ALO.L Share News (ALO)

Mining investment company Alecto Energy saw pre-tax losses widen in the half year to June 30 to £389,812, from £88,214 over the same period the previous year, as it laid foundations for exploration activity in Mauritania.Alecto has submitted applications for three gold and base metal and two uranium exploration sites in the country.Eruma, which supplies security blinds that are strong enough to withstand bomb blasts and specialist lighting systems, saw revenues fall in the half year to June 30, blaming the time it takes for secured revenues to be realised.Revenues fell by 12% to £493,000, though losses narrowed to £469,000 from £524,000.'The company has continued to increase the size and scale of its sales pipeline particularly within its international markets around bomb blast protection solutions and our domestic intelligent lighting solutions,' Eruma said.Tajikistan-focused gold, nickel and copper miner Kryso posted half-yearly losses in line with those of the same period the previous year as it continued developing its Pakrut Gold mine. Pre-tax losses were down by 1.5% to $718,000.Allocate Software, the workforce optimisation software provider, made 14 contract wins in the first quarter of its financial year. They include seven NHS contract wins for Healthroster, its healthcare e-Rostering software, taking the NHS customer base to 126 trusts. Allocate has also won a contract for a hospital in Malaysia and, since the end of August, its first contract in the US.Online advertising company Burst Media Corporation revealed a 43% rise in revenues to $17.3m in the first half of 2010, but the net loss was $2.3m, up from $0.7m in the first half of 2009. The latest figures include Giant Realm and Burst Media UK, which were acquired in September 2009 and April 2010 respectively. Overall sales growth slowed in the first two months of the second half, but there has been evidence of a pick-up in orders in September.Focus Solutions, which supplies software to financial services businesses, has won two online training software contracts worth over £500,000 in aggregate. An accident and health insurer and a provider of free debt solutions have signed four-year software licences. Vending machines operator SnackTime is buying Vendia UK, for a maximum consideration of £10.98m. Vendia UK reported revenues of £19.7m and adjusted EBITDA of £2.1m in 2009. SnackTime expects the acquisition to be earnings enhancing in the year ending 31 March 2012.