Webis Holdings PLC (LON:WEB) saw its shares soar 26.5% higher to 1.55p in late afternoon trading on after the gaming company said it has turned a corner after swinging to a small profit for the full year, although it cautioned that challenges "may lie ahead".
The AIM-listed firm posted a pretax profit of US$5,000 for the year ended May 31 compared to a loss of US$1.2mln last year on the back of 65% jump in revenue increase to US$371.9mln, up from US$224.3mln the previous year.
The company's core watchandwager.com business had a "significantly" improved year with both revenue and gross profit up substantially.
Meanwhile, building services group Bilby PLC (LON:BILB) gained 22% to 87.5p after it also swung to a profit for the first half amid a strong trading momentum and new contract wins.
Bilby made a pretax profit of £2.4mln for the six months ended September 30, compared with an £844,000 pretax loss a year earlier, as revenue rose to £38.6mln, up from £30.1mln last year.
And Kin Group Plc (LON:KIN) – shares in which were readmitted to AIM last week after it moved out of administration – gained 14.5% to 7.8p as the cash shell revealed that Courtney Investments has a 4% holding in the firm.
The firm, formerly Fitbug Holdings, which wiped off its debt, raised new equity, and refreshed its board has said it is looking to complete a reverse takeover within the next six months.
1.30pm: Premaitha Health plunges on patent infringement ruling
Shares in Premaitha Health PLC (LON:NIPT) saw its shares plunge by 38% to 4.88p in lunchtime trading after it said the UK High Court has ruled that its non-invasive prenatal testing device IONA infringes on Illumina Inc's patents.
The ruling deemed all of Illumina's UK patent families to be valid, although invalidated a number of claims of the Lo 1 family of patents and decided the IONA test infringes that patent in only some respects.
However, it deemed that the test infringes on patents in the Quake and Lo 2 patent families, and refused Premaitha's application for declarations of non-infringement in respect to two proposed alternative methods of performing the IONA test.
Premaitha warned that, if upheld on appeal, the judgement could impose restrictions on its ability to sell into the UK market - which represents around 20% of its revenue - and or other remedies against the company in favour of Illumina.
Luxury yacht maintenance company GYG PLC (LON:GYG) also saw its shares sink lower, down 12.3% to 114.5p after it warned that revenue and earnings for 2017 will be below consensus expectations, but higher than last year, due to contract delays.
In a trading update, GYG said: “The group has experienced a number of small delays on the start dates of some refit contracts and, whilst work on these contracts has now begun, a greater portion of this work will now be undertaken in Q1 2018.”
And Empresaria Group plc (LON:EMR) saw its shares drop 20% to 101.5p after the specialist staffing outfit said it expects to deliver a "record" adjusted pretax profit for its full year, but this will fall short of current market expectations.
11.30am: Premier African Minerals soars on Zulu scoping success
Premier African Minerals Ltd (LON:PREM) shares advanced around 15% on Tuesday Morning after the value of its Zulu lithium project was underlined by a new scoping study. Consultant Bara estimated a value of US$127mln for a 15-year open cast mining operation.
Digital agency Jaywing Plc (LON:JWNG) lost around 22% after releasing interim results highlighting that “consumer-led businesses in the UK grapple with difficult trading conditions.” It warned that a number of existing clients have delayed or reduced marketing spend, which has impacted on its financial performance.
9:30am: easyJet and Homeserve shares rise in early deals, while Aggreko slumps
easyJet Plc (LON:EZJ) shares rose more than 5% in Tuesday’s early deals even though profits were down, with the budget airline claiming a robust performance in a difficult year for aviation. It highlighted that it carried a record number of passengers, 80mln people.
Elsewhere, Homeserve Plc (LON:HSV) was up nearly 4% after a positive first half financials, and as the group highlighted progress with policy acquisitions and new partner relationships.
B&Q owner Kingfisher Plc (LON:KGF), meanwhile, was a faller on lower like-for-like sales in the third quarter. The retail group’s shares were down just more than 1% to trade at around 301p.
Temporary and events power firm Aggreko Plc (LON:AGK) slumped nearly 10% as it released its third quarter results which were impacted by its problematic unit in Argentina.
Proactive news headlines:
Premier African Minerals Limited (LON:PREM) says the value attributed to its Zulu lithium project in Zimbabwe was higher than expected in a scoping study. Consultant Bara worked on two options at Zulu: just to produce a concentrate; or for Premier to build its own lithium production plant.
Background checks technology specialist ClearStar Inc (LON:CLSU) has appointed Robert Martin to the newly created role of vice president of Sales and Business Development.
NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI) has announced that its portfolio company, ProAxsis has revealed that direct sales of its ProteaseTag® Active Neutrophil Elastase Immunoassay (NEIA) will increase by a factor of three in the second half of 2017 compared to the first half. The AIM-listed transatlantic healthcare IP commercialisation group added that ProAxis also expects total revenue to surpass £1mln in 2018.
Fast-growing specialist staffing outfit Empresaria Group plc (LON:EMR) is set for another record year of adjusted profits, albeit below current market expectations.
Mporium Group PLC (LON:MPM) has signed a deal with an unnamed pure-play, listed online female fashion eCommerce company.
Atlantis Resources Limited (LON:ARL) has signed a heads of terms agreement with the Duchy of Lancaster for an option on the long-term lease of the riverbed required to develop the Wyre estuary tidal barrage and flood protection project.
Handheld diagnostics specialist genedrive PLC (LON:GDR) has confirmed it and its partners have been formally awarded a £600,000 grant from Innovate UK, a body which supports technology and growth businesses. The money will be used to help fund the development of a disposable, centrifuge-free plasma separation device.
SDX Energy Inc (LON:SDX) chief executive Paul Welch has highlighted that the company is now seeing the financial benefits of last year’s acquisition of Circle Oil’s assets. "This has been one of the company's strongest quarters yet, with net revenue for the period up 271% year on year and drilling success being achieved across our North African portfolio,” Welch said in the group’s third quarter update.
Europa Oil & Gas Holdings PLC (LON:EOG) has confirmed it is following a two-track strategy to secure planning permission for the proposed Holmwood well near the Horse Hill site in Surrey. Surrey County Council’s planning committee last month deferred a decision, citing the traffic management plan attached to Europa's application for Holmwood.
Oracle Power PLC (LON:ORCP) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with two China state-owned companies to advance its coal assets in Pakistan. The UK energy developer said the MoU with Sichuan Provincial Investment Group Co. Limited (SCIG) and PowerChina International Group Limited records the intention to proceed to a formal agreement to collaborate in setting up, constructing, owning and operating the company’s flagship Thar project.
Bushveld Minerals Limited’s (LON:BMN) vanadium subsidiary has started testing a battery with South African electricity supplier Eskom, its first deployment in the country. The vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) will be deployed at Eskom’s Research, Testing and Development (RT&D) Centre in Rosherville, South Africa.