Pendragon Group PLC (LON:PDG) hardened 5.1% to 9p entered into a sale and leaseback agreement over its Porsche Centre property in Stockport.
Pendragon has received £10.5mln in cash while retaining the use of the property under a 15-year lease.
The proceeds from the transaction will be used for general corporate purposes.
1.00pm: Horizon Discovery rises as directors top up holdings
Horizon Discovery Group PLC (LON:HZD), the gene editing specialist, advanced 6.9% to 108p after two directors purchased shares.
Ian Gilham, the chairman, bought 25,000 shares at 101p a pop, increasing his holding to 115,037 shares, equivalent to 0.07% of the company.
Another non-executive director, Grahame Cooke, increased his holding to 142,250 shares (0.09%) with the purchase of 79,850 shares at 101p each.
11.50am: Helios opts not to recommend a final divi
Helios Underwriting PLC (LON:HUW) sank 8.5% to 89.5p after it opted not to recommend a final dividend for the fiscal year just ended.
The company reported better than expected net asset value from its investment portfolio of Lloyd’s of London companies.
The fund, which acquired four limited liability vehicles of former Lloyd’s Names for £10mln in the past year and has added another in 2020, generated a profit before impairments and tax for the year of £2.5mln, up 300% on the previous year.
11.00am: Ocean Outdoor a bright spot after announcing new financing facilities
Ocean Outdoor Limited (LON:OOUT) was a bright spot in a dull market on Friday, rising 36% to US$6.50 after announcing new financing arrangements.
The digital advertising firm, which specialises in the sort of displays seen in Picadilly Circus, has entered into a £35mln facility agreement, comprising a term loan and a revolving credit facility.
£25mln of the new facility has been issued under the UK government-backed Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme.
10.00am: DWF Group dives after profits warning and departure of its chief executive officer
DWF Group PLC (LON:DWF) dived 15% to 69p after its chief executive officer, Andrew Leaitherland quit with immediate effect.
Chairman Sir Nigel Knowles will take over as DWF's chief executive officer while senior independent non-executive director, Chris Sullivan will take on the chairman duties until a permanent appointment is made.
The legal firm also revealed that the effects of the coronavirus (COVID-19) have been greater than expected, as a result of which underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the year to the end of April are now expected to be lower than previously expected at around £34mln under the IFRS16 accounting standard.
8.55am: Pathfinder explains reason behind cut to share placing price
Pathfinder Minerals PLC (LON:PFP) shed 8% to 0.575p after it provided background to yesterday’s decision to alter the price of a placing.
The company slashed the proposed issue price to 0.65p from 1.00p after its broker advised the company it would be unlikely to get the share issue away at the original price.
The company noted that it would still be raising the same amount of money as originally intended; existing shareholders will just face considerably more dilution of their holdings as a result of the price being cut.
8.20am: Eagle Eye Solutions lifts guidance
Eagle Eye Solutions PLC (LON:EYE) rose 4.5% to 162.5p in early trade on Friday as the group lifted its earnings guidance and announced contract extensions with Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd and Asda Stores Limited.
The technology company, which focuses on customer loyalty programmes, said that its adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the year to the end of June are expected to be at last £500,000 ahead of market expectations.
“We are experiencing normal levels of new business activity and a growing sales pipeline; however, new contract signings are taking longer to close, as anticipated,” the company said.
Meanwhile, Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (LON:TILS) (NASDAQ:TLSA) climbed 11% higher to 117p after it unveiled details about two poster presentations at a top medical conference.
The company said the presentations underline the potential of its technology in predicting the recurrence of breast cancer.
The group's StemPrintER stem cell-based genomic prognostic tool showed superiority over the market leader, Oncotype DX, when it came to predicting the recurrence of the disease in ER+/HER2- postmenopausal patients.
Proactive news headlines:
Botswana Diamonds PLC (LON:BOD) told investors it has now recovered over 100 macro diamonds from bulk sampling operations at the Marsfontein development project in South Africa’s Limpopo Province. The company said it sampled 58 tons of ‘fresh high-interest kimberlite’ and 62 tons of kimberlitic material from a residual stockpile, known as 'Dump E'. A total of 87 macro diamonds were recovered from the fresh kimberlite with a modelled grade of 50 carats per hundred tonnes, while 24 macro diamonds came from Dump E with a modelled grade of 16 carats per hundred tonnes.
Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (LON:TILS) (NASDAQ:TLSA) has said that two poster presentations at a top medical conference underline the potential of its technology in predicting the recurrence of breast cancer. The group's StemPrintER stem cell-based genomic prognostic tool showed superiority over the market leader, Oncotype DX, when it came to predicting the recurrence of the disease in ER+/HER2- postmenopausal patients. More than 800 women took part in the study to be presented at a session of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) virtual conference starting later on Friday.
Catenae Innovation PLC (LON:CTEA) has teamed up with north-east occupational health and wellness business, Newcastle Premier Health, which will provide its know-how to the group's Cov-ID project. Cov-ID is GDPR compliant identity documentation exchange system to record an individual's coronavirus (COVID-19) test status through a mobile app that is intended to be marketed to businesses and organisations. Earlier this month, Catenae said it had begun trialling and finalising the app having created a prototype.
Zoetic International PLC (LON:ZOE) has filed a US patent application for the method of manufacturing its tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-free Chill brand of smokable cannabidiol (CBD) products. The CBD specialist said the patent-pending method also includes a variation smoking cessation product, employing combinations of nicotine and CBD, and has been in development for over a year. Zoetic added that it believes CBD may play “a rapidly increasing role in smoking cessation aides” and that its Chill branded tobacco-free, THC-free and nicotine-free products were “well-placed to take an increasing share of this market”. The company noted that, if issued, the patent will provide it with “a protected market-leading offering”.
United Oil & Gas PLC (LON:UOG) has posted financial results that celebrated significant progress in 2019, as the company’s growth continued. During the year it agreed on the transformational acquisition of the Rockhopper Egypt business; advanced permitting for the Selva gas development project in Italy, where ‘first gas’ is slated for 2021; realised a profit with the sale of the Crown discovery in the North Sea; and also expanded its footprint via the UK offshore licensing round. Since completing the Rockhopper Egypt acquisition in February 2020, the producing Abu Sennan asset has performed strongly, with the new ASH-2 achieving rates ahead of expectations, and presently remaining above 3,000 barrels of oil per day, the group said.
Learning Technologies Group PLC (LON:LTG) has raised just under £82mln through a share placing to take advantage of what it said were “numerous attractive acquisition opportunities” arising from the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The digital learning specialist said the placing was for around 64.4mln new shares at a price of 127p each, a 7.6% discount to its closing price on Thursday of 137.50p, and raised a total of £81.8mln. The firm said any acquisition opportunities would require “readily available capital” to deploy for fast execution, adding that it anticipated these purchases would be executed over the next nine to 12 months.
Benchmark Holdings PLC (LON:BMK) has said continued weakness in shrimp markets overshadowed a robust second-quarter performance by the group’s genetics business. In the three months to the end of March – Benchmark’s second-quarter – group revenue eased to £32.0mln from £37.7mln in the corresponding period of 2019. Revenues in the Advanced Nutrition business fell to £19.9mln from £25.0mln the previous year, which Benchmark ascribed to weak shrimp markets plus oversupply and price competition in the Artemia (brine shrimp) market.
SIMEC Atlantis Energy Limited (LON:SAE), which is developing the Uskmouth Conversion Project, has announced the start of a 28-day pre-application consultation (PAC) for the project. The group said the PAC will run from June 1, 2020, to June 29, 2020. Given the current coronavirus pandemic, the Uskmouth Conversion Project PAC will be hosted online on the SIMEC Atlantis Energy website.
Providence Resources PLC (LON:PVR), the Ireland-based resource development company, has confirmed that it is now in receipt of £200,000 in respect of the second tranche of SpotOn Energy’s investment in the company and it has therefore issued a total of 6,116,208 new ordinary shares to SpotOn at an issue price of 3.27p each, the closing price on the London Stock Exchange on May 21, 2020, the date funds were originally expected to be received. The group noted that SpotOn Energy experienced some delays in closing out the necessary arrangements with its consortium because of current working and travel restrictions. As announced on April 6, 2020, SpotOn invested £300,000 into Providence as part of a recent $3.3mln fundraising and committed to investing a further £200,000 within six weeks of that announcement. Following the receipt of the second tranche of the investment, SpotOn will become a substantial shareholder in Providence owning 26,116,208 ordinary shares, representing 3.1% of the enlarged issued share capital of the company.
Afarak Group PLC (LON:AFRK) said that, due to changed circumstances, one of two directed share issues, first announced on May 29, 2019, that was to be done through a share exchange has been terminated. These share issues were related to two signed agreements for Afarak to acquire additional ownership in certain South African mining assets. Afarak said it has instead resolved on a direct share issue of a total of 2,123,343 of its treasury shares to its South African subsidiary, Chromex Mining Company (Pty) Ltd to enable ownership arrangement in Chromex SA that will result in additional ownership of mining assets in South Africa. This will benefit the company as well as the group's parent as, from its point of view, especially weighty financial reasons exist for the deviation from the shareholders’ pre-emptive right. Due to the relevantly modest size of the transaction and the fact that the company is increasing its ownership in assets that it already controls, Afrarak said it is not expecting the transaction to affect the financial performance of the group in 2020.
Emmerson PLC (LON:EMM), the Moroccan focused potash development company, has announced that its annual general meeting will be held at 11.00am on June 24, 2020, at 55 Athol Street, Douglas Isle of Man, IM1 1LA.
Bidstack Group PLC (LON:BID), the native in-game advertising group, announced that at its annual general meeting held on Thursday each of the resolutions were passed by the requisite majority.
Instem PLC (LON:INS), a leading provider of IT solutions to the global life sciences market, has said it will announce results for the year ended December 31, 2019, on Wednesday, June 3, 2020. The group added that its management will be hosting a presentation via web conference on the day of the results at 10.30am. Analysts wishing to join should register their interest by emailing instem@walbrookpr.com or by telephoning 020 7933 8780.
Inspired Energy plc (LON:INSE), a leading energy consultant to UK and Irish corporates, has said it will announce its full-year results for the year ended December 31, 2019, on June 2, 2020. It added that an analyst briefing call will be held at 10.00am on the morning of results and those analysts wishing to join the presentation can register for details via inspired@almapr.co.uk
ANGLE PLC (LON:AG) (OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, has announced that it will be releasing its audited preliminary results for the 8 months ended December 31, 2019, on Thursday, June 25, 2020. Following coronavirus (COVID-19) guidance from the Financial Reporting Council and according to discussions with the company's auditors, RSM, to allow it sufficient time to complete the audit, this date is slightly deferred from that given in the earlier COVID-19 business impact update from the company on March 31, 2020.
Oncimmune Holdings PLC (LON:ONC), the leading global immunodiagnostics group, has said it will be announcing a trading update for the full year ended May 31, 2020, on Thursday, June 4, 2020. The group added that Dr Adam M Hill, its chief executive officer, together with Matthew Hall, chief financial officer, and Professor Tariq Sethi, chief scientific officer, will host an online presentation and conference call for analysts and investors at 10.30am BST on June 42020. The company will also be conducting live virtual laboratory tours with lead scientists at its sites in Nottingham, UK and Dortmund, Germany. This will provide the attendees with a rare insight into the science behind Oncimmune's EarlyCDT tests and its core immune profiling technology service, ImmunoINSIGHTS. For video conference details please contact Alex Davis at FTI Consulting: alexander.davis@fticonsulting.com or telephone 020 3727 1000.
SDX Energy PLC (LON:SDX), the MENA-focused oil and gas company, announced that it will be hosting a retail investor conference call at 9.30am BST on Wednesday, June 3, 2020. The call will provide an update on operations and guidance while also providing a question and answer session for investors. It said investors wishing to participate in the event or ask a question before the call, should email: sdx@camarco.co.uk
Eden Research PLC (LON:EDEN), the AIM-listed biopesticide products company has announced that it's annual general meeting (AGM) is to be held on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, at 12.00 pm at 6 Priory Court, Priory Court Business Park, Poulton, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 5JB. The group said, given the current coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions, regrettably it cannot allow shareholders to attend in person and the company's Articles of Association do not currently permit hybrid or virtual meetings. It added that shareholders are encouraged to submit their Form of Proxy in advance of the meeting and should they wish to ask any questions about the resolutions they are encouraged to email them to agm@edenresearch.com so as to be received no later than June 23.