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React Group jumps on share placing amid high cleaning services demand

Last updated: 15:28 03 Jun 2020 BST, First published: 09:01 03 Jun 2020 BST

Creo Medical Group PLC - Creo Medical surges after new data on cost-saving product tops expectations

React Group PLC (LON:REAT) advanced 10% to 1.67p on Wednesday before close on the back of a share placing to boost its sales activities as its services are in high demand.

The cleaning specialist placed 83mln shares, representing 16.67% of the company, for 1.5p each, which is a 1.6% discount to Tuesday’s closing price.

The AIM-listed firm said recent trading has been topping forecasts, so it expects to deliver a small operating profit for the six months to March 31.

2.20pm: BlueRock Diamonds rises with update on South African mine activity

BlueRock Diamonds Plc (LON:BRD) added 14% to 55.5p on Wednesday afternoon following an update on the restart of operations at the Kareevlei mine in South Africa.

The miner said there have been no cases of coronavirus and production averaged almost 2,000 tons per day since May 11.

The rate is up 65% on the average daily rate in the fourth quarter of 2019, which at the time was a record performance with 110,000 tons.

12noon: United Oil & Gas higher on better than estimated initial drilling results in Egypt

United Oil & Gas PLC (LON:UOG) gushed 35% higher to 2.9p after early analysis revealed a potentially much larger target in a project onshore Egypt.

The AIM-listed explorer holds 22% working interest in the Abu Sennan concession, where the El Salmiyah-5 development well is located.

The well encountered 120 metres of net pay for flow rates of 4,100 barrels of oil per day, but UOG said it is too early to reach a conclusion on oil volumes.

11am: Beowulf Mining slips on CEO letter to Swedish government over stalled iron ore project

Beowulf Mining PLC (LON:BEM) slipped 9% to 5.22p after chief executive Kurt Budge wrote to the Swedish government in relation to an upcoming parliamentary discussion on mining rights in the Scandinavian country.

Last month Lars Hjälmered, a Moderate Party Member, asked Ibrahim Baylan, the minister for Business, Industry and Innovation, when the authorities intend to decide on any mining activity in Kallak, where Beowulf has a stalled iron ore project.

Budge wrote to Baylan stressing the importance of its activity to Swedish economy.

10.10am: Cadence Minerals shines on supply agreement with German automotive supplier

Cadence Minerals PLC (LON:KDNC) climbed 33% to 10.5p in mid-morning after its partner Hastings Technology Metals entered in a binding agreement with German automotive supplier Schaeffler Technologies.

Hastings, which is Cadence’s join venture partner in the Yangibana Rare Earth Project in Australia, will supply products from the mine for a ten-year period.

Cadence owns 30% of the project.

Remaining in the sector, Kavango Resources PLC (LON:KAV) shot up 14% to 1.2p after being granted two prospecting licences in the Botswana section of the Kalahari copper belt.

The licence terms are for an initial period of three years but they can be extended to seven, while the acquisition of further licences is currently underway.

The explorer added that Botswana is expected to ease its lockdown restrictions from early June so it is planning to reinitiate field exploration “as soon as possible”.

9am: Creo Medical surges after new data on cost-saving product tops expectations

Creo Medical Group PLC (LON:CREO) was one of the top early risers on Wednesday morning, surging 15% higher to 175.84p after new data showed its Speedboat device can save NHS hospitals £5,000 per procedure.

The product, part of a suite of advanced energy devices, uses endoscopy to remove gastrointestinal pre-cancerous lesions under sedation rather than surgeries needing general anaesthetic, hospital stay and potential long-term damage for the patient.

The AIM-listed medical device company said the savings were higher than originally expected.

Meanwhile, Instem PLC (LON:INS) added 9% to 523.55p after revealing expectations for a “robust” performance in the six months to June as it posted full-year 2019 results.

The provider of IT services to the healthcare industry said it remained very busy during the coronavirus pandemic, and ended April with £8mln in the bank.

In the year to December 31, 2019, Instem's sales jumped 13% to £25mln with adjusted pre-tax profit up 12% to £3mln.

Proactive news headlines:

Kavango Resources PLC (LON:KAV) said it has been granted two prospecting licences in the Botswana section of the Kalahari copper belt. The explorer said the two licences are located southwest of Sandfire Resource’s T3 and A4 Dome copper-silver discoveries and cover around 1,294 square kilometres. The licence terms are for an initial period of three years, however, it can be extended to seven, with Kavango adding that the acquisition of further licences is currently underway.

Integumen PLC (LON:SKIN) said its subsidiary Labskin has partnered with the University of Aberdeen to test anti-viral skin and dental products that might mitigate the transmission risk of the coronavirus (COVID-19). Scientists will use Labskin’s cloned human skin coated with the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their research, which will take place in a Category 3 lab at the university. Work will be carried out to assess the transferability of viral particles from materials to skin. Also being studied is the ability of the virus to remain infective while on the skin surface. Ultimately, the team hopes to quantify the efficacy of mouthwash and dental care products as well as soap washing and hand sanitisers.

Instem PLC (LON:INS) said it has won a contract worth to provide services to Biotoxtech, which runs the largest non-clinical research and development facility in South Korea. The contract is worth approximately US$1mln, the group said in a statement, with a majority of the revenue to be recognised in 2020 and the balance in 2021. Instem said it will provide the Korean company with a comprehensive package of preclinical data collection, analysis and regulatory submissions management solutions. Instem also revealed results for the year to end December 2019, which saw revenues increase 13% to £25.7mln and underlying profits (adjusted EBITDA) rise to £4.9mln from £4.1mln. Recurring revenue rose 9% to £14.9mln, while software-as-a service (SaaS) sales improved £16mln to £6.4mln.

Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) and its partner Red Rock Resources PLC (LON:RRR) have launched efforts to expand the footprint for their gold exploration venture in Australia. The Red Rock Australasia Pty Ltd (RRAL) vehicle has now applied for four additional gold exploration license areas, spanning 916 square kilometres in the Central Victoria Goldfields region. It promises to double RRAL’s landholding position and will make it one of the largest tenement holders in the goldfields, the partners said in separate statements.

Bango PLC (LON:BGO) has said it is deploying its payment optimisation technology to help grow the active carrier billing customer base of du, a mobile operator in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The e-commerce specialist said growing the number of customers using direct carrier billing (DCB), a one-click method of charging purchases to a user’s mobile phone bill, is a “powerful way for operators to capture more value” from the consumption of ‘over-the-top’ content and services. Bango said du customers were offered a chance to re-engage with DCB within an approved credit limit, and that within two weeks of launching the campaign 20% of du customers wanting to spend in the Google Play app store had re-engaged and made a least one purchase with carrier billing.

Shield Therapeutics PLC (LON:STX) has noted the publication of papers concerning its lead product to treat iron deficiency, Feraccru/Accrufer, in two scientific journals. The first study, published in the European Respiratory Journal, concluded that ferric maltol, a component of Feraccru/Accrufer, was “well tolerated” by the majority of patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension (PH) and had resulted in “significant improvements in iron status and haemoglobin levels after 12 weeks of treatment”. Meanwhile, Shield said the second paper, published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, recognised the importance of maintaining iron treatment in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and that oral iron, preferably ferric maltol, could be a suitable alternative for many patients to IV iron and reduce non-essential hospital activities.

Angling Direct PLC (LON:ANG) reported strong sales growth for its past financial year and said it was progressing towards the safe reopening of its stores on June 15. The specialist fishing tackle and equipment retailer increased its network to 34 stores from 24 in the 12 months to January 31, 2020, and since then its store estate has grown to 36. Group sales leapt by 27% to £53.2mln for the 12 months to January 31, 2020, with like-for-like store sales increasing 12%, and almost half of its sales are now coming online with 14% growth during the year, including 8% from its native-language sites in Germany, France and the Netherlands. 

Amryt Pharma PLC (LON:AMYT) has appointed Swiss group Swizz Biopharma to market Myalepta, its treatment for leptin deficiency in seventeen countries in Central Europe and the West Balkans. Under the agreement, Swixx will be the exclusive distributor of  Myalepta (metreleptin) in the countries, which are all new territories for the group, Amryt said. In a statement, Amryt chief executive Joe Wiley commented: "Metreleptin is currently the most significant driver of revenue growth for Amryt with sales growing 49% in Q1 2020 versus the same period in 2019.

Sareum Holdings PLC (LON:SAR) has said it is raising £718,500 before expenses via a placing of shares at 0.6p each with the new funds used to explore the potential benefit of its TYK2/JAK1 inhibitors against coronavirus (COVID-19). A separate fundraiser overseen by PrimaryBid will offer private investors new shares in the company on the same terms. As at March 31, 2020, Sareum had cash of £980,000. It expects to receive a research and development tax credit next January of £150,000.

Braveheart Investment Group PLC (LON:BRH) said it was notified on June 2, 2020, that its chief executive officer, Trevor Brown has sold 3,092,057 ordinary shares of 2p each in the company at an average price of 22.19p per ordinary share. It said that, following the transaction, Brown now holds a total beneficial interest in 4,983,877 ordinary shares, equivalent to approximately 15.89% of Braveheart 's issued share capital.

Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG), a leading supplier of managed services and technology-based security solutions worldwide said it has been notified by holders of Convertible Loan Notes (CLNs) that they have elected to convert CLNs to the value of £93,750 into 937,500 ordinary shares in the company.

Diversified Gas & Oil PLC (LON:DGOC), the U.S. based owner and operator of natural gas, natural gas liquids, and oil wells and midstream assets, announced that on June 2, 2020, Brad Gray, its chief operating officer acquired 20,000 ordinary shares of 1p each in the company through the market at an average price of 106.40p per share. Following this purchase, the group added, Gray is now interested in 2,302,981 ordinary shares representing approximately 0.33% of the company's issued share capital.

Anglo Pacific Group PLC (LON:APF) (TSX:APY) said it has received notification of the following transactions by Kings Chapel International Limited, a person closely associated with its chief executive officer, Julian Treger. It noted that on June 1, 2020, Kings Chapel International sold 270,000 ordinary shares of 2 pence each in the company at a price of 158p per share. The group said the transaction reduces Treger's interest to 82% of his pre-existing beneficial holding of shares in line with the company's announcement on May 22, 2020, and concludes the disposals by Treger and persons closely associated with him. Following this sales, the total beneficial holding of shares in the company held by Treger and persons closely associated with him totals 4,525,631, representing 2.49% of the issued ordinary share capital of the company.

OptiBiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI) said it received notification on June 2, 2020, for the exercise of a warrant over 50 ordinary shares in the company at an exercise price of 8p each providing the company with proceeds of £4.00.

PowerHouse Energy Group PLC (LON:PHE), the UK technology company commercialising hydrogen production from waste plastic, said it is issuing 2,003,502 ordinary shares of 0.5p each in the company further to the exercise of warrants at 0.5p per ordinary share.

Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (LON:CAL) announced that it has issued and allotted 2,500 common shares of no par value each in the company following an exercise of share options.

Woodbois Ltd. (LON:WBI), the African focused forestry and timber trading company, has announced that its annual general meeting will be held at the company's registered office, Dixcart House, Sir William Place, St Peter Port, Guernsey GY1 1GX, on Tuesday June 30, 2020, at 10.00am. It said that in light of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions on Guernsey, it is not expected that shareholders will be able to attend in person, by corporate representative or by a proxy other than the chairman of the meeting. Accordingly, the group’s board encourages all shareholders to appoint the chairman of the meeting as a proxy by completing the Form of Proxy in the Notice of AGM or, in the case of CREST members, by using the CREST electronic proxy appointment service.

Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC (LON:SYM) has announced that it's annual general meeting (AGM) will be held at 11.00am on June 26, 2020, at 6 Elstree Gate, Elstree Way, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire WD6 1JD. The group said that in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the social distancing measures in place, shareholders will not be able to attend the AGM in person and arrangements for the AGM may also need to change at short notice.

Argo Blockchain PLC (LON:ARB), the leading cryptocurrency miner based in the UK (LSE:ARB), has announced that it will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) at 10.00am on Thursday, June 25, 2020, at 50 Jermyn Street, London, SW1Y 6LX. In light of coronavirus (COVID-19) and in order to comply with the UK government's prohibition on public gatherings and guidelines on social distancing, the meeting will be closed to the public and shareholders should not attempt to attend in person as no admission will be permitted. The company said it will take questions and comments from shareholders via email on: investorquestions@argoblockchain.com and will be posting answers and replies on its website: www.argoblockchain.com.

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