Interims are expected next week and today saw an influx of buying. Looks a pretty good little company with alot of potential upside as can be seen in the charts.

Interesting couple of days.

For those thinking about a reverse takeover, this is food for thought! Copied from the iii site this evening. I am a modest holder of these shares, and I'm currently sitting on a modest paper loss....

Thin ice hides dangerous waters
31.03.05 Peter Temple
Time was when cash shells were a cheap back door into the main market. They avoided all the rigmarole and fees of full listing, hence their popularity. With the advent of AIM, with its lighter listing demands and lower fees, their role should have diminished. Yet paradoxically, recent months have seen an upsurge in listings of cash shells on AIM. So much so that the market is changing its rules at the end of the month to restrict the extent to which they can function.
In times gone by, cash shells generally came about by accident. They were often near defunct companies, or those with a vestigial business that would prove easy to sell. The vogue for using cash shells went in cycles; as did investors enthusiasm for them. But making money from cash shells has always been a hit or miss affair.
Tool of the reverse takeover
The reason for this lies in the way they are used. Hand in hand with the idea of a cash shell is the notion of the reverse takeover. This is where a small company, typically a cash shell, takes over a much bigger private entity by issuing shares. Shareholders in the much larger target business receive shares in the bidding company and end up in control of the merged entity, which then uses the smaller companys original listing for the merged and now much larger - whole.
There have been some famous examples of this. One of the best known is WPP. This was originally a North London based maker of supermarket trolleys, worth next to nothing until it was discovered and used by Martin Sorrell as the vehicle for his plans for a global advertising and marketing services group. Star (GB) was a small listed computer services companies with some cash and a listing: it was used by Luke Johnson as the vehicle to bring PizzaExpress to the market.
Shells are sometimes manufactured from off the shelf companies for a particular purpose. Michael Edelstein, a Manchester accountant, came to prominence as the so-called shellmeister when he created a number of shell companies named after the Cheshire villages close to where he lived, one of which, Knutsford, soared in price when it became known that a consortium of prominent business people were planning to use it as the vehicle for a takeover of a major retail chain. The venture came to nothing.
Little control as an investor
Events like this lend shells superficial investment glamour. But the reality is that making money from shells is a difficult trick to pull off. If you invest in a shell, you face two specific problems: one is that you have no real idea when it might be used as a vehicle for a reverse takeover. Many shells have languished for years without being used. The second is that you have no control over the type of business that might use the shell as its route to market or the terms under which it will be used. This should be of some broad benefit to existing shareholders, but may not be the bonanza you might have hoped for.
No hiding from scrutiny any more
One attraction of shells used to be that companies could come to the market via a reverse takeover by a shell with the minimum amount of scrutiny of their business. That is really no longer the case. Listing rules now require full prospectus type documents for anything smacking of a reverse takeover.
Having said all that, recent shell deals have provided something of a bonanza for shareholders. Zetar raised money in January 2005 at 100p, recently completed a reverse takeover, and currently stands at 305p. Augean floated at 125p in September 2004, and acquired two hazardous waste businesses in December. Its shares are currently 268p. Vert-eco, which floated at 5p in August has now changed its name to Hydro-Tec after acquiring an Australian environmental business, and currently stands at 27p.
There has been a rush of shells listing on AIM in an attempt to circumvent new rules regarding AIM-listed shells that come in at the end of March. These will require strict time limits to be adhered to for pending takeovers. Those that try and delay unduly their planned takeovers will face delisting and, presumably, liquidation. Takeovers must in future be completed within 12 months of listing. If not, shareholders will have to vote to continue the company.
Buyer beware, as ever
The publicity given to this most recent bout of shell activity, suggests that the shell market is now getting a little mature. New investors need to beware before starting to play the shell game.