3.45pm: WPP to create new agency
WPP PLC (LON:WPP) climbed 3% to 878.40p after the advertising and marketing heavyweight said it plans to merge of its two businesses to create a new creative, data and technology agency.
WPP said it will combine Wunderman and J. Walter Thompson, which currently share many core clients. The newly formed agency will be led by Mel Edwards, who currently serves at Global CEO of Wunderman. Tamara Ingram, CEO of J. Walter Thompson, will become chairman.
Also in the spotlight, Active Energy PLC (LON: AEG) shares jumped 31% to 1.61p as the company said has been formally issued with two five-year commercial timber permits by Canadian authorities.
AIM-listed Active Energy said the licences will it to cut 100,000 cubic metres a year, which will be used to provide raw material for its CoalSwitch biomass technology.
READ: Active Energy surges as it confirms receipt of Canadian timber permits
Meanwhile, NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI) shares pulled 1.5% lower to 26.10p as the healthcare investor put itself up for sale.
Bosses at AIM-quoted NetScientific say the market is currently undervaluing the strength of its portfolio of healthcare companies, but that the best way to maximise shareholder value is to sell off all or parts of the business.
READ: NetScientific puts itself up for sale; says it’s feeling unloved by the market
12.50pm: Lekoil seeking licence extension
Lekoil Ltd. (AIM:LEK) shares fell 7.6% to 8.41p in early Monday afternoon trade as the oil and gas explorer said it has requested from Nigeria’s Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources an extension to hold its OPL 310 offshore licence.
Lekoil has asked the Ministry to grant an extension of the license beyond February 2019 in an effort to recover the three years and one month that Lekoil said it lost because of regulatory delays beyond its control. Lekoil holds an unconditional 17.14% interest in the license and an additional 22.86%, subject to Ministerial consent.
Also stepping lower, Location Sciences Group PLC (LON:LSAI) was off 4% at 2.40p as the mobile location technology company said it’s proposing to raise a minimum of £2.3mln and a maximum of £3.0mln through the issuance of ordinary shares.
The AIM-listed said price per placing share and open offer share will be 2.25p per share. Gross proceeds would be used for UK, US and European business development, among other items. Also, Location Sciences said it reached the milestone of £100,000 of monthly revenue in October 2018, more than double the revenue run rate of close to £50,000 per month in August 2018.
But investors sent shares of Sanderson Group PLC (LON:SND) up 10% to 93.90p as the software maker raised its 2018 dividend by 13% after delivering strong profit growth.
The AIM-quoted company, whose planning software is used by retailers, supply chain logistics and others, plans to pay a final dividend of 1.75p, bringing the total dividend for the year to 3.0p from 2.65p a year ago. Sanderson’s operating profit in the year to September 30 rose by 33% to £5.18mln.
READ: Sanderson hikes full-year dividend after delivering robust profit and cash position
11.00am: MedaPhor pulls back on fundraising plan
MedaPhor Group PLC (AIM:MED) shares declined 2.9% to 8.50p as the maker of ultrasound training simulators announced plans to raise £5 mln through a share placing.
MedaPhor is seeking a conditional issue of 58,823,530 placing shares at 8.5p per ordinary share. It is also proposing to raise up to a further £2.1mln through the issue of up to 24,219,354 open offer shares to qualifying shareholders at 8.5p per open offer share. Net proceeds will be used to develop its AI-based products to submit them for regulatory approval, and for general working capital purposes.
At the same time, shares of Petro Matad Limited (LON:MATD) sank 43% to 2.91p as the exploration company said the Wild Horse well in Mongolia failed to find hydrocarbons.
The company said the well had been drilled down to a depth of 1,490 metres in the Baatsagaan Basin but that oil shows were observed in the well. In September, Petro Matad had a similarly disappointing result in the Snow Leopard exploration well.
READ: Petro Matad's Wild Horse well update disappoints
Gainers, meanwhile, included Anglesey Mining PLC (LON:AYM) as shares of the company zoomed up 44% to 1.80p following an agreement with QME Mining Technical Services to perform design, engineering and optimisation studies.
The studies will be carried out to review various development and mining alternatives for the Parys Mountain copper and zinc project.
READ: Anglesey Mining secures agreement for design, engineering and optimisation studies at Parys Mountain
9.30am: Lamprell lands Saudi Aramco agreement
Lamprell PLC (LON:LAM) shares leapt 10% to 66.84p in early Monday trade as the oil-services company said it’s been chosen as a contractor on Saudi Aramco's Long Term Agreement for Offshore Facilities program.
Lamprell, which submitted a bid in a consortium with Boskalis, will focus on the engineering, procurement and construction of offshore structures, such as topsides and jackets. Lamprell said within the scope of the LTA, investments could exceed US$3bn per annum, with an initial program duration of 6 years.
Also moving higher was Faroe Petroleum PLC (LON:FPM), up 22% at 153.50p after Norway’s DNO offered to buy the offshore oil firm.
DNO already owns 28% of Faroe and with a cash offer of 152p, it wants to take up the rest of the company’s shares. The offer price is a 44% premium to Faroe’s share price before DNO’s first share acquisition made in April.
READ: Faroe Petroleum shares soar as DNO makes premium-priced takeover bid
But in the losing column was Vectura Group PLC (LON:VEC), with shares sliding 8% to 71.30p after the inhaler-maker’s VR475 treatment for severe uncontrolled asthma failed in a late-stage study.
While top-line results from the Phase III trial showed the inhaler helped bring about some improvement in sufferers, it wasn’t deemed ‘statistically significant’ when compared with those taking the placebo.
READ: Vectura to take £40mln hit as severe asthma treatment fails in late-stage study
Proactive news headlines:
Anglesey Mining PLC (LON:AYM) has entered into an agreement with QME Mining Technical Services under the terms of which QME will carry out an agreed programme of design, engineering and optimisation studies relating to the future development of the Parys Mountain copper and zinc project in Anglesey.
PowerHouse Energy Group PLC (LON:PHE) has been invited to engage in “advanced commercial discussions” over its waste-to-hydrogen DMG technology with Toyota Tsusho – a trading subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate, Toyota Group.
Restaurant booking app group BigDish PLC (LON:DISH) rallied as it said a stock overhang that had weighed on the shares had been cleared. Joost Boer, chief executive, said: "We note the recent share price volatility on the back of thin volumes but believe the overhang in the market has now been removed and we look forward to future positive market updates."
Seeing Machines Limited’s (LON:SEE) aviation division has inked its first commercial agreement. It will provide eye and face tracking sensor technologies to the Royal Australian Air Force.
Kodal Minerals PLC (LON:KOD) has reported assay results for an additional three diamond drill holes at the Boumou prospect on the 450 square kilometre Bougouni lithium project in Southern Mali.
Anglo African Oil & Gas PLC (LON:AAOG) told investors that drilling has now resumed at the TLP-103C well site, at the Tilapia project in the Republic of the Congo, following necessary repairs to the contracted drill rig. The repair work followed an unscheduled inspection by AAOG staff. The temporary suspension of operations has now ended, with repaired and reconditioned parts now installed back onto the rig.
Rosslyn Data Technologies PLC (LON:RDT) has reported a narrowed loss in its half-year results as an increase in contract values boosted earnings.
Renewables group SIMEC Atlantis PLC (LON:SAE) is to diversify into hydro-generation through the acquisition of a portfolio of assets from its major shareholder for £124.7mln in total. A conditional agreement has been reached to acquire Green Highland Renewables from SIMEC group, part of the GFG Alliance that owns 49.99% of Atlantis.
VR Education Holdings PLC (LON:VRE) has launched its Apollo 11 HD virtual reality experience on the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality platforms.
SDX Energy Limited (LON:SDX) (CVE:SDX) chief executive Paul Welch has described the third quarter as “one of the best financial periods in the company's history”, whilst the quarterly statement confirmed higher production, revenue and earnings. Net production averaged 3,889 barrels oil equivalent per day over the first nine months of 2018.
Savannah Resources PLC (LON:SAV) had added several Portuguese and international consultancies to the team overseeing its Mina do Barroso lithium project in Portugal.
Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR)(ASX:THR) has established an initial mineral resource estimate for the Bonya Copper Mine deposit within the Bonya tenement, held jointly with Arafura Resources Limited (AXS:ARU).
Rambler Metals and Mining PLC (LON:RMM) (TSXV:RAB) said it has entered into a definitive subscription agreement with CE Mining III Rambler Limited which provides for an investment of US$2mln in the form of senior secured convertible loan notes. The company said the proceeds received from the Convertible Loan will be used to strengthen its working capital position and for general corporate purposes and will provide adequate working capital for approximately three months, based on current projected expenditures and anticipated production.
Sunrise Resources PLC (LON:SRES) said that further to its announcement of 1 November 2018, the company has identified a replacement Nominated Adviser and the due diligence process, which is required to be undertaken on the firm, is in progress. The group said its directors are confident that the company will be in a position to announce the appointment of the new Nomad well in advance of 1 February 2019, with a further announcement to be made in due course.
SigmaRoc PLC (LON:SRC) said its CEO, Max Vermorken, will be speaking later today and tomorrow at the London Mello event for institutional fund managers and private investors. He will highlight SigmaRoc's core buy-and-build strategy and how the board intends to apply it to create significant value for SigmaRoc's shareholders and stakeholders. An updated presentation can be found on the company's website.
Tekcapital PLC (LON:TEK), the UK intellectual property investment group focused on creating marketplace value from university technology, announced that the company will be presenting at the Mello London investor conference to be held over the next two days at the Clayton Hotel Chiswick, Chiswick High Road, London, W4 5RY. It said its CEO, Clifford M Gross will be presenting to delegates at 2:20pm today and 11:40am tomorrow in the Roskill Room, respectively.