Small cap round-up: Intandem Films, 1pm, Hardide, Asterand

International film group Intandem Films has become one of only 10 companies in the world to secure financing via the California Film Commission (CFC) Tax Credit Lottery.

The lottery is the name given to the annual selection of films and TV shows eligible to receive a tranche of the $100m allotted for state film tax credits. The firm's film, "10 Things I Hate About Life", will receive $1.76m from CFC, with filming set to begin this November in Los Angeles. In addition to being responsible for raising the production finance for the film, for which it will earn producer fees, Intandem has worldwide sales rights to the film and will earn 15% commission on all sales. The company achieved pre-sales of almost $2.0m at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

1pm, which provides lease asset finance to the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector, expects to report a significant improvement in its trading performance for the year ended May 31st 2012, with the results expected to exceed market expectations. The firm said that levels of new business written in May surpassed £0.7m, the highest monthly amount achieved by the company to date. The lease portfolio as at May 31st was £11.0m (FY11: £10.1m). The firm said it will continue to develop funding relationships to maximise lending opportunities.

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Hardide, a provider of unique surface engineering technology, has reported a 94% leap to £0.79m in half year turnover for the six month ended March 31st, pushing the company back into the black with profits of £0.2m (2011: loss of £0.4m). However, the company warned that, while it has achieved excellent growth in the first half of the year, it is aware that there has been an element of stock building by certain key customers. "We therefore need to be cautious in basing our full year expectations on a repetition of the first six months. Nonetheless, we do expect the full year results to show good growth over last year," the firm said. Cash at the end of the period rose from £0.3m to £1.1m.

Asterand, the human tissue and research services provider, has entered into a conditional agreement to dispose of the Human Tissue Business to US bio-pharmaceutical company Stemgent, for an aggregate cash consideration of $9.0m. The company anticipates that the net cash proceeds of around $7.6m, together with the existing cash resources of the group, will be used to pay down in full its secured debt, which amounts to $9.0m.