Power generation firm Rurelec Plc (LON:RUR) has paid down its loan with Bridge Properties by £200,000.
The amount of principal outstanding now is £1 million.
The facilities are due to be repaid on 30 June 2019. Rurelec envisages making further repayments in the coming months.
The shares rose 7.1% to 0.75p on the news.
2.30pm: More board changes at PetroNeft
PetroNeft Resources PLC (LON:PTR), an oil & gas company operating in the Tomsk Oblast, Russian Federation, is bidding farewell to Paul Dowling, its chief financial officer.
Dowling will quit the company at the end of the month to pursue other opportunities. His departure comes just over two weeks after non-executive director David Sturt was anointed as the new chief executive officer of the company.
Dowling, who joined the company in 2007, will be available for a transition period while a suitable replacement is searched for.
The shares were down 5.9%.
1.30pm: RTC's cautious optimism strikes a chord
RTC Group plc (LON:RTC), which provides recruitment, training and conference services, joined sector peer in rising strongly after a trading update.
The shares were up 7.7% at 56p after the group said it had traded in line with expectations in 2018.
"The continued growth of Group revenue and profits and improvement in net debt position is extremely pleasing and encouraging, especially in light of the uncertainty surrounding the UK economy,” said Bill Douie, the chairman of RTC Group, in a sneak preview of the results due to be released on or around 25 February.
12.30pm: Hydrogen buoyed by trading update
Recruitment firm Hydrogen Group PLC’s (LON:HYDG) was just the job for shareholders as the company raised profit guidance.
The group said it continued to trade robustly through the latter part of 2018 with all regions maintaining growth.
The shares rose 5p to 63p as the group said it finished the year with a net cash position of £4.9mln, compared to net debt of £400,000 a year earlier.
11.00am: Up and down week for Lekoil
Lekoil Limited (LON:LEK) gave up the gains it made on Wednesday with its second update on the OPL310 block in Nigeria.
Excitement mounted on Wednesday as Lekoil said its application regarding ministerial consent for OPL310 would come up before the beak on Thursday.
Today, the shares ebbed 3.8% to 10.15p as the company revealed a summary briefing was given in the Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday and a subsequent adjourned court date of 7 February 2019 was assigned for the hearing.
10.00am: Change at the top at Oracle Power
Shares in Oracle Power PLC (LON:ORCP) were up 17.7% at 0.5p following news that Naheed Memon has moved to the position of chief executive officer (CEO).
Her brief is to manage the delivery of the Thar project on the ground in Pakistan.
Former CEO Shahrukh Khan will remain as an executive director and will continue to assist in the development of the Thar project as it moves towards a financial close, while also providing a presence in the UK and Europe to further increase the awareness of the Oracle investment case.
9.00am: Cue jokes about Tokyo Pride as Fuller' sells its beers business to Japan's Asahi
Pubs operator Fuller, Smith & Turner PLC (LON:FSTA) is to sell its entire business to Japanese brewer Asahi Group for £250mln.
No news yet on whether London Pride will be renamed Tokyo Pride.
The shares shot up 25% to 1,140p on the news, which was accompanied by a trading update in which it said the company had delivered a very strong performance since it last reported in late November.
The top riser early doors, however, was Mountfield Group Plc (LON:MOGP), which added a third to its value after winning new contracts worth more than £7mln.
The construction company said its Mountfield Building Group (MBG) and Connaught Access Flooring subsidiaries have bagged three contracts, with work on all of them scheduled to kick off this year.
“MBG's progress has been rapid as is demonstrated by the winning of the two contracts which play to MBG's strengths in the fields of telecoms/data centres and that of specialist construction,” said Andy Collins, the chief executive officer of Mountfield.
Proactive news headlines:
Europa Oil & Gas Holdings PLC (LON:EOG) told investors that the Wressle project has been granted a one-year extension to its existing planning approvals. The award extends access to the project until 24 January 2020.
Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) executive chairman David Bramhill described himself “very pleased” as the Egdon Resources operated Wressle project received a one-year extension to existing planning approvals.
FairFX Group Plc (LON:FFX) expects 2019 to be “another year of significant growth” as it reported strong numbers for 2018.
Frontier IP Group Plc (LON:FIPP) said one of its investee companies has landed a £403,000 government grant. The cash received by The Vaccine Group is part of a £1.46mln Anglo-Chinese project to combat an emerging antibiotic-resistant disease able to jump from pigs to humans with potentially fatal effect.
Midatech Pharma Plc (LON:MTPH, NASDAQ:MTP) outlined plans for its lead drug candidate as it updated on its funding position by stating it currently had “very limited cash”.
88 Energy Ltd (LON:88E), in its quarterly report, updated investors on its progress in Alaska where it is advancing both conventional and unconventional oil and gas assets. Exploration drilling is anticipated in the coming weeks with the Winx-1 well.
Oracle Power (LON:ORCP) has appointed a local expert as chief executive to expedite the financial close of its coal-fired power station project in Pakistan. Naheed Memon, who joined the board as a non-executive earlier this month has now become CEO with a remit to manage the delivery of the Thar project on the ground in Pakistan.
Asiamet Resources Limited (LON:ARS) said the additional Resource evaluation drilling required to complete the bankable feasibility study being undertaken on the Beruang Kanan Main (BKM) copper deposit in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia is progressing to plan, with initial results positive and in line with expectations.
Coal production at Regency Mines PLC’s (LON:RGM) 47%-owned Omega operations in Virginia, US continues to improve following the move of a high wall miner at the end of November.
The final set of assay results from the drilling at Kodal Minerals PLC’s (LON:KOD) Bougouni lithium project continue to point to high-grade mineralisation.
Pan African Resources plc (LON:PAF) saw a sharp increase in gold production in the first half of its fiscal year. Gold production from the group’s continuing mining operations increased by 54.2% to 81,014 ounces (oz) in the six months to the end of 2018 from 52,548 oz in the same period of 2017.
SigmaRoc PLC (LON:SRC) has announced plans to raise approximately £12mln through a vendor consideration placing to part-fund the initial consideration for the acquisition of CCP Building Products Limited. The AIM-quoted buy-and-build construction materials group said it is looking to place 30,257,053 ordinary shares at a price of 41p each. The shares closed trade on Friday at 41.60p.
Tertiary Minerals plc has raised £250,000 before expenses via a placing to provide additional working capital for the company to fund development work for its fluorspar projects and for potential acquisition opportunities. The AIM-listed group, which is building a strategic position in the fluorspar sector, said SVS Securities placed 83,333,333 new ordinary shares in the company at a price of 0.3p each.
Europa Metals Limited (LON:EUZ), the European lead-zinc explorer, announced that it has submitted a formal application requesting the removal of the company from the ASX official list and has made an application to move from the Main Board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange to the AltX. Consequently, the group added, Europa Metal's primary listing is expected to become the AIM market operated by the London Stock Exchange.
Ariana Resources PLC (LON:AAU) said it was informed today that on 22 January 2019 its managing director, Kerim Sener, purchased 860,000 ordinary shares in the company at a price of 1.75p each, taking his holding in the company to 19,564,252 ordinary shares representing 1.85% of the issued share capital. It added that it was also informed that on the same date its chairman Michael de Villiers purchased 1,120,000 ordinary shares at 1.75p each, taking his total shareholding in the company to 54,845,000 ordinary shares representing 5.18%. And that William Payne, a non-executive director purchased 1,450,000 ordinary shares also at 1.75p each, taking his and his family's total shareholding to 9,359,314 ordinary shares, or 0.88%.