Small caps round-up: Northern Bear, Airsprung, Pursuit Dynamics...

Support services group Northern Bear stretched its strong run Tuesday after claiming a good start to the new financial year, with its order book and pipeline well up on a year ago."The board is pleased to announce that the new financial year has started well, with strong order books and a healthy pipeline, both far exceeding the outlook at the corresponding time last year," the firm said in a brief statement. Results for the year ended 31 March will be published on 7 July.Mattress and sofa company Airsprung Group has warned that first half profits will be "modestly" below last year's effort as the general election campaign dampened consumer enthusiasm.Revenue for the two months since April is also down on last year as January's snow storms left retailers with lots of stock leftover, leaving them unable to re order at the normal levels for spring business.The company, which today dropped the 'Furniture' from its name, is also wary about "challenging" economic conditions despite turning a £417,000 loss into a £978,000 profit for the year to 31 March. Full-year sales grew 9% to £46.5m.Pursuit Dynamics, a maker of pump technology for brewers, food manufacturers and fire extinguishers, has formally launched its new bio-fuels line of business with a suite of products designed to make substantial cost savings for customers and improve productivity.Losses grew to £3.66m for the year to March from £3.09m in 2009. The firm had cash of £3.7m at the period end following a £4m fundraising in September. A placing last month brought in another £10m.Drug discovery outfit e-Therapeutics was "delighted" with progress during the year to 31 January and says it's in talks with a number of drug companies to develop its own drug portfolio and deploy its de-risking technology commercially.In a year that saw the group raise a total of £4.5m, the company lost £1.78m, a little more than the £1.55m deficit published the year before.Seismic surveyor Offshore Hydrocarbon Mapping slipped as it warned scheduling delays had increased costs and will put pressure on working capital later in the summer, potentially requiring new capital to be raised.Revenues and operating losses for the six months to August will be in the range of £6.6m to £7.1m and £2.8m to £3.3m respectively, which compares to £3m and £1.8m for the same period in 2009. African Diamonds shares fell as it received a revised feasibility study on its jointly owned Boteti Mining AK6 project in Botswana that recommends upfront capital investment of $120m. Operating costs over the life of mine are estimated to be $17.20 per tonne of ore treated.The revised mining plan calls for a smaller number of carats being produced at a higher diamond value. A process plant designed at an initial throughput rate of 2.5m tonnes per annum increasing to 4.0mtpa after 4 years is suggested.Malaysia-focused mobile payments group MobilityOne lifted revenue by 10.2% to £13.7m in 2009. Losses after tax rose slightly to £920,000. New agreements have been signed with Carrefour Malaysia and Telekom Malaysia in Malaysia, several telecommunications companies in Cambodia and PT Citra Multi Services in Indonesia and barring any unforeseen circumstances, the group is anticipating an upturn in the 4th quarter of 2010.Specialist filtration and environmental technology group Porvair expects to maintain its strategic progress in the second half of the year after a strong showing at the interim stage.In the six months to the end of May the company's pre-tax profit was £1.28m, versus a profit (excluding exceptional items) of £0.04m the year before.Revenue grew to £29.66m from £27.00m previously, with 23% of revenues attributable to what the company terms "next generation" products.The interim dividend has been maintained at 1p.Travelgroup Travelzest more than doubled profits at the halfway stage as the benefits of its restructuring programme started feeding through.Profit before tax in the six months to 30 April surged to £1.4m from £0.6m at the interim stage the year before. Total transaction valued jumped 14% to £118.7m from £104m a year earlier while revenue increased 9% to £18.9m from £17.4m.Net debt came down to £7.7m at the end of the reporting period from £11.7m at the end of April 2009. The group said it remains on the look out for acquisition opportunities.British Polythene expects half year results to be slightly lower than 2009 equivalents due to increased polymer prices. "Trading across the board continues to be challenging as we, and our customers, address the impact of these polymer price increases. Polymer prices have started to ease in North America and the Far East, but remain obstinately firm in Western Europe," said the group.Alternative energy firm Cosalt was lower after it saw sales fall to £48.3m from £52.8m, reflecting current caution across the UK Oil & Gas sector. Profits before exceptionals were doubled to £1m due to lower financing costs.Timber merchant James (Latham) saw profits rise to £5.58m from £4.11m. Revenue rose 1.3% to £113m after being 5.9% behind at six months. Shares in Ceramic Fuel Cells rose after it entered a licence agreement with USA-based NexTech Materials. NexTech will commercially offer solid oxide fuel cell interconnect coating solutions based on Ceramic Fuel Cells' patented formulations.