Connect Group PLC (LON:CNCT) was the biggest faller in London on Monday after the logistics and distribution business revealed a slow start to the year.
It reported a fall in revenues in the opening few months of its financial year, while the £11.6mln sale of its book division has been thrown into doubt.
Connect – which owns Smith News, the UK’s largest magazine and newspaper distributor, as well as airline content specialist Dawson Media Direct and logistics group Tuffnells – said back in October that it expected to return to growth in 2018.
As ABC sang: that was then; this is now.
Sales fell 3.5% to £564.5mln in the 19 weeks to 13 January from £584.9mln in the same period a year earlier, with the expected declines of newspaper and magazine sales more than offsetting growth in its Mixed Freight and Pass My Parcel (PMP) businesses.
The company also noted that the £15mln of cost savings from the integration of Tuffnells with Smith News is taking longer than expected to come through.
The shares lost more than a quarter of their value on the shocking update.
The board of Quadrise Fuels International PLC (LON:QFI) put out a statement concerning the stock’s share price movement, but it was strictly of the “don’t ask me, guv” kind of statement.
The stock has fallen by around 20% today but Quadrise said it knows of no reason why that should be the case.
Crucial preparatory work in relation to the proposed combustion boiler trial in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been progressing for some time and installations for fuel production are now essentially complete and a third-party engineering study for the boiler consumption phase has been delivered to the client in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but investors may be getting impatient.
The trial will commence once all the agreements are finalised, which the company continues to anticipate will be early in 2018.
10.30 ... Greatland Gold on a surge; Indivior benefits from rival's delay
Greatland Gold plc (LON:GGP) made a mid-morning surge towards the top spot after it emerged that Stephen Beetham has more than doubled his stake.
The shares were up 17.4% at 0.78p, making them the third best performers on the London stock exchange.
The mine development company’s shares took a dive in the middle of the month when mining giant Newmont Mining decided not to exercise its option to invest in the Ernest Giles project in Australia.
READ Greatland Gold boss confident about Ernest Giles potential despite Newmont decision
Indivior PLC (LON:INDV), the speciality pharmaceutical company, got a lift from a bit of bad news relating to a rival.
The stock rose 5.7% after it emerged Camurus, which is working on a rival drug to Indivior’s Sublocade, had suffered a regulatory setback.
Numis Securities described it as a “small positive” as it reiterated its ‘buy’ recommendation for Indivior.
“Over the weekend Camurus announced that it had received a Complete Response Letter (i.e. not approvable) from the FDA in relation to CAM2038, the nearest competitor to Indivior’s Sublocade. This goes against the recommendation for approval from the Advisory Committee (in late Nov-17), and likely reflects the regulators’ concerns about the dose versus efficacy, in our view,” the broker said.
“Camurus claims that no further trials will be needed, and so the delay may be between 3 - 10 months depending on the extent of questions. This follows the recent $110m financing for their US distribution partner, Braeburn. We view this news as a slight positive, albeit with Indivior now responsible for all the heavy lifting associated with a new product/concept launch,” Numis added.
9.30 ... Ocado promises jam tomorrow (again)
Groceries delivery specialist Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) continues to promise jam tomorrow.
Its latest deal, with Sobeys, a subsidiary of Toronto-listed Empire Foods, is to jointly develop an online grocery business in Canada.
Ocado says the partnership will create “significant long term value to the business,” but in the short-term will be a cash burden, with Ocado saying it expects to incur additional capital expenditure costs of £15mln in 2018.
The City was looking further ahead, however, at the promised benefits that will start to flow in during 2019 and thereafter, and chased the shares 11% higher to 457.5p.
“In case you hadn’t heard of Sobeys, it is Canada's second largest food retailer, operating more than 1,500 stores across the country, and generating sales of C$23.8bn in fiscal 2017, so it is not a small player,” notes Mark Brumby at Langton Capital.
Numis Securities reiterated its ‘buy’ recommendation and said it expects the business to sign multiple deals over the medium-term.
READ Ocado signs third international partnership with Canada's second largest food retailer, Sobeys
READ Learning Technologies exceeded heightened expectations in 2017
Ocado was the best performing stock in London in the first hour of trading, though at one point that accolade fell to e-learning specialist Learning Technologies Group PLC (LON:LTG), which upgraded profit expectations for the year just ended.
The LTG board said it expects group revenues for 2017 to be not less than £51.8mln, up from £28.3mln in 2016.
Adjusted earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) will be materially ahead of market expectations at not less than £14mln, up from £7mln the year before.
The doubling of EBIT was primarily as a result of strong growth in services and software licence sales, the successful integration of NetDimensions and a continued focus on controlling costs.
The shares were up 5.6% at 79p, having risen as high as 82p at one point.
Proactive news headlines:
E-learning specialist Learning Technologies Group PLC (LON:LTG) said profit and cash generation in 2017 were significantly ahead of expectations.
Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) updated investors on the progress of its 15% owned associate Helium One which is considering options for new funding to support exploration plans in Tanzania. An initial public offering (IPO), onto the Australian Securities Exchange, is one option being considered by Helium One and it has now appointed Aussie stockbroker PAC Pty to help it review this potential outcome.
Bushveld Minerals Ltd (LON:BMN) is using a strong vanadium price environment to push ahead with production increase. Bushveld produced just over 3,000 metric tonnes Vanadium (mtV) in 2017, and plans to push that rate up to 3,750 mtV this year and 5,000 mtV in 2019.
IXICO Plc (LON:IXI), the digital technologies company focused on brain diseases saw increased revenue and reduced operating losses in the year to the end of September, it said in an AGM statement.
The interest in Avacta Group Plc’s (LON:AVCT) Affimer technology continues to grow as the junior biotech announced another collaboration agreement on Monday, this time with OncoSec Medical Inc (NASDAQ:ONCS).
MaxCyte Inc (LON:MXCT) said it was in a strong financial position as it prepares for the launch of a phase I clinical trial of a cancer treatment which helps to deploy the body’s own immune defences to combat strains of the killer disease. It said it is in active discussions with the US Food & Drug Administration to begin the study of MCY-M11, which is based on its CARMA technology.
RNA therapeutics specialist Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN) has been granted another key European patent as it looks to further protect its innovative chemical modification technology.
Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) told investors it has now has a signed, binding agreement for the sale of its Italian assets to Saffron Energy plc. The deal remains conditional on Saffron completing a fund raise as well as the approval of Saffron shareholders, and it is expected that all the deal’s conditions will be satisfied by the end of April.
Michelmersh Brick Holdings Plc (LON:MBH) has made good progress with the integration of recent acquisition Carlton Brickworks and full year 2017 numbers will meet market expectations. “Demand from the house building and RMI markets continues to be robust and group's well-balanced forward order book for 2018 reflects this trend,” said the Sussex-based group.
Tekcapital PLC‘s (LON:TEK) augmented reality portfolio company Lucyd Ltd has reached the minimum subscription level for its token sale. Lucyd pte, a subsidiary of Lucyd Ltd, has sold US$1.5m of Lucyd tokens and the token event will now complete on or before 28 February. The token event had a target of US$10mln.
Redx Pharma Plc (LON:REDX) has appointed a chief medical officer ahead of the imminent launch of phase I clinical trials of its lead drug. Dr Andrew Saunders has 25 years in the cancer field and was recruited from Lytix Biopharma, a Norwegian immuno-oncology firm, where he held the same role.
Auditors at Namibian subsidiaries of Kennedy Ventures PLC (LON:KENV) expect to be able to sign off accounts by 26 February, after which Kennedy's group auditors will need another two weeks. At that point, the company plans to put its financial results out. Operations at the tantalum project remain unaffected.
Ortac Resources shares commenced trading under the name Arc Minerals Ltd (LON:ARCM) from 8.00am on Monday.
Touchstone Exploration Inc. (LSE:TXP) (TSE:TXP), the oil and gas exploration and production company active in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, has announced that Paul Baay, President & Chief Executive Officer of Touchstone, will be presenting at the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference on 23 January 2018.