FTSE 250 stock Greencore Group PLC (LON:GNC) had the stuffing knocked out of it by its US arm recalling some sandwiches because of a health risk.
Greencore, USA, LLC is voluntarily recalling egg salad sandwiches, ham salad sandwiches, and seafood stuffing, because Listeria monocytogenes was found in environmental sampling conducted by the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA).
No finished products have been found to have Listeria present and no confirmed illnesses have been reported, the FDA said.
Listeria monocytogenes can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems, and can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.
Healthy individuals are likely to suffer short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhoea.
The shares fell 6% to 184.47p on the news and were the biggest fallers in the FTSE 350.
Stanley Gibbons takes a licking
There must be a lot of reading between the lines going on with Blancco Technology Group PLC (LON:BLTG) shares, which fell sharply this morning.
The company put out a statement this morning saying its full-year results, which were due to be announced tomorrow, have been delayed.
The results won’t be out until the review of matters notified to the market on 6 July and 4 September is complete.
As a reminder, the mobile device diagnostics and secure data erasure specialist had previously informed the market to “apply a more prudent approach to revenue and income recognition” in future.
The shares were off 15% at 48p, with traders fearing the worst.
Talking of fearing the worst, things are not going well for Stanley Gibbons Group PLC (LON:SGI), the collectibles specialist.
With interest rates so low, there has been an increase in attention on alternative investments, including stamps and the other things Stanley Gibbons specialises in, such as medals, coins, Star Wars figures, comics, autographs and, for all I know, McDonald’s Happy Meal toys.
Somehow, the company does not seem to have benefited from it; in fact, things are getting worse, as this morning’s results showed, with revenue down to £42.5mln from £59.1mln the year before, and trading losses heavier at £8.8mln versus £3.9mln previously.
A lot of those losses came from the Interiors division, and the good news is that the company has managed, at the second attempt, to sell this business for £1.5mln.
The shares fell 13% this morning to 8.125p; less than two years ago the shares were trading at 318p, but the attempt to set up an eBay-style electronic trading platform and leverage the Stanley Gibbons name has yet to pay off and this has drained the company of capital and soaked up a lot of management’s time.
Coal of Africa on fire; eServGlobal on a charge
Coal of Africa Limited (LON:CZA) initiated the sale process of the Mooiplaats Colliery in 2013; the sale has just completed.
The shares rose 20% to 3p in celebration of the long-running saga, taking the market capitalisation of the South African coal exploration, development and mining company operating company up to £54mln.
The sales proceeds of R179.9mln will beef up the balance sheet and will yield operational cost savings of around US$1.4mln a year.
“The aggregate proceeds of approximately R179.9 million will be used to settle Ferret, our Mooiplaats Black Economic Empowerment partner, funding for further development of the flagship Makhado Project or the potential acquisition of a cash generating asset,” said David Brown, chief executive of CoAL.
“The sale also frees up valuable in-house human resources, facilitating additional focus on Makhado, ensuring the asset can be brought to production optimally," he added.
Also up 20% in early deals was eServGlobal Limited (LON:ESG), the mobile financial services provider, on the back of an update on HomeSend, its joint venture with Mastercard and BICS.
In the past year, about 10 agreements have been made with banks for cross-border payments where HomeSend will be the transaction carrying platform as part of Mastercard Send Cross Border, the company said.
Annual volumes from currently identified opportunities against these agreements are expected by eServGlobal to be in the region of US$3-5bn in the medium term. Planned or expected use cases include business-to-business), person-to-person) remittances, and intra-bank transfers.
AFC Energy surges but COPL topples
“It’s alive!” cried Henry Frankenstein in the 1931 eponymous film, and the same could be said this morning of AFC Energy PLC’s (LON:AFC) share price.
The shares stormed 27% higher to 13.67p after the hydrogen fuel cell specialist said new initiatives undertaken by itself and its partner De Nora have the potential to slash the cost of hydrogen power.
There is “clarity over the roadmap to a power generation cost from the AFC Energy fuel cell stack of less than US$0.10/kWh,” said Adam Bond, chief executive of AFC.
Electrodes with two-year operational lives, against one year now, are now in view, he said, with a line-of-sight to a four-year economic operational electrode life.
Shares in Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (LON:COPL, CVE:XOP) rose from 1.13p to 1.5p last week, and with interest in the company high it has decided to tap the market to raise £2.5mln.
The company placed shares at a penny a pop, prompting market makers to slash their quotes, leaving the mid-market price at 1.2p.
Cash raised in the equity funding is earmarked to cover on-going general and administrative expenses, which mainly comprise covering a headcount of geologists, a geophysicist, reservoir engineers, a drilling engineer as well as in-house counsel.
Proactive news headlines:
Hurricane Energy PLC (LON:HUR) has updated on its progress towards ‘first oil’ production from the Lancaster oil field, in the West of Shetland region offshore UK. The company, in a statement, told investors that the Aoka Mizu floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel has now arrived at Drydock World Dubai shipyard on September 30.
Lekoil Ltd (LON:LEK) announced the appointment of Lisa Mitchell as its new chief financial officer with immediate effect. Mitchell, formerly CFO at Africa focussed firms Fastjet and Ophir Energy, replaces Bruce Burrows who opted to pursue another opportunity described as a “better fit for family circumstances”.
Oil junior Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (LON:COPL, CVE:XOP) has announced a new £2.5mln funding, with new shares being issued at a price of 1p each. Cash raised in the equity funding is earmarked to cover on-going general and administrative expenses.
Healthcare software company Wanda, a portfolio company of NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI), has been awarded a US patent relating to its core technology.
FairFX Group PLC (LON:FFX) has hired Ben Wynn, the founder of home repairs business DAD, as its chief product and marketing officer (CPMO).
Avacta Group PLC (LON:AVCT) said it has established a three-strong commercial team in the US, led by Dr Matthew Vincent, who has been appointed vice president, therapeutics business development. The company said the move would allow it to exploit the rapidly growing interest in its Affimer alternative to antibodies, and to “further grow the pipeline of evaluations and collaborations”.
The UK drugs watchdog appears to have spotted the potential of Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd’s (LON:FARN) lead drug - Traumakine, for a condition called Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). For the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has given it a Promising Innovative Medicines (PIM) designation.
Obtala Limited (LON:OBT) has raised US$2mln from a further and final subscription for preference shares in Argento Limited, the Africa-focused group’s 75%-owned forestry subsidiary.
Hydrogen fuel cell specialist AFC Energy PLC (LON:AFC) said new initiatives undertaken by itself and its partner De Nora have the potential to slash the cost of hydrogen power.
Savannah Resources PLC (LON:SAV) has received a number of approvals for the first of its planned copper mine developments in Oman, Mahab 4 and Maquail South. Ground water analysis for a tailings facility has also been completed.
Niche plastics products group Plastics Capital PLC (LON:PLA) has told investors it enjoyed a solid first half, leaving it well-placed for the rest of the year. Plastics said trading in the six months to the end of September was ahead of the prior year, primarily driven by strong organic sales growth across the board.
Media group Falcon Media House PLC (LON:FAL) has signed a commercial licensing agreement with South African digital and broadcast technologies expert Africa Enterprise Media Group. The deal will see Falcon supply its patented Quiptel Q-Flow technology to AEMG as the latter launches an over-the-top (OTT) direct-to-consumer video service in Africa.
Premier African Minerals Limited (LON:PREM) has raised £3.5mln through PrimaryBid.com. The money raised ensures that the company is sufficiently capitalised to bring the RHA tungsten project into production.
China Nonferrous Gold Limited (LON:CNG) is progressing well with repair work at the Pakrut gold project in Tajikistan, following the district's worst snowfalls for 50 years earlier in 2017. Insurance assessors have been on site, and some payments have already been made. Gold production is expected to resume in 2018.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) has completed the latest round of its JORC resource work at the producing Ugur gold deposit on the Gedabek licence. The JORC Mineral Resources Report and Ore Reserves Report reiterate the previously stated JORC resources and reserves of 199,000 ounces of gold and 1,049,000 ounces of silver for Ugur.