While equity markets continue to suffer fallout from the Italian crisis, it was a busy day news day on the JSE.

Here are some of the small and mid-cap stories from the JSE on Thursday:

A 207% jump is great but …
Shares in small-cap energy player Resource Generation were up 207% in Wednesday trade but this appears to be something of an anomaly with 910 shares changing hands at R1.69/share.

Liquidity hits other small and mid-caps
The continued liquidity challenge facing the small and mid-cap sector on the JSE saw Kaydav Group drown 30% on less than R75 000 of trade and EMedia Holdings dropping 29.75% on the back of 28 000 shares.

Finbond hitting the right notes
Shares in Finbond rose as the company released full year results announcing an 81% increase in headline earnings per share and a 57% increase in operating profit. The company is on an aggressive expansion plan which has seen grow to 415 in South Africa and a further 257 in the US.

Nampak surviving the squeeze but cash extraction is a challenge.
The packaging group saw revenue rise 2% to R8bn but operating profit down by R1bn when the company released financial results for the 6 months ended 31 March 2018. Of particular interest is the comments around cash extraction from African geographies. Nampak sits with R816m in cash in Zimbabwe but is unable to repatriate this particularly easily. It faces similar challenges in Angola.

Old Mutual nibbles further at Mustek
Technology group Mustek released a SENS to the market indicating that Old Mutual Group Holdings had acquired further shares in the business. Old Mutual now holds 20% of Mustek.

Another REIT headed for the JSE
Despite headwinds buffeting the property sector, a new property player is expected to list on 12 June 2018. Exemplar is a focused retail fund specialising in owning, internally managing and growing a portfolio of shopping malls typically in under-serviced, peri-urban townships and rural areas of South Africa. Exemplar holds, either directly or indirectly, a portfolio of 20 income generating properties and has secured a further three shopping centre development properties scheduled to be completed between April 2019 and October 2019. The three new shopping centre development properties, being Katale Square, Mabopane Plaza and Riba Cross Mall.

Kore Potash announces a CEO
The recently dual-listed potash exploration and development mining business has announced Brad Sampson as CEO. The company – whose core asset is in the Congo – saw its shares down 5.5% with 50 shares trading hands.

Insider selling at Famous Brands
After a disappointing set of financial results, insiders have offloaded a further R32m of shares in the business with JL Halamandres selling at between R107 and R108.50.

Coronation is Long4Life
Asset manager firm Coronation has nudged its holding in investment holding group Long4Life higher. The company now holds 10% of the issued share capital.

Vukile targeting further growth
Property group Vukile believes that it will continue to deliver growth in the following 12 months. The group – whose assets are primarily in South Africa and Spain – have indicated that they expect dividends to rise by between 7.5% and 8.5% should operating conditions remain the same. It’s Spanish assets are expected to receive a kicker from the listing of Castellana on the Madrid Junior Board.

More buying of Afrocentric
Directors at investment holding group Afrocentric (Antoine van Buuren and Willem Britz) acquired a further R1.1m in shares on the open market. The shares were acquired between R5.37 and R5.50/share.