Plus500 Limited (LON:PLUS) rose on a tough day after the trading group upped its full-year guidance for the second time in a month.
The company, which specialises in contracts for difference (CFDs), told the market that the “strong momentum” it mentioned in last month’s update has continued.
As a result, the board expects results for the year to 31 December, which will be published on 12 February, will be better than even the revised forecasts.
“We are delighted, in such a momentous year, to have delivered both strong operational performance and record financial results," said chief executive Asaf Elimelech.
Shares added 3% to 1,339p.
Urals Energy facing US$5mln working capital shortfall
Urals Energy PLC (LON:UEN) was today’s heaviest faller as the Russian oil group gave investors a mixed post-Christmas message.
A unauthorised loan equivalent to US$170,000 made by subsidiary Petrosakh has been repaid, but far more substantial debts of US$5mln have not.
As a consequence, Urals' financial position remains constrained with the support of its banks required into 2019.
The group is likely to face a total working capital deficit of up to approximately US$5 million in the coming months unless the remaining loans undertaken by Petrosakh are repaid, the statement added.
Urals might also struggle to meet subsidiary Arcticneft’s obligations as that business relies on annual or bi-annual tanker shipments to monetise its oil production and therefore does not generate regular operating cash inflows.
Shares fell 25% to 19p.
Upland Resources rises as drilling kicks off at Wick
Upland Resources Limited (LON:UPL) shares are ticking higher after drilling at the Wick exploration well, offshore UK, kicked off.
Earlier this year, Upland completed a deal with Corallian Energy to take a 40% stake in Licence P2235, which contains the Wick prospect, estimated to hold as much as 250mln barrels of oil.
Drilling began in the early hours of Christmas morning and the rig is expected to stay on site for another three weeks.
“Whilst we do not lose sight of the fact that this is an exploration well, with all the geological uncertainties that entails, we believe the Wick prospect is a worthy target that, with drilling success, should produce an economically robust project in a wide range of oil prices and development scenarios,” said chief executive Steve Staley.
Shares rose 3.1% to 3.3p, valuing the company at just shy of £20mln.
Anglo African flows higher as it strikes more oil at Tilapia
Another company striking oil today was Anglo African Oil & Gas PLC (LON:AAOG) at its Tilapia licence in the Republic of Congo.
The oil and gas developer said the TLP-103C well intersected the Mengo horizon on Christmas Eve (Monday) and that hydrocarbons were encountered.
“This success in the Mengo is significant,” said executive chairman David Sefton.
“The Mengo has, depending on the exact characteristics of the reservoir following logging and eventual testing, the potential to provide material increases in production, and cashflow, to the company.”
On top of that, three new potential pay zones were encountered. These zones, formed by sandstones, showed a positive log response and hydrocarbon shows.
Sefton added: “A genuine surprise, albeit a very welcome one, has been to encounter potential pay zones above the Mengo, in layers where this was thought unlikely due to previous well data. These results indicate a well-developed on-shore/offshore hydrocarbon system underlying Tilapia and validate our confidence in this asset.”
Wandisco bags US$700k, three-year contract with major American healthcare company
Wandisco PLC (LON:WAND) has bagged a three-year contract with a major American healthcare company worth around US$700,000.
The deal will see Wandisco’s sales partner, IBM, deploy its big data and cloud platform, WANdisco Fusion to the unnamed client. The customer has more than 5,700 hospitals in its network and has extensive data requirements. By using Wandisco’s solution, it will help to ensure there is no downtime or data loss during a disaster recovery scenario.
“We are continuing to gain strong traction in industries where critical data is needed to be continuously available,” said chief executive Dave Richards.
“This is the second major healthcare deal we have agreed this month and follows our largest ever cloud deal valued at US$3mln. Our pipeline with IBM continues to build and our expanded relationship means we can efficiently and profitably service on-premise contracts.”
Shares climbed 8% to 460p.
Earthport surges as it recommends £200mln offer from Visa
Earthport PLC (LON:EPO) shares more than trebled on Thursday morning after the payments group agreed to be bought out by US giant Visa for almost £200mln.
Visa has offered 30p a share – four times Earthport’s closing price of 7.45p on Monday afternoon.
The London-listed company’s board said the offer was “fair and reasonable” and recommended that shareholders accept it.
“Whilst I believe Earthport is well positioned to deliver the potential it has always possessed, the all-cash offer from Visa represents a very attractive and immediate return for our shareholders,” said Earthport’s chief executive Amanda Mesler.
Sound Energy makes a noise
Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) is also in demand after the latest round of drilling at Tendrara in Morocco yielded much more favourable results.
The AIM company was forced to plug and abandon the first well in the exploration programme after it did not encounter producible gas.
But the second well, TE-10, did find gas; news which sent Sound shares rising by more than 13% to 15.64p.
Other Proactive news headlines:
Nektan PLC (LON:NKTN) shares zipped higher on Thursday morning after the gaming software group posted a sharp rise in annual revenue as well as unveiling plans to raise £3.5mln and restructure its debt. The company, which provides technology to the likes of BetVictor, said it had received support for a £1.5mln equity placing which would see it sell shares at 15p – some 5% higher than Monday’s closing price.
A subsidiary of FTSE 100 tech firm Halma PLC (LON:HLMA) has started the commercial roll-out of SirenBW – a rapid water testing kit which uses a technology developed by Frontier IP Group PLC’s (LON:FIPP) investee company, Molendotech. Frontier IP holds a 14.1% stake in Molendotech, a spinout from the University of Plymouth.
Telit Communications PLC (LON:TCM) has confirmed that the timetable for the US$105mln acquisition of its automotive division by TUS International Limited remains that the transaction is expected to complete by 31 January 2019. In a statement, the global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT) said that TUS shareholder approval is expected to be obtained on 29 January 2019.
Avation PLC (LON:AVAP) said it has completed the sale of one two-year-old Airbus A321 aircraft to an Asian buyer as announced on the 3 October 2018 Jeff Chatfield, Avation’s executive chairman, commented: "We sold this aircraft for risk management, credit rating and portfolio diversification reasons. The sale was conducted in line with market conditions, at a price around the current market value (CMV), albeit that Avation's book value for the aircraft is materially lower than CMV."