Beyond the Footsie: Wednesday close
SHARES in UK smaller companies ended lower as last night's decision by the US Federal Reserve to leave interest rates unchanged disappointed markets. At the close, the FTSE SmallCap index was down 6.9 points at 2,001.5.
Among the losers, Myratech.net fell 50% to 2p, after warning that trading conditions remain difficult.
Forever Broadcast dropped 7 1/2p to 26p on news that full-year turnover will be about £400,000 lower than expected due to a slowdown in second-half sales.
Shares in Brown & Jackson, the discount retailer that recently recruited former Matalan chief executive Angus Monro, tumbled 5p to 38p after the company issued another profit warning.
The group, which owns the Poundstretcher, What Everyone Wants, Your More Store and The Brunswick Warehouse chains, estimated that the pre-exceptional trading loss for the 53 weeks to July 6 will be approximately £22m, compared with market estimates of a £10m deficit and a pretax profit of £10.8 last year.
London Pacific lost 1/2p to 2p after posting a disappointing second quarter loss of £104,716.
As the much heralded bid from Caffe Nero failed to emerge, Coffee Republic fell 1p to 3 3/4p, giving back some of its recent gains.
Bolton Wanderers football club owner Burnden Leisure dropped 1/2p to 3p, dragged down by further negative comments over the financial health of the football industry. Bolton Wanderers are tipped to be relegated from the Premiership this season.
Among the few risers, Intec Telecom gained 2p to 24p after announcing that it has won a multi-million pound contract with Colt Telecom.
Earthport moved 1/4p higher to 3 1/4p after announcing that it has secured a $300m-a-month credit card debt acquiring facility from a consortium of US banks.
Shares in Venture Production gained 8 1/2p to 135p, boosted by news of an upgrade in stance by Deutsche Bank to 'market perform' from 'underperform', with a target price of 141p.
Superscape added 2p to 26 1/2p after announcing an extended tie-up with ARM Holdings to put its 3D graphics engine on ARM-powered mobile phones.
Fellow mobile telecoms system designer TTP Communications jumped 2p to 52 1/2p after releasing details of an agreement with Siemens.
And Springwood jumped 5p to 102 1/2p after agreeing to buy eight nightclubs from First Leisure Trading for £3.3m, and declaring that trading prospects remain sound.
