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Escape Hunt PLC (LON:ESC) has not had the best of years, what with lockdown restrictions etc, but it was up 8.4% at 9p on acquisition news.
The operator of escape rooms has completed the acquisition of its Middle East master franchise partner, Escape Hunt Entertainment.
The Dubai site is re-opening for business today under Escape Hunt’s control.
2.05pm: Britvic fizzes after extending relationship with PepsiCo
Britvic PLC (LON:BVIC) bubbled 6.8% higher to 801.5p after it extended its long-standing relationship with fizzy drinks behemoth, Pepsico.
The Chelmsford-based soft drinks company has signed a new and exclusive 20-year franchise bottling agreement for the production, distribution, marketing and sales of its carbonated soft drink brands with PepsiCo.
The relationship, which commenced in 1987, is now extended until 2040 and includes brands such as Pepsi, 7UP, Mountain Dew and Rockstar.
1.10pm: Dotdigital raises revenue guidance after a strong quarter
Dotdigital Group PLC (LON:DOTD), the marketing automation specialist, posted a decent trading update that sent the shares 8.0% higher to 156p.
The third quarter of the calendar year – the first of the group’s fiscal year – was a strong one and the group now expects revenue to grow faster than the market currently expects.
Through both new and existing customers, there has been a continued increase in volumes of messages and use of omnichannel (predominantly SMS or text messaging), the group said.
12.05pm: The CEO now departing …
Trainline PLC (LON:TRN) dived 13% to 289.6p after it announced its chief executive Clare Gilmartin will be stepping down from the board in February 2021.
Gilmartin will remain involved as a senior advisor, supporting the management team and Trainline‘s wider industry partners in driving industry digitisation and long-term growth, the group said.
Chief operating officer Jody Ford, who joined the company last month for this newly created role, has been appointed as Gilmartin’s successor.
11.00am: Tatton sees strong growth in assets under management
Tatton Asset Management PLC (LON:TAM) rose 3.9% to 294p after it said it is on track to meet the market’s full-year expectations.
The discretionary fund management and independent financial advisor support services business said group revenue in the six months to the end of September increased by 12.6% to GBP10.96mln from GBP9.73mln in the same period of 2019 while adjusted operating profit grew by 21.9% to GBP5.03mln from GBP4.13mln the year before.
Assets under management shot up by GBP1.16bn to GBP7.81bn from GBP6.65bn at the end of March, helped by net inflows of GBP328.1mln during the period.
10.00am: Luceco lights it up in the second half of the financial year
Luceco PLC (LON:LUCE) surged 16% to 253p after its performance in the third quarter and since was ahead of expectations.
The lighting wholesale company’s revenue growth in the third quarter was marked at 7.5%, beating guidance for ‘low single-digit growth’.
“Ongoing improvement in gross margin, tight control of overheads and a relatively buoyant UK home improvement market combined to deliver record profits in the third quarter,” said John Hornby, Luceco chief executive in a trading update.
9.15am: Vela Technologies raises funds to get involved in the fight against COVID-19
Vela Technologies PLC (LON:VELA), up 29% at 0.0825p, was the top riser early doors on Tuesday after the group unveiled its latest acquisition.
The investment company has acquired an economic interest in a late-stage Phase II therapeutic project to develop a potential coronavirus treatment for diabetics.
Vela is paying GBP2.35mln, partly funded by a placing of shares at 0.065p to raise GBP1.25mln, for an interest in the potential commercialisation of two assets acquired by the medical charity, St George Street.
Feedback PLC (LON:FDBK), meanwhile, rose 5% to 1.05p as investors latched on to the potential cross-selling opportunities in a new collaboration with Axial Medical Printing.
The collaboration will see Axial3D’s three-dimensional (3D) imaging to Feedback’s flagship Bleepa medical imaging communications platform.
Under the agreement, Feedback will receive a commission for each user-generated image request from Axial3D. This is the first example of Feedback’s strategy to leverage its growing user base to generate supplementary revenue, over and above the main user licence fee.
Proactive news headlines:
Feedback PLC (LON:FDBK) is to team up with Axial Medical Printing to add three-dimensional (3D) imaging to Feedback’s flagship Bleepa medical imaging communications platform. Axial3D uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to automatically create 3D reconstructions of individual organs or pathologies. These images will be available to view in the Bleepa platform and can subsequently be turned into 3D printed models in a variety of materials.
Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC (LON:SYM) has announced the completion of a EUR6mln financing by its associate Eranova for its green algae project in France. The proceeds will pay for the start of construction in Port St Louis, near Marseille, slated to begin in late November and complete by the end of April. Eranova’s plant will follow-on from a successful pilot and will produce a bio-sourced resin which doesn’t use food resource in their creation. The resins are approved for use with food contact and therefore are suitable for use as recyclable packaging.
Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO), soon to be renamed Scirocco Energy, has updated on its 12% owned associate Helium One which continues to advance projects in Tanzania. Helium One has so far received renewal offers for 12 of 16 prospective licences requested of the Tanzanian authorities, and, it is awaiting decisions for the remaining four. Solo noted that Helium One has a runway to explore and de-risk its prospect inventory through a drilling programme. Helium One has some 4,512 square kilometres of licences which, according to an October 2019 estimate, host 138bn cubic feet of un-risked helium resources (best estimate) – with the range pitched at 30bn to 521bn cubic feet.
Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) said its hVIVO subsidiary has won a UK government contract worth up to GBP10mln to develop a coronavirus (COVID-19) human challenge study model to help speed up the development of a working vaccine. The model development involves the manufacture of the challenge virus and what’s called a first-in-human characterisation study for this virus. The work will be conducted at London’s Royal Free Hospital by hVIVO with help from researchers at Imperial College.
ANGLE PLC said the American regulator is now moving to a “substantive review” of the company’s liquid biopsy after an initial hurdle was quickly negotiated. The US Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) administrative review is designed to ensure the research group has submitted all the necessary “elements and information” and paves the way for the detailed assessment of ANGLE’s Parsortix system. The company is seeking Class II De Novo FDA clearance for the cancer detection system and is hoping to receive sign-off for its use in metastatic breast cancer.
Ariana Resources PLC (LON:AAU), the Turkish gold producer, has launched a not-for-profit initiative which will supply company-branded and sustainably sourced clothing in support of existing community projects. The clothing will be available at https://ariana-resources.teemill.com. “Following the surprisingly strong demand from shareholders for Ariana-branded attire, the Company recognised the opportunities that this creates for developing a not-for-profit initiative without detracting from our core operational priorities. Ariana has long been committed to the integrity of its projects and the well-being of its employees, stakeholders and the local communities in which we operate,” Ariana managing director Dr Kerim Sener said in a statement.
Collagen Solutions PLC (LON:COS) has said the offer for the company by Rosen’s Diversified has become wholly unconditional. Collagen noted that as a result, the company’s listing on AIM will be cancelled, probably with effect from November 17, and urged shareholders who have yet to accept the Rosen offer to do so as soon as possible. Rosen has received acceptances of its 6.5p per share cash offer in respect of roughly 90.91% of the issued share capital of Collagen.
ClearStar Inc (LON:CLSU) has noted the announcement on October 1, 2020, by Hanover Bidco that its recommended offer to acquire the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of the company has become unconditional in all respects. Hanover Bidco has now acquired or agreed to acquire, ClearStar Shares representing more than 75% of the voting rights of the company. Accordingly, at the request of Hanover Bidco, the board has applied for the cancellation of admission to trading on AIM of ClearStar shares. The group confirmed that it has agreed with AIM that the delisting is expected to occur on November 17, 2020.
Bezant Resources PLC (LON:BZT), the copper-gold exploration and development company said, in a brief statement issued late afternoon on Monday, that its directors had noted the movement in the company’s share price on the day. The company confirmed that it has announced all material events as required under the AIM Rules.
Mosman Oil and Gas Limited (LON:MSMN) has raised GBP900,000 of new capital which it plans to use for new drilling at the Champion project in Texas. Proceeds are earmarked for the drilling of the Galaxie well along with the installation of production facilities for the Falcon well. It is issuing 720mln new shares priced at 0.125p each through a share placing arranged by its broker ETX Capital. Investors taking shares in the placing also receive one-for-two share warrants with a two-year term and an exercise price of 0.25p.
Polarean Imaging PLC (LON:POLX), the medical imaging technology company, with a proprietary drug-device combination product for the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) market, said it has received notification from a warrant holder to exercise warrants representing 64,128 ordinary shares of GBP0.00037 each in the capital of the company at an exercise price of 15p per warrant.
Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (NASDAQ:TLSA) (LON:TILS), a biotechnology company focused on innovative therapeutics for oncology, inflammation and infectious diseases, said it has allotted and issued 35,714 ordinary shares of 3 pence each credited as fully paid at a price of 70p per share in respect of the exercise of 35,714 warrants held by Optiva Securities Limited.
Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) the AIM-listed metals exploration and development company announced after the market close on Monday that it has received notices to exercise warrants over 3,850,000 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each with the warrant shares being issued at an exercise price of 1.0p each. Subscription monies of GBP38,500 have been received by Power Metal in respect of the exercises.
Digitalbox PLC (LON:DBOX), the mobile-first digital media business, which owns Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash and The Tab, announced on Monday that at its general meeting of the company held on that day, all resolutions were duly passed, including those required to approve the subscription of 24,489,795 new ordinary shares which will raise gross proceeds of GBP1.2mln for the company.
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