LONDON (ShareCast) - Brooks Pierce, the Executive Director of Sportech, has resigned with immediate effect to 'pursue other business interests'. No replacement has yet been appointed, but the company was keen to announce that it had appointed an executive search business to 'seek suitable candidates to further augment Sportech's Executive Directors in order to take advantage of the many opportunities available in North America'.

Specialist environmental support services group Silverdell has been awarded a number of contracts in May totalling £3.58m, including a contract in Canada from an international specialist material company. The Canadian contract will deliver £1.25m of revenues in the second half of the current financial year and is an "important step" in the company's broader strategic initiative to penetrate a number of regulated international markets," the firm said. The company also reported that a previously announced rail contract worth £0.5m is likely to be materially higher in value and is now anticipated to form part of a larger framework contract to include up to 72 stations over the next seven years.

Oxford BioMedica has said it is very encouraged by the first clinical results of its RentinoStat product, which indicate sustained therapeutic protein expression in the eye. The company is now awaiting further data from its ocular programmes later this year. The firm has also been encouraged by progress at its proprietary manufacturing facility which is set to be fully-operational in the second half of this year, while developments by global drugs giant Pfizer with its 5T4-targeted antibody programme bring it a step closer to clinical trials, at which stage Pfizer would make its next milestone payment to Oxford BioMedica.

Braveheart Investment Group, which specialises in venture capital investments, has raised £164,000 after placing over one million new ordinary shares at 15p per share. The new subscription shares will represent around 4.8% of the issued share capital of the company as enlarged by the subscription. The proceeds of the subscription will be used for general working capital, the firm said.

Planet Payment has posted a 22% rise in net revenue to $11.7m (2011 $9.6m) for the first quarter, although income remained stable at $0.8m. Income from operations rose from $0.3m to $0.9m. The company said the growth in revenue reflects the increase in transaction processing volumes, primarily driven by increases in active merchant locations. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) for the period increased 75% to $1.7m (2011: $1.0m).

SnackTime, a UK vending business, has admitted that full-year EBITDA before exceptionals will be slightly below expectations, but said revenues will be on track and emphasised that the re-organisation of the company's property portfolio and associated provisions is expected to give rise to an exceptional profit. The firm's cash levels rose during the second half of the year and said that it remains well within its banking covenants. "SnackTime is well placed to weather the current economic conditions and to emerge from the recession in a stronger competitive position," the company said.

Educational software supplier RM has said that following a review of its UK operations it has decided to sell a number of its businesses, including ISIS Concepts, the sale of which has now been completed for £205,000. The sale was made to ISIS Concepts Holdings, a new company formed by Nick Topliss, who owned ISIS before it was sold to RM in 2009, and has remained as its Managing Director. Rob Sirs, former Managing Director of RM, is expected to invest in ISIS Concepts Holdings in the near future. In the financial year to date, ISIS has been loss-making. RM has agreed to provide a short-term working capital loan facility of up to £850,000, secured on freehold property and other assets valued in excess of that figure.

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