Small-cap Week, October 5

Phorm, the maker of a web traffic monitoring system aimed at advertisers, surged 71 per cent this week after saying it had begun recruiting an audience in China.

The Aim-quoted group, which has been hunting for a welcoming international market since being forced to abandon UK launch plans in 2008, said it had begun a "nationwide opt-in process" in China that had brought in 4.3m users per day. It planned to begin test campaigns within the next few months.

Phorm had warned a week earlier that it needed another fundraising to avoid running out of money by the end of the year, having spent £238m to date trying to commercialise its technology. Since peaking above £37 in 2007 the shares have lost 99.7 per cent of their value.

GW Pharmaceuticals rose 33.8 per cent after releasing new trial data on its Sativex cannabis-based mouth spray showing it can help treat spasticity symptoms in multiple sclerosis sufferers.

Pawnbroker Albermarle & Bond tumbled 72.8 per cent after EZCorp, a US peer that is its largest shareholder, refused to underwrite a rescue rights issue.

Salamander Energy dropped 18.1 per cent on news that a well off the coast of Thailand failed to find oil, and that environmental permits for further exploration were still to be approved.

A profit warning sent Wolfson tumbling 18.1 per cent, with the sound chipmaker blaming the cancellation of product programmes at a major customer widely assumed to be BlackBerry.

Imperial's grass allergy trials deliver dose of good news

Hay fever sufferers and Imperial Innovations shareholders have common cause for cheer: clinical trials of a new grass allergy treatment have provided another dose of positive news for the Aim-quoted developer of university research, writes Adam Palin.

Since the start of September - when the pollen count fell - Imperial's share price has risen 44 per cent, as hopes for its Circassia allergy business have grown. Oxford-based Circassia - which is also developing treatments for cat and dust mite allergies - is among Imperial's most promising investments, according to Russ Cummings, chief executive.

Imperial - a spinout from Imperial College London - now boasts an investment portfolio of about 80 university spinouts, with net assets of £228m at the end of January. This week, its shares hit a two-year high of 380p, before falling back to 370p.

Starcom suffers fall in shares after profits hit by slow sales

Shares in Starcom, the Israeli maker of car tracking devices, fell after the Aim-quoted company reported a pre-tax loss of $89,000 for the six months to June 30 - against a profit of $868,000 a year earlier - and said profits for the full year would be lower than forecast, writes Kate Burgess.

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Its half-year performance was attributed to slower sales of intelligent locks and monitoring devices, as well as higher marketing and R&D costs. The company also paid off a loan with the proceeds of its February flotation, and booked the expense of options granted to executives.

Michael Rosenberg, chairman, said the first two months of the year were affected by the IPO process, but the company had now received itsfirst big order for smart padlocks.

Starcom's shares, which debuted at 20p, fell 2 per cent this week to close at 17.4p.

Emerald auction disruptions hurt Gemfields' revenues

Gemfields, the Zambian-based emerald miner, moved sharply from profit into a net loss of $23m when it delivered annual results this week, writes Michael Kavanagh.

Disruptions to its schedule of emerald auctions, caused by demands by the Zambian government that they be held in the country, resulted in revenues falling by nearly half to $48m for the year to June.

But an auction in Lusaka since the year-end at least demonstrated improved sales prices for the precious green stone while production volumes at Gemfields' core asset, its Kagem mine, also improved. Gemfields insists it would have delivered a solid set of results had its planned sale of inventory proceeded on schedule.

Calming fears over political risk associated with dealing with Zambia's government remains key to Gemfields, whose shares have fallen by more than 40 per cent over the past year.

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