Croma Security Systems are a company that I have commented on before, they have progressed well in recent years and the increasing share price has reflected this. Croma released their full year results this morning where they have reported record figures. Turnover was up to nearly £16m with net profits of £358,000 giving an EPS figure of 2.4p. This puts the group on a p/e ratio of just over 20. The group boasts a solid balance sheet with NTAV of £2.3m which leaps to £9.1m if you include goodwill and intangibles. This is against a market cap. of £7.3m. The company is cash generative.

Overall, the tenor of the report reads positively. However, the outlook statement is cautious:-

"The Board views the coming year with optimism tinged with caution."

Croma have maintained a small dividend payment of 0.3p which equates to 0.6%.

All in all whilst Croma have made excellent progress in recent years, there isn't enough in today's report to tempt me in yet. I shall continue to monitor their progress and reconsider if there is sufficient price weakness.

Another company I have looked at before is Snoozebox. In essence, it is a company that supplies substantial temporary accommodation at events.  Snoozebox released a trading statement today.

When you cut through the waffle then the company is going to make a £5m EBITDA loss. I would anticipate that operating costs at the company will continue to be high for some time to come.

Yes, Snoozebox are expanding with increasing revenues, but with a market cap. of £20m and possibly with further fundraisings to come, it's not a company that would interest me.

A quick visit to Avesco. Their website has been updated again today, and it appears that they continue to win more recognition for their excellence and are increasingly being called upon to implement complex projections. This is a new client:-

http://www.ct-group.com/na/en/posts/ct-s-av-inflates-la-dance-party

A glance at facebook is also interesting. Are they gaining more traction in Asia? The last three posts are projects in Malaysia, Macau and Tokyo.

https://www.facebook.com/creativetechnologygroup

Update - Love the prompt dividend payment from AEO. Ex-dividend today with payment on the 27th of the same month (November). Other companies should take note. Also notice on twitter that they were working with Vodafone yesterday:-

https://twitter.com/cheerful21st

Not much to report regarding my holdings this morning, although I note that some profit taking has taken place in Audioboom in the last two trading days. This was to be expected with no news from the company, and it's a healthy pull back. Nothing goes up in a straight line.

Having said that, note what's happened with a company called Plethora Solutions today. The share price has risen by well over 100% this morning. As far as I can make out the offer is around 12.5p. The shares stood at 2.75p yesterday. Plethora, whilst making good progress in their field, are yet to make any meaningful revenues and they carry net liabilities. The offer values the company at around £123m. Clearly, the acquirer sees huge potential here. Well done if you're a shareholder that has picked these up at recent lows.

Why do I mention Plethora? Well, they are an example of how a knock-out take-over offer can suddenly appear out of the blue. Nothing wrong with taking profits, but watch this space on Audioboom. I'm certainly holding tight.

Just two quick updates to start the day. Firstly, I mentioned Avanti Communications yesterday and today they have announced a significant contract win with Telkom SA.

http://uk.advfn.com/news/UKREG/2015/article/69131621

Two hugely important bits for me are:-

"This multi-year commitment is expected to make a significant contribution to filling HYLAS 2 and HYLAS 4 South African capacity in a market that is developing well for Avanti."

"Avanti has now won contracts with the incumbent national telecoms companies in all of its core African markets, in-line with its announced strategy."

Avanti has been a target of shorting campaigns in the past, but most recently they have shown significant progress and appear to be answering their critics. This contract provides further confirmation that the business is now gaining momentum. I am becoming more confident that they have turned the corner towards achieving their stated goals.

News indirectly from another of my holdings this morning. Direct Line Insurance have released their third quarter trading update this morning and it reads well for Trakm8's supply of telematics devices:-

"The Group continues to build on its current strong market positions by identifying and investing in market developments that it believes can contribute to future growth. In particular, Motor has continued to grow its telematics-based insurance, with a 76% increase during 2015 to 67,000 in-force policies."

I'll update the blog later in the day.

Bought back into Biome Technologies today, not a huge stake, but enough to keep me interested. Biome is a company I held shares in earlier this year when I bought at prices around the 80p mark. Within a few months the SP had improved significantly. The half-year results however didn't impress, and I took a 75% profit.

The trading statement today has tempted back in though. It looks encouraging, and they look set to beat market expectations for the full year. Total group revenues in the third quarter were up 169% at £1.3m and group revenues for the nine month period are 18% ahead of last year at £3.3m.

Both the bioplastics and radio frequency technology businesses are doing well. Order visibility for both divisions is looking good for the rest of this year and into 2016. Significantly the group reported a small EBITDA profit in the third quarter, and cash balances appear to be stabilising. They have £1.7m in cash on the balance sheet just £0.1m less than 30th June this year. If you strip out intangibles, even after today's share price rise, the market cap. is not far above NTAV. The current market cap. is around £3.4m whilst NTAV is £2.7m. If you include intangibles then the market cap. is below NAV (£4m). At the interims gross margins had improved from 35% to 39%.

Biome has been a serial disappointer in the past and understandably early investors are sceptical. The shares are highly illiquid, and the spread is off-putting.  However, Biome may well have reached an inflexion point in their development, management believe so with Paul Mines saying the following:-

"Revenue generation is strong in both divisions and, coupling this with the achievement of a small group EBITDA profit in the quarter, we are increasingly confident that 2015 will become a very significant milestone in Biome's development."