TechMARK movers: Asterand partnership

Human tissue services provider Asterand has entered a preferred partnership deal with life sciences firm 5AM Solutions. The two companies will develop next generation virtual biobanking software. This will enable a broader access to geographically diverse biospecimens.Development costs will be shared. Even though, Gresham Computing reported better than expected 2010 profit it is still the worst performer on the day. The financial services sector software provider grew underlying revenue by 8% although reported revenue fell from £9.89m to £9.13m. A £7.72m loss in 2009 was turned into a profit of £271,000. There is £3.1m in the bank - one-fifth of the company's market value. Rob Grubb has been appointed finance director - he has held the role on an interim basis for the past year. Singer has upgraded its 2011 profit forecast from £600,000 to £900,000. FTSE TechMARK - RisersCryptologic Ltd. (CRP) 130.00p +30.00%Skyepharma (SKP) 42.00p +6.67%AEA Technology Group (AAT) 4.25p +5.59%Asterand (ATD) 14.88p +3.48%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,821.00p +3.00%BTG (BGC) 230.00p +2.95%Vectura Group (VEC) 65.00p +1.17%KCOM Group (KCOM) 61.50p +0.82%Kewill (KWL) 95.25p +0.79%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 696.50p +0.51%FTSE TechMARK - FallersGresham Computing (GHT) 37.50p -6.83%Emblaze Ltd. (BLZ) 46.25p -5.13%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 5.50p -4.35%Antisoma (ASM) 2.35p -4.28%Xaar (XAR) 236.00p -3.67%Chemring Group (CHG) 712.00p -3.33%Anite (AIE) 63.50p -3.05%Dialight (DIA) 720.50p -2.17%Promethean World (PRW) 56.25p -1.75%Torotrak (TRK) 43.00p -1.71%