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ContourGlobal wanted after making dividend commitment

Last updated: 14:52 05 Apr 2019 BST, First published: 08:55 05 Apr 2019 BST

Dividends file
ContourGlobal plans to increase the dividend each year by 10%

Shares in ContourGlobal PLC (LON:GLO) shaped higher after it signalled its intention to increase its dividend by 10% each year.

The international owner and operator of contracted electricity generating plants posted a 19% year-on-year increase in adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) for 2018, which was in line with expectations.

The full-year dividend was increased to 13.9 from 11.9 cents the year before.

The company also beefed up its board.

Stefan Schellinger, who was the group finance director of Essentra PLC from 2015 until last year, has joined ContourGlobal as the group’s chief financial officer.

Mariana Gheorghe, the former chief executive officer and president of the Romanian oil and gas company OMV Petrom is to join the board as non-executive director.

Shares were up 6.9% at 195p.

2.00pm: Photonstar rises after shareholders put their foot down on pre=emption rights​

Only three of the four resolutions voted on at today’s meeting of shareholders of Photonstar LED Group PLC (LON:PSL), the cash shell, were passed.

Shareholders voted in favour of the company’s transition to a cash shell and the proposed name change to Bould Opportunities; they also voted in favour of resolution one, which gave the directors certain bog-standard rights under section 551 of the Companies Act.

The bone of contention was resolution 4, pertaining to the “disapplication of pre-emption rights”; this resolution was defeated.

The board is currently considering the next steps for the company.

The shares in Photonstar were up 10% at 0.0165p after the results of the meeting were announced.

12.45pm: Starcom shines after announcing product launch

The share price of Starcom  PLC (LON:STAR) rose by one-eighth after it announced the launch of “Lokies”, an intelligent reporting padlock.

The remote tracking specialist said the new product uses the Internet of Things and has a wide variety of potential security applications.

Orders for Lokies have already been placed and initial feedback from customers in the broader security market has been positive. The board of Starcom is confident the product will make a meaningful contribution to revenues this year and beyond.

11.45am: Whoopsidaisy, Ncondezi. Power plant developer tumbles after discounted share issue

Ncondezi Energy Limited (LON:NCCL) sed 0.65p at 6.9p after it issued shares at 6.5p to raise £1.88mln.

The company will use the proceeds to pay a fee in two stages to GridX of US$390,000 allowing the company to enter into definitive agreements to formalise a joint venture (JV) agreement with the African power developer.

The JV will be focused on building and operating captive solar and battery storage solutions for the African commercial and industrial sector.

11.00am: Matomy plunges after receiving buy-out offer for its Team Internet stake

K3 Capital Group PLC (LON:K3C) shares tanked in early deals on Friday after a Brexit-related profit warning.

The firm, which specialises in the sale of companies, forecast lower earnings (EBITDA) for its current fiscal year as Brexit-related uncertainty delayed a number of “significant” transactions in its corporate finance division.

The board expects to report underlying earnings (EBITDA) of between £4.5mln and £5.0mln for the current year (to the end of May). The consensus forecast for profit before tax – not quite the same thing as EBITDA but last year it was more or less the same – is £7.00mln.

The shares tumbled 17% to 132.5p.

10.15am: Matomy Media as minority shareholder in Team Internet makes buy-out offer

Matomy Media Group Ltd (LON:MTMY), which owns 90% of Team Internet AG, has received a buy-out offer from the holder of the remaining 10%.

Shares in the media group lost just almost a quarter of their value after it was revealed that Rainmaker Investments, which owns 10% of Team Internet, is prepared to offer US$36mln for Matomy’s stake.

Matomy, which provides data-driven advertising technolgy, is in the final stages of a complicated debt restructuring.

Its Team Internet division is a provider of services in the direct navigation search market – where a user bypasses a search engine by typing a keyword-filled domain name into the browser’s address bar.

Shares in Matomy trade at 4.42p, down 23% on the day and 92.5% on the year.

9.30am: Hats off to Tricorn after a strong trading performance

There was no reason for Tricorn Group PLC (LON:TCN) shareholders to get bent out of shape over the trading update from the tube manipulation specialist.

The shares rose 12.5% to 18p after a short but sweet update in which the company said adjusted profit before tax for the financial year just ended is likely to be up by around 30% on the year before.

Revenue is expected to be some 2.5% ahead of the previous year.

Aussie shareholders in Prairie Mining Ltd (LON:PDZ) are currently unable to buy or sell shares in the company because trading in the stock has been halted on the Australian Securities Exchange.

The suspension was pending an announcement regarding ongoing legal proceedings for the Jan Karski mine in Poland; judging by the 6.8% increase in the Prairie share price in London (where the company’s listing has not been suspended), the news is expected to be good.

READ PRAIRIE MINING: MINER SIGNALS FORMAL DISPUTE OVER POLISH PROJECTS

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