The FTSE small-cap index drops 0.8 percent in morning trade andjunior-listed AIM shares fall 0.9 percent, broadly in line with thefalls on the mid caps and the blue chips.
Hansard Global falls 10.5 percent, leading the small-cap decliners,after the specialist long-term savings provider says news business growth slowsin the second half of 2013, due to the loss of a distributor in the Far East,and margins fell.
"The loss (of the distributor) was flagged earlier but the impact is greaterthan we had anticipated," analysts at Panmure Gordon say in a note.
"We have lowered our sales forecast and new business margin together withour target price to 130 pence per share but maintain our 'buy' recommendationbelieving that the shares will be largely under pinned by the 9.0 percentdividend yield."
On AIM, Software Radio Technology, whose products help to identify and trackships, drops 6.3 percent after saying that key orders and shipments mayfall either side of the year to end-March. As such, its annual pre-tax resultscould range between a loss of 1.5 million pounds ($2.48 million)and a profit of2.5 million.
"Given uncertainty over the timing of orders over the remaining 11 weeks ofthe year, we cut our forecasts to the bottom of the indicative range," analystsat WH Ireland say in a note. "Until firm news of the order pipeline convertinginto sales comes through, the shares are unlikely to make progress and wesuspend our recommendation and target price."
Reuters messaging rm://antonina.vorobyova.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net($1 = 0.6060 British pounds)
Hansard (HSD)