The disclaimer first: I should thank/blame Proactive’s news editor, ‘big Phil’ Whiterow, for the lyrical introduction that follows.
“Spent a long time looking for a game to play, my luck should be so bad to turn out this way.”
The line comes from A New Day Yesterday, by prog rock legends and Luton’s finest, Jethro Tull.
It might also be inscribed on the metaphorical tombstone of newspaper group’s Trinity Mirror’s (LON:TN) latest failed venture, its national title, New Day.
The doors will shut after just nine weeks with an estimated £5mln lavished on the business, which disappointed with daily sales of just 40,000 – around a fifth of what it was aiming for. New Day will live on in spirit, if you will, in digital form.
Perversely (or perhaps not), the City was cheered by the news Trinity had decided to cut its losses. The stock, down around 27% in the year to date, added almost 7% in late morning trade and was changing hands for 120.5p.
Elsewhere in Loserville, utility Centrica (LON:CNA) came off the boil with a 10% fall after it said it would raise £750mln from investors to protect its credit rating. The news was swiftly followed by a number of chunky downgrades, mainly to price targets, although Exane BNP Paribas cancelled its ‘buy’ rating on the stock.
A yummy investment?
There’s queue of new listings waiting to get off the runway, headed by Hotel Chocolat Group PLC, which made its debut on the junior AIM market with a price tag of £167mln - only slightly less than the cost of a box of its upmarket confectionary.
In all it raised £55mln, including £40mln for its founders, Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris.
The former is the son of Prontaprint and Mr Whippy millionaire Edwin Thirlwell; so money-making, entrepreneurialism obviously runs in the family.
Investors were wondering whether news could be expected from Strategic Minerals (LON:SML), with the share price up 25% backed by some fairly decent trading volumes.
The stock has been on a tear in the last month on minimal news and has almost tripled in value.
A maiden drilling programme on the Hanns Creek nickel-copper licence in Australia will get underway once the permit has been approved, it said in late April. Interesting times.
What a relief
Billing Services Group (LON:BSG), meanwhile, received a huge boost after it came to a settlement with America’s all-powerful Federal Trade Commission, with the stock up 37%.
There was some interest in gold explorer Alecto Minerals PLC (LON:ALO), which has renewed the permits for its (Younes??) Kerboule project in Burkina Faso for a further three years. The renewal will significantly strengthen its hand when it comes to finding a partner for the project, said Mark Jones, chief executive.
Shares in Eckoh PLC (LON:ECK) were in demand after a reasonably upbeat trading statement. It has seen sales and margins grow by more than 20% for a third year in succession, driven by growth in the US for its secure payment software. The company, which also provides call centre software, signed nine new contracts for its secure payments products during the year to March just ended.
Back on an even keel
One the face of it LGO Energy’s refinancing didn’t go down well with investors. But the shares appear to be merely adjusting to prospect of more equity being issued to put the Trinidad focused oiler on the evenest of even keels.
Finally, Rosslyn Data Technologies PLC (LON:RDT) said it was “extremely positive” about the future as it unveiled 40% increase in revenues and said it expected to be cashflow break-even this year. In a trading update, the group said sales for the year to April 30 would be £3.9-£4mln, with the pretax loss narrowing to £2.4mln from £3.5mln. It has £1.8mln in the bank. The data and cloud technology specialist said it had agreed terms with a number of new customers.