Beyond the Footsie: Friday close
SHARES in UK smaller companies completed a dismal week with one of their biggest-ever falls, bringing the total to a drop of more than 100 points in five says. By the close, the FTSE SmallCap index was 67.6 points lower at 2,420.7.
Radio First topped the list of fallers with a 38% drop in value - a fall of 4 to 6 1/2p after an investor dumped a small amount of stock at a big discount this morning.
Another small cap faller was Vianet Group, which makes equipment to remotely monitor vending machines, losing 3p at 8 1/2p with the stock weighed down by the firm's plans to raise £4.2 mln of new cash to underwrite its working capital requirements.
Vianet announced plans for a placing of £2m worth of shares, and is raising the same amount via a 2-for-1 open offer. Additionally, it has agreed a £200,000 convertible loan with two venture capital trusts.
The company reported interim results showing sales of just £9,993, up from £6,575 a year earlier, as it incurred a loss of £960,396 in the six months to the end of March.
Among the tech shares, DCS Group shed 6 1/2p at 21 1/2p, MMT Computing fell 21 1/2p to 93 1/2p, and Imagination Technologies lost 7p at 28p.
IT solutions firm AIT Group extended yesterday's sharp falls with the drop of nearly a quarter of its remaining value, losing 8 1/2p at 30p.
Marketing communications firm BV Group was up 3/4p at 4 3/4p in reaction to a bullish AGM statement from the.
Shares in Touchstone Group also moved higher, up 4p at 139p, boosted by news the firm is to pay a special dividend, which accompanied its full-year results.
Touchstone said it would pay a special dividend of 3p per share as it reported a solid improvement in full year pretax profit to £1.7m, up from £1.4m a year earlier.
