Mission Marketing Group PLC (LON:MMG) saw its shares jump 9% to 54.50p in late afternoon trading as the marketing communications and advertising group reported a strong rise in first-half profit, revenue, and dividends and was bullish on the full-year outlook.
For the six months to June 30, Mission Marketing’s headline pre-tax profit increased by 23% to £3.5mln, as revenue grew by 10% to £37.0mln, leading the firm to hike its interim dividend by 27% to 0.70p per share.
David Morgan, Mission Marketing’s chairman, said the group is “confident that not only will we deliver against 2018 forecasts but remain frabjously optimistic about our long-term prospects."
Eurasia Mining plc (LON:EUA) shares tacked on 6% at 0.44p, with the company saying it’s now debt free as it has made the final settlement of its remaining loan facility by issuing new equity.
Eurasia Mining said it received a conversion notice from the YA II PN Ltd fund, the lender via the loan facility, requesting the conversion of US$522,097.17, which was to be paid with 117.9mln new shares priced at 0.34p each. The AIM-listed company has concurrently appointed Optiva Securities as its new joint broker and has placed newly issued shares to the broker’s clients.
AIM decliners included United Carpets Group plc (LON:UCG), which fell 5.8% to 730p after the carpets and floor coverings retailer warned investors that conditions remain challenging.
Like-for-like sales over the past six months slipped 1.9%, despite the company injecting more cash into its marketing budget. UCG is now guiding for “significantly lower” first-half profits. While this summer’s warm weather and the World Cup tournament helped some retailers, United Carpets said those factors just “added further distractions”, having a “significant adverse impact” on sales.
14.30pm: Gulf Marine gains on contract wins
Gulf Marine Services PLC (LON:GMS) shares claimed an 8.2% rise to 45p after the company won three long-term contracts in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The firm, which provides self-propelled, self-elevating support vessels for the offshore oil, gas and renewable energy sectors, said the contracts are for one Small Class and two Mid-Size Class SESVs. The contracts are expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2018 or in the first quarter of 2019.
At the same time, SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (LON:SBTX) fell 8.6% 21p even as the AlM-quoted company said first-in-human studies of its SkinBiotix technology are underway.
Results from the initial trial, which will test different concentrations of the cream, are due next month as is the read-out from the second, which will assess 20 people receiving a 12-hour treatment. A third study element has been rescheduled to start in November because of capacity issues within the clinical research organisation.
Also falling was Kingfisher PLC (LON:KGF), slumping 8.6% to 21p after the DIY retailer posted a nearly 20% slide in half-year profits, hurt by ongoing troubles at its French business, Castorama.
The FTSE 100 component's French business continues to offset growth in the UK. Revenue in France were broadly flat at £2.27bn, but profit tumbled by a third to £122mln.
12.45pm: Premaitha surges on legal settlement
Premaitha Health PLC (LON:NIPT) zoomed 16% higher to 14p after saying it reached a settlement with Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) over a patent litigation involving non-invasive prenatal testing.
The molecular diagnostics group, which is AIM-listed, said it will make a series of settlement payments to Illumina, which should amount to no more than £1mln. Premaitha also said it’s entered into a licence and supply partnership deal with Illumina.
Meanwhile, Shield Therapeutics PLC (LON:STX) charged up 11% to 350p as the biopharmaceutical firm signed a licencing agreement for the commercialisation of its Feraccru treatment of iron deficiency in adults.
Shield will receive an upfront licence payment of £11mln from Norgine BV for the licencing of Feraccru in Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Shield is also eligible for milestone payments.
On the FTSE 250 index, Babcock International Group PLC (LON:BAB) gained 2% to 705p after the engineering firm said trading has been in line with its expectations and that its outlook is unchanged.
Babcock said it’s engineering order book and pipeline “remain strong” with a combined value of around £32bn. For the full year, the company still expects “low single digit” underlying organic revenue growth with stable margins.
11.30am: Pan African Resources rises
Pan African Resources PLC (LON:PAF) shares added on 7.8% to 859p as the gold miner’s chief executive Cobus Loots said the company acted decisively to reconfigure operations as it aimed for sustainable profitability.
“Our cost base is now significantly lower, and efficiencies and stability improved due to the restructuring we effected during the year,” said CEO Cobus Loots in a statement releasing Pan African’s financial results.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ), another AIM-listed gold producer, saw its shares march up 6.5% to 58p after the firm declared its first dividend as half-year profit jumped.
An interim dividend of US$0.03 per share will be paid, said Anglo Asian, which also said it swung to a pre-tax profit of US$8.1mln.
But losing ground were shares of Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM), down 33% to 17p even as the pharmaceutical firm said its started a Phase III study for its MED2002 erectile dysfunction treatment.
The MED2002 trial, which is expecting its first patients to enter the study within the next month, would involve 1,000 patients with headline data expected by the end of 2019. Futura also said its CSD500 erectogenic condom received shelf life approval from regulators.
10.20am: InnovaDerma’s Skinny Tan going to Boots
InnovaDerma PLC (LON:IDP) rose 6.3% to 178p as the skincare company said its Skinny Tan bronzing products would be stocked at retailer Boots, representing a “significant increase” in its distribution reach.
The range will start appearing on the shelves of 1,250 stores nationwide from March – in time for peak selling season. The products will be available on Boots.com from next February. InnovaDerma also said its full-year revenue rose 21% to £10.7mln.
Also moving higher was Big Sofa Technologies Group PLC (LON:BST), with shares up 10% to 895p after the video technology company won a US$350,000 project from beverage giant PepsiCo. (NASDAQ:PEP).
The AIM-listed company said it will use its Video Observer technology to observe behaviour in households in different countries in an effort to gain greater insight into food and beverage consumption.
On the downside, ReNeuron Group PLC (LON:RENE) dropped 17% to 67p after the stem-cell research company said a US-specialty pharmaceutical company decided not to move forward with a licensing agreement.
ReNeuron and the unnamed US company in July reached an exclusivity agreement for the potential out-licensing of ReNeuron's hRPC retinal stem cell technology and therapeutic programmes. “Importantly, the US company's decision is not related to the hRPC technology itself or to the data generated with the hRPC platform but is instead specific to the US company,” said ReNeuron.
Proactive news headlines:
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd (LON:BMV), the Asia-focused resource development group, is pleased with progress at its Gubong and Kochang projects in South Korea.
Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM) has commenced a Phase III study for its MED2002 erectile dysfunction treatment, while its CSD500 erectogenic condom received shelf life approval from regulators.
Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE) expects revenues in the current fiscal year to be roughly on par with those in the fiscal year just ended as it implements changes to its Fleet division's business model.
Eckoh PLC (LON:ECK) has revealed that trading in the first five months of its current financial year up to 31 August was in line with expectations. In a very brief statement ahead of its Annual General Meeting, to be held later today, the global provider of secure payment products and customer contact solutions also said its financial position remains strong.
Accesso Technology Group PLC (LON:ACSO) has reported strong growth in its underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the first half of the year as it continued the rollout of its ticketing and eCommerce technology internationally.
Primary Health Properties PLC (LON:PHP) has acquired a modern keyworker accommodation unit for a total consideration of £22.8mln, located next to Wansbeck General Hospital and let to Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
Ergomed PLC (LON:ERGO), which provides specialist services to the pharmaceutical industry, said it has reduced the company’s cost base after a disappointing first half performance.
ReNeuron Group Plc (LON:RENE) is free to resume discussions with other interested parties after an unnamed US company decided not to pursue a licensing deal for its hRPC platform.
Pan African Resources plc (LON:PAF) chief executive Cobus Loots reflected on a challenging year which saw the company ‘act decisively’ to reconfigure operations as it aimed for sustainable profitability.
Landore Resources Ltd (LON:LND) is looking forward to a couple of important milestones for the BAM Gold deposit in the coming months, thanks to a successful summer programme of drilling.
Anglo Asian Mining Plc (LON:AAZ) shares surged in early trading Wednesday after the firm declared its maiden dividend amid a jump in profits in its half year results.
Junior explorer Metiminco Limited (LON:MNC) is adding a nickel string to its bow with the acquisition of a direct shipping project in the Solomon Islands.
InnovaDerma PLC (LON:IDP) said its Skinny Tan bronzing products would be stocked in Boots as it provided an overview of a successful year operationally.
SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (LON:SBTX) said first-in-human studies of its SkinBiotix technology are underway. Researchers will be assessing skin irritancy, moisturisation potential and skin barrier function.
Healthcare-focused advisory group Cello Health plc (LON:CLL) has reported a rise in half-year profits, driven by another six months of strong growth from its Cello Health division.
A strong performance from its portfolio of international brands boosted first half sales at Alliance Pharma plc (LON:APH).
Real Good Food PLC (LON:RGD) has appointed Steve Dawson as a non-executive director with immediate effect. Dawson has “extensive experience” in both the USA and in food brands.
Drug discoverer Immupharma PLC (LON:IMM) has appointed Stanford Capital Partners and SI Capital as joint brokers
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (LON:BMY) is to publish the authorised history of GCHQ, Britain’s intelligence and security organisation.