Shareholders like it when directors put their hands in their own pockets to buy shares, so Cloudbuy and Lekoil stakeholders were happy bunnies today.
Patrick Broughton, non-exec director at e-commerce group Cloudbuy (LON:BUY), is now interested in 0.625% of the capital after buying shares, the firm reported.
On Wednesday, he bought 100,000 shares at prices between 24.5p and 25p.
At Lekoil (LON:LEK), chief executive Olalekan Akinyanmi increased his shareholding, purchasing 93,950 shares at a price of 28.38p.
Following the transaction, which was worth just over £55,000, Akinyanmi’s stake in the company increased to 11.5%.
In other board room news, ImmuPharma (LON:IMM) said the inventor of its flagship drug Lupuzor has been honoured.
Minds + Machines (LON:MMX), which operates top level Internet domains, said two founding members are set to re-join the board.
David Weill and Guy Elliott will come aboard once more as non-executive directors.
Dr Sylviane Muller, Research Director at France’s Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, has received the CNRS Medal for Innovation.
Elsewhere in the pharma sector, Allergy Therapeutics (LON:AGY), following what it called "productive" talks with the all important US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is to resume its clinical programme of grass allergy product Pollinex Quattro in a bid to take it through to a market launch in 2019.
Drug developer ValiRx’s (LON:VAL) VAL201 is being trialled on patients with advanced or metastatic prostate cancer and other advanced solid tumours at UCH in London.
Satu Vainikka, chief executive, said: "The trial continues to proceed well and I am pleased to be able to say that, at this preliminary stage, potential efficacy has been detected at the lowest doses.”
Sphere Medical (LON:SPHR) has made the first commercial sale of its Promixa 3 blood gas analyser.
Anthony Martin, chairman, told shareholders at its annual meeting that interest from hospitals for Proxima 3 in intensive care units was also growing.
Ergomed (LON:ERGO) shares moved closer to their 52-week high after the company was chosen to conduct a clinical trial by Æterna Zentaris.
The UK provider of specialised services to the pharmaceutical industry has been chosen by the Canadian firm to manage the new, confirmatory phase III clinical study to demonstrate the efficacy of Macrilen, a novel orally-active small molecule that stimulates the secretion of growth hormones.
It has been a mixed day for energy companies.
Shares in Independent Resources (LON:IRG) were battered, after the North Africa-focused oil explorer said it would still need extra funding in coming months to keep going and to cover its share of costs on its Ksar Hadada project in Tunisia.
On the other side of the coin, Aminex (LON:AEX) has secured £1.67mln (US$2.64mln) to help fund drilling plans in Tanzania.
The company is to issue 88mln new shares at a price of 1.9p each, a discount of about 10% to Wednesday’s closing price of 2.1p.
Independent Oil & Gas (LON:IOG) believes the gas resources across its Southern North Sea (SNS) acreage could be larger than previous estimates.
Consultant Baker Hughes's analysis so far indicates proven reserves (currently 3mln barrels oil equivalent) could more than double.
Trapoil (LON:TRAP) lost more than a third of its market value as it agreed to hand over future revenues in return of leeway on its debt.
Magnolia Petroleum (LON:MAGP) chief executive Steven Snead says there is “excellent momentum” behind the business, despite the fall in the oil price.
“From what was effectively a standing start in November 2011, by 1 January 2015 our net production stood at 281 boepd while our proven reserves were independently estimated at 985 Mbbls of oil and 2,905 MMcf of gas, and valued at US$26.65mln,” he highlighted in a statement at the company’s annual general meeting.
Meanwhile, Andes Energia (LON:AEN) chairman Nicolas Mallo Huergo said he was encouraged that the front runners in Argentina’s general election are ‘pro-business’.
Andes Energia produces almost 2,000 barrels of oil per day in Argentina, where crude is priced at US$75.
Blazing a trail in the mining sector was Stratex International (LON:STI), as it announced that production at the Altintepe gold mine in Turkey is scheduled to start in September.
Amur Minerals (LON:AMC) advanced on news that it has completed its acquisition of the detailed exploration and production licence for the Kun-Manie scheme.
Wolf Minerals (LON:WLFE) passed another milestone as it said first ore had been put through the processing plant at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon.
It means the group's goal of delivering Great Britain's first new metal mine for 45 years will shortly become a reality, it said.
Forte Energy (LON:FTE) has started court action against Slovakia’s environment ministry after its application to extend its uranium permit at Kuriskova was rejected.
Sula Iron & Gold (LON:SULA) has sent more than 100 samples for further testing ahead of a possible drill programme at its gold prospect Ferensola in Sierra Leone.
Rare Earth Minerals (LON:REM) said 2014 had been a year of "strong and positive progress", adding it had seen strong growth in lithium demand.
In terms of financials, the loss before tax in the year was £3.078mln compared to a profit of £1.447mln in a restated 2013.
Xtract Resources (LON:XTR) expects profits at its Chepica mine in Chile to be running at US$500,000 per month by August, it said today.
Sphinx Resources (CVE:SFX) is set to buy the Calumet Sud project, which is in south-western Quebec, next to its Green Palladium project, for a total of C$580,000.
The property comprises 21 claims over 12.1 sq km and includes a first priority drill-ready target.
Away from the resources sector, Photo-Me International (LON:PHTM) provided investors with a boost as it delivered a dividend pledge alongside prelims that revealed it was in rude financial health.
Announcing a 30% increase in the annual cash distribution to 4.88p a share, the photo booth operator said it would increase the divi by at least 10% a year for the next three years.
The defence technology group Cohort (LON:CHRT) said strong organic growth was boosted by first time contributions from two acquisitions.
The firm, which bought the MCL and J+S businesses, posted a 40% rise in revenues to just shy of £100mln, while adjusted pre-tax profit grew 23% to £10.2mln. The figures were up by 22% and 17% respectively on a like-for-like basis.
Porta Communications (LON:PTCM) revealed underlying earnings after all costs in its first half will be "significantly higher" than in the whole of 2014.
The board remains confident on the outcome for 2015 and added that, as previously indicated, there will be a big reduction in exceptional costs, reflecting what it called "the growing maturity" of all our start-ups.