Greka Drilling Limited (LON:GDL) has received a letter of award (LOA) for a three year, 73-well drilling programme from India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC).
State-owned, ONGC is the largest oil and gas exploration and production company in India and will use Greka to explore the Bokaro coal bed methane (CBM) prospect.
Shares jumped 23% to 3.04p.
Red Leopard drops after cash call
Red Leopard Holdings PLC tumbled 11% to 0.323p as it riased £300,000 from a subscription at 0.3p per share.
Toby Hayward, chief executive, said "I am pleased we are able to strengthen our balance sheet to ensure we have sufficient resources to cover costs associated with a possible RTO. We will update shareholders on any possible acquisition at the appropriate time."
Empyrean Energy update sends shares climbing again
Empyrean Energy PLC (LON:EME) has been on a tear this year and was up a further 25% today on details of its three projects in China, Indonesia and the US.
On Block 29/11, China, one third of the seismic acquisition has been completed.
At the Mako South-1 well, Duyung in Indonesia, a jack-up rig has arrived on location, while at Dempsey/Alvares in California the farm-in and operating agreements are close to being agreed.
Empyrean has paid US$10,000 of the deposit with the balance of US$90,000 for the Dempsey deposit and US$20,000 for the Alvares deposit due within 3 working days of signing the definitive documents.
Empyrean will also pay US$1.5mln for the Dempsey consideration within 5 working days of a cash call by partner Sacgasco to Empyrean prior to the drilling of the Dempsey-1 Well.
The junior added it is fully funded to make the payments for the Dempsey and Alvares deposits and Dempsey consideration.
Shares rose 26% to 6.3p.
Great Western Mining raises funds to push on at Sharktooth
Great Western Mining PLC (LON:GWMO) has wasted little time raising funds after a surge in its share price following the resource upgrade at the M2/Sharktooth gold and copper project in Nevada.
The explorer has as raised £1.15mln through a placing price at 1.25p to bring forward more drilling at the prospect.
Warrants at 1.75p per ordinary share, exercisable within 3 years, accompanied the placing.
David Fraser, chief executive, said: "This funding allows Great Western Mining to accelerate the process of turning our M2 Copper-Gold prospect into the potential world class discovery that the company believes it to be.”
Shares fell 16% to 1.44p.
Record climbs as currency volatility leads to bumper dividends
Record PLC (LON:REC) lived up to its name as currency volatility over the past year send people flocking for advice and generated healthy rises in all key numbers. “This year, Record has reported its highest-ever AUME [assets under management], increased revenues and earnings, and further growth in revenue diversification, with revenues from Passive Hedging now covering all overheads excluding variable remuneration,” said the specialist currency fund manager. Shareholders also received a bumper dividend payout with a 21% rise in the ordinary payment to 2p per share plus a further £10mln or 0.91p special. Profits for the year to March rose to £8.67mln, (£6.93mln) on revenues of £23.9mln (£21.1mln). Shares rose 13% to 46.9p
EU Supply buoyed by contract add-on
E-procurement platform specialist EU Supply PLC (LON:EUSP) ticked the right boxes as it announced a new framework agreement with an existing customer.
Worth €3.6mln, the order is for add-ons to its CTM public sector tendering platform.
CTM is already used by 7,000 European public sector bodies in 9 EU/EEC Member States and has National Procurement System status in four Member States (the UK, Ireland, Norway and Lithuania).
This contract is for specific call-off orders for support and maintenance and bespoke enhancements to be delivered in 2017 and 2018.
Shares jumped 15% to 16.7p.
Proactive news headlines...
Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX), which is developing a huge potash mine in North Yorkshire, UK, revealed that more of its stage one financing convertible bonds have been exchanged for shares. The bonds were announced last November and issued at US$200,000 each to raise a massive US$400mln as part of the financing for the project - believed to be the world's largest high-grade known deposit of polyhalite - used as a fertiliser.
Internet of Things enabler Telit Communications Plc (LON:TCM) revealed it had received a first order for its LTE Cat 6 connectivity device from an emerging American car parts maker. The device will be shipped in the autumn and be fitted in cars along with other technology, increasingly seen in modern vehicles.
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (LON:BMY) has appointed Sir Richard Lambert as the company’s new non-executive chairman. Lambert, who was the editor of the Financial Times for a decade, is taking over the role from Sir Anthony Salz and in accordance with Bloomsbury’s policy he will have a term of four years.
Greka Drilling Limited (LON:GDL) has received a letter of award (LOA) for a three year, 73-well drilling programme from India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC). State-owned, ONGC is the largest oil and gas exploration and production company in India and will use Greka to explore the Bokaro coal bed methane (CBM) prospect. Greka was earmarked for the work in April, but with the LOA should start to mobilise within 90 days though it is still subject to a full contract and performance bond.
Cancer treatment pioneer Nanobiotix SA (EPN:NANO) has presented new data illustrating how its lead treatment, NBTXR3, can help the body’s immune system fight tumours.
In a presentation to an Immunotherapy workshop co-sponsored by the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC), Nanonbiotix highlighted new data that suggests NBTXR3 generates immunogenic cell death, which could trigger a specific immune response to attack a tumour.
The pharma services and drug developer Ergomed Plc (LON:ERGO) has appointed a new chief executive. He is Dr Dan Weng, who joins on July 1 from EPS Holdings, a Tokyo-listed contract research business, and will take the reins from the company’s founder, Dr Miroslav Reljanovic, who will become executive vice-chairman.
Falcon Media House (LON:FAL) has appointed tech and media finance specialist Diane McGrath to its newly created position of Global Chief Strategy Officer. Recently listed on AIM, Falcon Media specialises in “over the top” or OTT media services - often referred to as “red button video streaming - and has developed Q-Flow technology to prevent the frequent loss of signal or 'buffering' that affects video streaming.
Premier African Minerals Limited (LON:PREM) shares rose 5% in early deals on the back of highly encouraging initial testing on material from the group's Zulu Lithium and Tantalum project in Zimbabwe, which underscored the property's big potential. The findings from German based Dorfner Anzaplan showed that a commercial grade, high quality lithium mineral concentrate could be produced.
Shares in software group BOS GLOBAL Holdings Limited (LON:BOS) advanced as it brought in £380,000 in cash from selling a non-core 75% stake in Australia based metals miner Copper Range (SA) Pty Ltd. The BOS software is focused on making workplaces more productive and it launched the BOS360 work patterns platform in May.
Savannah Resources Plc (LON:SAV) has received initial approval for a waste storage facility at its Block 4 and 5 copper projects in Oman utilising an old mine pit from the adjacent Lasail West mine. David Archer, Savannah’s chief executive, said Oman’s Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA) had asked for further studies and test work but it had been given the green light in principle.
PowerHouse Energy Group PLC said it is on the cusp of redefining the waste-to-energy industry with its breakthrough Distributed Modular Gasification (DMG) technology. Its ultra-high temperature system transforms rubbish into electricity with no toxic by-products and effectively zero greenhouse gases.