Smaller companies report: Monday close
SHARES in UK smaller companies closed strongly today, ending at the highest level of the session, with Designer Vision surging ahead on news of a Toys R Us contract, dealers said.
At the close, the FTSE Small Cap index was 18.5 points higher at 3,631, while the FTSE 100 finished the day 59.7 points higher at 6,024.3.
Designer Vision gained 1.5p at 5.37p, after the supplier of portable multimedia products to the retail market revealed it has secured a £10m contract to supply Toys R Us in the US and Europe.
The initial order is for 50,000 'Designer Vision' branded portable DVD players, 20,000 Twin screen DVD systems, 40,000 MP3 players, and 4,000 video cameras.
Mobile phone games developer Superscape pulled back 3¾p at 13¾p after the company reiterated its full-year guidance for revenues in the year to end-January 2006 in line with the previous year.
The company issued a statement in response to recent declines in the share price which saw the stock close at a low of 10p at the end of last week.
Modest progress was also seen in Uranium Resources, 0.62p ahead at 3.62p, as the Aim-listed uranium exploration and development company offered a farm-in agreement to Western Metals, a company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange.
Bumper half-yearly numbers provide the spur to YouGov, 77½p higher at 400p, after the polling and market research group disclosed more than doubled first-half profits, and said it expects a 'significant advance' in financial performance for the full year.
Pre-tax profit for the six months to January rose to £1.4m from £602,000 a year earlier, as turnover nearly trebled to £3.8m from £1.3m.
Buyers homed in on Trafficmaster, 2¾p better at 42½p, following news that the company has won new agreements for its intelligent satellite navigation system Smartnav with Mazda Motor Corp and Hyundai, and has extended its relationship with Peugeot.
Bridgewell Securities analyst Dan Risdale is not changing his forecasts following the deals, but believes they should help underpin his full-year estimates. He reiterated his 'overweight' stance on the stock.
Biotrace International made headway, rising 3½p to 101p, as the maker of industrial microbiology products revealed that its joint venture company, Mansford Biotrace, has sold the Biotrace headquarters property for £2.5m.
Eckoh Technologies hardened 1p to 11½p as the speech application service provider disclosed that good progress has been made in the business and that the results for the year ended 31 March 2006 are likely to be above market expectations.
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And Antisoma edged up 1p to 21½p after a pre-clinical data presentation at the American Association of Cancer Research revealed that a combination of Antisoma's AS1404 and Avastin was considerably more effective than Avastin alone at inhibiting the growth of human colon and lung tumour xenografts.
On the downside, investors in Swallowfield gulped after the shares dropped 1p to 44½p on news that Marks and Spencer, which has been a key customer for over 30 years, has decided to place its entire colour cosmetics business with a single alternative supplier. Swallowfield will continue to supply M&S with aerosol and other products.
Punters exited IFX Group, 5p adrift at 126p, after the financial trading and spread betting company revealed that chief executive Edmond Warner is to resign at some point in 2006.
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