Small caps round-up: Independent Resources, Intelek, Norkom

Independent Resources rose after the group said it looks like the drawn out environmental assessment process for its underground gas storage facility at Rivara in the Po Valley, Italy, is nearing a conclusion.There was also a reduction in the full-year loss before tax to £85,476 from £127,836.Intelek, which makes electronic systems for satellite and microwave communications, has reported a 4% drop in both annual underlying profit and sales to £3.9m and £37.7m respectively.A 75% surge in sales in North America to £12.5m, mostly for government and military programmes, offset most of the fall in continental Europe, Asia and Africa.Financial software group Norkom grew revenue by 3% to €49.3m, while profit before tax fore the year to 31 March leapt to €7.45m from €4.91m in 2009."We do believe that we have navigated through the bottom of the crisis in our core market, while strengthening the quality and competitiveness of our solutions, services and people," said chief executive Paul Kerley.Dewhurst, the supplier of components to the lift, keypad and rail industries, saw pre-tax profits rise at the interim stage despite lower revenue.Group turnover eased to £17.8m from £17.9m, while profit before tax edged higher to £2.18m from £2.13m the year before.However, the outlook for the second half is not so good with the company expecting a squeeze on UK public sector spending will have some impact on trading. The interim dividend has been lifted to 2.12p from 2.02p last year.Women's personal alarm maker Ila Group has received its first order from shopping channel QVC. The channel will start selling the Pebble and Dusk alarms in July and August.Medgenics, the developer of the "biopump" system of administering therapeutic proteins continuously in patients using their own tissue, has beefed up its Strategic Advisory Board with the addition of Burt Rosen, currently vice-president of Purdue Pharmaceuticals and a man with extensive contacts among senior pharmaceutical executives.As a result of the appointment the company has decided to broaden the membership of its Scientific Advisory Board to nclude members that possess a wider range of professional and commercial skills.UK based investment vehicle Mission Capital scraped into the black at the interim stage, with pre-tax profits of £0.09m for the six months to 31 March compared to a loss of £1.26m the year before. Revenue surged to £130.8m from £48.1m.As at 31 March 2010, the company, which has a market capitalisation of £810,000, had consolidated net assets of £737,000, up from £523,000 a year earlier. The company has not declared an interim dividend.Restaurateur Tasty is planning to raise £2m through a placing of shares at 20p each. The new shares issued will represent 26.4% of the current shares in issue. The company plans to use the funds to finance the expansion of its restaurant chains.The board said the positive trading seen in the first quarter of 2010 has continued into the second quarter.