Shares in Amedeo Resources PLC (LON:AMED) rose a penny to 5p as shareholders approved the proposed cancellation of the company’s listing on AIM.
The last day of trading for the shares on AIM will be 28 December.
The company will carry on in business, investing (principally) in the resources and resources infrastructure & assets sector.
Elsewhere in the resources sector, Red Emperor Resources (LON:RMP) ramped higher after it said some key permits had been granted in respect of the Winx-1 exploration well on the Western Blocks on the North Slope of Alaska.
All major permits except the permit to drill have been granted for the drilling of the Winx-1 exploration well.
The permit to drill is on schedule for submission prior to the year-end, with approval expected in January 2019.
The shares were up 12.4% at 3.11p on the news.
2.15pm: LiDCO fails to get the pulse racing
Blood flow monitoring products maker LiDCO Group PLC (LON:LID) failed to set the pulses racing with its trading update.
Based on current trading, the board now expects LiDCO product revenues for the year to the end of January 2019 to be similar to the last financial year.
The principle reasons are the deferral of revenues, which somehow the company characterised as a good thing, saying it has made more rapid progress in persuading existing large UK customers to make the transition to its High Usage Programme (HUP) business model.
To be fair to the LiDCO board, the HUP business model seems to have some similarities to the software-as-a-service model, which is known to cause a temporary loss to revenues as the manufacturer loses out on big upfront payments in return for gaining regular monthly payments.
However, the company also said an anticipated order from South East Asia has been delayed and it is experiencing longer sales cycles in the US, which probably accounts for why the shares tanked to 4.25p from 4.65p overnight.
Noon: RA International did not wait long to issue its first profit warning
RA International Group PLC (LON:RAI) only listed in June of this year but has already had its first profit warning.
The provider of services to remote locations in Africa and the Middle East said several projects that were expected to contribute to revenue in the second half of 2018 have been delayed for reasons outside the company's control.
Revenues and profits for 2018 are expected to be slightly behind market expectations, the company warned, prompting a mark down in the shares that wiped almost a fifth off the company’s market capitalisation.
The shares currently trade at 50p, having floated at 56p a pop. Back in September they were rising high at 84.5p but hit the skids after an underwhelming set of interims released in August.
The board maintains that the delayed revenue will feed through in the first half of 2019.
“Whilst it has so far taken longer than anticipated to convert bids into contracts, we have a strong pipeline of projects across a range of sectors and a project management team capable of executing and delivering larger projects," said Soraya Narfeldt, the chief executive officer of RA International.
10.15am: KEFI and Rainbow raise the flag for junior miners
While there may not be much cheer in the retail sector this morning, the junior mining sector has some scattered items of good news.
KEFI Minerals PLC (LON:KEFI) shot up 11.9% to 1.745p after it confirmed in a statement ahead of the company’s general meeting today that the development plan for the company's Tulu Kapi Gold Project in Ethiopia remains on schedule to start in January 2019.
READ KEFI secures agreement to resettle Tulu Kapi community at the beginning of next year
Elsewhere in Africa, Rainbow Rare Earths Limited (LON:RBW) has published a maiden JORC-compliant mineral resource for its Gakara rare earths project in Burundi, East Africa.
The shares rose 6.7% to 2.96p on the news.
The resource covered three areas – Gasagwe, Murambi South and Gomvyi Centre – that are very high-grade vein stock-work deposits and Kiyenzi, which is a very large, albeit lower-grade mineralised deposit.
Martin Eales, the chief executive officer of Rainbow Rare Earths, told Proactive that the company has been excited by Kiyenzi for some time.
“What we’ve announced today is over a million tonnes of resource at a 1% cut-off. It appears that Kiyenzi is potentially the tip of the carbonatite, which has fed all of our veins,” Eales told Proactive’s Andrew Scott.
“It is open in all direction and we look forward to finding more in that site,” he added.
9.15am: ASOS sneezes, Boohoo catches a cold
If Manchester United fans are feeling disgruntled, they should look at the share price of ASOS PLC (LON:ASC), the erstwhile champion of AIM.
The shares plummeted 40.5% to 2,490p after the company said it delivered 14% year-on-year sales growth in the first three months of its financial year (i.e. September to November) – good enough for most companies, but not for a glamour stock like ASOS.
As Neil Wilson of markets.com said, the bar is set high for ASOS.
Full-year sales growth guidance has been cut to 15% from the previous guidance range of 20.25%.
“November was significantly behind management expectations, with the company now warning of the ‘weakest growth in online clothing sales in recent years’.
“We do note softer consumer confidence in general – this is not just about the high street creaking under the weight of rising wage costs and legacy store portfolios. There has also been a weather factor – every retailer that ever existed blames the weather but to a degree we must accept it has been a factor this year,” Wilson said.
“Asos noted heavy discounting and promotional activity across the market, which is indicative of the real concerns facing the entire sector. Even if you’ve been relatively strong like Asos, heavy and sustained discounting by competitors eventually tells on sales and margins. This has left average selling prices down -6%, and the average basket size -3%,” Wilson noted.
#Asos shares plunge 38% at the open. And there's big fallout. #Boohoo down 13%, #Zalando down 9%, #Next down 5.6%, M&S down 3.7%.
— Paul Jarvis (@pajemiki) December 17, 2018
Despite losing two-fifths of its market value, ASOS is still worth more than £2bn but it has slipped to number five in the league table of most valuable ASOS stocks; were it not for the fact that online rival Boohoo Group PLC (LON:BOO) was down 9.2% after issuing a brief trading update this morning, ASOS would be worth about the same as Boohoo.
Proactive news headlines
A US healthcare entrepreneur is set to take a large stake in Summit Therapeutics PLC (LON:SUMM) after agreeing to pump US$25mln into the antibiotics specialist. In a separate statement, Summit confirmed chief financial officer Erik Ostrowski is to step down from his role at the end of the month to pursue another opportunity.
Plexus Holdings PLC (LON:POS) is to acquire a 49% stake in precision engineering business Kincardine Manufacturing Services for £735,000.
Concepta PLC (LON:CPT) has successfully launched in the UK its myLotus testing product for women’s fertility. Feedback from early users and fertility bloggers has been very positive, Concepta said.
Circle Property PLC (LON:CRC) has reported an increase in pre-tax profits for the first half as its net asset value (NAV) was lifted by around 30%.
BlueJay Mining PLC (LON:JAY) has upgraded the resource for its Dundas Ilmenite project in Greenland.
OptiBiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI) has appointed Fred Narbel as the new managing director of its prebiotics division; home to its SweetBiotix, OptiBiotic and microbiome modulating technology platforms.
Investment company Kazera Global PLC (LON:KZG) remains excited by the progress of African Tantalum (Aftan), in which it has a stake, and will continue to seek out other potential customers for Aftan.
Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON:JLP) has begun the commissioning of fine chrome operations at its PlatCro and DCM projects in South Africa.
Physiomics PLC (LON:PYC) has extended its relationship with Merck KGaA by signing another lucrative contract with the multi-billion-dollar German firm.
Solo Oil Plc (LON:SOLO) managing director Dan Maling told investors he is confident that the Tanzania focused explorer will be fully funded for 2019’s planned activities. It comes as partner Aminex updated on the progress at the Ruvuma and Kiliwani North projects.
Custodian REIT PLC (LON:CREI) has purchased a Volkswagen car dealership in Loughborough which has been leased until 2038.
Anglo African Oil & Gas Plc (LON:AAOG) told investors that the TLP-103C well over the weekend encountered hydrocarbons in three targets.
88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E) is looking forward to the February spud of the Winx-1 exploration as today confirms that it has secured most permits for the project.
Specialty pharma group Alliance Pharma PLC (LON:APH) has appointed two new non-executive directors to its board.
Investment company Kazera Global PLC (LON:KZG) remains excited by the progress of African Tantalum, in which it has a stake.
Eurasia Mining PLC (LON:EUA) is to be granted an additional 71.1 sq km exploration licence at its West Kytlim open pit mine in the Ural Mountains, Russia.
Tshukudu Exploration, Metal Tiger LImited’s (LON:MTR) new joint venture in the Kalahari Copper Belt in Botswana has had all of its exploration licences renewed.
ECR Minerals PLC (LON:ECR) has raised £680,000, a sum sufficient for the junior to fund its exploration programme in Australia until the second quarter of 2020.
App monitoring platform operator appScatter Group PLC (LON:APPS) has agreed to buy digital security firm Abilott Limited for up to £2.245mln.
Savannah Resources PLC (LON:SAV) said drilling at the Grandao and Pinheiro deposits within its Mina do Barroso project in Portugal has returned a series of significant lithium intersections.
Avacta Group PLC (LON:AVCT) is hosting a science day in February, which will focus on the “rapidly changing nature of oncology treatment being brought about by immunotherapies”. r
Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM) said it will host a research and development day on February 11 in London.