LONDON (ShareCast) - Mediwatch, a urological diagnostic firm, has reported a rise in pre-tax profit (PTP) up from £0.23m to £0.32m for the year ending October 31st. Sales revenue rose from £10.5m to £10.6m, while cash flow from operations jumped £0.58m to £0.84m. The company attributed the rise in PTP to the re-organisation which began in the first quarter of 2011, as it has enabled the firm to invest in new markets, products and services. The company also saw 75% sales growth in developing markets.

In a statement Chairman Omer Karim said: "Looking forward, we will continue to focus on internal efficiencies and the tight management of our cost base. During 2012 we anticipate the conclusion of a number of important research and development projects that will strengthen and update our existing product lines in urodynamics and ultrasound while reducing unit costs. We anticipate that the improved product lines, together with the on-going growth of PSAwatch, will deliver improved performance for 2012 and beyond."

OpSec Security Group, a supplier of anti-counterfeiting technologies and services, has said that trading conditions during the year ending March 31st are now expected to be substantially lower than last year. The firm attributed this to the fact the traditionally stronger second half of the year have has, to date, been extremely difficult.

Mediterranean Oil & Gas (MOG), an exploration and development company, has revealed that a recent independent valuation of gas reserves at the Guendalina gas field has shown an increase of 42% in 2P (proved plus probable) reserves compared to a previous pre-development valuation. RPS Energy, which carried out the study, assigned a net present value (NPV) to the reserves of €27.2m. NPV is the sum of the present values of the individual cash flows of the same entity.

Oil and gas firm Kea Petroleum has said that its 2012 drilling programme is set to begin with the drilling of the Puka-1 well within the next four weeks to test for oil, and will take around two weeks to drill. If the well is considered worthy of flow testing, available equipment will be moved from the Wingrove-2 site to Puka, and could subsequently be converted to long term production status in the event of economic oil flows, the firm said. Initial setup of test equipment at Puka would place testing operations in the second quarter of 2012.

Global technology firm Elektron Technology said sales and profits for the year are likely to be towards the lower end of market expectations, following the strong performance in the prior financial year. However, it was keen to emphasise that sales are proving resilient against the current backdrop of the economic slowdown in Europe, whilst the group continues to make good progress in the Americas.

The group is further streamlining its UK operations and is closing and consolidating three major leased sites. Savings in occupancy costs from the site closures are expected to exceed £0.8m per annum and when complete, the streamlining programme is expected to yield savings in excess of £2m per annum. The cost of streamlining the business is expected to total £4.3m over a two year period, including around £0.8m of capital expenditure. Exceptional charges are expected to total £3.5m, with a little more than half of the expense recorded in 2011/12.

Norseman Gold, the AIM-listed and ASX-listed Australian gold production and exploration company, has requested and been granted a voluntary suspension of its shares from trading on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). The company's shares have not been suspended from trading on AIM. Under ASX rules a trading halt can only last 48 hours and then the company must seek a suspension of its shares if the same conditions still apply.

Solo Oil has issued and allotted more than 115m new shares at 0.65p each, in line with the draw-down of £0.75m from the three year £10m equity line facility held with Dutchess Opportunity Cayman Fund. The additional funds will be used for capital to increase production in Canada, develop the recently announced Mina El Carmen block in Argentina and further potential cash commitments for Tanzania depending on the results of the current well being drilled.

Hambledon Mining has placed more than 177m shares at 3.25p each to raise around $9.06m ($8.56m after expenses). The issue price represents a discount of about 18.75% to the price of 4p per existing ordinary share. The firm has also agreed a $15m debt facility with EBRD, which will also make an equity investment in the company by subscribing for around 58.8m new shares at 3.25p each, raising a further $3.0m. The cash generated from these transactions will enable the company to pay $2.5m to Akmola Gold, which it previously entered into a conditional agreement to acquire.

Surveillance technologies group Digital Barriers has been awarded a five month contract by an existing UK client, worth in excess of £2.5m.

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