It is another stellar day for investors in Hvivo Plc (LON:HVO) as a further 112% was added to the junior pharmaceutical stock following yesterday’s news that a ‘universal’ flu vaccine moved a step nearer.
On Monday, the company reported good responses in a phase IIb trial of its new treatment FLU-v.
Trevor Phillips, hVIVO’s executive chairman, said FLU-v is now positioned to enter a Phase III trial, with clear disease and symptom-based endpoints identified.
Phillip’s joined Proactive Investors in the Stocktube studio on Tuesday to discuss the plans for the Phase III trial.
Hvivo shares were up 35p or 112% on Tuesday to trade at 65.1p, marking an overall 228% gain over the last two trading sessions.
2:20pm: CyanConnode, Ubisense, Polarean Imaging and PowerHouse Energy
CyanConnode Holdings (LON:CYAN) shares moved 3.29p or 33% higher, to 13.17p, as the ‘smart cities’ company told investors that it has now received a R&D tax credit refund, and also hosted its AGM.
Ubisense Group Plc (LON:UBI) gained 11%, to trade at 74.25p, after this morning revealing a new contract win – worth more than £4mln in 2018 and with a framework for follow into 2019 – between the SmartSpace division in North America and a provider of military training solutions (which is in turn contracted to “a founding NATO member”).
Medical imaging firm Polarean Imaging Plc (LON:POLX) saw its shares rise 13%, to 17p, as it holds an ‘investor symposium’ today. It is to include presentations by the group’s chief technology officer, clinical adviser, and chief operating officer.
Polarean, in a stock market statement, said no new material or trading information will be provided.
Clean energy technology specialist PowerHouse Energy Group Plc (LON:PHE), up 4%, earlier today announced that its demonstration energy generation plant, located at a University of Chester facility, had been connected to the ‘microgrid’ for the University of Chester’s Thornton Science Park.
It marks the first practical application of leading-edge technology which converts waste plastics into clean electrical energy (via a process of gasification.
11:45am: McCarthy & Stone and Hornby join Tuesday's profit warning club
Elsewhere, both McCarthy & Stone PLC (LON:MCS) and Hornby Plc (LON:HRN) were sharply lower as they joined Debenhams and Footasylum in Tuesday’s profit warning club.
Retirement home builder McCarthy & Stone shares were down 20p or 15% to 110.32p, while collectibles firm Hornby shed 9.6%.
9:25am: High street woes as Debenhams and Footasylum shares slump
There was more high street woe for Debenhams PLC (LON:DEB) which saw its shares slump after its third profit warning in six months, with the department store chain pointing to “exceptionally difficult times in UK retail”.
The retailer, which first warned on profits in January and again in April, said trading in May and early June fell short of expectations due to increased competitor discounting and weakness in key markets.
It now expects pre-tax profit for fiscal year 2018 to be in the range of £35mln to £40mln and underlying earnings (EBITDA) of £160mln to £165mln.
READ: Tuesday's FTSE 100 market report
The current market consensus for pre-tax profit its £50.3mln. In the 15 weeks to June 16, like-for-like sales increased 1.7% and digital sales grew 16%.
Debenhams shares fell a further 11% in Monday’s early deals, and are now down by about 50% in the calendar year to date.
DS Smith Plc (LON:SMDS) share were 3% lower, at 532p, after it confirmed the launch of a £1bn cash call, with the proceeds to be used to partly fund its previously announced acquisition of Spanish rival Europac for €1.67bn (£1.4bn).
Ashtead Group Plc (LON:AHT) faced headwind in this morning’s dealings, down 6.45%, despite the equipment hire firm claiming a demand boost coming as a result of the active US hurricane season. It posted a 16% increase in full year underlying pre-tax profit to £927.3mln from £793.4mln a year ago.
On AIM, athleisure retailer Footasylum PLC (LON:FOOT) saw almost half of its value wiped away on after it warned its bottom line will be hit by increased investment in its stores this year.
The AIM-listed firm, which joined the junior market back in November, said it will pour more money into its consumer offering ahead of its peak Christmas trading season, while it also plans to invest heavily into store upsizes and the opening of new sites.
Moving in the other direction, Taptica International Limited (LON:TAP) saw its shares jump by 15% in early morning trading as it said its underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the 2018 financial year would be moderately ahead of market expectations.
Other Proactive news headlines
Powerhouse Energy Group PLC (LON:PHE) has announced that its demonstration energy generation plant powers the Energy Centre at University of Chichester’s Thornton Science Park microgrid for the first time. The AIM-listed firm said this is the first practical application of this leading-edge technology of taking waste plastic and converting it to clean electrical energy through PHE’s proprietary G3-UHt Distributed Modular Gasification (DMG) process.
Haydale Graphene Industries PLC (LON:HAYD) has been paid £150,000 for fast-tracked pre-production trials of a graphene-enhanced composite material for an unnamed customer, It said today. Ray Gibbs, chief executive said: "This contract, fully funded by the customer, is a perfect example of the work Haydale is doing across a range of composite product applications.
Orosur Mining Inc (LON:OMI)(TSE:OMI) has appointed Bob Schafer as a non-executive director. He replaces Roger Davey, who is retiring. Schafer has nearly 40 years of experience in the mineral industry, working in the international sector with both major and junior mining companies. He is founder and managing director of Eagle Mines Management, a globally active private natural resources corporation.
Ethernity Networks Ltd (LON:ENET) hailed operational progress in its first year as a listed company but the company admitted its financial performance had disappointed The internet data handling specialist, which listed in June of last year, said that in keeping with the experience of its peers, it had taken longer than anticipated to land sales contracts as a result of which it had failed to meet expectations in terms of revenue and operation profit for 2017.
InnovaDerma PLC (LON:IDP) chairman Haris Chaudhry said the life sciences and beauty products group had delivered a strong revenue performance over the financial year just ending. But profits are likely to undershoot expectations thanks to significant one-off investments made in the final quarter, allied to stock availability issues for its Roots hair care range.
Strategic Minerals Plc (LON:SML) has completed a 65 hole aircore drilling programme at the Hanns Camp joint venture and at the Mt Weld tenement of the Central Australian Rare Earths project, both in Australia, A total of 3,863 metres was drilled At Hanns Camp, 25 holes totalling 1,290m were drilled, while at Mt Weld, 40 holes totalling 2,573 metres were drilled.
Alliance Pharma plc (LON:APH) is acquiring the Asia-Pacific marketing rights to medical anti-dandruff shampoo Nizoral for £60mln, funded using a mix of cash and debt. It is raising a net £32.1mln via a placing of stock with investors at 91 pence and will draw the rest down from its borrowing facility.
University technology incubator Frontier IP Group Plc (LON:FIPP) has taken a 24% stake in Cambridge Material Testing Solutions. CMTS is developing new software and hardware to measure the material characteristics of critical metal components, such as how hard or stiff they are and their remaining working life.
Alternative energy group Active Energy Group PLC (LON:AEG) said it is now focusing on more attractive markets after a year of restructuring in 2017. The group has now identified the regions in which it wishes to operate - primarily the USA, Canada and Europe – and has exited the low margin, high-risk Ukrainian wood fibre operations, leaving it to focus on its coal replacement biomass fuel, CoalSwitch, and its engineered soils derivative, PeatSwitch.
In results for the year to December 2017, Ormonde Mining Ltd (LON:ORM) booked a loss of just €100,000, as against a loss of €2.29mln in 2016. Cash in the bank at year end was just over €500,000. The reduction in losses comes as Ormonde continues with construction at the Barruecopardo tungsten project in Spain.
Rose Petroleum PLC (LON:ROSE), the AIM quoted natural resources business, has announced the appointment of Cantor Fitzgerald Europe as its financial adviser and joint broker with immediate effect. It added that Allenby Capital will remain as the company's AIM nominated adviser and Turner Pope Investments remains as a joint broker.
Savannah Resources Plc (LON:SAV), the AIM quoted resource development company, announced that it has issued 3,051,190 new ordinary shares at exercise prices of 6p per share and 4.62p per share following an exercise of warrants and options.