  We present the results of spectroscopic follow-up observations for a sample
of 71 red objects with high proper motions in the range 0.08-1.14 arcsec/yr as
detected using APM and SSS measurements of multi-epoch photographic Schmidt
plates. Red objects were selected by combining the photographic BjRI magnitudes
with 2MASS near-infrared JHKs magnitudes. Some 50 of the 71 spectroscopically
classified objects turn out to be late-type (>M6) dwarfs and in more detail,
the sample includes 35 ultracool dwarfs with spectral types between M8 and L2,
some previously reported, as well as five M-type subdwarfs, including a cool
esdM6 object, SSSPM J0500-5406. Distance estimates based on the spectral types
and 2MASS J magnitudes place almost all of the late-type (>M6) dwarfs within 50
pc, with 25 objects located inside the 25 pc limit of the catalogue of nearby
stars. Most of the early-type M dwarfs are located at larger distances of
100-200 pc, suggesting halo kinematics for some of them. All objects with
Halpha equivalent widths larger than 10 Angstroms have relatively small
tangential velocities (<50 km/s). Finally, some late-type but blue objects are
candidate binaries.
