Versarien PLC (LON:VRS) claims to be the first graphene company in the world to successfully complete the Graphene Council's "Verified Graphene Producer" programme.
The US-based Graphene Council's Programme is an independent, tthird-partyverification system that involves a physical inspection of the production facilities, a review of the entire production process, a random sampling of product material and rigorous characterisation and testing by a leading, international materials laboratory.
The award must count for something as the shares were up 17.3% on the news at 118.5p, albeit way below their 2018 high of 186p.
2.30pm: Cash call on the cards at Edenville
Edenville Energy PLC (LON:EDL), the company developing a coal project in south-west Tanzania, has admitted it will need to raise fresh capital soon.
The company received a poor take-up of its open offer to existing shareholders in February, as a result of which it has been unable to do much development work on the Rukwa coal project.
The shares lost around a quarter of their value as the company revealed it will need an infusion of cash in order to meet its project and corporate commitments and that it is currently exploring several options.
1.30pm: Beowulf retreats after issuing shares at a deep discount
Beowulf Mining PLC (LON:BEM) is to raise £750,000 through a share subscription to boost working capital and finance more drilling.
The shares are to be issued at 5.5p a pop, compared to Friday night’s closing price of 7p; the shares tumbled 16% to 5.9p on the news.
Prior to the shares subscription, Beowulf’s cash reserves were down to around £1.24mln.
12.15pm: Panthera hit by delay to partnership agreement payment
Panthera Resources PLC (LON:PAT), the gold exploration and development company, has been notified by its partner, Galaxy, of a “minor delay” to a scheduled payment.
The second payment due yesterday under the partnership agreement will be sent by the end of this month, Galaxy has told Panthera.
The delay was attributed to administration and process issues associated with the Indian financial year end.
Panthera shares were down 20.4% at 10.75p.
11.30am: MRS to test the patience of shareholders again
Management Resource Solutions PLC (LON:MRS) is to again ask shareholders to waive their pre-emption rights in company share issues in certain circumstances.
A similar proposal by the board of the provider of technical services to the oil & gas sector was rejected by shareholders on 18 January but presumably, the company has taken on Theresa May as a corporate advisor and is trying again.
You can see what the market thought of the idea; the shares lost a quarter of their value.
10.30am: IOG slumps after heavily discounted cash call
Many of the big risers today are energy stocks but the biggest faller is also an oil & gas minnow: Independent Oil & Gas PLC (LON:IOG).
The company has raised £16.6mln in a share placing priced at 10p a share with the proceeds earmarked for a planned well at the Harvey project.
The shares closed at 17.125p on Friday so that is a hefty discount, with the only comfort for shareholders looking at a 29% share price fall today being that the company is offering around 20mln shares at the same price to them via an open offer.
9.30am: Small-cap oil and gas companies lead the advance
Small-cap oil and gas companies were making the early running in London, most notably Reabold Resources PLC, Highland Natural Resources PLC and Block Energy PLC.
Reabold (LON:RBD) rose 8.7% to 0.625p as it made a second discovery at the Monroe Swell field in California.
The Burnett 2B well has an estimated pay of 90 metres, which is ahead of pre-drill expectations.
READ Block Energy’s expectation-beating result puts West Rustavi well among Georgia’s best
Block (LON:BLOE) said its new well sidetrack at the West Rustavi project is now ranked among the best wells to be drilled in Georgia.
In testing, the well yielded oil at a rate of 1,100 barrels of oil per day (bopd), which is significantly ahead of prior expectations. The well had previously targeted a rate of 325 bopd.
The shares were the top performers in London, up 37.2% at 5.35p.
The announcement from Highlands Natural Resources was a bit (far) out of the ordinary; its wholly-owned subsidiary, Zoetic Organics, has signed its first retail distribution and sale agreement, marking the beginning of on-site retail sales of its cannabidiol (CBD) products.
Zoetic Organics has entered into an initial 2-year distribution and sale agreement with Schrader Oil and Ox Distributing, which collectively manages a wide network of convenience and petrol station stores and convenience store distribution services across the United States.
Shares in HNR were up 10.8% at 9.5p.
Other Proactive news headlines:
Iofina plc (LON:IOF), specialists in the exploration and production of iodine and halogen-based speciality chemical derivatives, said it has now finalised the debt restructure documentation with the terms detailed in its announcement on 12 February 2019. Iofina’s president and CEO, Dr. Tom Becker commented: ''This debt extension enables us to continue with our growth strategy, as we seek to take full advantage of the positive conditions in the global iodine market, and build our position as one of the industry's best operators."
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has confirmed its approval of Circassia Pharmaceuticals PLC’s (LON:CIR) Duaklir inhaler.
Directa Plus PLC (LON:DCTA) and its Italian partner, Iterchimica, have announced a successful first trial of their upgraded road surface material.
Instem PLC (LON:INS.L) chief executive Phil Reason said the software group will continue to focus on organic growth after a solid year, though will also consider “complementary acquisition targets”. His comments were made alongside the publication of full-year results, which showed turnover grew 8% to £22.7mln; around a quarter of that number came in the form of higher-margin, recurring software-as-a-service (SaaS) revenues.
Tekcapital PLC’s (LON:TEK) portfolio firm Guident has launched its commercial website.
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) has hit high-grade intersections from the recent diamond core and reverse circulation drilling at the Régua mine development in Northern Portugal.
ImmuPharma PLC (LON:IMM) said a period of exclusivity has run out between it and Incanthera Limited, which allows the ImmuPharma to discuss collaborations with other potential partners for its Nucant cancer programme.
Bacanora Lithium PLC (LON:BCN) remains in talks with the State General Reserve Fund of Oman (SGRF) over a US$65mln strategic investment and offtake for the Sonora lithium project in Mexico. The original agreement with SGRF expired on 16 July 2018.
Frontier IP Group Plc’s (LON:FIPP) portfolio firm Fieldwork Robotics has won over £500,000 in funding from Innovate UK to accelerate the development of its raspberry-picking robot.
Metals alloys specialist Afarak Group PLC ( LON:AFRK) told shareholders it has regrouped after a difficult year in 2018. Guy Konsbruck, the chief executive, wrote: “The unforeseen challenges in the South African assets were exacerbated by the lower average ferrochrome benchmark prices.
Amphion Innovations PLC (LON:AMP) has put its stake in Polarean Imaging Plc up as additional security for a loan.
Tlou Energy Limited (LON:TLOU) has picked up a new prospecting licence in Botswana in the same trend as its existing Lesedi coal bed methane project. The Boomslang licence covers 1,000sq km and takes the company’s total acreage in the area to 9,300 sq km and runs for an initial term of 3 years.
Cabot Energy PLC (LON:CAB), ahead of financial results later this month, flagged a positive operating performance whilst cautioning that it still needs to land a new financing deal to secure its future and cover planned work programmes. Gross production rose by 71% to 703 barrels of oil per day during 2018, the company noted.
Mosman Oil And Gas Ltd. (LON:MSMN) told investors that it has completed the drilling of the Stanley-2 well, in Texas. The well was drilled down to a depth of 5,000 feet, and, it encountered the targeted Eocene aged sands including the Yegua sands.
Exploration work undertaken by Scotgold Resources Ltd. (LON:SGZ) has identified possible extensions to the orebody at the Cononish mine in Scotland.
Richland Resources Ltd. (LON:RLD) is in advanced discussions regarding the sale of its Capricorn sapphire mine in Australia.
Avation PLC (LON:AVAP), the commercial passenger aircraft leasing company, has acquired and leased its fourth new Airbus A220-300 aircraft to airBaltic, the Latvian hybrid carrier. The group said the 12-year lease for the aircraft MSN 55051 commenced on 29 March 2019. Avation's Executive Chairman, Jeff Chatfield, said: "This takes our overall fleet to 43 with a further 13 aircraft on order."
Kromek PLC (LON:KMK), a worldwide supplier of detection technology focusing on the medical, security and nuclear markets, announced that, following the conclusion of a fixed-term contract, Cantor Fitzgerald Europe have completed their tenure as the company's joint broker. It said Cenkos Securities will continue to act as the company's nominated adviser and sole broker.
Ariana Resources PLC (LON:AAU), the exploration and development company with gold mining operations in Turkey, has announced the launch of its new corporate website.