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Quiz shares strut higher as annual revenues jump

Last updated: 15:00 12 Apr 2018 BST, First published: 09:12 12 Apr 2018 BST

Quiz

Shares in fashion retailer Quiz Plc (LON:QUIZ) strutted higher after reporting a 30% jump in revenue to £116.4mln in the year ended March.

Revenue growth was driven by online which delivered a 158% increase in sales to £30.6mln. UK stores and concessions rose 12% to £65.6mln.

The company joined the market in July valued at £200mln, raising around £100mln in the process, mainly for its founding investors.

"We are delighted to have successfully completed our first financial year since our IPO in July,” said chief executive Tarak Ramzan.

“This strong performance reflects the growing strength of the Quiz brand and the continued growth across each of our sales channels and target markets."

Shares increased 5.6% to 158.50p.

Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO) shares jumped after a report on Bloomberg said activist investor, Elliott Management Corp. has built up a position in the enterprise software firm.

Shares gained 7% to 1,252p.

Bloomberg said the New York hedge fund, run by billionaire Paul Singer, plans to push for changes at the UK firm which transformed itself last year following the US$8.80bn reverse takeover of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co's (NYSE:HPE) software arm in September, according to people familiar with the matter.

Nektan shares also rose by 5.7% to 18.30p after the gaming and software services firm said its business-to-business platform Evolve Lite is now live on casino and sportsbook operator 138.com.

The deal with 138.com is to be delivered through Nektan’s global platform partnership with Tyche Digital Malta.

Tyche will supply its mobile-ready games content to 138.com's players through Nektan's gaming platform Evolve Lite.

Scapa under the cosh after fatal accident at site

Shares in adhesive tape manufacturer Scapa Group plc (LON:SCPA) are under pressure on Thursday, a day after reporting a fatal accident at its Dunstable site.

The company has launched a full investigation into the accident, which resulted into the death of one employee.

Shares fell 9% to 461.50p in afternoon trading.

On Thursday the company issued a full year trading update, which revealed results are in line with the improved expectations outlined in a October statement.

C4X Discovery Holdings PLC (LON:C4XD) shares edged up 8% to 107.5p as it said three of its drug programmes made “significant” progress in the first half ended January 31.

The group said its NRF-2 activator, IL-17 inhibitor and GPR142 are “gaining momentum and commercial interest”.

In late March, the company announced a licencing deal with Indivior worth up to US$294mln for C4XD's oral Orexin-1 receptor antagonist for the treatment of addiction.

“The post period completion of the deal with Indivior validates our business model and serves as a solid foundation on which to build towards additional high-value licensing agreements for our portfolio, existing and future," said chief executive Clive Dix. 

Polar Capital gains as it reports 29% rise in assets under management

Polar Capital Holdings plc (LON:POLR) reported an increase in assets under management (AuM) in the quarter ended March, sending shares up 8% to 540p.

Total assets under management came to £12bn at the end of March, compared to £9.3bn a year ago. In the quarter, AuM rose by £300,000mln as net inflows of £525mln offset a £252mln hit related to adverse market movements.

“The quarter has brought significantly increased market volatility due to US inflationary concerns, the anticipation of the end of a prolonged recovery bull market cycle and increasing geo-political tension which have made the short-term market outlook less certain,” the asset manager warned.

“Notwithstanding the above Polar is well placed to take advantage of market volatility given the breadth and compelling long-term performance of the firm's actively managed specialist investment strategies.”

Patagonia Gold plc (LON:PGD) shares dipped 6% to 1.60p after proposing a capital reorganisation to improve its share price.

The group said it will reduce the number of ordinary Shares in issue “by a factor of 100”, while increasing the trading price of the shares.

“The directors believe the Capital Reorganisation is necessary to improve the marketability of the company's ordinary shares by creating a higher trading price per ordinary share,” Patagonia said in a statement.

“With shares of a low market price, small absolute movements in the share price can represent large percentage movements, resulting in volatility.”

Cronin rallies on deal with life sciences firm 

Cronin Group PLC (LON:CRON) has signed a full evaluation agreement with one of the two companies it entered into a memorandum of understanding with for its DigitalGlassware platform.

The company, which makes products to digitise chemistry applications to reduce costs, announced in March that it had signed a MoU with two unnamed leading international life science reagent and chemicals manufacturers for its DigitalGlassware Pioneer Programme.

In a statement on Thursday, it said it had signed a full evaluation agreement to be conducted this year with the first of the companies.

The DigitalGlassware platform collects, stores and processes data generated from chemical experiments and allows access to reproducible chemistry via internet protocols.

Cronin’s shares rose 10% to 2.20p.

TomCo Energy Plc (LON:TOM) shares edged down 12% to 3.4p as it said it has raised £600,000 through the placing of 20 million shares to fund its TurboShale Inc business.

Chief executive Christopher Brown has also provided an unsecured loan of £50,000 on top of two previous loans he secured earlier this year for a combined £200,000.

Proceeds of the fundraise will be used to fund TurboShale’s proposed field test programme in the Holliday Block in Utah. The programme is expected to begin in August and take four to six months at an estimated cost of £500,000.

Microsaic Systems shares surged on heads of terms agreement with Knauer

Microsaic Systems plc shares shot up 77% to 3.10p after the UK maker of medical instruments said it signed a heads of terms agreement with German firm Knauer Wissenschaftliche.

Under the agreement, Microsaic’s mass spectrometry technology will be integrated into Knauer’s liquid chromatography platform.

Knauer will then sell the products in Germany and across its global distribution network.

Chamberlin PLC (LON:CMH) was also on the front foot after saying it sees full year underlying earnings (EBIT) surpassing market expectations.

The specialist castings and engineering group said in a trading update that it estimates EBIT of £0.4mln for the year after swinging from a loss in the first half to a profit in the second half.

Full year revenues are expected to rise 17% to £37.7mln after 10% growth in the second half.

Shares rose 11% to 69p.

On the downside, Solid State PLC (LON:SOLI) shares fell 24% to 285p after the manufacturer of computing, power and communications products said margins fell in the year to March 2018.

In a pre-close trading update, the group also said its communication arm was hit by poor exports to North America, where domestic suppliers are being chosen.

However, the company said profit before tax for the year will be in line with market consensus forecast of about £3mln and revenue is expected to be slightly ahead of estimates at more than £45.5mln, up 15% on the previous.

Petro Matad Ltd (LON:MATD) shares dropped 10% to 11.20p after saying it removed its Falcon prospect from its drilling programme in the Tugrug Basin in Mongolia.

The company said 3D seismic data showed the fault block originally targeted for drilling at the centre of the Falcon cluster was “smaller than previously mapped”. 

Petro has also decided to defer drilling in the Tugrug Basin in Block V due to the need to fully work up the targets in area.

Proactive news headlines:

Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) said its Cobre magnetite tailings operation in New Mexico saw continued strong sales in the first quarter of 2018. The AIM-listed miner reported quarter sales of US$1.4mln at 21,635 tonnes, in line with management expectations.

Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX) wants to swap debt for equity, as it has called its convertible bondholders to action. The UK mine developer, in a stock market statement, highlighted that the bonds are trading substantially "in‐the‐money" and said it is seeking to accelerate conversion.

Atlantis Resources Limited (LON:ARL) said the MeyGen tidal stream power project has now formally entered the 25-year operations phase.

Galileo Resources PLC (LON:GLR) said it has completed a placing to raise £550,000 of working capital for the next stage of its Star Zinc project. The AIM-listed miner said the 50mln new shares, with a placing price of 1.1p or a 20% discount on the 11 April 2018 mid-market close of 1.375p, would be admitted to trading on AIM at or around 17 April 2018.

African Battery Metals PLC (LON:ABM) has extended the auger drilling programme on its Kisinka property in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to investigate some additional soil anomalies. The AIM-listed firm said that two lines of augering have so far been completed on the 70% owned Kisinka licence acquired in December 2017 - one across the southeastern part and the second towards the northwestern part of the licence.

SDX Energy Inc (LON:SDX) confirmed its latest well success, with the Ibn Yunus-1X well at the South Disouq project unearthing a larger than expected gas reservoir. The company told investors that the well encountered 100.8 feet of natural gas pay in the Abu Madi horizon and the average porosity was measured at 28.5%.

Galantas Gold Corporation (LON:GAL) (CVE:GAL) has negotiated two tranches of additional finance that will be used to further develop the Omagh Mine in Northern Ireland. It has agreed a concentrate prepayment deal for US$1.6mln with Ocean Partners. The coupon is 8.75% plus US dollar 12-month LIBOR with a six-month interest payment holiday. The arrangement fee is US$25,oo0, while Ocean will also get 15mln bonus warrants.

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:FOG) has boasted that it has a “strong financial position” as it awaits a pivotal, official decision from the authorities in Australia’s Northern Territory.

Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE), an industry leader in computer vision technologies which enable machines to see, understand and assist people, has announced the appointment of Cenkos Securities as its nominated adviser and joint broker with immediate effect. The group said Canaccord Genuity Limited will remain as joint broker to the company.

AfriTin Mining Limited (LON:ATM), a mining company with a portfolio of near-production tin assets in Namibia and South Africa, with the flagship asset being the Uis Tin Mine in Namibia, has announced the appointment of a new joint broker, Novum Securities with immediate effect.

Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) (ASX:THR) has announced a CHESS Depositary Interest (CDI) Sale Facility for holders of less than a marketable parcel of CDIs quoted on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Under ASX Listing Rules, the group said, a process exists which allows listed entities to provide holders of parcels of securities valued at below A$500 the opportunity to sell those holdings without incurring brokerage or other transaction fees.

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