Small caps round-up: Interior Services, Silverdell, Loudwater

Interior Services, an international construction services group, is to chop its dividend in response to tough market conditions. The firm will now pay a final dividend of 4.6p (2011: 10.7p) making a total for the year of 9.0p (2011: 15.1p), marking a reversal of previous policy of increasing the dividend by five per cent each year. The company warned that in the short term it anticipates that trading conditions will continue to be difficult, but was keen to emphasise that outside of the UK it has seen robust pipelines and strong demand for its services. Consequently, the company is continuing to focus on international growth opportunities.

By MoneyWeek

published 4 July 2012

Silverdell, a specialist environmental support services group, has secured two decontamination and dismantling contracts worth a combined total of around £13m. The work is being carried out on sites in Canada for two separate multi-national companies. The first contract, worth around £10.7m, is for the decontamination, demolition and selective dismantling of a plant in Milhaven, Ontario and the second contract, worth around £2.2m, involves the dismantling of a pulp and paper mill plant in Chandler, Quebec, as well as the recovery of pulp and paper mill equipment for reuse in Vietnam. The contracts were secured when the company acquired EDS at the end of May.

Loudwater Trust, a closed-ended investment company, has sold its stake in AgraQuest for an initial consideration of £27.3m, equivalent to 45.4p per share. Of this amount, around £3.3m will be initially held in escrow against potential indemnification claims. In addition, there is contingent consideration payable should AgraQuest achieve certain performance milestones in future years. The maximum contingent consideration that could be due to Loudwater is £3.5m. The initial proceeds from the disposal will be used to make a further cash return to shareholders.