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Pebble Beach left stranded by debt constraints

Last updated: 15:45 23 Feb 2017 GMT, First published: 09:58 23 Feb 2017 GMT

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Broadcast hardware specialist Pebble Beach Systems Group Plc (LON:PEB) has launched a strategic review to help deal with a capital constraint problem.

Bank borrowings are £11mln, which is too much for the group to cope with and grow, it said.

Accountant EY has been appointed to undertake the review, which might result in a sale of the group.

Shares dropped 11% to 9.01p.

32RED PLC (LON:TTR) is to be taken out by Swedish rival Kindred Group in a  £175.6mln deal.

The deal is the latest in a wave of betting industry consolidation as bookmakers and online gaming operators look to add additional scale to meet an increasing burden of tax and regulation.

Analysts have said the move is overdue given that Kindred – formerly known as Unibet – hasn’t made an acquisition since it bought StanJames.com back in 2015.

32RED shares climbed 17% to 200.5p compared to an offer price of 196p not including a dividend.

Tristel Plc (LON:TSTL) climbed 13% to 169.4p as the infection prevention group boosted its dividend 23% as first half results exceeded its expectations.

Pre-tax profits and share based payments were £1.7mln in the six months to 31 December 2016, a 15% increase on the prior year.

 

13.15pm.. NAHL rises as Ministry of Justice eases back on no-win no-fee

No-win no–fee specialist NAHL Group plc (LON:NAH) perked up as the Ministry of Justice watered down its plans to rise thresholds for whiplash and personal accident claims.

The small claims limit for road traffic accident claims rises to £5,000, while the threshold is £2,000 for all other personal injury claims.

Currently the threshold is £1,000 and there had been indications it would rise to £5,000 for all claims when the changes were proposed last year.

That prospect had knocked NAHL shares hard, but they rallied today 18% to 160.3p.

NAHL, which runs the National Accident Helpline, said most of its claims are not traffic related, but only an (unspecified) proportion were below the new £2,000 limit.

Central Rand Gold Limited (LON:CRND) was under pressure as excessive rainfall in South Africa in January and February hit its mining operation.

In what seems unusual bad luck the flooding followed CRG having to incur additional expense installing water recycling equipment as prior to the floods the Guateng province had experienced a severe drought.

It was the tail end of cyclone Dineo passing over the interior of South Africa that changed the weather and the rain made run of mine material wet and difficult to crush and screen.

The wet conditions also affected the feed material as it becomes muddy and clogged the processing equipment.

Lightning also caused power outages at the plant, at the site, and at the power stations supplying Central Rand Gold resulting in a 25% loss of production between 1 to 12 February 2017.

CRG also had problems with the ore supplied from toll miners while it is has incurred addtional costs in its dispute with its BEE partners.

Unsurprisingly cashflows have been negatively affected, it said. Shares fell 5% to 0.98p.

 

10.00am Copper’s recovery not yet sufficient to boost Nambia-based miner Weatherly

Copper’s recovery has not yet been sufficient to ensure a rosy future for Namibia – based miner Weatherly International plc (LON:WTI).

Revenue doubled to US$37.8mln in the half year to 16 December as production from its Tschudi mine rose to 8,137 tonnes at a cash cost of US$4,602.

Spot prices for copper are currently around US$5,400 per metric tonne, but this does not give a sufficient margin to pay off its loans to major shareholder Orion Finance, which financed the building of Tschudi.

Forward selling of production at below the current spot price has not helped the situation.

Losses for the half year were US$11.3mln after some hefty impairments and the shares fell 13% to 0.7p.

Shares in Treatt PLC (LON:TET)  soared 21% to 315.1p  after the flavour, fragrance and cosmetic ingredients supplier told investors it expects full-year profit before tax to “substantially exceed previous expectations”.

The bullish outlook comes as the group said it expects to see “substantial progress” when it reports its half-year results in May.

Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company plc (LON:NTOG) has told investor has acquired additional production assets, located in the Permian basin, United States.

It is paying just US$60,000 for a package of three assets, including 75% stakes in nine wells and 18 identified potential new well locations. Shares rose 7% to 2.41p.

Proactive news headlines

StatPro Group PLC (LON:SOG) has paid £1.2mln to up its stake in South Africa-based software provider Infovest by 21.7% to 72.7%.

Gold mine developer Hummingbird Resources Ltd (LON:HUM) nudged higher after it appointed highly experienced Kevin Moxham as general manager at its Yanfolila gold project in Mali.  Shares rose 1% to 26.2p.

Oesophageal Doppler monitoring device maker Deltex Medical Group plc (LON:DEMG) has received confirmation of monitor orders worth more than £200,000. Shares rose 3% to 4p.

Asiamet Resources Limited (LON:ARS) has carried out analysis of historic data for the area around its BKM copper deposit in Indonesia, which points to the huge potential of the property.

At BKW there were multiple copper mineralised sheeted vein zones found within 2.5-square kilometres. There were also well three copper-in-soil anomalies that coincided with these vein zones. Shares rose 2% to 5p.

Ferrum Crescent Ltd (LON:FCR) has reported more good zinc grades from early stage development at work at its Toral project in Spain. It will now move on to a small shallow drilling programme to target mineralised zones within 200 metres of the surface to further prove up the potential. Shares dropped 2% to 0.186p.

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