Small caps round-up: Bglobal, HMV, Psion

Smart metering firm Bglobal rocketed 31 per cent in morning trading on Thursday after signing a joint venture agreement with South Korean electronics giant Samsung. Bglobal says the agreement will only come into effect after it receives a firm order from a UK energy supplier for its 'smart energy' solution. There are also regulatory hurdles to overcome. Nevertheless the market clearly suspects Samsung would not have entered into such a deal without a clear idea of its probable outcome. Happy days at Bglobal.

The travails of entertainment retailer HMV are well documented, it's fallen 96.5% in the last five years as it sought to do battle with the rise of online shopping. Today it announced full year like-for-like sales down 12.1%. The total sales figure came in at £923.2m against £1.149bn last year. The loss before tax was £16.2m. Under most measures this is not a success but because of the very low expectations for HMV, the stock actually gained 7.8% in morning trading.

Psion, the handheld computer firm, has certainly had an interesting history. You may remember its handheld organisers. They made the firm a lot of money from the mid-eighties onwards, leading to it becoming a major 'dot com' stock. Since 2000, the shares have fallen 97%. But Psion hasn't given up. It now makes rugged, mobile computers for applications like gas metering.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Revenues in the half year to end of June were £80.2m, slightly down on the £81.4m seen in the prior year. It also turned in a loss before tax of £8.7m, against a loss of £5.3m last year. It has also decided against a dividend payment. The market was broadly supportive, with the stock up very slightly in morning trading.

BS