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Small caps round-up: Genesis, Bowleven, Pantheon

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Date: Tuesday 26 Aug 2008

LONDON (ShareCast) - Shares in Genesis Petroleum moved higher today after the North Sea-focused oil and gas company said it had begun drilling operations at a site in the UK portion of the sea.

“We are very pleased to be the operator on our first well and excited about the potential hydrocarbon accumulations,” chief executive Gerry Harrison said. The company intends to drill further prospects in the UK and Norway in the future he added.

Shares in Bowleven were up more by more than 10% after the African oil and gas group said it had completed a successful initial drill stem test on the IF-1r discovery in Cameroon.

“This first oil discovery on the permit is a significant event for both Cameroon and Bowleven as it confirms the presence of oil in addition to the previously discovered gas and condensate resources on our acreage,” chief executive Kevin Hart said.

“While we continue to pursue the development options for our existing gas/condensate resources, our focus will also be on further interpretation of the IF-1r well results including assessing the extent of the IF-1r accumulation and the implications for the entire permit of this exciting new play.”

Shares in Pantheon Resources rose after the Gulf of Mexico-focused oil and gas explorer said preliminary drilling at the Bullseye prospect in which it has a 15% working interest indicated the potential presence of a commercial well.

“Pantheon is encouraged by these results, although they remain only preliminary,” chief executive Jay Cheatham said. “A full evaluation will be done after running the logs and performing the production test.”

Scientific instruments group Judges Capital posted record sales of £3.48m in the six months to June, up from with £2.84m. Pre-tax profits leapt to £672,000 (2007: £190,000).

"The current year started with a robust order book which resulted in a strong trading performance by all subsidiaries", Judges said. Markets remain strong with an encouraging pipeline of orders, though the first half performance should not be extrapolated in respect of the full-year. The interim dividend rises to 1.2p from 1.1p.

China-focused shopping mall group Canton Property generated revenues of r33m ($4.8m) in the six months to June, as its its development at Comic City kicked in. Net assets were up 24% to r2.9bn ($428m) with the current portfolio’s value up 87% up to r6.53bn.

“Although the global credit crunch and high inflation will continue to exert some downward pressure on China's economy growth in the second half of 2008, trends are such that the company is positive about the outlook for the domestic retail market,” it said.

Engineer Hill & Smith is to buy Creative Pultrusions, a leading US manufacturer of glass reinforced plastic for up to $21m in cash. Hill & Smith, through its UK subsidiary Redman Fisher, already has an established trading relationship with Creative Pultrusions, which will now play a key role in the expansion of the group's product offering.

Aussie coal group Caledon Resources narrowed interim losses as its Magatar mining system came on stream with coal production volumes now rising steadily. The Cook mine in Queensland had its first month of operational profitability in June 2008 and achieved 55,000 tonnes of production. Caledon continues to target a production rate of 100,000 tonnes per month.

Losses in the half-year to June fell to A$9.5m from A$14m on sales of A$30.4m, up from A$0.3m.

Radicle Projects has paid A$3.98m (£1.86m) for interests in two further managed investment scheme (MIS) Australian apple-growing projects. The purchase of a 19% stake in Rivercorp will cost an additional AU$350,000 (£0.16m).

TV production firm DCD Media said several production deals were not concluded before the year end but were subsequently closed at the start of the current financial year.

"The board of DCD reiterates that some rescheduling in production activity is inevitable in a group of this size and that the effect of this is one of delayed revenues rather than lost revenues," it said.

Oil explorer Roc Oil posted record half-year figures. The group saw profits for the period surge 178% to $36.4m on sales that jumped 121% to $179.8m.



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