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Amerisur hoists the 'for sale' sign

Last updated: 14:40 19 Jul 2019 BST, First published: 09:00 19 Jul 2019 BST

Amerisur installation

Amerisur Resources PLC (LON:AMER) has put itself up for sale, prompting market makers to push the share price up 45% to 17.6p.

The oil and gas producer and explorer focused on South America announced that following the receipt of interest in the company and its assets from other industry participants, and in light of the high level of recent activity in the Colombian exploration and production sector, it has decided to conduct a formal review of the various strategic options available to the company to maximise value for shareholders.

One of those options includes the possibility of a sale.

DP Poland returns to like-for-like sales growth

DP Poland PLC (LON:DPP), which operates under the Domino’s Pizza brand in Poland, saw a return to positive like-for-like (LFL) sales growth from March onwards.

The shares rose 11% to 8.625p after the company issued a trading update covering the first half of 2019. Although system sales were down 1% year-on-year, system sales in the March-June period were up 5% on an LFL basis from a year earlier, while the order count rose 6% on an LFL basis.

The company revealed that 80% of orders are now placed online.

1.30pm: Singapore-based investors buys into Symphony Environmental at a premium

Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC (LON:SYM), the biodegradable plastics specialist, has received a cash injection of £1.93mln from Vincel Investment Holdings.

Vincel subscribed for 15.5mln shares at 12.5p a throw; it has also been granted 10mln warrants, half of which are exercisable at 20p and half at 25p.

Shares in Symphony currently trade at 9p, up 16% on the day.

12.30pm: Acacia succubs to improved offer from Barrick Gold

Acacia Mining PLC’s (LON:ACA) directors have recommended a takeover offer from parent Barrick Gold worth 232p per share, sending the shares 19% higher to 221.8p.

The bid is around 10% more than Barrick originally said it would offer and follows two months of wrangling between the companies.

The terms are 0.168 of a Barrick share for each one in Acacia, which compares to the original offer of 0.153-to-one.

11.30am: Top two at ASOS in show of faith for fading AIM superstar

The chief executive officer of slumping online retailer ASOS PLC (LON:ASC) has shown some faith in the company and bout shares at 2,105p a pop.

Nick Beighton bought 2,639 shares for just under £50,000, increasing his take in the retailer to 169,903 shares. His purchase follows the acquisition by chairman Adam Croznier yesterday of 4,200 ASOS shares at 2,383.9p a throw, taking his holding up to 7,950 shares.

Shares in ASOS were up 1.1% at 2,131p today, a far cry from their 52-week peak of 6,228p a year ago.

10.30am: Petro Matad shares wilt after exploration well is spudded

Shares in Petro Matad Limited (LON:MATD) dipped after it announced drilling had started the Heron-1 exploration well in the Tamsag Basin of Block XX.

The Mongolian oil explorer said its 2019 drilling programme is fully funded but traders exited the shares anyway, sending them 3.3% lower to 8.32p, as the company announced a new nominated advisor – often seen as a prelude to a fund-raising.

The Heron-1 well is targeting a prospect with 25mln barrels of “mean prospective recoverable resource” and is planned to drill to a total depth of 3,050 metres.

9.30am: Cora Gold and Highland Gold glisten in early deals

Cora Gold Limited (LON:CORA) said gold mineralisation has been confirmed at depth at its Sanankoro gold project, sending the shares surging 16% to 4.65p.

"I am pleased to report that Cora's exploration drill programme, which has progressed on schedule and on budget, intersected gold mineralisation on each deeper drill hole at the Selin prospect, often at grades of more than 3g/t [grams per tonne] gold,” said Jonathan Forster, the chief executive officer of Cora Gold.

“Such promising results support earlier indications that the sulphide potential at Selin could be significant, providing justification for a future drill programme that would aim to extend the gold mineralisation at depth,” he added.

Sector peer Highland Gold Mining Limited (LON:HGM) rose 4.3% to 224.2p following its second-quarter operating results.

Highland Gold produced a total of 70,293 ounces of gold and gold equivalent in the second quarter of 2019, which was a slight increase from 69,610 ounces in the same quarter of 2018.

The average realised gold price during the quarter was US$ 1,309 per ounce, lifting the average realised gold price achieved in the first half of the year to US$ 1,308 an ounce.

 

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DP Poland PLC (LON:DPP), which operates the Domino’s Pizza brand in Poland, saw a return to positive like-for-like (LFL) sales growth from March onwards.

ECR Minerals PLC (LON:ECR) said its service providers have shown a "vote of confidence" in the business by agreeing to by paid in shares. The miner has issued more than 5mln shares valued at £50,900 to pay for business support, marketing and communications services.

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