Small caps round-up: Fitbug, Environmental Recycling, Airea

Fitbug Holdings, the AIM traded provider of online personal health and well-being services, has reported solid growth in France where diet club partner Anxa has confirmed a minimum forecast of 6,000 orders for its activity tracking device for the year. The firm has also launched the device into the German market, where 1,500 orders have been placed to support the launch of its new membership category. Shares gained 10.77% to 1.80p.

By MoneyWeek

published 20 March 2012

Environmental Recycling Technologies has received a notice of allowance of a US Patent Application entitled 'Process for Forming Plastic, Apparatuses for Forming Plastic and Articles Made Therefrom'. This patent is ERT's core patent in the US for the Powder Impression Moulding (PIM) process which is a process capable of converting mixed waste plastics into a wide range of commercially viable products. The firm said the news "could not have come at a better time". Shares dropped 4.44% to 2.15p.

Specialist flooring company Airea has again faced challenging market conditions in the first six months of the current financial year. Revenue for the period was £13.9m (2010:£15.1m), operating profit was £139,000 (2010: £349,000) and profit after tax was £114,000 (2010: £94,000). Basic earnings per share were 0.25p (2010: 0.20p). Operating profit came under pressure as raw material inflation worked through into margin; an improvement in pension related finance costs led to an increase in profit after tax and growth in earnings per share. Shares fell 17.02% to 9.75p.