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Good Week - Bad Week

Friday, March 21, 2008

Some of this week’s winners and losers

It was generally good news for AIM’s miners this week. KEFI Minerals, the gold and copper explorer kicked off proceedings with reports that testing at its Derinin Tepe prospect had started. KEFI’s MD, Jeff Rayner, said he hoped the move would be the first step in an “exciting and rewarding” year for the company.

Platinum group metals miner, Ridge Mining, announced that development at its Blue Ridge project in South Africa was well advanced and on target. Indications are that Ridge is considering an additional stock listing in either Johannesburg or Toronto.

Condor Resources completed the second phase of drilling at it El Cacao prospect in Nicaragua. Chief executive Nigel Ferguson said the prospect was becoming one of Condor’s substantial assets. “We are confident of a strong maiden resource statement in the near future,” he noted.

On Friday, Kalahari Minerals, with its portfolio of copper, base metal and uranium interests in Namibia, raised £14.4 million in a share placing. Chairman Mark Hohnen said the new funds meant Kalahari was “ideally positioned” to progress its aggressive growth strategy.

Elsewhere this week, Source BioScience slashed full year losses by launching an aggressive acquisition strategy to build revenues. Key moves including a deal to buy Geneservice Ltd for £3.9 million helped drive revenues up 25% to £7.5 million and losses down to £0.5 million. Source has since snapped up Autogen Bioclear UK Ltd for £6.0 million.

Japanese biometrics expert Secure Design KK didn’t fare as well, posting wider pre-tax losses of £2.8 million and warning that securing new funding was now vital. Chairman Taketoshi Kashiwabara said he was optimistic that the company would be able to raise additional funds to execute its plans.

Nexus Management, the IT managed services business, buoyed investors with a swing into profit. Its stake in US associate firm PD Financial was largely responsible for the improvement, which saw revenues jump 800% to £21 million and pre-tax profits rise to £0.8 million from last year’s loss of £0.4 million.

Estate agency group Humberts reported that it was in talks over possible offers for all or part of the business. A new fundraising could also be on the cards as well as possible non-core asset sales. A dismal full-year performance, challenging market conditions and a cash shortfall, announced last month, have left the company considering all options.

Finally, corporate services business Hogg Robinson disappointed investors with news of a series of setbacks that would see full-year EBITDA targets of £45 million fall short by around 10%. Chief executive David Radcliffe, said while the setback was disappointing, the group would take decisive action to ensure it was positioned well for next year.

Happy Easter!