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Keras slides as its stake in Calidus is diluted

Last updated: 15:10 15 Aug 2019 BST, First published: 09:10 15 Aug 2019 BST

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Shares in Keras Resources PLC (LON:KRS) fell 5% to 0.47p after it revealed a dilution in its stake in Calidus Resources Limited.

The Aussie company recently placed a pile of shares to raise A$9mln but Keras did not participate in the placing.

As a result, its stake has declined to around 33.8% from 38.9%.

2.30pm: ASOS's turn to attract the attention of short-sellers

Shares in online fashion giant ASOS PLC (LON:ASC) sank 5.8% to 2,166p as the AIM 100 firm came under renewed pressure from short-sellers.

According to website ShortTracker, since the start of August three investment firms, AQR Capital Management, Gladstone Capital Management and Marshall Wace have all increased their short positions in the online retailer.

Gladstone has seen the biggest increase, adding 0.13% of the shares to its short position, which now stands at 1.24%.

12.30pm: Director's share sale fails to make Nichols' shares go pop

A director selling shares did not dampen investors’ enthusiasm for Nichols PLC (LON:NICL), the maker of Vimto.

Nick Yates, the company’s “out of home” sales director, sold his entire holding – 1,450 shares – at 1,815p a pop.

Despite the share sale, Nichols’ shares were up 3.1% at 1,855p.

11.30am: Pleasant surprise for Europa Metals at Toral

Europa Metals PLC (LON:EUZ) shares shot up 9.6% to 0.03p after some welcome news from the Toral project in Spain.

The company said the third hole it has drilled at the project ran into additional layers of mineralisation in a wide zone.

"This is a great drilling result, currently only visual, but a 12m mineralised intersection supports the theory that the orebody displays a plunging high-grade core, which is currently open at depth,” said Myles Campion, Europa’s technical director.

10.30am: Plant Health Care hails field trial results

Shares in Plant Health Care PLC (LON:PHC) have been a poor investment this year but they were blooming on Thursday after some field trials news.

The shares were up 22% at 7.00p after the plant growth enhancement specialist said its PHC279 product significantly improved Asian Soyabean Rust control of foliar fungicide programmes, even in fields facing heavy disease pressure.

Asian Soyabean Rust is a potentially devastating disease that regularly affects soyabean yields in Brazil.

9.30am: Tea price fall a bit steep for Camellia

Agriculture group Camellia PLC (LON:CAM) came a cropper this morning, with its shares down 3.0% at 9,800p after it warned of an oversupply of tea.

A glut of tea put a dent in revenues and profits in the first half of 2019, the company warned.

The group slumped into the red, with an underlying loss of £4.1mln, compared to a profit the year before of £6.1mln.

Trade war risks have risen and global recession risks are rising, said JPMorgan, explaining its decision to downgrade miner and commodities trader Glencore PLC (LON:GLEN).

The broker has moved from 'neutral' to 'underweight' and slashed its price target from 330p to 260p. Glencore's shares currently trade at 227.4p, down 1.3% on the day.

Despite the share price falling by a third since the US Department of Justice revealed last month it was investigating Glencore, the shares are still unattractive, in JPMorgan's view, compared to the likes of Rio Tinto, BHP and Anglo American.

 

Proactive news headlines:

NQ Minerals PLC (AQSE: NQMI) highlighted an improved performance through the second quarter as it released interim results for the first six months of its financial year.

Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) has unveiled what it said is a “substantial” initial copper resource of 114,000 tonnes at its Moonta project in South Australia.

Tekcapital PLC’s (LON:TEK) Lucyd portfolio company has launched its Sherman Shades – the highly-anticipated range of sunglasses co-designed by NFL star Richard Sherman.

Tissue Regenix Group PLC (LON:TRX) has secured additional manufacturing space next to its facility at San Antonio, Texas, which will allow it expand capacity.

The recovery at Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG) continued in the first half of 2019 with sharply reduced losses on revenue that more than doubled.

Scotgold Resources Limited (LON:SGZ) has appointed Ian Proctor, the chief executive officer of Sky Betting and Gaming, as a non-executive director.

Kibo Energy PLC (LON:KIBO) told investors it has been granted seven new mining rights relating to the Mbeya Coal to Power Project (MCPP) in Tanzania.

Base Resources Limited (LON:BSE) said UBS has decreased its interest in the company by a 5.96% stake.

APQ Global Ltd (LON:APQ) said its unaudited book value per ordinary share was 90.33 US dollar cents at the close of business on 31 July, the, equivalent to 73.77p.

Woodbois Ltd (LON:WBI) said it has been placed seventh out of 97 companies on the Sustainability Policy Transparency Toolkit timber producers table, as one of only nine other companies which were ranked in the 'higher' segment of the transparency score range this year.

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