The SimplyBiz Group PLC (LON:SBIZ), a provider of compliance and business services, has won a contract with housebuilder Taylor Wimpey.
The FTSE 100 company has signed a three-year contract to use Zest, SimplyBiz’s employee benefits technology platform.
"It is also pleasing to see another large company and household name joining our growing roster of clients," said Matt Timmins, the co-chief executive officer of SimplyBiz.
Shares in the AIM-listed company were up 8.3% at 176p, valuing the company at £124mln.
2.00pm: Partnership agreements perk up Sensyne Health
The maiden interim results from Sensyne Health PLC (LON:SENS) were a sideshow to the announcement of a research alliance with the University of Oxford.
The company is to team up with the University of Oxford's Big Data Institute to establish a research alliance using data science and clinical artificial intelligence (AI) for the patient-centred management and treatment of chronic disease.
The research collaboration will create unique new data sets in addition to those already available for analysis by Sensyne Health and will build on Sensyne's existing capability in clinical AI, the company said.
The shares were up 7% at 167p as it also announced additional alliances with Jefferson Health, one of the largest healthcare providers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; the Wye Valley NHS Trust and also the George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust.
12.50pm: Reabold Resources encouraged by production test in California
Reabold Resources PLC (LON:RBD) put on a spurt after a production test of the VG-4 well in the West Brentwood field.
Over a 19-hour period, the VG-4 well produced oil at rates as high as 1,029 barrels of oil per day before being choked back and averaged 480 barrels of oil per day. The cumulative oil produced was 371 barrels over the test period. The oil cut averaged in excess of 99.5%.
Shares in Reabold were up 7.7% at 0.7p.
The VG-4 well will now be prepared for production and the next well in the California drilling campaign is expected to be Monroe Swell #RBD #OOTT #OIL
— Reabold Resources (@ReaboldPLC) January 28, 2019
Noon: Maintel up in the clouds after trading update
Investors dialled into Maintel Holdings plc (LON:MAI) after the telecom systems maintainer’s sneak preview of its full-year results.
The shares rose 13.5% to 480p after the company said adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) is expected to be at the top end of the range the company set at the time of its November trading update.
The company saw an acceleration in the growth of cloud sales during the fourth quarter, taking the number of contracted cloud seats on the ICON platform to around 70,000.
11.00am: Nu-Oil hit by remuneration unrest
Shares in Nu-Oil and Gas Plc (LON:NUOG) hit a new 52-week low before recovering slightly after the firm’s annual general meeting (AGM).
All of the resolutions voted on at the AGM were passed but not without some opposition, particularly resolution two relating to the director’s remuneration report, where 40mln of the 173mln votes were cast against the resolution.
Shares in Nu-Oil were down 4.4% at 0.765p.
10.00am: Altona Energy to decamp to NEX
Altona Energy PLC (LON:ANR) has given up hope of finding a new nominated adviser (Nomad) before the end of February.
Without a Nomad, the company cannot be listed on AIM so it has applied for its shares to be admitted to the NEX Exchange Growth Market.
If all goes well, it should be listed on NEX on Friday, 1 February.
Shares in Altona were down 3p to 17p following the news.
9.00am: Flybe in the news again while investors pal-up to PCI-PAL after an upbeat trading statement
You can’t keep Flybe Group PLC (LON:FLYB) out of the news these days and this morning saw the company responding to weekend press reporting.
The takeover target confirmed that major shareholder Hosking Partners has asked for a general meeting to consider resolutions to appoint Eric Kohn as a director of the company and remove the chairman, Simon Laffin, from the board.
Hosking wants Kohn to investigate the sales process that has been dragging on since mid-November.
READ Flybe shares reverse gains as troubled airline reiterates its takeover position
Shares in Flybe were the top risers early doors, up 36% at 4.625p.
Customer engagement specialist PCI-PAL PLC (LON:PCIP) surged 11.4% to 19.5p after an upbeat trading statement.
The second half of 2018 saw the group achieve like-for-like indicative revenue growth from the same period of 2017 of at least 25%.
The recurring annual contract value (ACV) of new contracts worldwide signed by the group in the period was £1.30mln, up from £0.17mln in the corresponding period of 2017 and 136% greater than the ACV of sales achieved for the full prior fiscal year.
Proactive news headlines:
Kavango Resources PLC (LON:KAV) will commence drilling at the Ditau prospect in early February. Ditau forms part of the Kalahari Suture Zone, which is highly prospective for base metals.
Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM) is set to share data further confirming its erectile dysfunction drug is safe for female sexual partners. Tim Holland, the company’s director of clinical development, will be making a poster presentation at the European Society for Sexual Medicine (ESSM) Congress in Slovenia next month.
The revenue picture is getting brighter at Kromek PLC (LON:KMK), the supplier of detection technology, after it bagged a medical imaging contract.
Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) has sketched in some interesting detail drawn from its TE-10 well in the Tendrara area of Morocco. It confirmed Monday it is likely to “revise up” the net pay estimate of sands found under the main TAGI play, which currently stands at 10.5 metres.
Top level domains (TLD) registry company Minds + Machines Group Limited (LON:MMX) expects full-year underlying earnings will be marginally ahead of market expectations.
SDX Energy Inc (LON:SDX) (CVE:SDX) is to delist from Toronto’s TSX Venture Exchange and move its corporate residence to the UK from Canada.
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd (LON:BVC) has signed an investment agreement to fund the development of a molecular diagnostics product by its joint venture, Ador Diagnostics.
Rainbow Rare Earths LTD (LON:RBW) is raising up to US$7.75mln through a combination of a US$750,000 unsecured convertible security and a 24 month equity facility of up to US$7.0mln.
Rockfire Resources PLC (LON:ROCK) has raised £500,000 through the placing of 58.8mln new shares at a placing price of 0.85p each, with a 1-for-1 attaching warrant exercisable at 1.5p. The placing is subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting of the company.
Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (LON:COPL) hopes to complete financing for an appraisal drilling programme at OPL226 in Nigeria by the middle of 2019. COPL said talks are underway with three large groups that can provide both oil services and finance.
Highlands Natural Resources PLC (LON:HNR) has started gas sales from the East Denver project following completion of a pipeline. The company holds a 7.5% interest in each well on the acreage.
European Metals Holdings Limited (LON:EMH) has revealed results from its ongoing eight core-hole resource drilling programme at the Cinovec lithium project. Drilling of five of the eight holes has been completed.
Eurasia Mining plc (LON:EUA) has agreed on a contract for the 2019 season that will allow for Russian company Uralmetmash to carry out mining of platinum group metals and gold at the company’s West Kytlim mine in Russia.
Sure Ventures PLC (LON:SURE) has hailed the progress of its portfolio companies to date despite what it said were “poor and volatile” market conditions weighing on its Net Asset Value (NAV).
EQTEC Plc (LON:EQT) has appointed a new nominated advisor (Nomad) while also updating on the consolidation of two loans from Altair Group Investment Limited and Ecofinance (GLI) Limited.
Avacta Group PLC (LON:AVCT), the developer of Affimer biotherapeutics and reagents, has announced the appointment of Dr Sam Williams as a non-executive director with immediate effect. The group noted that Williams is currently managing partner and head of life sciences at IP Group Plc, the FTSE 250 investor in Life Sciences and Technology.
BB Healthcare Trust PLC (LON:BBH) announced that it has renewed and amended its multi-currency revolving credit facility with Scotiabank. Under the amended terms, the firm may draw down loans up to an aggregate value of US$100mln, and the facility also has an uncommitted accordion option which provides the group with the flexibility to increase the facility by a further US$50mln. The new facility will expire in January 2021.
SigmaRoc PLC (LON:SRC), the AIM-listed buy-and-build construction materials group, announced that the £10mln unsecured convertible loan notes that were redeemed by the company on 23 January 2019 have been successfully delisted from the official list of The International Stock Exchange.
ECSC Group PLC (LON:ECSC) has received an Award for Excellence at PCI London for its work within the payment card industry, the third year in a row that the firm has received this accolade. The 2019 award is for ECSC's implementation of 24/7/365 cyber security monitoring from its global PCI certified Security Operations Centres, utilising the company's Artificial Intelligence Kepler technology.