Emerging markets continue to feel pain from the currency rout and the Rand is trading over R13 to the US dollar.

These are some of the stories catching the eye on Friday in respect of the small and mid-cap sectors on the JSE:

Ansys makes acquisition
Industrial group Ansys has finalised the acquisition of LAWTrust. Which the company says “is an information technology developer and provider of cyber and information security solutions in the areas of digital authentication, encryption technology, digital signatures and biometrics. The company, which was founded in 2006, provides bespoke solutions to over 500 clients in both the public and private sectors, and is considered one of the country’s leading information and cyber security providers.” Anysys trades on a historical price to earnings multiple of 4.6 times earnings.

Pallinghurst to change name
The company has informed shareholders that it has finalised the process to change names from Pallinghurst Resources Limited to “Gemfields Group Limited” to better reflect its underlying asset mix. Pallinghurst is down 22% year to date.

New small and mid-cap lows
Newly listed Kore Potash hit a new low of R1.37 down 8% on Friday with 36 000 changing hands. Agri group Crookes Brothers also hit a new 52-week low with the share dropping 12.5% albeit only on 85 shares trading at R45.50/share. Education group Curro and asset management group Coronation are also trade at 52-week lows.

Upcoming AGMS
These are some of the small and mid-cap businesses holding AGMS this week:
Astoria (14 June 2018)
4Sight Holdings (15 June 2018)

Further purchases at Afrocentric
Shares in the investment holding business rose 4% on Friday. The company announced that insiders had bought a further 109 997 shares at R5.50/share in a transaction worth just over R600 000.