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Braveheart Investment Group PLC (LON:BRH) said its investee Paraytec Limited has completed proof of concept trials for a coronavirus test it is developing with the University of Sheffield. The investment firm said following the achievement of proof of concept for the optical detection system on October 5, the focus has been on the proof of concept trials for the capture and signal generation modules for the test. Braveheart said the proof of concept has now been achieved for the capture and signal generation modules, thereby successfully completing the proof of concept trials for the test. Work will now focus on the acquisition of clinically relevant data to facilitate optimisation of the functional capabilities of the test, together with a programme of product refinement and development.
Catenae Innovation PLC (LON:CTEA) has said it is forming a joint-venture with the UK and South African arms of BHA-Medical to deliver an integrated coronavirus (COVID-19) test, monitor and manage programme that can be used by governments, businesses and other organisations. The AIM-listed technology and media group is the developer of the Cov-ID electronic passport, while BHA has supplied 350,000 three-antibody tests in the UK to customers including two FTSE 100 companies. BHA will provide both the three-antibody and Healgen antigen tests to the JV. Both deliver results in 20 minutes.
Galileo Resources PLC (LON:GLR) has completed its acquisition of Africibum, delivering the company 100% interests in five prospecting licences known as the ‘North East Kalahari Copper Belt Project’, in Botswana. To acquire the assets the company has issued 42mln Galileo shares to Africibum’s ordinary shareholders and a further 7mln shares have been issued to one seller to reimburse costs incurred by Africibum. Share warrants were also issued as part of the transaction, allowing new Galileo shares to be purchased priced at 2p over the next two years. “I am very pleased that we have completed the acquisition of Africibum whose licences lie in an area of high prospectivity in the Kalahari Copper Belt,” Colin Bird, Galileo executive chairman said in a statement.
Scancell Holdings PLC (LON:SCLP) said it made strong progress as a business in the year to the end of April 2020. The developer of immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease revealed in its full-year results that it ended the reporting period with £3.58mln cash, down from £4.56mln at the end of April 2019. Since then, it has completed a £15mln fund-raising to fund its Phase 1/2 clinical trial for Modi-1 and the Phase 2 clinical trial for SCIB1, while it is currently in the process of raising up to £33mln to allow it to extend the utility of its Moditope, ImmunoBody and AvidiMab/TaG antibody products and platforms to accelerate and broaden its development pipeline of new potential novel therapies.
FastForward Innovations Ltd (LON:FFWD) shares rose on Friday as investee company EMMAC Life Sciences said it has started making premium medical cannabis products in the UK ahead of its planned Nasdaq listing. It is “a ground-breaking moment for the UK medical cannabis industry”, Ed McDermott, EMMAC UK’s managing director said in a statement. EMMAC, which is Europe’s largest independent cannabis company and where FastForward has owns a 2.3% equity stake, said medical cannabis will now be more affordable for patients in the UK thanks to the completion of its ‘seed to sale’ vertically integrated business model.
Alien Metals Ltd (LON:UFO) has responded to a recent share price rise by informing the market about activities across its exploration and development portfolio in Mexico and Australia. “The company is extremely pleased considering the global pandemic issues with the progress across all our projects and with the recent acquisition in Australia around Elizabeth Hill plus the field team’s success in the Hamersley,” said chief executive Bill Brodie Good. “We also have plenty in the pipeline to look forward to. We are confident that we will finalise the Capstone Mining agreement shortly and with our team in Mexico working hard to secure the necessary drilling permits are keen to start drilling at San Celso, Los Campos and Donovan 2 when able.”
Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) has said that, further to its announcement of September 24, 2020, and further media comment the company confirms that it remains in advanced negotiations with the UK Government and other partners for a Coronavirus challenge study in the UK. It added no contract has been signed and the company will update the market in due course as appropriate.
Circle Property PLC (LON:CRC) has said rent collections for the final quarter of 2020 are now at 75%, with the September quarter at 80% including agreed monthly payments. The strong collection rate reflected its focus on UK regional offices and minimal retail exposure, the property group added in a trading update. Rent collection for the March and June 2020 quarters had also improved since last reported, Circle said, and now stands at 93% and 89%, respectively with further improvement expected.
IXICO PLC (LON:IXI) has said it is providing its neuroscience and data analytics expertise to a trial being run by NYU Langone Health to assess a new and potentially breakthrough use for a drug called Sirolimus. Currently used to help prevent organ transplant rejection, the immunosuppressant is also able to slow the progression of multiple system atrophy (MSA) – a condition of the central nervous system that causes gradual damage to nerve cells in the brain. The project with NYU Langone involves applying of IXICO’s existing MSA analysis solutions to MRI retrospectively collected data from patients with the condition, as well as those that have dementia with Lewy Bodies, Parkinson’s disease, and progressive supranuclear palsy.
InnovaDerma PLC (LON:IDP), a UK developer of beauty, personal care and life science products, has announced the appointment of Mark Michael Ward as a non-executive director of the group with effect from October 19, 2020. The company noted that Ward, a successful and experienced digital and technology professional with strong links to the consumer and service industries, founded Hunter Macdonald, a digital transformation and services company in 2013 and under his leadership, the business employed more than 400 employees within 5 years. He began his career at PwC working in M&A and operations and spent around 13 years in senior operational director roles for Reckitt Benckiser, Verizon, BT and Friends Life. In a statement, Innovaderma’s executive chairman and interim CEO, Joe Bayer, said: “We are pleased to welcome Mark to the Board. Mark brings with him a wealth of technology and FMCG experience which achieves a key board objective of adding more diversity in digital and marketing expertise to the Company’s existing strong, multi-disciplinary Board. We look forward to working with him as we continue to implement our strategy and deliver further successes.”
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON:FARN) said it was disappointed by results from a study that showed little impact from interferon Beta-1a injected under the skin in halting coronavirus (COVID-19)-related deaths. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Solidarity trial compared 1412 patients who received IFN beta-1a and 2050 control subjects not receiving IFN beta-1a. The results show that subcutaneous interferon (IFN) beta-1a was found to be safe, but ineffective to reduce overall mortality in hospitalised patients with COVID-19. Markku Jalkanen, Faron’s CEO, said: “These first results from the Solidarity Trial are disappointing, given the need for new therapeutics to support the global response to COVID-19. They do support our long-held view that IFN beta-1a is likely to be ineffective when given subcutaneously … We continue to believe that an intravenous formulation of IFN beta-1a is what patients need, to strengthen the body’s own IFN beta signalling – the first line of defence against viral infection – and provide optimal exposure to the lung vasculature.”
Iofina PLC (LON:IOF) told investors it is on track to deliver within guidance for the second half of 2020. The company said it expects to achieve the lower end of its production forecast, pitched at 340 to 360 tonnes. Third-quarter crystalline iodine production volumes amounted to 170.8 tonnes, compared to 167.3 in the same period in 2019. It has tallied some 455 tonnes of production over the nine months ended September 30, 2020.
Zephyr Energy PLC (LON:ZPHR), the Rocky Mountain oil and gas company focused on responsible resource development, has announced a placing of 409,090,909 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each in the company, at a price of 0.55p each to raise £2.25 million before expenses. The group said the placing, which was oversubscribed, has been conducted with a range of new, existing and institutional investors and with Turner Pope Investments acting as broker for the company. Colin Harrington, chief executive of Zephyr, said: “We are delighted to announce this Placing, which fully finances the Company’s maximum funding obligations for drilling the State 16-2 dual-use well on our acreage in the Paradox Basin, Utah. With the funding now secured, the Company remains on track to spud the well before the end of the year. We expect the processing and interpretation of the data acquired to take place early in the New Year, following which we hope to be in a position to commence commercial drilling operations utilising the 16-2 wellbore shortly thereafter.”
Salt Lake Potash Ltd (ASX:SO4) (LON:SO4) (OTCMKTS:WHELF) is continuing the development of the Lake Way Sulphate of Potash (SOP) Project in Western Australia with on-lake and off-lake operations progressing on schedule. The company has also delivered the funding package for the project which includes two components: A US$138 million (A$203 million) Syndicated Facility Agreement (SFA) with Taurus Mining Finance Fund No2 LP and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC); and a fully underwritten A$98.5 million placement and accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer (ANREO) at 50 cents per share completed in September 2020. In combination, these funds will enable the company to complete the funding and deliver the project on schedule, with first SOP)production expected in the March quarter of 2021.
‘House’ broker finnCap has raised its price target on Synairgen PLC to 420p (LON:SNG) following its fundraise and managed access programme with Clinigen. Synairgen this week raised £80mln to fund a Phase III trial for its candidate SNG001 in COVID-19 disease, which is due to commence in this quarter. The trial will be run globally by Parexel with results expected in second-quarter 2021. The £80mln raised has also been earmarked to scale up manufacturing said the broker.
Quoteddata has issued a research report on Seneca Global Income & Growth Trust PLC (LON:SIGT) noting that the UK-biased value style and mid-cap exposure suffered heavily as markets collapsed during the first quarter of 2020. However, Quotedata noted that the manager used the rout to take advantage of deep value opportunities, while adding risk to the portfolio, and SIGT has benefitted during both recovery phases. SIGT’s manager, Seneca IM, says that it is difficult to identify a specific catalyst that will drive a rotation back into value, but the move could be very quick when it occurs. It is therefore sticking to its knitting, focusing on deeper value opportunities that it believes will yield results over the longer term. For a copy of the full research note, click on: https://quoteddata.com/research/seneca-global-income-growth-knit-purl-qd/
Avation PLC (LON:AVAP) has confirmed it is scheduled to publish its results at 7.00am BST on Friday, October 2020. Investors can participate in the conference call by using the following link: https://avation.emincote.com/avapFY2020/vip_connect. Investors will be asked to register a name and email address. Participants will receive a telephone number, a passcode and an individual PIN number. The conference call will also be webcast live through the following link: https://avation.emincote.com/avapFY2020
Metal Tiger PLC (NON:MTR), the AIM-listed investor in natural resources opportunities, has confirmed that the company’s London office will close with effect from October 16, 2020. As a result, the company’s registered office address has changed with immediate effect to Weston Farm House, Weston Down Lane, Weston Colley, Winchester, Hampshire, S021 3AG.
Tony Sullivan, Environmental and Decontamination Services Manager at NTH Solutions appeared on the Ian King show on Sky News on Friday talking about a national partnership with Filta Group PLC (LON:FLTA) and the importance of decontamination services for businesses. To watch, investors can scroll back here to 10.54am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Auq9mYxFEE&ab_channel=SkyNews
IronRidge Resources Limited (LON:IRR), the Africa-focused minerals exploration company, has announced that it will be attending the following online conferences in the coming months: Mining Indaba & China Mining Club (October 16, 2020) http://www.miningindaba.com/Page/chinaroadshowregistration; 121 Mining Investment Americas Online (October 28-30, 2020) https://www.weare121.com/121mininginvestment-new-york/; Precious Metals Summit (Europe) (November 2-3, 2020) https://www.precioussummit.com/event/2020-summit-europe/; International Precious Metals & Commodities Show (November 6-7, 2020) https://www.edelmetallmesse.com/index.php?lang=en; 121 Mining Investment Online EMEA (November 18-20, 2020) https://www.weare121.com/121mininginvestment-london/; and Battery Tech 2020 (December 14-15, 2020) https:// www.battery-technology-conference.com. The company said its chief executive officer Vincent Mascolo and its chief operating officer Len Kolff will be providing an update on current projects in the IronRidge portfolio; company presentations can be found at https://www.ironridgeresources.com.au/presentations. Each of these conferences attract leading investors in the mining and resources sector and provide IronRidge with a platform to reach an international investment audience. Furthermore, participation at the conferences allows the IronRidge corporate team access to overall industry and technical market updates, it added.
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