Curzon Energy Plc (LON:CZN) lost more than a quarter of its value after it suspended well-testing operations at its Coos Bay coal bed methane project.
The company said it is to undertake a comprehensive review of its Coos Bay strategy to determine the “optimum forward plan”.
“Ultimately, to take the field forward will demand a dedicated appraisal and drilling programme conducted by Curzon alongside potential development partners, and designed not only to discover the true commerciality of the known gas deposits, but also to establish a replicable well template for scalable development,” said Scott Kaintz, the chief executive officer.
Curzon inherited the existing wells and pad locations from the previous operator and Kaintz grumbled that this meant it could not design an optimal appraisal programme around them nor verify how exactly they were drilled and completed.
Curzon to undertake a comprehensive review of Coos Bay strategy to determine optimum go forward plan #CZN #CoosBay #CurzonEnergy https;//tinyurl.com/y76apjty pic.twitter.com/VUEGMpEUpT
— Curzon Energy PLC (@CurzonEnergy) December 20, 2018
A work-over and test programme was undertaken during 2018 and 2018 but the board is now of the view that it could be a waste to spend more money on testing the existing wells as it would be unlikely to yield meaningful results.
“A more sensible course of action would be to step back briefly to consider the best way forward at Coos Bay,” Kaintz maintained.
A pause for breath would enable the company to devote more energy to its proposed partnership with Pared Energy on an onshore natural gas project in Texas.
2.45pm: Carnival low in the water after trading update
Even before its results came out, there were signs of nervousness in the market about the shares of cruises operator, Carnival PLC (LON:CCL).
Following the results, covering the three months to the end of November, the shares were down 8.7% at 3,970p.
Fourth quarter revenue rose to US$4.46bn from US$4.26bn the year before, while profit before tax slipped to US$508mln from US$560mln.
The company said cumulative advance bookings for full year 2019 are considerably ahead of the prior year at prices that are in line with the prior year.
Pricing on bookings taken since September has been running in line on a comparable basis to the prior year while booking volumes are significantly higher year-on-year, as a result of which, even with higher capacity, there is less inventory remaining for sale than at the same time last year.
First quarter constant currency net revenue yields are expected to be flat year-on-year, Carnival added.
Share Price 4033P(-314.50)-7.23%
Bid/Offer 4030p/4037p
Final results good, but outlook for 1st quarter revenue for 2019 looking flat with increase operating costs reducing forecasts.
Will it be four quarters in a row of such news or one quarter in a row? pic.twitter.com/LNh0oS95CN
— Dearg Doom (@MyDeargDoom) December 20, 2018
1.30pm: EKF wins Nomad tug-of-war
EKF Diagnostics Holdings PLC (LON:EKF) enjoyed a relief rally as it revealed it would not be changing its nominated advisor (Nomad) after all.
Earlier this year, the company span off its Renalytix AI business, with its Nomad, N+1 Singer, handling the Renalytix flotation.
The original plan was for N+1 Singer to become Renalytix’s Nomad but by mutual agreement of all parties, it has now been decided that Renalytix will appoint a new Nomad and that N+1 Singer will stay as EKF’s Nomad.
Shares in EKF rose 4.1% to 25.3p as investors reacted favourably to the news that the company would not have to go through all the faff involved in appointing a new Nomad.
12.15pm: Chamberlin swings higher after disposing of architectural ironmongery subsidiary
It has been an up and down year for engineering firm Chamberlin PLC (LON:CMH) but it looks like ending it on an upswing.
The shares rose by a third on the back of the sale of its Exidor business for £10mln. Chamberlin is pretty chuffed with the price it got for Exidor, which specialises in overhead magnetic door closer, and to be fair it is not bad considering Chamberlin was valued before the sale at £5.6mln.
Exidor’s turnover in the year to 31 March 2018 was £7.52mln and operating profit was around £651,000. Total net assets as at 31 March 2018 were approximately £2.01mln.
"This transaction will enable Chamberlin PLC to restructure its balance sheet and will provide additional working capital. We can look forward to the further development of our core operations with greater certainty and with considerable optimism,” said the chairman of Chamberlin, who rejoices in the excellent name (for an engineer) of Keith Butler-Wheelhouse.
At 93.5p, up 23.5p on the day, Chamberlin shares are still below their 110p peak for the year but above the 78p level at which they ended 2017.
11.00am: Panthera springs into life as Indian firm agrees to buy a stake in its Indo Gold subsidiary
Panthera Resources PLC (LON:PAT), the gold exploration and development company, surged after Galactic Gold Mines signed up to advance the Bhukia joint venture project.
Galactic, which is planning to start off the process of seeking a listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange as Galaxy Gold next year, is to pay US$1.25mln for a 10% stake in Panthera’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Indo Gold (IGL).
It will have the opportunity to increase its equity stake in IGL to 22% by providing ongoing support and services to the Bhukia joint venture product in Rajasthan, India.
Galaxy is described as an Indian company with Australian management. Its principal investor is Hunch Ventures and Investments, an Indian venture capital group with strong government, corporate and institutional connections to the mining industry in India.
Galaxy will actually make its investment in IGL in two stages; the first stage will reduce Panthera’s stake in IGL to 95% in return for US$500,000; to save you doing the arithmetic, Panthera extrapolated that, if Galaxy's 5% stake is worth US$500,000, Panthera’s 95% stake is worth US$9.5mln.
The second stage will see Galaxy pay US$750,000 for a 5% stake, which implies a valuation of US$13.5mln for Panthera’s remaining 90% stake.
Somewhat pointedly, Panthera observed that its current valuation is around £880,000.
Market makers took the hint – somewhat – and marked up Panthera’s shares to 3.35p from 1.3p overnight, giving it a market capitalisation of £2.3mln, which is still somewhat short (about US$11.6mln short, in fact) of the implied valuation of Panthera’s 90% stake in IGL but that may say more about the business of mining in India than it does about the arithmetical abilities of market makers.
9.30am: NetScientific plunges - its now price below its net asset value; Yu dives after revealing new accounting black hole
Shareholders in NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI) were heading for the exit doors this morning after the company raised the possibility of delisting from AIM.
The company recently put itself up for sale but said in an update on its strategic review this morning that it had yet to receive any firm offers for any of the healthcare companies in its investment portfolio.
The company has roughly £3mln in cash but around two-thirds of that is likely to be soaked up next year by running costs while it might also be called upon to pump more money into its portfolio companies; small wonder, then, that the company is considering its options, which include going cap in hand to its shareholders or delisting from AIM (or both).
Our portfolio company, PDS Biotechnology enters into merger agreement with Edge Therapeutics to form NASDAQ-listed clinical-stage cancer #immunotherapy company https://t.co/8goEdj6txN
— NetScientific (@NetScientific) November 26, 2018
The shares lost almost two thirds of their value, reducing the market capitalisation of the company to £8.64mln. At the time of its interim results in September, the company said it had net assets of £14.7mln.
One of the trends in 2018 has been companies finding the proverbial black hole in their accounts.
Yesterday, Yu Group PLC (LON:YU.) announced that the Financial Conduct Authority was conducting an investigation into the group to review the accuracy of its announcements made between 6 March 2018 and 24 October 2018 and whether these announcements accurately reflected the group's financial status.
The shares dived from 107.5p to 77.5p on the announcement and today they plunged another 17.5p as the independent supplier of gas and electricity published the findings from its accounting review, which kicked off on 24 October.
The findings from the review have recently been presented to the group's board and audit committee; it is unlikely the members were punching the air after the presentation, although they may have been punching someone or something.
“After assessing the outcome of the review, and after performing additional internal analysis of its trading performance and balance sheet, the board believe a further reduction in profitability is anticipated of between £2.75 million and £3.25 million,” the company told the market this morning.
“The events of recent weeks have been deeply distressing for the shareholders, directors and for all of the company's stakeholders,” admitted Ralph Cohen, the non-executive chairman of Yu.
Yu are not kidding, mate.
“The review has confirmed serious historic failures in the systems and processes within the group's finance function. These are now being addressed by our new chief financial officer, who is implementing all necessary improvements. It will take time for these measures to produce their full results and for unsatisfactory sales contracts to time-expire,” Cohen said.
Proactive news headlines:
Shares in Oracle Power PLC (LON:ORCP) surged on Thursday after Chinese energy giant Beijing Jingneng Power Company (BJPC) took a majority stake in its key project. Along with its other joint venture partner, PowerChina, Oracle is developing a 700Mw coal-fired electricity plant in Pakistan’s Thar province.
A “leading global pharmaceutical corporation” has signed a deal with Midatech Pharma Plc (LON:MTPH) that will see it evaluate the latter’s Q-Sphera drug delivery platform.
Block Energy Plc (LON:BLOE), the oil & gas explorer company focused on the Republic of Georgia, is confident it has the right assets. In a statement released ahead of the company’s annual general meeting (AGM) today, Paul Haywood said the company’s assets comprise a set of producing or previously producing licences in business-friendly Georgia, while it has a “first class team both here in London and on-site”.
Europa Metals Ltd (LON:EUZ) said phase two drilling at its Toral lead, zinc and silver project in Spain has shown “promising results”.
Eden Research PLC (LON:EDEN) has said its commercial partner, Sipcam Oxon SpA will be appointed exclusive distributor of its grape fungicide product, known as Mevalone, in the USA, Brazil, Mexico, China, Argentina, Chile, Japan, and South Africa.
Real Good Food PLC (LON:RGD) has sold R&W Scott Limited to the jam and preserves maker’s management team for £3.95mln.
Up-for-sale healthcare companies backer NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI) has yet to receive any firm offers for any of the companies in its portfolio.
Greencoat UK Wind PLC (LON:UKW) has further expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of the unbuilt Douglas West wind farm near Lanark in Scotland. Construction is scheduled to start next year with a planned capacity of 45Mw when finished.
88 Energy Limited (LON:88E) now expects to finalise a farm-out agreement for its Icewine project in Alaska in the first quarter of next year after agreeing to a request to extend the deadline for bids.
Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) has reported positive results from the first phase of drilling and preliminary conceptual mining study at the A4 Dome in Botswana.
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) has fed the first mined ore into the new crusher at its flagship tungsten and tin La Parrilla mine in Spain ahead of schedule. Commissioning of the mined ore is now underway.
Curzon Energy Plc (LON:CZN) has suspended operations at its Coos Bay coal bed methane project in Oregon while it decides on an optimum plan to take the project forward.
Arc Minerals Limited (LON:ARCM) is making good progress with metallurgical testwork on oxide ore from the Kalaba copper and cobalt prospect in Zambia. Commissioning of a commercial scale demonstration plant starts this month with batch processing to commence early in the New Year.
Primary Health Properties PLC (LON:PHP) has raised €51mln from the private placement of an issue of new senior secured notes to help fund the company's strong future pipeline of acquisition opportunities both in the UK and Ireland.
Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd (LON:CGH) said a group of investors has agreed to buy further ordinary shares in the company. A concert party, including Labro Investments Limited, non-executive director Martin-Wiwen Nilsson and Willem De Geer of investment vehicle Deer Invest AB, will collectively hold a 37.9% stake in Chaarat.
Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) has entered into a US$3.0mln bridge facility with the Bergen Global Opportunity Fund to finance further working capital including for the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine and other leading projects.
i3 Energy PLC (LON:I3E) has said it continues to progress the necessary documentation with the UK's Oil & Gas Authority to achieve Field Development Plan approval in early 2019 for the company's 100%-owned and operated Liberator development in the North Sea.
HemoGenyx Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HEMO), the biopharmaceutical group developing new therapies and treatments designed to transform bone marrow transplantation for the treatment of blood diseases, announces that its former chairman Robin Campbell will step-down as a non-executive director and from the board, with effect from 5 January 2019.
Sunrise Resources Plc (LON:SRES), announced that its executive chairman Patrick Cheetham, purchased 5,000,000 ordinary shares on market on 19 December 2018, at a price of 0.099p each, purchased through his Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). Following the transaction, the group said, Cheetham is now beneficially interested in 90,390,369 Ordinary Shares (including 5,500,000 Ordinary Shares held by his wife, Karen Cheetham) representing 3.7% of the company's issued share capital.
Range Resources Limited (LON:RRL) said it has signed an agreement with LandOcean Energy Services Co. Ltd. to pay the annual interest payment due under the convertible note of US$1.6mln by way of issuance new ordinary shares. The group said the interest payment is due for the 12-month period to the end of November 2018 as per terms of the existing US$20mln convertible note entered into on 30 October 2016. It added that the agreement to pay the interest in shares will allow the company to preserve its existing cash position.