Ascent Resources PLC (LON:AST) jumped 38% to 2.67p as it confirmed a well test is set to commence at Pg-10 tomorrow (26 January) on the Petišovci licence in Slovenia.
In advance of the test, which will last several days, gas is presently being flared to clean up the well, said the company.
Skinny Tan group InnovaDerma (LON:IDP) was under pressure again as it confirmed a heads of agreement signed in January with Korean distribution firm PROS had never been finalised.
The draft distribution agreement covered Japan, China and Russia as well as South Korea but as a contract was not formalised the minimum revenues expected to accrue in 2016 had not been achieved.
Shares fell 10% to 130p.
Frankie & Benny’s and Garfunkel’s owner The Restaurant Group (LON:RTN) also slumped 12% to 304p on another downbeat trading statement.
Like-for-like sales fell 3.9% in the 53 weeks to 1 January but by 5.9% in the last three months.
13.00...Hostelworld PLC coping with increasingly hostile world
Hostel booking platform Hostelworld PLC rose 9% to 211p as mobile-sourced bookings soared by 21% in the second half of 2016.
It helped second half bookings rise by 2%, though there was still a 1% drop for the whole of 2016.
Feargal Mooney, chief executive, said: "Set in the context of challenging market conditions, particularly in Europe in the second quarter, I am pleased with our second half.”
Neuroscience-focused Cambridge Cognition Holdings PLC (LON:COG) has received approval from the US’s Food and Drug Administration to sell its CANTAB Mobile medical device, sending its share price up 6% to 74.5p.
Aimed at elderly patients at risk of developing or already suffering from Alzheimer’s, CANTAB Mobile is designed to detect clinically-relevant memory impairment at the point of care.
A touchscreen test can be self-administered with results boiled down into a one page physician’s report.
CANTAB Mobile is already being used to assess 26,000 UK patients but access to the large US healthcare market will boost revenues even more said Steven Powell, chief executive.
Audioboom PLC’s (LON:BOOM) acquisition of artificial intelligence group SONR News Limited knocked its share price by 9% to 2.5p, even though billionaire backer Nick Candy has put his hand in his pocket again.
Consideration for SONR will be £1.42 mln paid in shares at an equivalent of 2.5p per share.
A new £1mln convertible loan note has been issued to Candy Ventures to provide working capital. This has a coupon of 10% and converts at 2.5p.
SONR uses neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms to analyse listener behaviour.
Audioboom wants to combine this ability with its podcast content to increase user engagement and raise CPM (cost per thousand listens that advertisers pay) rates.
10.00am ...Fitbug nips in with £1mln funding
Fitbug Holdings PLC (LON:FITB) slumped 27% to 0.194p as the Duke of York-esque ride for the wellness group continued.
Last week, the AIM-quoted group had to suspend its shares after they rose 500% on the news of an order.
They can back almost as quickly when trading resumed as the company revealed the order was worth just £60,000, but the momentum that it built up has enabled it get a share subscription away.
Fitbug has raised £1mln at 0.2p per share.
"We are pleased to have raised these additional funds at this time,” said Anna Gudmundson, chief executive.
“We believe that our prospects for 2017 are positive and we are now looking for opportunities to accelerate our growth strategy."
Trade mag group Centaur Media Plc (LON:CAU) publisher of Marketing Week and The Lawyer, rose smartly as it reported not only had trading in 2016 met market forecasts but it had since improved further.
“We enter the new financial year with both recurring digital subscriptions and exhibition bookings running 10% ahead of last year,” it said sending the share price 16% higher at 47.12p.
Office productivity software developer BOS GLOBAL HOLDINGS Limited (LON:BOS) was another big riser as it launched BOS Automate, a cloud-based document management platform.
This can transform the way a business uses its data, claimed BOS, with the shares rising by 9% to 8.06p.
Testwork results from Beowulf Mining plc’s (LON:BEM) graphite portfolio in Finland sent its share price 14% higher to 11.25p.
Composite samples taken from its Haapamäki, Pitkäjärvi and Aitolampi graphite prospects produced concentrate grades of 94.5%.