LightwaveRF plc (LON:LWRF) shares were on the move today, surging over 8% to 25.75p.
The home technology specialist told investors its smart home assistant has been certified to work with Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) home products.
Lightwave Link Plus, which connects to a standard Wifi router and integrated smart home systems to control lighting, heating, power and security, is compatible with Apple’s HomeKit range.
Apple’s HomeKit items include lights and switches, wireless heating and cooling thermostats, alarms and room sensors.
Users can control these products using an Apple Home or Lightwave app on an iPhone or through voice control.
Lightwave chief executive, Andrew Pearson, said the certification under Apple's licensing scheme for Link follows more than two years of research and development.
$AAPL - LightwaveRF Shares Rise on Apple Certification https://t.co/ORTj7MJBba
— Kevin Orukele (@traderkev8) 7 July 2017
Atona Energy tumbles
Shares in Altona Energy PLC (LON:ANR) tumbled 40% on Friday to 0.225p after it announced the result of a fundraise to provide funds during its dispute with Tri-Star Petroleum Co Inc.
Altona said it had raised £150,000 through issuing 100mln shares at 0.15p each.
As revealed earlier this week the South Australian government has "now intervened in the matter", which is a dispute over a petroleum exploration licence.
Just posted: Altona Energy (#ANR) – keep-the-lights-on £0.15m placing at 0.15p https://t.co/eGU3vbDdAn
— Share Prophets (@ShareProphets) 7 July 2017
In May, Altona said its joint venture firm was in talks with Tri-Star, the new owner of the petroleum exploration licence application 604, which overlapped Altona's three licences for the Arckaringa project.
Tri-Star would not relinquish the licence, and Altona said Tri-Star will also "not consider" a commercial deal for the joint venture to be granted access to certain areas.
On Monday, Altona said that following a request from the joint venture, the South Australian government had now got involved.
9.30am Centaur shares gallop ahead on disposal and acquistion news..
Shares in Centaur Media PLC (LON:CAU) galloped up over 7% to stand at 52p a pop on Friday as the company accelerated its transformation into a business-to-business focused group.
This morning it simultaneously unveiled a major disposal and a big acquisition.
The information, insight and events group has entered into conditional agreement for the disposal of its business-to-consumer division, Home Interest to Future PLC (LON:FUTR) for an enterprise value of £32mln.
At the same time, Centaur has announced the acquisition of MarketMakers Incorporated Limited, one of the UK's leading integrated marketing services businesses for an initial consideration of £13.4mln.
MarketMakers recorded revenues of £11.4mln and adjusted EBITDA of £1.7mln in 2016.
Elsewhere, oil services group Cape plc (LON:CIU) surged over 45% to 264p on the day as it emerged that the French construction equipment maker Altrad Investment has agreed to buy the firm for about £332.2 mln ($430.3 million) in cash.
Shareholders will receive 265p per share, a 46% premium to the price at close yesterday.
Founded in 1985, Altrad has been growing rapidly by takeovers in recent years and now operates in over 30 countries worldwide with 22,000 employees.
The Montpelier-based group, which turned over €2.3bn with underlying profits of €323mln in its last financial year, said a combination of the two was ‘compelling’.
Breaking: Altrad Bids £332 Million to Buy Cape https://t.co/N3ySkyCpCM #business #scaffoldingnews #altrad #capeplc
— Scaffmag.com (@ScaffoldingNews) 7 July 2017
In other news, management consultant group Proactis Holdings (LON:PHD) saw shares rise 4% to 182p with its acquisition of specialist management software group Perfect Commerce.
It comes in a week that has already seen two chunky US/ UK mergers in the shape of Worldpay/Vantiv and Novae/Axis Capital.
This time it is AIM-listed Proactis that is the buyer, raising £70mln through a placing at 165p to help pay for the £102mln consideration, with a new debt facility to cover the remainder.
On completion, however, the chief executive of Perfect Commerce, George Wall, will take over as the boss of the enlarged group as Rod Jones retired as Proactis’s CEO yesterday.
Proactive news headlines...
Collagen Solutions PLC (LON:COS) has started a study on patients who received knee cartilage implant ChondroMimetic to assess its long term performance. Acquired by Collagen in 2015, this is a follow-up clinical study to re-establish ChondroMimetic’s Europe standard CE-mark certification.
NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI) portfolio company Glycotest has strengthened the protections around its new liver disease diagnostic with an exclusive patent in Europe. It adds to patents already issued in the US, Japan and Australia covering 50 unique glycoprotein biomarkers and related assay technology that can diagnose liver cancer.
Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) says the second half of the year will likely be as busy as the first, with a new drill program earmarked for the Pilot Mountain tungsten project in Nevada and the potential acquisition of the remaining 75% of a US lithium explorer.
Shares in Gfinity Plc (LON:GFIN) edged higher on Friday morning after the e-sports promoter appointed one of the key players at Simon Cowell’s SYCO Entertainment as its new chief commercial officer. Mark Brittain was global head of commercial at the entertainment giant and was “instrumental” in delivering multimillion pound revenue deals and in the implementation of the X Factor tour.
Blur Group PLC (LON:BLUR) has unveiled plans to raise a much-needed £1.5mln as the e-commerce enabler looks to give its proposed new-look board the financial muscle to take it forward and “optimise the business”. blur has been in discussions with potential investors for a few weeks in a bid to shore up its balance sheet.
Highlands Natural Resources Plc (LON:HNR) has raised £2mln of fresh capital, which will be enough to fund the first well at the East Denver project. The company launched the equity subscription process, supported by the Primary Bid platform, to issue new shares priced at 12p each.