Triad Group plc's (LON:TRD) shares are up 20% to 82.20p after saying it expects full year pre-tax profit to rise to £1.5mln from £863,000 the previous year. The software development and consultancy company said its business has "continued to develop successfully" since its interims last November and is confident of reporting further progress on its strategy in June.
Hardide Plc (LON:HDD) is also on the front foot after the provider of advanced surface coating technology said sales to the oil and gas sector have more than doubled in the first six months of the fiscal year compared to the previous year. The group added that overall trading is "comfortably ahead" of both the first and second half of the last financial year.
"As a result, the board expects that the trading performance for the full financial year to be in line with market expectations." Shares jumped 20.49% to 1.24p.
Going the other way, shares in Weatherly International plc (LON:WTI) are under pressure after reporting a drop in copper cathode production for the March 2017 quarter. It produced 3,236 tonnes, 24% below nameplate.
"Slower than expected recoveries from ore stacked in late 2016 resulted in a need to accelerate stacking rates to compensate, but unfortunately this coincided with above average rainfall which caused operational delays that were typically 2 to 3 times longer than those experienced in previous years' rainy seasons," Weatherly explained.
Full year production to June 2017 is now expected to be 14,500 to 15,000 tonnes.
Shares plunged 33.69% to 0.431p.
11.45am... MySQUAR rallies
Shares in MySQUAR Limited (LON:MYSC), the Myanmar-language social media platform operator, rose by a fifth this morning as the prospect of shareholder dilution receded.
The company has a US$2mln loan note facility with Sandabel Capital and has thus far used US$1.1mln, but this morning it indicated it would not be using the remaining U$900,000.
Many shareholders have been expecting a fund-raise to tide the company over until its top line starts heading north at a steeper angle.
Read MySQUAR expects cash flow to improve after flurry of product launches
This morning’s statement did not rule out the possibility of the issue of more equity, or entering into new convertible loan note arrangements with other finance houses, but it also said it would look at financing its operations from cash flow, the collection of outstanding accounts receivable and by using the available head-room in the credit facility provided by Rising Dragon Singapore.
Shares in technology firm Corero Network Security PLC (LON:CNS) initially fell after the company announced it would be increasing the size of its recently announced fund-raising from £5mln to £5.4mln.
Traders seem to have had a change of heart, however, with the shares surging ahead some 17%.
Corero said the size of the share placing had been increased due to investor demand, which is obviosuly a good sign. Chairman Jens Montanana will still be backing the share placing, but not to the extent that it will take his stake over 50%, which was the original plan. That can only be good for share trading liquidity, which might also explain the rise in the shares.
9.45am ... Greka Drilling rockets on huge new contract in India
Greka Drilling Ltd (LON:GDL) has won a contract from India’s largest exploration and production company to drill 73 holes over a three year period, sending its share price more than 50% higher.
The deal with state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is still subject to contract, but Greka is expecting to be issued with a letter of intent later this month.
Shares in the contract driller rose 73% to 4.68p.
Provexis PLC (LON:PXS), the developer of Fruitflow, a tomato extract food additive, has agreed a memorandum of understanding with By-Health, a listed Chinese dietary supplement business.
The two groups have agreed to collaborate on further research on the product.
Provexis and its existing partner, DSM Nutritional Products are also working with By-Health to market Fruitflow-based products in China, with the first launch envisaged in the second half of 2017.
The research agreement will look at new products that contribute to cardiovascular health and the control of blood pressure in particular.
This will include a clinical trial to be conducted in China. A formal agreement is expected to be signed later this year, with the bulk of the research programme to be completed in 2018.
Provexsis shares rose by 11% to 0.6p.
Proactive news headlines
E-commerce enabler Blur Group PLC (LON:BLUR) opened higher on Thursday after revealing it could be set to receive another boost, this time from a UK county council.
The unnamed council is continuing its programme of spend which blur said could lead to a “multiple six-figure rollout” of its Indirect Spend management platform.
Corero Network Security PLC (LON:CNS) has started 2017 well, with its recently introduced “as-a-service” sales model opening up new revenue opportunities for the cyber-security specialist. A placing to raise £5.6mln accompanied the figures.
It is the first day in the new job for e-Therapeutics PLC’s (LON:ETX) new chief executive who formally took up the role Thursday.
Dr Raymond Barlow, former executive director of corporate development at Amgen, based in Switzerland, said his near-term aim was “to ensure that our resources are appropriately focused on activities that are of the greatest commercial potential”.
TechFinancials Inc (LON:TECH) was restored to profitability last year following a 57% rise in revenues aided by the performance from the trading platform business, where turnover more than doubled.
The technology provider to financial trading brokers said revenues were US$21mln, while operating profit was US$5mln, up from a US$100,000 loss in 2015.