Frontier IP Group PLC surged 12% to 65.5p following an update from one of its portfolio companies, The Vaccine Group.
Frontier, a specialist in commercialising university intellectual property, noted that The Vaccine Group (TVG) has made material progress with its novel vaccine technology and the start of work on a COVID-19 vaccine for use in animals.
TVG completed a £680,000 equity funding round in January 2020 that valued it at £9.5mln and Frontier IP's 17% shareholding at £1.6mln. The funds are being used by TVG to accelerate technology development.
Dozens of research groups around the world are racing to create a vaccine for the new coronavirus. Early work looks promising, but experts warn it likely will be more than a year before vaccines are ready for widespread use. https://t.co/w8cVB04Kz3
— The Associated Press (@AP) March 8, 2020
2.00pm: Saga cruises higher after it says bookings are holding up well
Saga PLC (LON:SAGA) shares cruised 15% higher after it issued a response to the government’s advice on cruise ship travel.
The travel and insurance firm, which caters for the over-fifties market, said demand for its cruises has been “very positive”, with bookings of around 80% of the full-year target.
While cancellations had increased in recent weeks, as of 11 March 2020, the average booked load factor for Saga’s remaining five Cruise departures in March was 79% and the average booked load factor for five April departures was 85%.
12.50pm: Finablr bounces back from yesterday's nose-dive
Finablr PLC (LON:FIN) shares continue to redefine the word volatility, shooting up 280% to 17.06p after yesterday’s collapse.
The owner of the Travelex foreign currency provider warned yesterday that it was taking urgent steps to assess accurately its current liquidity and cash flow position – a by no means unique course of action this year for companies in which the Indian businessman B R Shetty has a substantial stake.
That news sent the shares crashing from 22.44p to 4.5p but they have bounced back strongly today.
12.05pm: Premier Oil calms a few nerves
Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO) shares rallied 63% to 20.64p after the oiler detailed measures responding to the recent collapse in crude prices.
It noted that around 30% of 2020’s production is hedged at US$60, and, that 40% of oil production for the first half of 2020 is hedged at US$64 per barrel.
The company said that it “retains significant liquidity” with US$135mln of unrestricted cash and US$330mln of undrawn facilities.
11.15am: Codemasters hit by delay to release of Fast & Furious 9
Codemasters Group Holdings PLC (LON:CDM) shifted 6.5% into reverse at 221.5p after the release of its Fast & Furious Crossroads game was released.
The delay is because of the pushing back of the release of the ninth film in the Fast & Furious series of films by 11 months to April 2021.
Timing for the launch of the game is now uncertain but, provided the company releases the game in the first quarter of fiscal 2021 (which ends in March), the board anticipates that the later release date of the film will not have a material impact on its financial expectations for fiscal 2021.
10.30am: Tremor shareholders quake as capital events day is postponed
Tremor International Ltd (LON:TRMR) lost a tenth of its value after it said its 2 April capital markets event has been postponed.
The video advertising technologies firm said the postponement was because of the impact of the coronavirus on international travel and group meetings.
Shares in Tremor have almost halved since 21 February, when concern about the spread of the virus in Italy started to build.
9.30am: Spire stands ready to help the NHS tackle coronavirus outbreak
Spire Healthcare Group PLC (LON:SPI) rose 6.6% to 89.95p in early trade on Friday after it agreed to help the National Health Service respond to the coronavirus outbreak.
The independent hospital group said it has had a meeting with NHS England and representatives from across the private sector to discuss future COVID-19 planning.
The exact nature, extent and the timing of this support is yet to be determined, Spire said.
The share price of Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) was hammered after a half-year report from the dual-listed minerals company.
The shares fell 6.4% to 0.22p as it said recent weakness in the copper price was potentially a response to coronavirus disruption.
The company, which has no revenues, made a loss before tax of £479,000, little changed from 2018’s half-year loss of £406,000.
Proactive news headlines:
Redx Pharma PLC (LON:REDX) has revealed that a company led by a colourful biotech entrepreneur and the former head of the football league has made another private approach for it two weeks after discussions were terminated. In that time, Redx, led by Lisa Anson, has brokered a £26mln funding package that secured the company’s immediate future. In a surprise announcement on Friday, the company confirmed that Yesod Bio-Sciences has returned to the table with an indicative 15p a share offer. The stock closed Thursday at 4.5p.
Condor Gold PLC (LON:CNR) said considerable progress has been made towards securing the environmental permit for the development of the La India open pit in Nicaragua. In its results covering the second half of 2019, the AIM-listed exploration and development company noted that mine schedule, waste dump schedule, water and sewage management studies for the processing plant offices and accommodation have been completed and Tierra Group is fully engineering the tailing storage facility and completing designs for the surface water management system required for the operation of the mine.
Frontier IP PLC (LON:FIPP) investee company The Vaccine Group (TVG) said it is making “significant progress” with its animal vaccine platform and, significantly, has started work on an animal inoculation that would prevent the spread of coronavirus from animal to human. In a comprehensive update, TVG said rabbit trials of a prototype bovine mastitis drug have revealed “significant potential for new intellectual property and demonstrated the technology's ability to deliver strong, targeted immune responses”.
Directa Plus PLC (LON:DCTA), a producer of graphene nanoplatelets-based products, said trading in the first quarter of 2020 has been robust. Revenues are expected to clock in at around €1.52mln, slightly more than triple the level they were in the same quarter of 2019. This significant improvement has been primarily driven by the strengthening performance of Setcar, Directa Plus’s environmental division.
Salt Lake Potash Limited (LON:SO4) has said it is focused on “rapidly progressing” the development of its Lake Way project in Western Australia as it reported its half-year results. Over the six months ended 31 December, the company said it had completed a bankable feasibility study for Lake Way which it said demonstrated “outstanding economic returns” for a 20 year sulphate of potash (SOP) operation production 245 kilotons per annum.
Tower Resources PLC (LON:TRP) has reported an updated reserves report for the Thali project, offshore Cameroon, where the company has been awaiting the completion of a farm-out deal. The new third-party assessment, authored by Oilfield International, confirms 18mln barrels of proven reserves in the Njonji-1 and Njonji-2 fault blocks (unchanged on previous estimates) along with 20mln barrels of mean prospective resources across the Njonji South and Njonji South-West fault blocks.
Bahamas Petroleum Company PLC (LON:BPC) has moved back its estimated timeline for the Perseverance-1 exploration well as a result of supply chain disruption caused by the Covid19 coronavirus pandemic. Perseverance-1 is now anticipated in late May/early June. In the prior timeline the well was expected to spud in April 2020.
Sunrise Resources PLC (LON:SRES) said its Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held at 12:00 noon. on 19 March 2020 at the company's offices at Silk Point, Queens Avenue, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 2BB. However, in view of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it is now encouraging shareholders to vote electronically or to appoint the chairman as their proxy with their voting instructions rather than attend the meeting in person, and in order to reduce the risk of infection, the meeting will end immediately following the business of the AGM and there will be no corporate presentation, Q&A or refreshments. Sunrise said it is taking these precautionary measures to safeguard its shareholders' and employees' health and make the AGM as safe and efficient as possible.
Avation PLC (LON: AVAP), the commercial passenger aircraft leasing company, announced that on 12 March 2020 the company repurchased 10,000 ordinary shares through the market at a price of 225p each, which and will be held in treasury.
Chesnara PLC (LON:CSN), the life assurance group, said it will be reporting its results for the year ended 31 December 2019 on 31 March 2020.