Shares in Amerisur Resources PLC (LON:AMER) soared after it inked a US$93mln farm-out agreement for four exploration blocks in the Putumayo basin, Colombia.
The oil & gas explorer said the deal would involve Occidental Andina, an affiliate of multinational US oil & gas firm Occidental Petroleum Corp (NYSE:OXY), purchasing a 50% interest in each of the blocks, and in return funding a US$93.25mln exploration and appraisal programme between 2019 and 2021.
Share Price 11.95p
Bid/Offer 11.9p/12p
Mecaya, Terecay, Tacacho, and Put-9 are part of $93.25m deal highlighted in green.
Re-examining, Amerisur still retains the earning assets outside the green area. The deal looking even better.
3rd purchase this morn. pic.twitter.com/QpZYmQe160
— Dearg Doom (@MyDeargDoom) November 23, 2018
The shares were up by around a fifth in mid-afternoon trading.
Gaming Realms PLC (LON:GMR) hit the jackpot with its agreement with Endemol Shine to expand distribution of the “Deal or No Deal Slingo” online casino game.
Endemol owns the “Deal or No Deal” brand and produces the TV game show equivalent, which is currently commissioned in 83 territories.
The deal follows an agreement earlier this week between Gaming Realms’ B2B software division, Alchemy Bet, to host Casonic, a new online casino brand from Norwegian gaming company River iGaming.
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12.30pm: Flybe under Virgin Atlantic microscope
Flybe to the moon… as Frank Sinatra did not sing.
Shares in the struggling airline took flight as Virgin Atlantic indicated it is interested in buying it.
Flybe Group PLC (LON:FLYB) shot up 48% to 14.3p as it confirmed media speculation that Virgin Atlantic Airways is one of the parties it is in discussion with since it put up the ‘for sale’ sign.
Twenty minutes later, Virgin Atlantic confirmed what Flybe had already confirme4d. It also noted it has a trading and codeshare relationship with Flybe and said it is reviewing its options in respect of Flybe which range from enhanced commercial arrangements to a possible offer for Flybe.
Once upon a time, Future PLC (LON:FUTR) used to be a “dead trees” magazine publisher and looked to have, to quote the Sex Pistols, “no future” but it has successfully diversified its revenue streams.
The publisher’s shares were up 7.7% after it posted an 88% rise in earnings (adjusted EBITDA) to £20.7mln in the year to the end of September on revenues 48% higher at £124.6mln.
The company achieved considerable online audience growth during the period with 142mln website users per month – up from 49mln in 2017.
Last night Stormzy made a special unannounced appearance at Future's #ProSoundAwards. He presented the Best Producer Award to legendary Fraser T Smith, saying he felt compelled to deliver the award to Smith in person because ‘He’s that good!’ pic.twitter.com/80ZQR809Hu
— Future (@futureplc) November 23, 2018
10.30am: The last thing Interserve needed was to reveal a bigger debt mountain than expected
Shares in support services group Interserve PLC (LON:IRV) have collapsed in the last three years from 525p to 33.28p on fears the debt-laden company would go the way of Carillion.
The shares took another biffing this morning, tumbling 4.9%, as the company revealed its debt mountain would be higher than expected this year.
“Chief executive Debbie White and her team are clearly doing their best to steady the ship at Interserve but the admission that net debt will end the year higher than expected, not helped by how the cash inflow from the troubled Energy from Waste business will be lower than hoped, means the company has yet to reassure shareholders and potential investors about the key issues that face it,” said Russ Mould, AJ Bell’s investment director.
“Presumably one culprit here is the still-problematic Energy from Waste operation, where project partner Renewi’s acknowledgement of further delays sparked a fresh slide in Interserve’s shares this month.
“Interserve notes that key project milestones have been met and this has triggered cash payments, but additional delays in the third quarter have also triggered fresh penalty payments. These will reduce the expected cash inflow from the project to £15 million for the year, although that still represents an improvement of the £40 million outflow suffered in the first half,” Mould reported.
“These factors explain why Interserve’s shares trade at their lowest level since the mid-1980s. Debbie White and her team are clearly aware of them and this year’s refinancing bought the company some time while the cost-cutting plan kicks in and asset sales are used to start reducing the crushing debt burden but some shareholders – and potential investors – may be wondering why a new plan designed to reduce debt is only being unveiled in 2019, when the share price slide suggests the company’s situation remains acute,” opined Mould.
Shares in Galantas Gold Corporation (LON:GAL) fell 1.375p to 4.875p ahead of the outcome of an appeal against the gold-mine developer and explorer’s planning consent.
The company agreed that its shares be suspended from trading on AIM at 10.00am Friday pending announcement of the appeal against the company's planning consent for its Omagh gold mine in Northern Ireland.
We now wait with breath abated for the outcome.
9.15am: Directa Plus glides higher after oil adsorption deal while Mobile Streams celebrates six millionth subscriber
It has been an eventful week for Directa Plus (LON:DCTA), the graphene-based products specialist.
Yesterday saw the company issue an upbeat albeit brief trading update, in which it said it was confident of meeting full-year targets and today it was on the rise after inking a supply contract for its Grayfsorber oil adsorption technology.
The shares rose more than 5% on news of the deal, which is worth €200,000.
The sale followed an evaluation by GSP of Grafysorber’s uses in removing various hydrocarbons from contaminated water that can then be recovered and recycled.
Mobile Streams PLC (LON:MOS) was in celebratory mood after announcing an agreement with CoolGames to provide its HTML5 service to third party companies in India.
The mobile content retailer revealed it had topped the 6mln subscribers level in recent months for its HTML5 games service, mobilegaming.com.
"We are very happy with the performance of our HTML5 games store since launching in India in 2018. We are very appreciative of the support and expertise CoolGames have provided and expect the partnership to flourish in the future," said Simon Buckingham, the chief executive officer of Mobile Streams.
Shares in Mobile Streams surged 22% to 0.92p but the shares remain some way short of the 2.75p level at which they started the year.
Other Proactive news headlines:
James Palmer, the chief financial officer (CFO) of Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE), is to step down from his position for personal reasons.
Gaming Realms PLC (LON:GMR) has clinched a 3-year revenue share agreement with Endemol Shine Gaming for the distribution of Deal or No Deal Slingo.
Republic of Georgia-focused oil and gas producer Block Energy PLC (LON:BLOE) ended its financial year with a “robust cash position”.
Canada-based and London-listed Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:FOG CVE:FO) closed its third quarter with cash of US$7.5mln and no debt. The business has shale interests in Australia at Beetaloo and in South Africa’s Karoo Basin.
Kodal Minerals PLC (LON:KOD), the mineral exploration and development company, has announced the appointment of Steven Zaninovich as project manager of the company's flagship Bougouni Lithium Project in southern Mali.
Base Resources Limited’s (LON:BSE) chairman believes the profitable mineral sands company “is now very well positioned to create further shareholder value.” At the company’s Annual General Meeting, held today in West Perth, Western Australia, Keith Spence - the AIM-listed firm’s non-executive chairman - said: “We have an outstanding operating asset in our Kwale Operation with strong cash generation and extensional potential, an exciting development opportunity with the World-Class Toliara Project and an outstanding team with a track-record of successful mineral sands development.”
Capital Drilling Limited (LON:CAPD), a leading drilling solutions company focused on the African markets, announced the appointment of Peel Hunt as its joint broker with immediate effect.
Oracle Power PLC (LON:ORCP) confirmed on Thursday that, as advised in its release dated 20 September 2018, Anthony Scutt, who was a director of the Company, was appointed as a consultant to the group with effect from 1 August 2018 for a fee of £2,000 per month.
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES), the tungsten, copper and gold mining company with assets in Spain and Portugal, has said its chairman, Michael Masterman, will be presenting at a forthcoming investor evening hosted by Turner Pope Investments on Monday 10 December 2018, to be held in London, W1 and which will commence at 5pm.
Alba Mineral Resources PLC (LON:ALBA), the diversified mineral exploration and development company, announced that it will be holding a shareholder update meeting and presentation followed by a Q&A session on 10 December 2018, at 6:30pm at 1 America Square conference centre, 17 Crosswall Street, London EC3N 2LB.
Asiamet Resources Limited (LON:ARS) said it will be exhibiting at the Mines and Money Conference in London from Monday 26 November till Thursday 29 November, hosted at the Business Design Centre, 52 Upper Street, Islington, London N1 0QH. The group said its management will be available to speak with investors at its stand, C20, throughout the event and will also deliver a presentation at 11:30am on Monday 26 November at the Mines and Money Premier Mining Spotlight Theatre.