Small-cap Week, November 23 - FT.com Applied Graphene Materials was the star performer among the small-caps this week, with the Durham University spinout more than trebling in the three days since its Aim flotation. AGM, which has developed a proprietary process to make high purity graphene, raised £11m to help fund commercial production at a factory on the site of a former ICI plant in Teesside. The group has patents pending to protect what it says is a low-cost method of making the one-atom-thick material, which is more rigid than steel and more conductive than copper. A 204 per cent gain since flotation valued AGM at nearly £80m as of Friday's close. Spinout specialist IP Group, which retained a 20.4 per cent stake in AGM, was up 4.8 per cent over the week. Talvivaara lost 18.5 per cent as the nickel miner edged closer to bankruptcy. Stakeholders refused to give the Finnish group the €40m it had requested to pay for a court-supervised restructuring of its debt. Takeover speculation swirling around Provexis looked to be misplaced, sending the stock sliding 38.8 per cent. The group, which has spent more than a decade trying to commercialise its Fruitflow tomato extract, has long been rumoured to be a target for its largest shareholder, the private equity group DSM Venturing. But Provexis was forced by a rising share price to say it knew of no reason for the recent strength. Sierra Rutile lifted by news of talks on possible offer Sierra Rutile shares jumped this week after the miner of African mineral sands revealed it was in talks over a possible offer, writes James Wilson. Rutile and other titanium oxide minerals including ilmenite are used to make white pigment for paints and plastics. Sierra Rutile controls a large deposit in Sierra Leone, where it will produce 120,000 tonnes this year but said infrastructure would support 200,000 tonnes of annual output. Its largest shareholder since 2010 has been Pala Investments, a private equity investor in several miners. Pala acquired control in 2011 with a 30p-a-share offer. News of the offer talks sent Sierra Rutile shares this week up from 56p to above 70p before closing the week at 69.5p. Analysts at Macquarie initiated coverage of a trio of mineral sands miners this week, saying that, while Pala had overseen a turnround at Sierra Rutile and scored some "easy wins," the miner's current valuation was hard to justify and that increasing output to 200,000 tonnes annually could be difficult. But some in the sector point to growing interest from pigment producers in closer integration with miners to secure supply, and say Chinese producers may increasingly favour processes that require rutile as a feedstock rather than lower-grade ilmenite. Redcentric agrees to pay £65m for rival InTechnology Shares in technology service provider Redcentric rose more than 14 per cent after the group agreed to buy rival InTechnology Managed Services for £65m, writes Daniel Thomas. The deal, which will create one of the largest independent managed technology services businesses in the UK, will double the Redcentric's revenues and add well-known names such as DLA Piper, the law firm, to its list of clients. The deal will be structured as a reverse takeover and funded by a £64m placing at 80p and a £10m extension of debt facilities by Redcentric. The placing was "heavily oversubscribed," according to the group. The company said the acquisition was expected to add to earnings per share in first full year of ownership. Analysts at Finncap said that after the deal Redcentric will "have greater scale and visible market presence, and improved network and datacentre quality, resilience and reach." The group estimates that the business has been acquired for seven times its anticipated March 2014 earnings. Together, Redcentric and InTechnology will offer a range of services from managed networks and security to data centre storage and communication. Revolymer sticks to focus on marketing nicotine gum Has Revolymer finally learned to walk and chew gum at the same time, writes Andrew Bounds. Many investors spat out the Wales-based maker of innovative polymers after it withdrew its confectionery gum from sale in the US this year. The wonder product did not stick to pavements but this feature rated more highly with local authorities than consumers. Revolymer has now focused on nicotine gum. There is a big market and it announced on Tuesday that it was seeking marketing authorisation for the product in Europe. It has a supply and distribution agreement for the gum in Poland, and aims to conclude commercialisation deals in the UK, Ireland and Spain in due course. Meanwhile its men in white coats continue to work on improved consumer goods such as laundry liquids, cleaning products, shampoo and cosmetics. With the shares rising more than a quarter in November to reach 73p, some analysts believe the 100p a share flotation price of last year is in reach.