Antofagasta PLC (LON:ANTO) topped the blue-chip fallers on Tuesday after the Chilean miner said trade tensions are clouding the short-term copper demand outlook.
The shares fell 6.8% after the company reported a drop in first-half earnings and cut its dividend.
“An operationally challenging 1H18 has seen an even more challenging set of financials as EBITDA missed our forecast by 9%,” noted Royal Bank of Canada.
“The lower EPS 19.6 cents vs RBC at 24.7 cents led to a commensurately lower interim dividend at 6.8 cents vs. RBC at 8.6 cents,” the bank added.
Ian Forrest at retail investor-focused The Share Centre found the odd reason to be cheerful.
“With profit margins under pressure it was good to see both main cost saving programmes bearing fruit and that is expected to continue in the second half. The company did announce an interim dividend but it has fallen in line with earnings to 6.8 cents,” Forrest commented.
“The fall in earnings was greater than expected and the market reaction is not surprising,” he added.
“The company warned of considerable market uncertainty in the short term due to ongoing international trade negotiations it still believes that prospects for the second half are better,” the analyst concluded.
On the financial side, revenues for the half year grew about 4% year-on-year on higher realized copper prices. pic.twitter.com/482IXFMK8N
— Antofagasta PLC (@AntofagastaPLC) August 14, 2018
Falanx retreats as losses widen
Cyber-security and intelligence services provider Falanx Group Limited (LON:FLX) took a battering on Tuesday after the release of its full-year results.
The firm reported an underlying loss (LBITDA) of £1.6mln in the year to the end of March, compared to a loss of £1.2mln the year before. The loss before tax widened to £2.54mln from £1.69mln.
Mike Read, who is both chairman and the chief executive of Falanx – well, it makes the annual appraisal process so much easier – said the cyber-security and intelligence services market is growing and evolving at a phenomenal rate.
Based on its annual revenues, which were up to £3.0mln from £2.7mln the year before, Falanx’s growth rate could not be described as phenomenal but it is still early days for the new management team, with monthly recurring revenue at the end of July running at £240,000, versus a run rate of £190,000 in the year to the end of March.
Perhaps more importantly, the company said it was profitable at the EBITDA level in July following strong deliveries.
None of which persuaded investors; the shares were down 18.5% at 4.075p.
D4t4 buoyed by contract wins; Avanti flying high after Indonesian pay-out
New contract wins gave a boost to D4t4 Solutions PLC (LON:D4T4), the data solutions provider.
The company flagged up five contract awards, prompting a 21.5p mark-up in its share price to 170.5p.
Nice update from D4t4 Solutions $D4T4.L with a summary of new contract wins, strong cash balance and inline outlook with better H1 weighting. AGM on 23rd ???? https://t.co/ROktFJfE30
— Norbert Colon (@vodkaquickstep) August 14, 2018
“We have been successful in converting a number of significant opportunities from our strong pipeline. This puts us on track to return to more normalised levels of business weighting for the first half of this financial year, against the comparable period last year," said Peter Kear, D4t4’s chief executive officer.
Avanti Communications Group PLC (LON:AVN) was flying high after it said it had now received the full US$20.075mln outstanding payment in full and final settlement following the adjudication decision of the London Court of Arbitration between itself and the Government of Indonesia.
READ: Avanti Communications receives US$20mln from Indonesia
The dispute centred on a satellite lease deal back in 2016 which had been only partially paid by the Indonesian authorities, and, in June, the London Court of International Arbitration awarded just over US$20mln in Avanti’s favour.
Avanti’s shares were up 10% at 5.92p late in the morning on Tuesday.
SalvaRx - not so much a cash shell as a shares shell after Canadian buy-out
Shares in biotechnology outfit SalvaRx Group PLC (LON:SALV) shot up after it said it was selling its 94.2% interest in its SalvaRx Limited subsidiary.
The buyer is Portage Biotech Inc (OTCMKTS:PTGEF), a Canadian company that is paying the equivalent of US$75.8mln for the cancer-focused drug discoverer’s immuno-oncology assets.
The consideration will be satisfied through the issue of 757.9mln Portage shares to SalvageRx.
“I am pleased to sign a deal to sell our assets to Portage and at the same time crystallise value for the company's shareholders,” said chief executive Ian Walters, who is also on the board of Portage.
SalvaRx’s shares spared 77% to 79p, giving it a market value of £16.3mln.
SalvaRx Group sells main subsidiary for paper for a premium of over 250% to the current market valuation. Holders will get the paper. Buyer is Canadian Portage Biotech.
Insane 55-140 spread at the moment. Closed 44.6.$SALV.L
— MrContrarian (@MrContrarian) August 14, 2018
Panthera Resources PLC (LON:PAT) shares soared on Tuesday as it unveiled ‘significant’ drill results from the Naton gold project in Burkina Faso.
Drill holes tested the Somika Hill, Kaga Vein, Bido Vein and Somika Hill East targets. Highlights included gold readings between 0.52 grams per tonne to 4.76 grams per tonne.
Realm Therapeutics sloughs off almost half of its value; REACT sees a third of its value wiped out
Shares in Realm Therapeutics PLC (LON:RLM) practically halved after a Phase 2 trial of PR022, its skin inflammation treatment, did not show the desired effect in the trial.
“We are conducting a full review to determine whether there is a path forward for our proprietary technology in Atopic Dermatitis, and to evaluate the implications for our Acne and Psoriasis programmes. We will provide an update on our plans in September,” the US company said.
Realm Therapeutics says the atopic dermatitis Phase II trial with PR022 has failed. CC today at 9am ET / 2pm BST $RLM
— Juan P. Serrate, DVM (@JPZaragoza1) August 14, 2018
$RLM Realm Therapeutics investors itching to sell as lead eczema drug fails phase II study https://t.co/UvrZve91ep via @proactive_UK #RLM #brighterir #AndrewScottTV #CapitalNetwork1
— Proactive Investors (@proactive_UK) August 14, 2018
Market makers scrubbed away a third of REACT Group PLC’s (LON:REAT) share price away after the deep cleaning and decontamination specialist placed 140mln shares at 0.3p a pop.
The shares plunged to 0.25p from 0.375p overnight.
The proceeds of the placing will strengthen the Company's balance sheet and provide additional working capital, thus enabling it to target larger contracts in its core areas of expertise.
The company will also invest in additional sales and marketing as well as continuing to improve its internal systems and controls.
Proactive news headlines:
Motif Bio PLC (LON:MTFB) (NASDAQ: MTFB) said the US regulator has begun the process of assessing whether the company’s next-generation antibiotic should be allowed to go on sale in America. Motif drug iclamprim has been granted a priority review by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) with a decision deadline, known as a PDUFA date, of February 13 next year.
Remote meetings firm LoopUp Group PLC (LON:LOOP) is on track to meet market expectations this year following the acquisition of MeetingZone which is settling in better than had been expected.
KEFI Minerals PLC (LON:KEFI) has appointed a Head of Project Implementation to oversee development of the company’s Tulu Kapi gold project in Ethiopia. A construction oversight team has also been appointed and has begun to engage with the principal project contractors Lycopodium and Ausdrill.
Pawnbroking firm H&T GROUP PLC (LON:HAT) continued to achieve growth from all of its core revenue streams in the first half of 2018.
Tekcapital PLC (LON:TEK) has reported a jump in revenue from services in the first half of the year as the value of its portfolio companies expanded.
Staff vetting specialist ClearStar Inc (LON:CLSU) has been appointed preferred provider by business jet group Gulfstream. ClearStar already handles Gulfstream’s direct hires but in future 50 contract labour suppliers will be asked to use its screening service as well.
Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) has simultaneously run two events of its BRICKLIVE brand to bolster its presence in the Japanese market.
Wolf Minerals Ltd (LON:WLFE) has executed its previously announced debt restructuring deal which involves the deferred payment of principal, interest and other amounts due at the end of July 2018. To underpin this, the company has received guarantor consent from the German government’s United Loan Guarantee Scheme.
Premier African Minerals Ltd (LON:PREM) is raising £750,000 before expenses at 0.18p per share. The money raised will be allocated to the restructuring and ongoing holding costs of the RHA tungsten mine which it plans to bring back into production.
Touchstone Exploration Inc (LON:TXP) (CVE:TXP) on Tuesday confirmed strong production growth in the first half of the year and told investors that it will now expand its new drilling plans for the remainder of the year. The Trinidad-focused junior oiler intends to drill an additional four wells in the campaign, before the year’s end.
Galileo Resources PLC (LON:GLR) is to undertake a second diamond-drilling programme on its highly prospective 85%-owned Star Zinc project in Zambia. The programme will comprise about 1,000 metres of diamond core drilling to depths of up to 80 metres, with average depth likely to be around 60 metres.