Cash-strapped Orosur Mining Inc (LON:OMI) has managed to raise US$250,000 from a “sophisticated international mining company” to help finance the next stage of development at its Anzá project in Colombia.
Impressively, the gold miner sold 3.6mln shares at C$0.091 – more than double what they were trading at on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Monday.
Orosur’s Loryser subsidiary ran into financial difficulty earlier this year having been hindered by various operational challenges at the San Gregorio mine in Uruguay.
Given the substantial premium, Orosur shares jumped by a third to 4.1p, although they were changing hands for more than three times that this time last year.
Hargreaves Lansdown rises on Numis upgrade
Hargreaves Lansdown PLC (LON:HL.) is one of the top blue-chip risers in London after Numis Securities upgraded its rating for the investment platform group to ‘add’ from ‘hold’.
The City broker hiked its target to 2,198p, up from 1,861p previously, with the FTSE 100-listed stock currently changing hands at 2,072p, up 2.9% on Monday’s close.
In a note to clients, the Numis’ analysts said: “We believe HL is a structural growth story which it has been ever since IPO and should remain, possibly for decades to come.
“We see the potential for platform businesses to increasingly manage a customer's investments and wealth becoming a much greater and more comprehensive financial services offering.”
They added: “By virtue of delivering growth in the most adverse of market conditions we believe HL is a low risk business as well as being a high growth and highly profitable business.”
Management Consulting Group plunges on Kurt Salmon escrow funds update
Management Consulting Group PLC (LON:MMC) shares slumped on Tuesday after confirming it still hasn’t received all the money from the 2015 sale of one of its subsidiaries.
The consultancy sold part of its Kurt Salmon business to Wavestone (previously named Solucom) back in 2015.
As part of that deal, around £6mln was held in escrow which was due to be released in two tranches on January 7, 2018 and July 8, 2018.
Approximately £2mln of the second tranche has now been released but MCG has had to leave around £1.6mln in escrow over claims lodged by Wavestone last month.
The board said it is “confident” that it isn’t liable for those claims and that it will get its money back, although it can’t be sure this will be during 2018. Shares dived 20% to 1.8p.
£500mln added to Sky’s value on Fox bid reports
Sky PLC (LON:SKY) has seen another £500mln added to its market capitalisation this morning after reports suggested 21st Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ:FOXA) is preparing a new £25bn bid to top the offer the satellite broadcaster has received from Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA).
The Financial Times claimed that Fox’s offer will almost certainly be at a premium to Comcast’s most recent bid of 1,250p per share.
The US company could make the new offer as soon as this week, the FT added, if its earlier bid for Sky is formally approved by the UK government.
With Sky’s current share price at 1,503p, up 2.3% on Monday’s close, shareholders are betting that even more bids could be forthcoming.
Totally’s full-year revenues surge thanks to transformational Vocare acquisition
Totally PLC (LON:TLY) was among the top risers in London on Tuesday after it reported a surge in full-year revenues, largely thanks to its acquisition of urgent care services provider Vocare.
Revenues in the 15 months to March 31 increased ten-fold to £42.5mln (12 months ended 31 Dec 2016: £4.0mln), allowing it to swing to a pre-tax profit of £2.1mln (2016: loss of £1.5mln).
The acquisition of Vocare last October was “transformational” and chief xecutive Wendy Lawrence said the journey ahead now looks to be a “very exciting” one. Shares jumped 16.7% to 24.3p.
Short but sweet from Arcontech
Financial markets data specialist Arcontech Group PLC (LON:ARC) delivered a short but sweet update this morning which sent the stock soaring.
Shares climbed by a fifth to 89.5p after the company revealed profits for the year to June 30 will be “comfortably ahead” of market expectations. No more detail was given or, it seems, needed.
TP-ICAP plunges as CEO departs
TP-ICAP PLC (LON:TCAP) shares plunged as it said chief executive officer John Phizackerley is quitting with immediate effect as the financial group warned that Brexit-related costs will see its 2018 underlying operating profit miss analysts' expectations.
The world's biggest interdealer broker said full-year earnings would be hurt by additional costs of about £10mln related to Britain's planned departure from the European Union and new rules on market transparency.
It added that Phizackerley would be replaced by Nicolas Breteau, who currently leads TP ICAP's global broking business. Shares dived by a third to 287.2p, wiping more than £500mln from ICAP’s value.
Proactive news headlines:
Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) has said its BRICKLIVE Christmas show will launch in Monaco in December this year. The AIM-listed media group said its subsidiary, Brick Live International Limited (BLI), had signed a licence agreement with Grimaldi Forum Monaco (GFM) to stage and promote the BRICKLIVE Christmas show at the Grimaldi Forum in the principality between 22 December 2018 and 6 January 2019.
Kalahari Metals, a privately-held company in which Metal Tiger Ltd. (LON:MTR) has recently invested, has begun exploration for copper and silver in Botswana.
Shanta Gold Ltd (LON:SHG) has met its cost reduction target three months ahead of schedule. The East Africa-focused gold producer has shaved an annualised US$7.2mln from costs by renegotiating contracts with suppliers and by eliminating non-essential general and administrative spending.
Stobart Group Ltd (LON:STOB) intends to make a proposal for former chief executive Andrew Tinkler's 7.7% shareholding as soon as practicable, the Southend Airport owner said today. The company said it has been already been approached by one party interested in making an investment.
Communication and information technology services provider AdEPT Telecom PLC (LON:ADT) enjoyed another period of strong growth in the year to the end of March, delivering its 15th consecutive year of growth in underlying earnings.
Eckoh PLC (LON:ECK), the global provider of secure payment products and customer contact solutions, has won a contract worth at least £1.4mln with Capita Customer Management.
ITM Power PLC (LON:ITM) revealed, after Monday’s close, that it has agreed a new strategic partnership agreement with Sumitomo Corporation. It sees the potential development of multi-megawatt projects in Japan, based exclusively on ITM Power's electrolyser products.
Collagen Solutions PLC (LON:COS) boss Jamal Rushdy has told investors that the company is in a stronger position after what was a difficult year for the regenerative med-tech group.
Keywords Studios PLC (LON:KWS) has announced it has made a number of key appointments within its leadership team to strengthen the business, further drive integration and support its continued growth path.
An upswing in exploration for minerals in West Africa provided good momentum for Capital Drilling PLC (LON:CAPD) in the latest half-year. Revenues at the drilling contractor rose to US$27.8mln in the quarter to June, a 4.5% increase on the previous quarter though 9.4% lower than a year ago.
Shefa Yamim (A.T.M.) Ltd (LON:SEFA) has reported “encouraging” results from the first bulk sample collected at the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 2 site. The Israel-focused precious stone explorer said the BS-1230 bulk sample, the first of five collected at the end of 2017 to determine a potential resource, was dominated by gemstones at 99%.
Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd (LON:CGH) has to date drilled approximately 6,000 metres of the planned 30,000 metre 2018 drilling programme. Eight drill rigs are currently in operation on site. Already, the company has confirmed that gold mineralisation continues further along strike northeast of the existing one million ounce resource.
Telit Communications PLC (LON:TCM) said it would vigorously defend itself should a civil claim be made against the company regarding its involvement with Bartolini After Market Electronic Services (BAMES) by BAMES's administrators.
discoverIE Group PLC (LON:DSCV) announced that it is convening an extraordinary general meeting to be held on 26 July 2018 at which a resolution of special business will be proposed which will, if passed, resolve the technical non-compliance issue that has been identified with respect to distributable reserves of the group's holding company, which it referred to its full-year results published on 5 June.