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Oilex returns from suspension after Indian High Court issues judgement on Cambay

Last updated: 16:15 05 Nov 2018 GMT, First published: 08:55 05 Nov 2018 GMT

Oilex storage tanks

Trading in the shares of Oilex Ltd (LON:OEX) resumed today after the High Court of Gujarat made a decision on the company’s dispute with the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC).

On July 30, Oilex announced that it had formally requested the Government of India (GoI) to transfer GSPC's participating interest (PI) in the Cambay production sharing contract (PSC) to Oilex.

The request was made following GSPC's failure to remedy an end of default (EoD) notice within the required 60-day period. The EoD notice was a result of GSPC's ongoing failure to pay its PI share of Cambay PSC expenses.

READ Oilex plunges as Indian court weighs in on Cambay joint venture dispute

The court has now issued and passed judgement further delaying the implementation of the EoD Notice, subject to the fulfilment of a number of conditions, involving GSPC essentially putting some money in escrow and agreeing to commence arbitration proceedings before December 1, 2018.

“We are pleased that the court has reached a decision representing a step forward. Importantly, the Judge has recognised that Cambay is in the national interest, and Oilex is committed to meeting its undertakings to the GoI and contributing to India's energy security,” said Joe Saloman, the managing director of Oilex.

The company will shortly engage with the GoI to seek the approval of revised work programmes with the aim of progressing with an active drill programme, Saloman said.

Shares in Oilex were trading at 0.325p on return from suspension, having been suspended at 0.318p.

2.00pm: Hiscox under the weather after a cautious outlook statement

Hiscox PLC (LON:HSX) shares fell on Monday after the insurer cautioned it expects growth to moderate over the balance of the year.

Recent weather catastrophes are likely to have an impact on profitability, the underwriter said.

The shares were off 6% at 1,548p in lunchtime trading, having fallen as low as 1,516p at one point.

Noon: Serica consolidates interests in North Sea fields

Serica Energy PLC (LON:SQZ) is to acquire further interests in the Bruce and Keith fields and associated infrastructure in the UK North Sea.

Shares in the oil and gas company rose 8.4% to 129p after it said it would acquire a 16% interest in the Bruce field and a 31.83% interest in the Keith field and associated infrastructure from BHP Billiton Petroleum Great Britain Limited.

The transaction, together with the previously announced purchases from BP and Total, will result in Serica consolidating its ownership of the Bruce and Keith fields to 94.25% and 91.67% respectively post-completion.

Tidal power and renewable energy group SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited (LON:SAE) has made substantial progress on its Uskmouth power station conversion project.

Atlantis and its project partner SSF have conducted successful pellet milling trials in the Netherlands aimed at adapting the pellets to a form that is ideally suited for the Uskmouth plant.

The shares were up 6.8% at 15.75p following this morning’s announcement.

10.30am: Symphony Environmental on a surge while esoteric announcement lifts Kore Potash

Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC (LON:SYM) shares jumped as it has published an independent review into its oxo-biodegradable plastic technology.

The review, commissioned by the company and conducted by former High Court deputy judge Peter Susman QC, found that based on various pieces of scientific evidence, the case for the technology was “clear and compelling”.

Doubts about how long oxo-biodegradable plastics take to degrade in water were raised in a BBC programme, while the European Commission has also expressed concerns over degradation time.

Susman’s report said that recent research provided clear indications that the technology was effective in facilitating “significantly speedier degradation than is the case when that technology is not used”.

Kore Potash PLC has issued what, on the face of it, looks like one of the dullest stock market statements of the year, and seen its shares shoot up.

The company’s shares are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in the form of CHESS depositary interests (CDIs), and are also listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and on AIM.

CDIs are essentially the ASX’s version of American depositary receipts – a quick and easy way of owning shares that have their primary listing on a foreign market – and at the end of October, there were 6.49mln fewer Kore Potash CDIs listed on the ASX.

Someone clearly thought this was significant as the shares were up 18.5% at 6.4p on Monday morning – or maybe bargain hunters are moving back in after the shares fell from 6.18p to 5.4p last Friday.

9.00am: Angus Energy and TomCo Energy both tap the market

Angus Energy PLC (LON:ANGS) is seeking to raise £2mln by placing 22.2mln shares at 9p a pop.

The shares closed at 12p on Friday so that’s a fairly chunky discount and not surprisingly, the shares were marked down severely in early deals on Monday, to 11.25p.

The oil and gas company said the funds from the share issue would be used for general working capital purposes, with much of it earmarked for development of the Brockham oil field in Surrey, and for business development opportunities.

Sector peer TomCo Energy PLC (LON:TOM), the oil shale exploration company, was another energy company placing shares to raise money.

TomCo’s shares fell 7.5% to 9.25p as the company announced it had raised £532,350 through a placing of shares at 8.5p a pop.

As recently as October 31, the shares were trading at 12.82p so the company missed the boat a bit in terms of maximising the amount it could raise – or if you prefer, minimising the number of shares it had to issue.

Proactive news headlines:

Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC (LON:SYM) shares jumped on Monday as it hailed the result of an independent review into its oxo-biodegradable plastic technology. The review, commissioned by the company and conducted by former High Court deputy judge Peter Susman QC, found that based on various pieces of scientific evidence, the case for the technology was “clear and compelling”.

Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) has formally completed the acquisition of a 16.667% stake in the West Newton gas discovery, in Yorkshire. The AIM-quoted company agreed the terms of a deal earlier this month with Rathlin Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian firm Connaught Oil & Gas, and the two have now officially signed the farm-in agreement.

Tidal power and renewable energy group SIMEC Atlantis Limited (LON:SAE) has made substantial progress on its Uskmouth power station conversion project. The coal-fired Uskmouth power plant in Wales, jointly owned by SIMEC Energy and N&P is to be converted so it can use energy pellets (Subcoal pellets) composed of waste materials that would otherwise be destined for landfill.

Custodian REIT PLC (LON:CREI), the UK property investment company, has bought a property for £2.1mln in the East End of London. The real estate investment trust (REIT) has a high street unit on The Grove in Stratford, comprising a ground floor retail unit with an upper floor office suite. Nearby occupiers include Morrisons, Boots, Argos, Lidl and Nando's. The property has a current passing rent of £150,935 a year, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.78%.

BB Healthcare Trust PLC (LON:BBH) is looking to raise more money to take advantage of the recent sell-off in global equities. Mounting trade war tensions between the US and China, Brexit negotiations and political and economic instability in Europe have seen investors withdraw their money from equity markets, which have repeatedly fresh highs over the past year.

Columbus Energy Resources PLC (LON:CERP) told investors that its Spanish subsidiary CPS (Compañía Petrolifera de Sedano) has been ordered to begin the decommissioning of the Ayoluengo field. The company explained that it had previously expected the Spanish authorities to re-tender the La Lora Concession, since the existing operations agreement expired. Indeed, it has been awaiting notice of a re-tender since January 2017.

During the 2018 field season, Amur Minerals Corporation PLC (LON:AMC) completed just over 32,500 metres of drilling within 169 drill holes located throughout its Kun-Manie mining licence area. Amur has now drilled a total of nearly 120,000 metres.

Galantas Gold Corporation (LON:GAL) has delivered its first consignment of concentrate derived from underground feedstock from the Omagh gold mine in Northern Ireland. The concentrate will be shipped to Glencore's (LON:GLEN) New Brunswick smelter.

Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) has marked off ‘milestone’ in its drill programme for the TE-9 exploration well at the Tendrara gas project in eastern Morocco. The well has reached the second casing point, at a depth of 2,210 metres, and casing has been set in Triassic shales above the proposed TAGI reservoir (the main target for the well).

BlueRock Diamonds PLC (LON:BRD) has raised £626,000 from a placing and subscription of just over 208mln shares at a price of 0.3p each. One warrant will also be issued for each new share, at a price of 0.4p. In addition, directors of BlueRock will subscribe for a further £85,000 at the placing price via the issue of a further 28.3mln new shares.

Redx Pharma PLC (LON:REDX) will unveil a poster presentation outlining some encouraging data pointing to the direct tumour targeting effects of RXC004, its porcupine inhibitor. The new information was garnered using colorectal and pancreatic cancer cell lines.

Collagen Solutions PLC (LON:COS), the developer and manufacturer of biomaterials and regenerative medicines for the enhancement and extension of human life, announced that it has entered into a deed of variation to its existing Bond Subscription Agreement with Norgine Ventures. The firm said the variation provides for a six-month principal repayment holiday, and while there is no current year requirement for this variation, it will provide management with greater flexibility to exploit growth opportunities for future years.

HemoGenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HEMO) said that its chief operating officer is leaving as it unveiled a new senior appointment. Lawrence Pemble is exiting immediately. Andrew Wright, meanwhile, is coming in as financial controller and company secretary, a “non-board position”.

BATM Advanced Communications Limited (LON:BVC) said that among the resolutions to be voted on at its AGM - to be held at 10.00am GMT on Wednesday 28 November 2018 at the offices of Luther Pendragon, 48 Gracechurch Street, London, EC3V 0EJ - are the proposed appointments of Ari Shamiss and Varda Shalev as external directors of the group, as required under Israeli law, for three-year periods. The group added that Shamiss and Shalev will be replacing Avigdor Shafferman and Orna Pollack respectively, whose three-year tenures as external directors expire.

ANGLE PLC (LON:AGL) now owns 100% of its North American subsidiary after buying out Georgi Hvichia’s 9.47% stake. Hvichia is the original inventor of ANGLE’s Parsortix cancer detection technology.

Myanmar-focused app developer MySquar Limited (LON:MYSQ) has suspended its shares due to 'material uncertainty' over its working capital position. The move follows a review of the account into which the proceeds of bond issues on 7 March and 20 June were paid.

Savannah Resources PLC (LON:SAV) said that, following notification that its current nominated adviser Northland Capital Partners has voluntarily agreed to relinquish its Nomad status from 1 February 2019, the group intention is to transition the role from Northland to SP Angel, with whom Northland are merging. The firm added that this process has already started and at present, the company anticipates a smooth and orderly transition of the Nomad role.

ValiRx PLC (LON:VAL), the clinical stage biotechnology company, has said its management have already attended/presented at the followings recent and forthcoming scientific and investor meetings - 6th CPC Symposium on Peptide Therapeutics Conference, held in Hangzhou, China on 17- 19 October; House of Lords' Life Sciences Industrial Strategy Reception on Monday 29 October; 5th Annual Clinical Operations in Oncology Europe Conference, held in Munich, Germany on 14-15 November; Shares and AJ Bell Investor Evening in Edinburgh, held at the Radisson Blu Hotel at 18:00 on Thursday, 22 November.

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