Andalas Energy and Power PLC (LON:ADL), the oil and gas exploration and development company, told shareholders that its finance director, Dan Jorgensen, has resigned.
He will help out the company by offering support as the company makes the transition to new arrangements regarding financial duties.
The shares were down 8.1% at 0.17p.
2.00pm: Gordon Dadds comes to an agreement with more former partners of Ince & Co
Gordon Dadds Group Plc (LON:GOR), the acquisitive legal services business, has expanded its relationship with firms that were part of the Ince & Co network.
It has agreed to enter into new arrangements with the independent legal entities that are former Ince & Co network firms in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Greece and Germany.
READ Law firm Gordon Dadds agrees to buy international network of Ince & Co for £34mln
"The integration of Ince's London office with Gordon Dadds, to form Ince Gordon Dadds, has progressed smoothly and the commercial benefits of the larger operation are beginning to be demonstrated,” said Adrian Biles, the chief executive officer of Gordon Dadds.
Shares in Gordon Dadds were up 5.9%.
1.00pm: Motif Bio rises afterr vote of confidence
Motif Bio PLC (LON:MTFB, NASDAQ:MTFB) received a monetary boost – and by extension a vote of confidence in its prospects – as it raised £2.7mln via a share placing.
The cash will fund the business through the coming months as it meets with officials at the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to discuss the future of its antibiotic, iclaprim.
The treatment, which was developed to tackle acute bacterial skin infections was knocked by the FDA last month, as it called for additional data.
Shares in Motif were up – which does not happen very often after a share placing – by 4.3% at 6.78p; the shares were placed at 6p a pop.
12.05pm: IMImobile on a charge after raising revenue expectations
IMImobile PLC (LON:IMO) continued its good run after the release of a well-received trading update.
The shares, which were roaring along at around 375p last September before collapsing to 236p at the end of 2018, were up 8.9% at 312.5p after the company, which has a suite of products that allow companies to communicate directly to customers via mobile phones, said revenue for the financial year just ended was ahead of market expectations.
Underlying earnings, or EBITDA, were marginally ahead of market forecasts.
11.15am: Proton powers ahead after order from German bus maker
An order for fuel cells lifted the share price of Proton Power Systems Plc (LON:PPS).
The order, from ebe EUROPA of Memmingen, Germany, is for 15 hydrogen-powered fuel cells of 60 kilowatts of generating capacity each.
The total value of the order is €4.1mln.
Shares in Proton rose 13.3% to 12.75p, giving the company a market capitalisation of £72.6mln.
10.30am: Investors bend the knee to Regal after operational update from Ukraine
Regal Petroleum PLC (LON:RPT) cheered its legion of fans with a production update from Ukraine.
In the first quarter of 2019, the Mekhediviska-Golotvshinska field produced an average of 3,283 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) while the Svyrydivske field averaged 1,023 boepd.
The respective figures for the same period of 2018 were 2,169 boepd and 605 boepd.
A fantastic quarter from #RPT. I am totally over the moon with these results. Record production at 4,306boepd and cash soaring from $53.3m to $62.5m! What an investment this is turning out to be ... total delivery #RegalPetroleum
— Baron Day Trading (@barondaytrading) April 4, 2019
Regal's shares were up almost 15% at 45p.
9.30am: Saga sags as it rethinks its business model
The emphasis in Saga PLC (LON:SAGA) was on the sag as the shares lost a third of their value after a profit warning.
The company, which targets the over 55s with insurance and holiday services, slashed its dividend after swinging to a 2019 loss and warning that it expects weaker margins in the insurance business to hit next year’s results.
READ Saga Group slashes dividend as is warns insurance turnaround plan will hit profits
“Saga has clearly been struggling for some time and today’s admission of failure is perhaps long overdue; however, it takes a brave person to recognise that the plan isn’t working and to put up their hand and admit they’ve failed,” commented AJ Bell's Russ Mould.
“Many companies in trouble often keep digging a hole and come up with endless excuses but to Saga’s credit, admitting and hopefully correcting its mistakes could make the management look stronger. The test is whether shareholders take the same view and let the current leadership team stay in place to complete the turnaround,” he added.
Shareholders in Xeros Technology Group PLC (LON:XSG) are easily pleased.
All the company behind the polymer bead cleaning system had to do to provoke an 18% rise in the share price to 8p was announce it is to announce its full-year results on 30 April.
Lots of speculators are obviously expecting the company to clean up ...
Proactive news headlines:
ReNeuron Group PLC (LON:RENE) said its cell therapy for blindness-causing disease retinitis pigmentosa is proving efficacious in the first group of phase II patients receiving the treatment. This follows from February’s update from which it emerged that the first three people taking part in the phase I/II study were able to read an additional three lines of a standard eye chart.
Tissue Regenix Group PLC (LON:TRX) has secured additional coverage from a US Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) for the use of DermaPure, its decellularized allograft dermis. The AIM-listed regenerative medical devices company said the additional coverage will open up access to a further 1,500 hospitals and 32,500 alternative care providers, primarily in the South Eastern region of the US.
ANGLE PLC’s (LON:AGL) Parsortix cancer detection system has been showcased by a number of customers at the world’s largest cancer research conference in Atlanta, US.
Frontier IP PLC (LON:FIPP) said investee company Exscientia has reached its first major milestone in its collaboration with drugs giant GlaxoSmithkline (LON:GSK) by delivering a lead molecule identified using artificial intelligence. The drug candidate will target chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which affects 384mln people globally.
Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) has said Pan Asia Metals Limited (PAM), in which it holds a 13.6% stake, has begun drilling at its Reung Kiet Lithium project (RKLP) in Thailand.
Chrome alloys specialist Afarak Group PLC (LON:AFRK) is to take full control of its South African mines through a buy-out of its partner in the Synergy Africa joint venture. Afarak added the transaction will give rise to a significant accounting gain due to a revaluation of its 51% stake following the change in control.
Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:ECO, CVE:EOG) has raised US$17mln of new funds to cover its participation in a possible expansion to the exploration drilling campaign offshore Guyana. It is selling 16.1mln shares to new and existing investors at a price of 80p per share, only a small discount to Wednesday’s closing price of 83.2p.
Motif Bio PLC (LON:MTFB) (NASDAQ:MTFB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specialising in developing novel antibiotics, announced that four iclaprim abstracts have been accepted for presentation at the upcoming 28th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID 2019) to be held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, April 13-16, 2019. Details for each presentation and poster are noted below, including links to the related abstracts, which are available at https://www.eccmidlive.org.
i3 Energy PLC (LON:I3E), the independent oil and gas company with assets and operations in the UK, said it raised an aggregate amount of approximately £363,732 after receiving valid applications in respect of a total of 983,059 new ordinary shares in the company under the open offer to shareholders announced on 19th March 2019.
Victoria Oil & Gas PLC (LON:VOG) has announced the appointment of two Independent non-executive directors, John Daniel and John Knight, who it said “bring with them a wealth of experience and expertise to strengthen the Board”. It said from 2002 to 2018, Knight held various leadership roles and board positions at Norwegian giant Equinor, formerly known as Statoil ASA. The group added, in November 2017, Daniel founded JD Oil and Gas Consultancy Limited, an independent oil and gas consultancy, specialising in technical and commercial due diligence for upstream oil and gas transactions.
Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST), the AIM-listed mining company with mines in Romania and Zimbabwe, announced that it has appointed SP Angel Corporate Finance as its joint broker with immediate effect. The group said SVS Securities will continue to serve as joint broker to the company.