Symphony Environmental Technologies plc (LON:SYM) surged on Monday after a weekend of press reports suggesting the UK could ban the sale of plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds by 2020.
The AIM-quoted firm has developed d2w, an ingredient that can be added to plastics during the manufacturing stage to help them biodegrade.
UK government officials want to introduce the ban by October 2020 and environment secretary Michael Gove has launched a consultation on the plans.
Under the plans, pharmacies would still be able to sell plastic straws and restaurants, pubs and bars could stock the items to be used on request.
Gove said the ban would help to “turn the tide on plastic pollution”. Shares were up 14.7% to 8.9p in late-afternoon trading.
B&M acquires French discount chain for €91.2mln
After the close of play on Friday, B&M European Retail (LON:BME) confirmed the acquisition of French general merchandise discounter.
Analysts at City broker Liberum said the €91.2mln purchase of the 95-store chain offers a “new, sizeable and attractive growth channel” for B&M.
They added: “There appears to be a good opportunity to refine Babou's offer by leveraging B&M's supply chain strength to move towards the limited assortment discount offer that has proved successful for B&M in the UK.”
B&M shares climbed 4.9% to 404.3p on Monday, although they are still below their 2018 peak of 434p.
MX Oil shares plunge as it raises £1mln at a steep discount
Oil and gas investment group MX Oil PLC (LON:MXO) is the day’s big loser, shedding half of its value after raising £1mln at a steep discount.
The AIM tiddler issued 1bn new shares at 0.1p apiece, more than half what they were being sold for on Friday afternoon.
The cash will be invested into the OML 113 licence offshore Nigeria, which MX and its partners renewed for another 20 years in August.
The two Aje wells within the licence currently produce around 3,300 barrels of oil per day, but MXO – which owns 6.7% of the licence – is planning a phase two development which is targeting 8-12,000 bopd.
Shares dived 49% to 0.11p, just above the placing price.
Easyjet lifted by Ryanair’s half-year results
Easyjet PLC (LON:EZJ) got a lift from fellow budget airline Ryanair PLC (LON:RYA), which reported a decent set of interims despite several setbacks in the half.
The Irish carrier was beset by strike action, both of its own staff and those in air traffic control, but still managed to report an 8% rise in revenue to €4.8bn.
Profit after tax fell 7% to €1.29bn, although that was well-flagged, given Ryanair’s company-specific issues as well as broader industry headwinds such as price competition and higher fuel prices.
Still, the company repeated its full-year guidance, giving the City some hope that the situation may not be as bad as had been feared.
Ryanair shares rose 4.4% to €11.96, while Easyjet wasn’t far behind, up 3.6% to 1,106p on the positive read across.
D4t4 Solutions rises as first-half revenues treble
D4t4 Solutions PLC’s (LON:D4T4) revenue almost trebled in the first half of its financial year, sending shares in the data platform solutions provider soaring on Monday morning.
Group revenue jumped 194% to £14.0mln in the six months ended September 30 (H1 17: £4.8mln), thanks to a number of new contracts and strengthened relationships with existing customers.
Boss Peter Kear said it was an “exciting time” for D4T4, which remains on track to report full-year profits “comfortably” in line with forecasts. Shares rose 8% to 210p.
Safestyle inks non-compete deal with “aggressive” rival
Safestyle UK PLC (LON:SFE) also surged after it penned a five-year non-compete agreement with a rival double glazing firm.
The AIM-quoted firm, which makes and sells PVC windows and doors, was forced to issue two profit warnings earlier this year after an “aggressive” new competitor entered the market.
That rival was Safeglaze, which was set up by Safestyle’s founder and former sales chief Mitu Misra.
But the two have reached an agreement which will see Misra receive 4mln shares – currently worth almost £3mln – as well as up to £2mln in cash in return for withdrawing his new company from markets where his old company currently operates.
With Misra out of the way, investors poured back in, sending the stock up by a third to 74.5p. That’s still half what they were selling for in January, though.
“Seminal” stem cell insurance deal for WideCells
WideCells Group PLC’s (LON:WDC) stem cell healthcare insurance subsidiary, CellPlan, has signed a partnership agreement with international stem cell extraction and storage company, Smart Cells.
Under the terms of the deal, Smart Cells will offer CellPlan insurance to its 60,000 clients across Europe, Africa, Asia the Middle East.
The staged roll-out will begin in Spain over the next four weeks, followed by the UK before expanding around the world.
“This is a seminal deal for CellPlan, in line with our corporate strategy focused on building revenue growth and delivering accessible and affordable cell treatments to more people,” said CEO João Andrade. The stock zipped 14.5% higher to 0.54p.
Proactive news headlines:
Orgenesis is to invest at least another US$1mln into Hemogenyx PLC (LON:HEMO) after the biopharmas entered into a second collaboration deal in as many days.
WideCells Group PLC’s (LON:WDC) stem cell healthcare insurance subsidiary, CellPlan, has signed a partnership agreement with international stem cell extraction and storage company, Smart Cells.
Feedback PLC (LON:FDBK), the specialist medical imaging technology company, has received a number of new significant orders for TexRAD technology. The orders for its patented image texture analysis technology have been placed by prestigious university hospitals across Europe, including the first orders from universities in Belgium and Portugal.
Synairgen PLC (LON:SNG) has kicked off the second part of the Phase II trial of its SNG001 drug – a cold and flu treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) sufferers.
Specialist bank PCF Group PLC (LON:PCF) posted a 50% increase in its lending portfolio for the year as it achieved record new business, mostly with prime credit grade customers. In a trading update for the year ended 30 September 2018, the AIM-listed company said its lending portfolio grew to about £219mln from £146mln last year, putting it on track to meet its target of £350mln by September 2020.
SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited (LON:SAE) said the two turbines retrieved from its MeyGen tidal power project in July for maintenance are back online.
Remedial work by Echo Energy PLC (LON:ECHO) at the Cañadon Salto Field in the Fracción D licence in Argentina has seen a major boost to production. Pilot interventions were carried out on four wells, which boosted output to 115 barrels per day from 5 barrels
Victoria Oil & Gas PLC (LON:VOG) increased sales by 11% in its latest quarter, though presidential elections in Cameroon have delayed the resumption of supplies to power company ENEO. Gross sales in the three months to September rose 11% at 356mln cubic metres of gas or an average 3.72mln per day.
NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI), the transatlantic healthcare IP commercialisation group, announced that its portfolio company Glycotest Inc. has successfully agreed to a US$10mln Series A financing round with Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a leading healthcare group based in China.
Kavango Resources PLC (LON:KAV) has acquired three new prospecting licences in Botswana. The acquisition follows completion of Phase 1 of the company’s airborne electromagnetic survey over the Kalahari Suture Zone project, which is prospective for nickel, copper and platinum group metals.
Tlou Energy Limited (LON:TLOU) has started drilling at Lesedi in Botswana to test gas flows in the area where a new coal bed methane-fired power station is planned. The first well, 'Lesedi 3P', is scheduled to drill down to a depth of 580m and should covert a significant portion of the currently established gas resources to the more certain reserves category and have potential to deliver gas to the proposed central processing facility and power station planned for nearby.
Red Rock Resources PLC (LON:RRR) has cleared away a major legal obstacle on its 1.2mln ounce Migori project in Kenya. A deal has now been reached with the Attorney General, and the company is free to apply for licences without prejudice.
Scotgold Resources Limited (LON:SGZ) said that it was notified on 19 October 2018 that Nathaniel le Roux, its company’s non-executive acquired 50,000 ordinary shares in the company at a price of 25p each on 18 October 2018. Following the share purchase, Scotgold said, le Roux will have a beneficial interest in 22,368,223 ordinary shares, representing approximately 49.01% of the issued share capital, up from 48.90% previously.
Marketing network, The Marketing Group PLC (NASDAQ:TMG), has announced changes at blockchain technology firm, TRUTH, which is one of its incubator companies. The changes at TRUTH include a new CEO and plans to arrange additional funding.
Redx Pharma PLC (LON:REDX), the drug development company focused on cancer and fibrosis, has announced that the Company's poster, entitled 'ROCK2 inhibitors for the treatment of chronic kidney disease' will be presented at the American Society of Nephrology (ASN) Kidney Week 2018 in San Diego, CA, on 25 October 2018 from 10:00am to 12:00pm.