Nakama Group PLC (LON:NAK), the recruitment firm, shed a third of its value at 0.35p after an update on its financial position and current trading.
The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has had an immediate impact on trading in both the group's Hong Kong and Singapore businesses during the last quarter of the financial year ended 31 March 2020 as a result of which results for the year will be marginally below management's expectations.
The COVID-19 outbreak has now seen a marked impact on the trading of the UK businesses too and this will adversely affect the new financial year.
The group's cash position remains tight but the Board is confident that the business can continue to operate financially during the current COVID-19 crisis.
2.00pm: IXICO bags substantial contract
IXICO PLC (LON:IXI) has signed a “substantial new contract” for a late-phase open-label study into Huntington’s disease carrying a value of £10.5mln.
The shares rose 11% to 72p after the neuroscience data analytics firm said the four-year contract will run to 2024, with the majority of revenues expected to be generated in 2022 and 2023, bringing the total value of new deals signed in its current financial year-to-date to £15mln.
The study has an estimated 1000 subjects in Europe, North American and Asia and is currently expected to begin enrolment in the summer of 2020.
1.00pm: Borders & Southern Petroleum plans to cut expenditures by a quarter this year
Borders & Southern Petroleum PLC (LON:BORD) shot up 24% to 1.21p on the back of its full-year results.
The oil and gas exploration company with assets off the coast of the Falkland Islands posted a reduced loss before tax in respect of 2019 of US$1.37mln compared to a loss in 2018 of US$1.96mln.
The shares rose after investors learnt the board has targeted a 25% reduction in expenditures (in sterling terms) during 2020. The company’s cash balance at the end of 2019 was US$3.68, down from US$5.6mln a year earlier.
Noon: NetScientific perks up as healthcare entrepreneur is appointed to investee company
NetScientific PLC (LON:NSCI) hardened 36% to 4.3p after one its portfolio companies, PDS Biotechnology, appointed Dr Ilian Iliev to its board of directors.
“He brings a wealth of experience to PDS Biotech as a recognised entrepreneur and venture capitalist across multiple industries, including healthcare," said Steve Glover, the chairman of the board of PDS Biotech, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing multiple therapies based on T-cell activating technology called Versamune.
"Together, we will help guide PDS Biotech through its near and long-term milestones as we advance our programmes in infectious disease and immuno-oncology with leading research institutions and pharmaceutical companies,” Glover said.
11.00am: Braveheart lifted by investee company's focus on producing hand sanitiser gel
Braveheart PLC (LON:BRH) climbed 23% to 16p after it revealed its majority-owned investee company Pharm2Farm has switched focus to manufacturing hand sanitiser gel.
The shift is in response to the coronavirus crisis.
The group said production is currently 500 litres per day, with supplies sent to NHS fulfilment centres, regional NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups and other users.
10.00am: Cadence Minerals doubles as Amapá Project is brought "back to life"
Cadence Minerals PLC (LON:KDNC) doubled to 6.55p after the Amapá iron ore project in Brazil received court approval to start iron ore shipments.
DEV Mineraço, with the support of its joint venture partners Cadence and Indo Sino, is in detailed discussions with potential offtake partners and local contractors so shipments can resume as soon as possible.
“This ruling brings the Amapá Project back to life,” said Cadence’s chairman, Andrew Suckling.
9.10am: Mobile Streams surges after data-sharing agreement with the National Emergencies Trust
Mobile Streams PLC’s (LON:MOS) shares jumped 11% higher to 0.31p in early trade on Tuesday after the group said it has signed a data-sharing agreement with the National Emergencies Trust (NET).
The agreement will provide data insight, intelligence and visualisation services to the UK charity responsible for the collection and distribution of funds in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The AIM-listed company's 'Streams' platform and services are helping to inform and assist the NET in a number of areas including assessing the impact and spread of the pandemic as well as identifying the sectors, industries and people most affected and in need of funding, Mobile Streams said.
Meanwhile, Ascent Resources PLC (LON:AST) descended 19% lower to 3.125p as it revealed that a party that had been considering backing the company in a legal case has got cold feet.
The oil and gas company continues to assess the merits of litigation versus developing the Petisovci gas project collaboratively with the government and its partners. Ascent remains confident of of its case, that it can secure such funding either from this funder at a later date or other prospective funders if it elects to pursue a litigation led strategy in Slovenia.
Meanwhile, the company announced that Andrew Dennan is to join the company as chief executive officer, subject to the usual due diligence. He was formerly the chief financial officer of Coro Energy PLC where he retains the position of non-executive director (NED) and he is also a NED of Nu-Oil and Gas PLC.
Proactive news headlines:
Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN) chairman Iain Ross said the gene silencing specialist has “clearly come of age” after delivering two significant commercial deals in less than a year. His comments accompanied the drug developer’s results for the year ended December 31. During the period it inked a research and collaboration agreement with Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, which resulted in a £16mln upfront payment. The group’s biggest transaction, with AstraZeneca, was unveiled on March 25.
Braveheart PLC (LON:BRH) has said its majority-owned investee company Pharm2Farm has switched manufacturing capacity to hand sanitiser gel in response to the coronavirus crisis. In a statement, the group said production is currently 500 litres per day, with supplies sent to NHS fulfilment centres, regional NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups and other users. Pharm2Farm has also started to test nano-copper particles in Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) used by NHS and care staff.
Nu-Oil and Gas PLC (LON:NUOG) has revealed its new direction, announcing a reverse transaction into a “well established” plastics recycling and reprocessing business. The company, which launched the process a number of months ago amid comprehensive management changes, said the intention is that the new vehicle will act as a consolidator in the sector. It has so far entered into a non-binding heads of terms agreement for the transaction, which will see up to £60,000 of fees to paid to the counterparty.
IXICO PLC (LON:IXI) has signed a “substantial new contract” for a late-phase open label study into Huntington’s disease (HD) carrying a value of £10.5mln. The neuroscience data analytics firm said the four-year contract will run to 2024, with the majority of revenues expected to be generated in 2022 and 2023, bringing the total value of new deals signed in its current financial year-to-date to £15mln. Meanwhile, the company said it expects to report revenue growth of “at least 25%” year-on-year in the six months ended 31 March.
Iofina PLC (LON:IOF) has said its IO#8 iodine plant located in western Oklahoma is now in production. In a statement, the group said the plant was delivered on time and within budget and is expected to crank up production levels to hit full pelt over the next six weeks. The company said crystalline iodine production in the first quarter of 2020 was 129.7 tonnes, more or less in line with the 134.4 tonnes produced in the same quarter of 2019.
VR Education Holdings PLC (LON:VRE) has signed a partnership deal with US firm VictoryXR for use of the company’s ENGAGE platform. The virtual reality (VR) group said VictoryXR, which specialises in developing science curriculum content and virtual animal dissections both in VR and augmented reality (AR), will import its content library onto ENGAGE and provide its services remotely to school children across the US as part of a revenue share agreement. In a separate announcement, VR Education also said it has appointed Shard Capital Partners as joint broker with immediate effect.
Circle Property PLC (LON:CRC), the regional office property specialist, said it has seen a substantial uplift in the value of its property portfolio. In a statement, the company said its investment and development portfolio was independently valued at the end of March at £139.5mln, up from £124.6mln a year earlier. The net asset value (NAV) per share rose 4.7% to an estimated 290p from 277p at the end of March 2019; the company’s shares currently trade at 170p.
Bluejay Mining PLC (LON:JAY) said it has signed a memorandum of understanding with a multinational commodity trading company and major ilmenite market participant, with a target of 200,000 tonnes per year of ilmenite production as part of ongoing commercial discussions. Meanwhile, the group added, the first bulk sample of heavy minerals concentrate batch has been produced at Bluejay's pilot plant in Contrecoeur for Rio Tinto Iron and Titanium. The pilot plant commenced operation in February 2020 and had been running at full capacity for several weeks until the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Directa Plus (LON:DCTA) has said it is to supply a special grade of its G+ graphene product, known as ITC1, to its partner, Iterchimica. The G+ product is the differentiating component of Gipave, an asphalt super-modifier developed by Directa Plus and Iterchimica and follows successful trials in Italy and the UK. The agreement signed by the companies provides for the exclusive supply of the G+ graphene product to Iterchimica in the asphalt and bitumen sector worldwide and is for an initial duration of three years.
Horizonte Minerals PLC (LON:HZM) (TSE:HZM), the nickel company focused in Brazil, has committed to donating 300 food parcels to the municipalities of Conceição do Araguaia, Floresta do Araguaia and Xinguara, in light of the socio-economic impact caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The parcels are being delivered throughout April and May, with the first going out to families this week. The donations will benefit families in the vicinity of Horizonte's Araguaia nickel project municipalities that have been identified as vulnerable during this unprecedented time.
SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited (LON:SAE) said there has been little disruption to its tidal power business due to the coronavirus pandemic. In a statement, the group noted that electricity is continuing to be supplied from the MeyGen project in Scotland to the grid and SIMEC Atlantis expects to maintain services there and in Japan over the remainder of the year.
FastForward Innovations Limited (LON:FFWD) has delivered an update on the companies across its portfolio, as well as its own cash position during the coronavirus pandemic. "We continue to focus on providing investors with exposure to disruptive growth opportunities that have near-term re-rating potential and would otherwise be inaccessible. To this end, we currently have eight investee companies of varying size and spanning several sectors, some of which have had recent notable successes whilst others have not performed as we'd hoped”, said FastForward chairman Lorne Aborny in the statement. He pointed out that the company was currently working with its investee companies to “monitor their positions and assess any potential impact” from the coronavirus pandemic.
Alien Metals Ltd (LON:UFO) has revealed the results of its induced polarisation survey at the Donovan 2 copper-gold project in Mexico. The company said it has identified two robust drill targets associated with previously outlined geological corridors. A drill program incorporating the survey results is currently being planned, it added.US Oil & Gas PLC (USOP) has told investors it hopes to drill a new well during the second quarter of 2020 at its project in Nevada. Permitting process has been ongoing, and, in a statement released on Friday, the company said that despite coronavirus impacts the indications at present are that US federal and state regulatory processes may not be slowed to a significant degree. Coronavirus restrictions may, however, impact operational timelines that cannot be anticipated at this point, it added.
Bahamas Petroleum Company PLC (LON:BPC) has told investors that the allotment of shares to its Bahamian fund and the admission of those shares for trading on AIM has been delayed. These regulatory milestones were due on Tuesday, but, have yet to complete due to consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. Certain administrative processes are still pending in the Bahamas, the company noted.
Diversified Gas & Oil PLC (LON:DGOC) has announced the successful completion of a second US$200mln securitised financing arrangement. The arrangement is arranged Guggenheim Securities, the lead investor is the TIAA (Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America) and the company noted that it maintains many of the same significant financial characteristics as the previous arrangement.
BlueRock Diamonds PLC (LON:BRD) has said its Kareevlei mine remains on care and maintenance after the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa extended the lockdown period in the country to the end of April due to the coronavirus pandemic. "The extension to the lockdown period is not a surprise and is consistent with what is happening in countries around the world,” said BlueRock executive chairman Mike Houston in a statement.
Nektan (LON:NKTN), the international gaming technology platform and services provider, announced that it has failed to secure the necessary funds for the requisite additional working capital necessary to secure the future of the company. As a result, the company said it has commenced the process in the Gibraltar courts to seek to appoint an administrator, whose appointment is expected to be effective on Tuesday. Nektan said it has, therefore, requested that trading on AIM in its ordinary shares be suspended with effect from 7.30am today. A further announcement will be made in due course, it added.
Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd (LON:FARN) (NASDAQFIRSTNORTH:FARON) has notified its shareholders that it's annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on May 18, 2020, at 10.00am (Finnish time) at the offices of the company at Joukahaisenkatu 6, 20520 Turku, Finland. Due to the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) situation, the group said, the AGM will only be held if the number of participants at the meeting is low enough to allow it to be conducted safely and in compliance with the regulations issued by the authorities and, therefore, it encourages shareholders to participate in the AGM by way of centralised proxy representation and to follow it by webcast.