Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (LON:GWMO) isn’t looking too sharp this afternoon, losing more than 30% after warning that it may have to suspend drilling in the M2-Sharktooth zone of the M2 copper-gold target in Nevada until March.
Temperatures in Nevada have fallen below freezing in recent days, meaning that drilling is now limited to daylight hours.
The explorer said the prospectivity of the target “remains as strong as ever”, but the field team is now in a “race against time” to get the latest drill programme finished before the full onset of winter.
“[This] may be successful but could also result in the need to suspend further drilling until March next year,” it cautioned. Shares have almost halved to 0.31p.
Rolls-Royce confirms further engine issues
Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR.) has confirmed it has experienced “early-stage production ramp-up challenges” with its Trent 7000 engines, although it has repeated its full-year guidance.
The aerospace engineer had expected to deliver 550 Trent 7000 engines to Airbus this quarter but said that figure would now be closer to 500.
Despite the shortfall, the FTSE 100 company reiterated its full-year profit and free cash flow guidance.
“While the production ramp up issues in Q4 are regrettable, such issues in the early stages of a new engine program are not uncommon in our industry,” read a statement in response to an earlier Bloomberg article.
“As we move into 2019 we are confident that Trent 7000 production and delivery volumes will increase significantly to meet our customer commitments.”
Shares, having been down as much as 14% earlier this afternoon, are currently down 4.7% to 831p.
Brooks Macdonald sees funds under management rise
Brooks Macdonald Group plc (LON:BRK) said its funds under management rose 3% to almost £13bn in its first quarter, sending its shares higher.
The investment manager said on Friday it had won £158mln of new business during the period and that its investment performance added £211mln as the company navigated market volatility.
Analysts at Shore Capital, which updated their forecasts on Brooks earlier this week, said it would leave its forecasts unchanged for now given we are only three months into the company’s new financial year and would assess whether a revision was necessary at the end of 2018.
Brooks Macdonald shares were 3.7% up at 1,820.00p in late afternoon trade.
Lansdowne Oil & Gas shares rise as second-largest shareholder ups stake
Lansdowne Oil & Gas PLC (LON:LOGP) has received a boost today after its second-largest shareholder upped its stake to above 20%.
Neal Griffith and Oliver Stansfeld, both of whom are directors of Brandon Hill Capital, have increased their interests to 3.78% and 2.42% respectively.
When added to Brandon Hill’s 14.3% shareholding, the combined interest of the natural resources investor and its directors now stands at 20.5%.
Lansdowne shares are up 10.5% to 1.85p shortly before midday.
UK tech stocks getting battered
London doesn’t exactly have an abundance of tech stocks, but those that are listed over here are getting hammered so far today.
Sophos Group PLC (LON:SOPH) is down 6.9% to 397.8p, Avast PLC (LON:AVST) has dropped 3.6% to 271.9p, while AVEVA Group PLC (LON:AVV) has shed 3.3% to 2,506p.
Among the blue-chips, Ocado Group PLC (LON:OCDO) is down 7.5% to 765.2p, Micro Focus International PLC (LON:MCRO) is 4.4% in the red at 1,190p and Sage Group PLC (LON:SGE) has lost 1.5% to sit at 524.2p.
The reason for the collective slump of the UK tech sector is because of US giants Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) which both disappointed overnight with their third-quarter earnings.
Bacanora making good progress at Zinnwald
Bacanora Lithium PLC (LON:BCN) said initial lithium fluoride (LiF) samples have been produced at the Zinnwald lithium project in Germany.
The samples have been produced as part of the feasibility study (FS). Bacanora said the initial sample quality is in excess of 99% purity, which is indicative of its potential to be battery-grade lithium.
The samples will be distributed to potential end users for evaluation test work, while Bacanora added that the FS remains on track for completion in the second quarter of next year. Shares are up 5% to 34p.
Hummingbird to miss gold production guidance as repair works needed at Yanfolila
It was an unwanted double whammy for Hummingbird Resources PLC (LON:HUM) investors on Friday morning.
Shares plunged more than 11% to 17.1p after the miner revealed it would miss its full-year gold production guidance, while it is looking increasingly unlikely that it will see any return on its US$2mln investment in a Canadian exploration company.
Hummingbird, which operates the Yanfolila gold mine in Mali, revealed late on Thursday that remediation work was needed at the Komana East pit after stability issues were identified, forcing it to stop mining in certain parts.
Unfortunately, heavy rains in the area have damaged a bridge on the only way in and out of Yanfolila, meaning the company can’t bring in more mining equipment, so the remediation work will have to be carried out by some of the existing fleet.
On top of that, Bunker Hill, which Hummingbird extended a US$2mln convertible loan to back in July, recently defaulted on a lease payment.
City broker Shore Capital said it saw this as an “ill wind”, especially as Hummingbird has decided not to pursue the opportunity “at this time”.
LightwaveRF losses to “somewhat more than double”
LightwaveRF PLC (LON:LWRF) has warned that losses for the year just gone are likely to be “somewhat more than double” those reported in 2017 after revenue fell and costs soared.
The drop-off in performance comes despite the fact that LightwaveRF makes the software used in smart home products, one of this year’s hottest sectors.
The AIM company said full-year revenue for the 12 months to the end of September will be a “little below” the £3.03mln it generated in 2017, although it has managed to maintain underlying margins.
The top-line dip was the result of weak first-half sales which it said was not fully addressed until new boss Jason Elliott joined in July. Shares fell 7.3% to 9.5p.
WH Ireland is Imagintik’s saviour
Imaginatik PLC (LON:IMTK) has found a nominated adviser (NOMAD) just in the nick of the time, sending shares in the management software provider soaring.
Every company on AIM needs a NOMAD, but Imaginatik shares were suspended last month when finnCap quit. The company had a month in which to find a new one or else its shares would have been delisted.
With one day to spare, Imaginatik has appointed WH Ireland, meaning its shares won’t be cancelled and can return from suspension.
The software firm has also raised £160,000 at a significant discount, but that didn’t put off investors, who were just glad to see they still had somewhere to trade the stock. Shares jumped 18.9% to 2.6p.
Proactive news headlines:
A batch of prospecting licences in Botswana that were due to expire at the end of 2018 have been renewed, Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) said.
Bacanora Lithium PLC (LON:BCN) said initial lithium fluoride (LiF) samples have been produced at the Zinnwald lithium project as part of the ongoing feasibility study.
Richard Armer, chief scientific officer of Redx Pharma PLC (LON:REDX), believes the company’s new ROCK2 inhibitor drug has the potential to be a “best-in-class agent” for the treatment of fibrotic diseases of the kidney and liver.
Sareum Holdings PLC (LON:SAR) said it had completed a share placing that has raised £850,000. The proceeds will be used for working capital purposes and to fund the development of its TYK2/JAK1 targets, which are being developed to treat autoimmune disease and cancer.
Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:ECO) (CVE:EOG) has started to look for a new partner for the Cooper Block in Namibia after Tullow Oil pulled out. Tullow will now transfer its 25% working interest in Cooper to Eco, which own 57.5% stake as a result.
Eland Oil and Gas PLC (LON:ELA) says a new in-fill well at its OML 40 licence in Nigeria will lift output from the Opuama field to a new record. Production during the Opuama-11 well test stabilised at 4,000 - 6,000 barrels per day or 1,800 - 2,700 bopd net to Elcrest, Eland’s joint venture at OML. That was in line with expectations, said Eland.
An unexpected delay in getting its Titanic virtual reality (VR) game on to the PlayStation platform means VR Education Holdings PLC’s (LON:VRE) sales will miss forecasts this year.
Sure Ventures PLC (LON:SURE) has said it is pleased with the progress made by its portfolio of tech investments so far this year.
Itaconix PLC (LON:ITX) has announced the appointment of existing non-executive director Jim Barber as its non-executive chairman of the company with effect from 1 December 2018.
Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) has confirmed that the first well in its current three exploration well programme in eastern Morocco, TE-9 has been drilled to its first casing point.
Afarak Group PLC (LON:AFRK) has been given the green light by the authorities to start mining at the Zeerust chrome mine in South Africa.
Next Fifteen Communications Group PLC (LON:NFC), the digital communications group, announced that it has appointed Numis Securities Limited as its nominated adviser and broker.