Online beach holidays flogger On the Beach Group PLC (LON:OTB) held its annual general meeting on a blustery Thursday in February.
Despite the inclement weather, the group brought a bit of sunshine to proceedings with a trading update that revealed the group had continued to trade well in the four months to the end of January.
“Our strategy of investing in our brands, talent and technology to drive growth has delivered performance in line with the board's expectations, with both new and repeat customers attracted to our wide range of value for money beach holidays,” the chief executive, Simon Cooper, told investors.
“Whilst we remain cautious of the consumer environment in the period immediately prior to the 29th March, the board remains confident in the Group's outlook and will continue to evaluate opportunities to enhance its market share position,” he added.
The shares were up 15p at 455p in late afternoon trading.
$OTB On the Beach Group posts 20% jump in UK revenues https://t.co/TsLrTIVkD9 via @proactive_UK @OntheBeachUK #OTB #brighterir #AndrewScottTV #CapitalNetwork1
— Proactive Investors (@proactive_UK) February 7, 2019
1.45pm: Fox Marble disappoints again
Serial underachiever Fox Marble Holdings PLC (LON:FOX) was on the run again on Thursday after a disappointing operational update.
Sales in 2018 clocked in at around €1,4mln, which the company admitted was not as high as expected owing to lower than expected quarry production volumes from the Maleshevë quarry in Kosovo.
Production at the Maleshevë quarry, which produces the Illirico Bianco and Illirico Selene stone, was 7,278 tonnes (2017 – 6,526 tonnes). This was below the company's expectations for the year, particularly in relation to the second half of 2018.
We were very pleased to welcome the #PrimeMinister of #Kosovo @haradinajramush to the @FoxMarblePLC Factory in #Kosovo today. Please see the article below: https://t.co/XjWpPPfpZH pic.twitter.com/3k6Jj0TA28
— Fox Marble (@FoxMarblePLC) January 24, 2019
Fox Marble intends to make a significant investment in capital equipment in order to address the production shortfall and meet demand for these types of stone.
Shares in Fox Marble crumbled to 8.25p from 9.125p overnight.
12.15pm: PCI-PAL pumps up with payments bigwig Verizon
PCI-PAL PLC (LON:PCIP), 'PCI Pal'), a secure payments provider to contact centres, has received a boost from the release of a payment card industry whitepaper.
The document was co-authored by PCI-Pal with US telecoms giant Verizon to examine and address the challenges in achieving payment card industry data security standard compliance in contact centre environments.
Shares in PCI-Pal were up 6.1% at 26p.
11.15am: WPP dragged down by a lacklustre trading update from its big rival, Publicis
As if WPP PLC (LON:WPP), the creaking leviathan of the advertising world, has not got enough problems of its own, it is being battered by Publicis’s woes.
WPP shares, down by a third over the last year, were off 7.8% in the wake of an update from Saatchi & Saatchi owner, Publicis, posted a surprise decline in fourth quarter sales.
Publicis shares were off 13% so WPP shareholders might have got off lightly. WPP is scheduled to release its full-year results on 1 March.
Publicis Groupe predicts a 'bumpy' start to 2019, and Spotify plots a spending spree on podcasts: Thursday Wake-Up Call https://t.co/mQ3YqIO6Ax
Welcome to Ad Age's Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. You … https://t.co/NFbmKTZBGJ
— mustain arif (@mustainbinarif) February 7, 2019
10.15am: Petrofac hit by bribery scandal
Investors baled out of Petrofac Limited (LON:PFC) stock in the wake of a bribery scandal.
The Serious Fraud Office announced that a former employee of a Petrofac subsidiary yesterday admitted bribery under the UK Bribery Act 2010.
Petrofac shares lost more than a fifth of their value as the company assured the market that no charges have been brought against any company officers or employees.
Former senior executive convicted in Petrofac investigation https://t.co/JPJGGpgLDW pic.twitter.com/o4M8ThsPzl
— Serious Fraud Office (@UKSFO) February 7, 2019
9.30am: Prospex and Crimson Tide set the early pace
Prospex Oil and Gas PLC (LON:PXOG) was among the early pace-setters after announcing a maiden gas reserves estimate for the Selva Malvezzi Gas Field.
The shares rose 11.1% to 0.3p after the company announced gross gas reserves of 13.3bn cubic feet (bcf) for the field, in northern Italy.
"Our 2.26bcf share of the Selva Gas Field's reserves represents another first for Prospex. While bringing the Bainet gas field in Romania online generated our first production and revenues in 2018, Selva is the first time that valuable reserves have been assigned to one of our projects by an independent third party,” explained Bill Smith, the chairman of Prospex.
Prospex O&G #PXOG
Share Price .31p (+15%)
Big positive RNS relative to £3.3m mkt cap with latest CPR report on their 17% holding in Selva Gas Field in Italy.
Production won't start until 2020. Corporate costs in the meantime payable. Yes, but there's Bainet Romania.
Hats off! pic.twitter.com/7Np6QHyj0z
— Dearg Doom (@MyDeargDoom) February 7, 2019
Also going well was Crimson Tide PLC (LON:TIDE), the developer of cloud-hosted mpro5, which enables organisations to transform their workforce by smart mobile working.
The shares were up 9.6% at 2.85p after the software firm announced a number of contract wins in the rail sector.
The full contract value of the agreements amounts to nearly £250,000; to put that into context, the company’s revenues in the first half of 2018 were £1.2mln.
Proactive news headlines:
United Oil & Gas Plc (LON:UOG) announced gas reserve figures for its 20% owned Selva gas field, onshore Italy, with 13.3bn cubic feet of gas upgraded from a prior designation as contingent resources. The upgrade comes as the project moves towards first gas production in 2020, follow the award of a production concession last month. A year earlier the Podere Maiar well was successfully drilled and tested at Selva.
Kromek Group PLC (LON:KMK) has announced a share placing to raise funds for the expansion of its business. The detection technology firm proposed a conditional firm placing and an open offer to raise £21mln through the issue of around 84mln shares at a price of 25p each.
Accesso Technology Group PLC (LON:ACSO) traded broadly in line with market expectations in 2018. The group also announced that executive chairman, Tom Burnet, will move to a non-executive role at the beginning of March.
OptiBiotix Health plc (LON:OPTI) has inked a three-year supply agreement for its cholesterol and blood pressure reducing LPLDL bacteria strain. The non-exclusive deal with Biolat covers Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
SDX Energy Inc (CVE:SDX, TSX:SDX) has expanded its footprint in Morocco, landing the Moulay Bouchta Ouest and Lalla Mimouna Sud licenses. Moulay Bouta Ouest spans some 458 square kilometres and the licence award comes with commitments to reprocess seismic data and to drill one exploration well within the initial three and a half year licence period.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) expects to produce 82-86,000 gold equivalent ounces in 2019, which would be a new record for the junior at the top of the forecast. Increased copper production will boost output said the Azerbaijani miner, with between 3,100 and 3,300 tonnes forecast or double 2018’s total.
Tlou Energy Limited (LON:TLOU) has said it believes there’s a significant likelihood that it will secure investment in the near term. The coal bed methane firm, in a stock market statement, confirmed that it is in discussion with parties considering investment into the company either via equity or debt provision.
IXICO PLC has announced the appointment of Grant Nash, currently finance director of the UK Biobank - a national and international health research data resource - as the company's chief financial officer. The AIM-listed neuroscience data analytics company said Grant will join the company on 29 April 2019 and it is anticipated that he will join the board in due course.
Travel group INTOSOL Holdings PLC (LON:INTO) has listed its shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in addition to London’s standard market. "Given that the Company’s core operations are located in Europe, the Board believes that a Frankfurt listing will benefit existing shareholders by making the company’s shares more accessible to European investors," said the statement.