Falanx Group Limited (LON:FLX) shares jumped 4.5% to 5.60p in late afternoon trading as the AIM-listed firm said it won new contracts worth £0.9mln in new revenue.
The company said MidGARD cybersecurity monitoring service has secured further contracts to deliver cyber protection to sensitive UK Government networks.
Falanx Group said a major UK Government department has selected MidGARD for an initial one-year period, extendable to five years to provide monitoring over a large network of UK Citizen data, with an initial revenue value of £230,000 per annum.
And Sosandar PLC (LON:SOS) shares rose 7.4% to 16.5p as online women’s fashion retailer reported a like-for-like (LFL) sales increase of over 200% in the last 6 months of its financial year.
The AIM-listed group said it expected full-year revenues for the previous financial year to be no less than £1.34mln as LFL sales for the 6 months ending 31 March 2018 rose 268% compared to the prior year.
Meanwhile, Arrow Global Group PLC (LON:ARW) shares fell 11.8% to 278.0p after Berenberg kicked off its coverage of the debt purchaser with a bearish ‘sell’ note.
Arrow was founded shortly before the financial crisis and benefitted from that period by picking up debt on the cheap and recovering significantly more than it paid out.
That’s not the case anymore though, according to Berenberg’s Donald Tait, with Arrow preferring more secure debts for which it pays a higher price.
“[Debt] portfolios purchased recently are likely…to have lower returns and Arrow’s vintages since listing have not experienced multiple expansion to the levels seen post-crisis,” wrote Tait in a note to clients.
1pm: CH Bailey shares jump as it revalues Malta property
C H Bailey PLC (LON:BLEY) shares rose by 5% to 102.5p in lunchtime trading, as the AIM-listed company said it has successfully let and revalued a property at 30 St Barbara Bastion in Malta.
The company said it let the property for residential use on a 12-month contract and reclassified it as an investment asset rather than a fixed asset.
It added that the property revaluation to €3.50mln has resulted in an estimated profit uplift of €1.32mln which it expects to show as a non-cash revaluation in the group's results frrom the year to 31 March 2018.
Meanwhile Moss Bros Group plc (LON:MOSB) shares rose 9% to 51.4p as it revealed that its chairman Debbie Hewitt will retire next year as the men’s suits retailer revealed an improvement in its sales declines.
In a trading update for the 12 weeks to May 12, Moss Bros reported total sales down 2.4% year-on-year, while like-for-like sales dropped 5.2%.
However, the group said that marked an improvement on the results posted in March when it posted a 4.4% drop in total sales and a 6.5% slump in like-for-like sales.
And Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO) shares jumped 8.7% higher to 1,379.0p after the software group, which issued a profit warning back in March, said a new US$40mln licensing deal will help bolster its first-half revenue.
In a pre-close season trading update, the FTSE 100-listed firm said that the earlier than expected signing of a new contract meant its first-half revenue would be better than the guidance it gave of minus 9% to minus 12% on a constant currency basis.
11.30am: Beowulf Mining weak as it launches 1.5mln share subscription
Beowulf Mining plc (LON:BEM) shares dropped 18.2% to 5.40p in late morning trading as the miner launched a subscription for 30mln new ordinary shares at 5p each to raise £1.5mln.
The company said the funds raised will be used for general working capital purposes and to support activities across its three business areas.
Elsewhere, Mitchells & Butlers PLC (LON:MAB) fell 5.3% to 260.6p as the pubs and restaurants operator reported a rise in like-for-like sales and growth in revenue but saw its profit fell for the 28 weeks to the end of April hit by a squeeze on margins.
The company said its pre-tax profit in the period fell to £69mln, down from £75mln a year earlier, although its like-for-like sales rose by 1.6%, impacted by the adverse weather in late February and early March caused by 'The Beast from the East'.
And Crest Nichols Holdings PLC (LON:CRST) shares shed 13%% to 429.0p as the housebuilder said its operating margins would be around the bottom end of its 18-20% guidance range.
in a trading update covering the six months to the end of April, the company said margins had been depressed by a generally flat pricing environment against a backdrop of continuing cost inflation of around 3% to 4%.
9.30am: LiDCO Group up as firm signs two new US customers
LiDCO Group plc (LON:LID) shares jumped 16% to 7.25p in early morning trading as the blood monitoring group said it has contracted two additional customers to its recently launched differentiated High Usage Programme (HUP) business model.
The company said the two latest customers to sign multi-year contracts are a Level 1 trauma centre in New York and a 1000+ bed hospital in the US Mid-West.
The company said HUP is building momentum after its launch in July 2017, and now has four significant US customers.
Meanwhile Itaconix PLC (LON:ITX) shares soared 108% higher to 12.0p as the company said Dutch chemicals giant AkzoNobel has moved from the technical evaluation phase to defining a joint marketing effort for the use of the former's bio-based chelates in detergents and cleaners.
Itaconix said commercial details remain to be finalised; however, it added both sides expect to complete agreements before the end of the year.
And Ceres Power Holdings PLC (LON: CWR) shares rose 9.3% to 14.0p as the fuel cell technology firm announced a strategic collaboration with Weichai Power, one of China’s leading automobile and equipment manufacturing companies.
The Aim-listed firm said this agreement provides Ceres Power with access to the Chinese market, the world’s fastest-growing market for fuel cells.
Proactive news headlines:
Itaconix Plc (LON:ITX) said it and the chemicals giant AkzoNobel have moved from the technical evaluation phase to defining a joint marketing effort for former's bio-based chelates used in detergents and cleaners. Itaconix said commercial details remain to be finalised; however, it added both sides expect to complete agreements before the end of the year.
Ceres Power Holdings PLC (LON:CWR) has announced a strategic collaboration with Weichai Power, one of China’s leading automobile and equipment manufacturing companies, and potential initial equity investment worth £17mln. The Aim-listed firm said this agreement provides Ceres Power with access to the Chinese market, the world’s fastest-growing market for fuel cells.
Seeing Machines Limited’s (LON:SEE) Western Australia-based distributor is to take another 2,500 of the AIM-listed firm’s Guardian in-cab driver-fatigue monitoring units.
Remote meetings technology company LoopUp Group PLC (LON:LOOP) is to hit the big time with the £61.4mln acquisition of the MeetingZone Group.
Hurricane Energy PLC (LON:HUR) has updated investors on the advancing development of the Lancaster field, in the West of Shetland region offshore UK. It is working to deliver Lancaster’s Early Production System in the first half of next year, and the project has now reached another key milestone.
OptiBiotix Health plc (LON:OPTI) has signed a 5 year exclusive manufacturing and supply agreement for its cholesterol and blood pressure reducing strain in India. The AIM-listed company, which develops a range of compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and skin care, said the agreement was with Akums Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a leading contract manufacturer in India.
Tharisa PLC (LON:THS) has made a first move into Zimbabwe with the acquisition of 90% of Salene Chrome, located on the country’s Great Dyke platinum belt. Salene has three special grants covering an area of approximately 95sq km on the eastern side of the Great Dyke, which entitles it to mine illuvial chrome at surface.
Nigeria focused Eland Oil & Gas PLC (LON:ELA) told investors that the Opuama-9 well, at the OML 40 asset, is expected to perform at the high-end of prior guidance – which was pitched at 4,000 to 6,000 barrels per day gross. Big Pic in October.
Cadogan Petroleum PLC (LON:CAD), in a statement after Tuesday’s market close, told investors that that operations will have to be shut-in at the Cheremkhivsko-Strupkivske (also referred to as ‘Cher’) production license in Ukraine.
Asiamet Resources Ltd (LON:ARS) has published a maiden mineral resource estimate for the BKZ polymetallic deposit in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The initial Mineral Resource Estimate for BKZ is subdivided into the BKZ upper polymetallic zone (BKZ-UPZ) and the BKZ lower copper zone (BKZ-LCZ).
Greencoat UK Wind PLC (LON:UKW), the leading listed renewable infrastructure fund invested in operating UK wind farms, announced its intention to accelerate the closure of the placing it launched on 8 May 2018 following material investor demand. The group said the bookbuilding process will close no later than 1:30 pm London time on 17 May 2018.