Amerisur Resources PLC (AMER.LN) climbed 10% to 22.8p as it acquired a raft of assets in the Caguan-Putumayo basin, Colombia for US$4.9 mln.
The South American oil and gas group said the working interests acquired are 60% in the Put-9 contract area, 58% in the Mecaya contract area, 100% in the Terecay contract area and 50.5% in the Tacacho contract area.
PCG Entertainment Plc (LON:PCGE) saw its shares slump after it it confirmed chief executive Nick Bryant had been removed from his post.
Richard Poulden and Michael Mainelli will assume overall responsibilities for operations and finance at the gaming services group, while Jack Sun, PCGE's COO in Asia, will continue to run the operations in China.
The company also raised another £350,000 though a discounted placing.
Shares fell 24% to 0.155p.
2pm...Wey Education on a roll as exam season nears
Wey Education PLC (LON:WEY) powered higher, though no news was forthcoming from the virtual secondary school operator.
But it is GSCE and A-level season and that may have reminded investors (parents need no reminder) that online education is growing rapidly and becoming almost a necessity as an add-on to normal day-to-day schooling.
We know trading is going well. In February, Wey said turnover for the six months to 28 February was approximately 50% higher than a year ago.
The AIM-listed firm also said its trading result for the period is expected to be “significantly better than the corresponding period in 2015/16.” Interims are due on 18 April.
Shares jumped 50% to 13.5p
Mining tiddler Herencia Resources PLC (LON:HER) goes up and down like a fiddler’s elbow and today was a sharp day as it received a further US$50,000 from Oriental Darius as part of a convertible facility arranged last year.
The funds draw down will be used to contribute towards the Pastizal Project payments, whilea larger funding package is currently being negotiated with Oriental, Lind Partners and other investors as part of reinvigoration plan.
Herencia shares rose 48% to 0.125p.
Eye-tracking and facial recognition specialist Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE) slipped lower even though revenues grew in two of its three main businesses in its first half.
The Australia-based, London-listed group doubled revenues in its Guardian fleet division – an in-cab driver fatigue monitoring technology – to A$1.64mln in the six months to 31 December.
But a comment that new contracts had not translated to sales revenue as quickly as it had expected meant a lowered full-year revenue forecast. Shares fell 18% to 3.4p.
9.00am...Nyota Minerals no longer dish of the day for Aussie group
Nyota Minerals Limited’s (LON:NYO) planned acquisition of Bigdish Ventures has fallen through.
Intended to be a reverse takeover of Aussie-listed Bigdish, costs of listing both on AIM and the ASX were deemed to be too high.
Bigdish plans to seek a standard listing on the LSE instead, while Nyota will be issued with £200,000 worth of shares in the privileged dining card service operator to replace a loan currently.
Shares in Nyota slumped 40% to 0.03p.
Engineer 600 Group PLC (LON:SIXH) was another on the ropes after a deal fell through for the chairman’s 22.5% stake to be sold to private equity group Disruptive Capital.
Paul Dupee’s vehicle Haddeo had granted an option in January to Disruptive to buy the stake for a premium price.
Today, 600 said talks had ended and the conditional agreement has lapsed, sending 600 shares down 15% to 11.75p.
Biofuel group China New Energy Ltd (LON:CNEL) was a riser as it revealed trading had gone well in the second half of 2016 with revenue rising to RMB72mln (£8.6mln).
COFCO Corporation, one of the largest food manufacturers in China, has also agreed new contracts for edible alcohol and fuel alcohol worth RMB60mln. Shares rose 10% to 1.4p.
Proactive news headlines
Construction activities have resumed on gold producer Petropavlovsk PLC’s (LON:POG) pressure oxidation hub at the Pokrovskiy mine in Russia’s Far East.
Hayward Tyler Group PLC (LON:HAYT) celebrated another contract win in the nuclear industry and also revealed that the deadline for repayment of £2.4mln short-term debt has been put back by another month.
Commercial passenger aircraft leasing company Avation PLC (LON:AVAP) is in talks to sell off six of its ATR 72 planes for a price above the company’s book value.
Devon-based tungsten miner Wolf Minerals Ltd (LON:WLFE) expects the performance at the Drakelands (Hemerdon) mine to improve as it drills through into harder granite deeper below the surface.
Capital Drilling Limited (LON:CAPD) is making a phased strategic investment of up to US$3.8mln in a company that provides laboratory testing services to the mining and exploration industries. It has advanced US$950,000 to private company A2 Global Ventures – the first of three tranches to be paid over the course of this year.
Clinigen Group PLC’s (LON:CLIN) Idis Managed Access division has partnered with AIM drug developer Diurnal Group PLC (LON:DNL) to offer two Diurnal treatments.
Allergy Therapeutics plc (LON:AGY) has recruited the first patients to its phase III trial of people with a sensitivity to birch pollen. The year-long study over 50 sites in Germany, Sweden, Austria and Poland will recruit 550 patients and assess the efficacy and safety of its ultra-short course treatment Pollinex Quattro.
Atlantis Resource Ltd (LON:ARL) has unveiled plans to launch a tidal power business in France, which it describes as Europe's second largest market for the renewable energy source.