Thirsty Tuesdays? Not at Revolution bars.
Due to soaring energy bills, the doors will be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays until at least early February.
The company, which owns over 90 premium bars, including the recently acquired Peach Pubs, has sounded the alarm on profits following a lacklustre Christmas and tough economic environment.
As a result, the shares took a 21% hit, tumbling to 5.9p.
But there's a silver lining - Peach Pubs saw a 9.9% increase in sales from the previous year, adding some much-needed resilience and diversity to the group. Cheers to that!
Across the broader market small caps were falling, with the AIM 100 index down 2% to 4,089, while the FTSE 100 blue-chips lost 0.8% and the FTSE 250 shaved 1.5%.
IOG endured a tough week, with shares plummeting 55% to 7.3p as its Southwark project delivered below par results.
Gas rates at the Southwark A2 well came in at 4.2 million standard cubic feet per day, significantly less than previous expectations of 22 million cubic feet.
Chief executive Rupert Newall said the well “has not met our expectations” but that IOG will “continue to work through the options, gather data, interpret the implications for field production and evaluate the next steps”.
Tekmar Group plummeted 21% to 13p after the offshore tech firm said the exclusivity period for a potential investor was extended by 14 days.
There is an option to extend this by a further 14 days, after the original 60-day period granted in mid-November ended.
According to Tekmar, which provides technology for offshore oil and gas projects, the potential investment from the energy sector firm would secure funding for its “ambitious” growth plans but would not be a takeover and comprise new capital based on its November share price of around 9p.
Diamond producer Blue Rock Diamonds nosedived 52% to 2p after reporting below target production following the closure of its mines over Christmas and new year.
The owner and operator of the Kareevlei diamond mine in South Africa said the decline in diamond prices also continued, although December revenue forecasts were not significantly lower than management’s expectations.
In the life science space, and Omega Diagnostics slipped 16% to 3.15p after the company warned of lower-than-expected revenues and significant back-end phasing of orders.
Turning to the risers, Kodal Minerals shot up 45% to 0.3p after it received the necessary funding for the development of its Bougouni Lithium project in Mali.
Hainan Mining, a Chinese natural resource development company, agreed to acquire a 51% stake in Kodal Mining UK Limited, Kodal’s UK subsidiary which will own new Mali mining company formed specially to advance the Bougouni project.
Mirriad Advertising jumped 30% to 5p on Friday morning after the advertising group said it is mulling a potential sale.
A statement said Mirriad, which has seen its share price fall 74% in the last year, is in the process of conducting a strategic review which could result in the sale of the business.
This comes about following the group’s “progress and improved position in the market,” which has led the board to believe shares are “significantly undervalued” and that meaningful upside exists.
Drug developer Avacta saw shares climb 21% to 158p after reporting favourable results from phase 1 clinical trial of AVA6000.
AVA6000 is a novel form of doxorubicin, a type of chemotherapy drug, that has been designed with Avacta’s pre|CISION™ FAP-activated delivery platform to limit the cell killing effect.
Avacta said AVA6000 continues to be well tolerated in patients, with a marked reduction in the incidence and severity of cell killing usually associated with standard doxorubicin therapy.