an increase in its dividend.
The company said full year sales were expected to be at least £14.4mln, up from £10.7mln.
It also confirmed a previous forecast that pre-tax profits were expected to be "materially above market expectations".
It plans a final dividen of 0.2p, taking the total to 1.1p, a 10% increase on the previous year.
Joe Grimmond, executive chairman, said: "Since the year end, the group has completed the acquisition on the 4th May 2022 of Film & Foil Solutions Ltd and on 30th May 2022 of Alma Products Ltd and sales from the existing subsidiaries continue to improve.
"Whilst it is still early in our current year and despite a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the macroeconomic circumstances, we are confident our current performance; the performance of our new subsidiaries and very strong cash position, even after funding the acquisitions, will see our group continue to further develop."
Coral shares are up 10.45% to 18.5p.
Elsewhere ECR Minerals PLC (AIM:ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, is in demand after a positive result from drilling at its Bailieston Project.
It saw multiple gold intercepts and said there was clearly much more to come.
ECR chairman David Tang said: “There is a palpable sense of excitement at ECR Minerals as the intensive drilling campaign across our Victoria assets is now, despite the delays in assay processing, yielding consistently high gold grades... this exceptional result today and the continuity of grade between Zone 2 and Zone 3 could well indicate a significant find. We look forward to the remaining assay results from the adjacent holes.”
ECR is up 19.05% at 1.25p.