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Small caps round-up: UK Coal, Spiritel, AFC

Date: Friday 29 Jan 2010

British coal miner UK Coal expects to record an operating loss in 2009 of around £65m (2008: £0.7m loss) with an overall loss before taxation and exceptional items, including the non-cash reduction in property valuation, at around £115m (2008: £15.7m).

In line with previous guidance, total production from the group's mines for the full year ended December 2009 is expected to be around 7m tonnes. The deep mining operations had a difficult final quarter with production expected to be at around 1.2m tonnes (Q4 2008: 1.8m tonnes).

‘We remain focussed on getting the new Daw Mill face into production and maximising output from the other deep mines until their new faces are available and, in the case of Welbeck, its closure,’ UK Coal said.

Losses in the half year to October at telecoms services group Spiritel jumped to £4.63m from £1.72m, on sales of £7.9m, down from £11.1m. Based on trading in the quarter to 31 January 2010, including post 31 October 2009 acquisitions, annualised revenue will exceed £23m, with underlying annualised EBITDA of over £2.3m. On a standalone basis, our Business Division is now delivering an annualised underlying EBITDA run rate in excess of £3.5m.

Shares in fuel cell provider AFC Energy ticked up after it said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding for WSP Environment and CEL International, which are part of engineering consultant WSP Group, to help the company prepare for the deployment of fuel cell power stations.

Online advertising services company Burst Media said its second half performance was better than the first half as the economic climate for advertising improved.

Shares in Adventis, also an advertising group, were higher after it said results for 2009 should meet expectations and that 2010 should be ‘a better year for the group.’