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Angling Direct PLC (LON:ANG) said it will beat its own profit expectations this year after sales continued to be strong in spite of the second coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown restrictions. All its 38 stores will reopen fully today with the end of the lockdown in England, said the fishing equipment specialist. During the second lockdown, the group’s shops operated on a call and collect basis, but even at this restricted level demand was strong said the AIM-listed firm and it did not use the government’s job retention scheme.
Belvoir Group PLC (LON:BLV), the UK’s largest property franchise, said trading has been ahead of even its pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) expectations in the ten months of its financial year do far. Gross profit in the property and the financial services divisions grew year-on-year by 10% and 11%, respectively, the firm said in a trading update. Management services fee income (MSF) from its lettings arm rose on 2019 and level in sales with helped by the acquisition of the Lovelle chain and a strong bounce-back once the first lockdown ended. Agreed house sales are running significantly ahead of the previous record level and strong sales revenue should continue during the last two months of the year, it added.
Zephyr Energy PLC (LON:ZPHR) has provided an update on its project in the Paradox Basin in Utah, USA, where the company is preparing to spud the ‘dual-use’ State 16-2 well before the end of the year. The Rocky Mountain oil and gas company focused on responsible resource development, said it has now received all the final approvals required to proceed with the spud of the State 16-2 well. These approvals include surface rights and rights to drill from the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, federal Right of Way approvals from the Bureau of Land Management, and Application to Drill approval from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.
finnCap Group PLC (LON:FCAP) has appointed veteran consumer goods analyst Nigel Parson to its research team. Parson worked for 14 years at Grand Metropolitan before it became Diageo in 1997, following which he moved to Charterhouse Tilney as a drinks sector analyst and then to Westlb Panmure and Canaccord. Sam Smith, finnCapp’s chief executive said: “Nigel brings with him a wealth of experience having worked for industry leaders in the equity research sector, and his broader business experience will be a significant asset for the company going forward.”
Alien Metals Ltd (LON:UFO) said it has received final laboratory analysis of assays and submitted drilling plans to the Mines Department for next stage exploration at the company’s Hamersley Iron Ore Projects in Australia. The AIM-listed minerals exploration and development company noted that this follows the initial exploration update it provided on October 29, 2020. The group said highlights of the assays received for the 95 rock-chip/ grab samples from Hamersley Iron Ore include 66.95% iron from the Hancock project and 64.39 % iron from the Brockman project with consistent DSO grades where expected.
Capital Limited (LON:CAPD) has landed what it described as a transformative new deal with Centamin, inking a conditional open-pit waste mining services contract for the Sukari gold mine in Egypt. The 120mln tonne open-pit waste mining contract sees the AIM-quoted company provide load & haul and ancillary services. At the same time, Capital has also extended an existing contract with Centamin for drilling services at Sukari. Altogether the contracts are forecast to generate incremental revenues of US$235mln-GBP260mln over a four-year period (starting January 1 2021).
IXICO PLC (LON:IXI) saw its full-year earnings more than double as revenues hit record levels thanks to multi-year contracts for phase III clinical trials. Results for the year ended September 30, 2020, showed the artificial intelligence (AI) data analytics firm reported underlying earnings (EBITDA) of GBP1.3mln, up from GBP0.5mln in the prior year, while revenues rose to GBP9.5mln from GBP7.6mln. The company also reported a 36% increase in its contracted order book to a record level of GBP21.7mln, adding that it has secured net GBP15.4mln of additional multi-year contracts across all phases of clinical development, including its single largest contract signed in April in Huntington’s disease (HD) for GBP10.5mln.
Inspiration Healthcare Group PLC (LON:IHC) said a respiratory device used in neonatal intensive care can now be validated across the EU after being granted a European patent. The protection covers Project WAVE, which uses a technology acquired under licence last year from an unnamed “major US West Coast university”. WAVE has already secured US Patent Office sign-off, while the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has approved it for clinical testing.
Bango PLC (LON:BGO) said it has signed a partnership to distribute memberships for IN10 Media Network’s international global documentary focused video-on-demand (VOD) platform, DocuBay. The AIM-listed firm said under the agreement its Bango Resale technology and partnerships will power DocuBay’s growth plans to increase availability to more audiences around the world, expanding its global presence and user base. Through the partnership, Bango said telecommunications companies, retailers and other mass market consumer businesses can now offer their users bundled subscriptions to DocuBay’s entertainment suite using its technology.
Genel Energy PLC (LON:GENL) told investors that the first crude oil liftings have taken place from the Sarta field in Kurdistan. The company owns a 30% interest in the field which began producing in November. Presently, the field is producing from one well – Sarta-3 – which is flowing more than 5,000 barrels of oil per day. The performance is in line with expectations.
TomCo Energy PLC (LON:TOM) has confirmed the completion of work programmes to upgrade the capacity of the Petroteq oil sands plant (POSP) at Asphalt Ridge in Utah, USA. The work, conducted under the Greenfield Energy venture, is part of a project to demonstrate the commerciality of processes to recover oil from oil sands. Operations to restart the plant is now underway as scheduled, the company added. This programme will take up to two weeks to complete.
Ariana Resources PLC (LON:AAU) said it has reached a conditional agreement for the sale of its remaining projects in Turkey to Zenit Madencilik ahead of the planned completion of its agreements with Ozaltin Holding and with Proccea Construction concerning a proposed expanded joint venture (JV). The AIM-listed company said its operating subsidiary has agreed to sell its three remaining Turkish projects to Zenit for US$2mln in cash, payable over 20 months. The projects are considered to be satellites of the Kiziltepe mine processing plant. Ariana added that the sale agreement will become effective on the satisfactory completion of the JV deals with Ozaltin and Proccea.
Seneca Global Income & Growth Trust PLC (LON:SIGT) has said that Pzier/BioNtech’s coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine might mark the tipping point for a switch away from tech and towards value-based strategies. The value-focused trust said its net asset value (NAV) total return per share was 12.4% in November as markets rallied following the Pfizer announcement, adding that it is now possible to imagine a timetable for recovery from COVID-19 even if it takes many months. “Whereas before 9 November this was not possible and so the reaction of investment markets makes sense,” it added. SIGT posted a total return of 10.5% in the six months to October 31, 2020, compared to 3.6% for its benchmark.
United Oil & Gas PLC (LON:UOG) said it is now counting down to the start of drilling at the Abu Sennan project, in Egypt, as a rig contract is inked for the programme. The EDC-50 rig has been contracted to the programme which kicks off with the ASH-3 development well, slated ‘in the coming weeks’. It is expected that the programme will continue after ASH-3 with follow-on targets seen in a low-risk exploration well along with a further ASH development well.
Tissue Regenix Group PLC (LON:TRX) has said first delivery of its new OrthoPure XT product has taken place with further orders expected to be shipped early next year. The regenerative medicines specialist noted that this represents a quick turnaround from approval (it received its CE Mark in June) to the sale of the first decellularized tendons. Interest in Tissue’s technology was such that it landed its first UK order in August with a speciality supplier of orthopaedic and biologic products.
InnovaDerma PLC (LON:IDP) has announced that, as planned, Joe Bayer will step down from his executive chairman role to become the group’s non-executive chairman with immediate effect and has notified the board that he will resign as a director with effect from January 31, 2021. The UK developer of beauty, personal care and life science products said Bayer, previously the firm’s interim CEO, will remain an employee of the group until May 31, 2021, to ensure an orderly handover of responsibilities.
Redx Pharma PLC (LON:REDX), the drug discovery and development company focused on cancer and fibrosis, said it has conditionally raised around GBP25.5mln before expense from a placing an open offer to shareholders. The company said it was placing 45,603,575 new ordinary shares with both new institutional investors and existing shareholders and up to a further approximately GBP2.2mln by way of the open offer. The transaction will be effected at a price of 56p per ordinary share, the group added, representing a discount of approximately 2.6% to Redx’s closing price of 57.5p on December 1, 2020. The net proceeds of the transaction will allow the company to continue to progress its pipeline, it said.
NQ Minerals PLC (AQSE:NQMI) (OTCQB:NQMLF) (OTCQB:NQMIY) confirmed that, further to Tuesday’s release announcing execution of the US$55mln loan facility between its subsidiary Hellyer Gold Mines Pty and ING Bank, that all necessary conditions precedent for drawdown of monies against this facility have been satisfied. As a consequence, the ING Facility has been fully drawn with proceeds being used to retire company debt maturing in 2020. David Lenigas, NQ Minerals chairman, commented; “This step concludes the refinancing announced yesterday and is a major achievement for the Company.”
Woodbois Ltd (LON:WBI) said it has “continued to make solid progress” across both its trading and production businesses as well as making “two notable hires” over the last few months. In an operational and corporate update, the Africa-focused forestry and timber firm said since its third-quarter update in early October global demand for sustainably produced hardwood has “started to rebound” and that its production division has increased output in October and November by 41% over the previous quarter’s average.
Plexus Holdings Plc (LON:POS) chief executive Ben van Bilderbeek told investors that the company is well-positioned to capitalise on the opportunities which will become available as market conditions improve. The engineering and technology company in the oil and gas sector today reported results for the twelve months ended June 30, a period significantly disrupted by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This disruption saw sales prospects were placed on hold whilst customers, oil and gas companies and offshore service companies, scaled back and/or postponed operations as businesses were hit by COVID restrictions and falling crude and gas prices. Nonetheless, Plexus highlighted some key business wins – for example, a follow-up order from Spirit Energy and a recent deal with Schlumberger’s Cameron unit – that were sealed and said it is positioned to benefit as the sector returns to growth, as is anticipated.
ImmuPharma PLC (LON:IMM), a specialist drug discovery and development company, has announced that Dr Tim Franklin, its chief operating officer, will be presenting at the prestigious Biotech Showcase Digital 2021. The event will be virtually held between January 11 and 15, 2021. As part of ImmuPharma’s participation, an on-demand Company presentation has been provided in advance to the opening of the event. This will allow registered attendees to get access to presentation material prior to the start of the showcase on January 11, 2021. Biotech Showcase, produced by Demy-Colton and EBD Group, is an investor conference focused on driving advances in therapeutic development by providing a sophisticated networking platform for executives and investors that fosters investment and partnership opportunities. The conference takes place each year during the course of one of the industry’s largest gatherings and busiest weeks.
Adanced Material Development (AMD) confirmed that Dr Izabela Jurewicz has joined the management team following her recent UKRI Future Leadership Fellowship award, taking the role of chief scientific officer. Formerly a lecturer in soft matter physics at the University of Surrey and leader of the IRIS Group, Dr Jurewicz will now be based at AMD’s Guildford main office on the Surrey Research Park but will also retain an academic link with the nearby University of Surrey and continue to work closely with the research teams within both the Surrey and Sussex laboratories in collaboration with Professor Alan Dalton. AMD CEO John Lee said: “Although we have been working with Izabela and her team at the University of Surrey for over two years, her transition into a full-time position with AMD under the tremendous support of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Fund is a transformative event for the company and I believe she will be a huge boost to our R&D efforts, particularly in the more advanced engineering and prototyping aspects that are so important when developing R&D emanating from the university laboratories.”
Minexia Ltd, the owner of NR Private Market is to use the investing platform to raise GBP350,000 at 15p per share to beef up its IP and technological infrastructure. The funding will also allow it to continue its diversification into parallel and complementary “Fin-tech” and “Green-tech” platform verticals, all of which will sit under the Minexia umbrella.
BB Healthcare Trust PLC (LON:BBH) said its monthly factsheet for November 2020 is now available via the following link: http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/3223H_1-2020-12-2.pdf
SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (LON:SBTX) has said its financial results for the twelve months June 30, 2020, will be released on Friday, December 4, 2020. The results will be available on the company’s website following release to the London Stock Exchange.
AFC Energy PLC (LON:AFC), a leading provider of hydrogen power generation technologies, announced that, under the AFC Share Option Scheme, employees have exercised options over 90,000 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each in the share capital of the company at an exercise price of 15.4p per ordinary share.
Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) has published responses to questions recently received covering aspects of its projects, financing strategy and business management. The questions and responses from Power Metal can be viewed here: https://www.investegate.co.uk/power-metal–pow-/rns/company-q-a/202012011704131859H/
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