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Proactive news headlines: AFC Energy, Aminex, Allergy Therapeutics, BATM Advanced Communications …

Last updated: 15:33 15 Jul 2020 BST, First published: 15:30 15 Jul 2020 BST

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AFC Energy PLC (LON:AFC) is getting into the zero-emission motorsport business by teaming up with Extreme E, the team behind FIA’s Formula E racing championship. Extreme E is planning a hydrogen-fuelled electric SUV rally racing series that is slated to launch in early 2021, and AIM-quoted AFC will provide off-grid power to the racing series - including its zero-emission charging system. The series is designed to be a practical and symbolic showcase with the off-road race events taking place in remote locations which, according to AFC, will highlight important climate issues and also show how hydrogen can be used as a viable alternative fuel all environments.

Aminex PLC (LON:AEX) told investors that the long stop date in the Ruvuma farm-out transaction has been further extended, and it now has an extra fortnight to close the transaction – with the new date set as July 31. At the same time, Aminex detailed some additional cost-saving measures including the waiving and surrendering of rights to director share options. There are also proposals, set out a week ago, which will see key employees sacrifice salary in return for share options. The moves aim to reduce the group's overhead and are subject to shareholder approval. Aminex added that it is exercising very tight control over costs. Payments related to the farm-out are not expected to fund the company until around May 2021.

Allergy Therapeutics PLC (LON:AGY) has said its earnings are likely to exceed expectations after a strong year. Net revenues for the 12 months ended June 30, 2020, were £78.2mln, up 6%, it said, while the firm was in a strong financial position with £37mln in the bank at the period end. The performance of the group, which develops and sells short course allergy inoculations, was particularly impressive given the challenges in the closing quarter of the year posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.

BATM Advanced Communications Limited (LON:BVC) has launched three new diagnostic kits which it said will “significantly advance” the diagnosis of coronavirus and other respiratory illnesses. The networking and medical laboratory systems group said one of the new kits is a serologic test, which has been upgraded to measure the quantity of antibodies in the blood rather than just their presence or absence. The second new kit is an upgraded antigen test to detect spike gene and enable the diagnosis of coronavirus in people with low viral loads, increasing testing accuracy. The final new kit is a molecular diagnostics test that has been developed to rapidly identify the specific respiratory virus or bacteria in someone presenting with symptoms of, or suspected to have pre-symptomatic respiratory illnesses. BATM said it expects to begin sale and production of the kits at its Adaltis facility in Italy at the end of the third and start of the fourth quarter of 2020.

Capital Ltd (LON:CAPD) has confirmed a first-half revenue rise, with the second quarter beating management expectations, as the mining sector services contractor continues to perform strongly despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The company, which previously withdrew its guidance amidst the coronavirus uncertainty, generated some US$65.1mln of revenue up 18.8% from the comparative period of 2019 and up 8.5% from the preceding three months. It comes as the company operates a larger fleet of rigs and maintains higher utilisation – it owned 99 rigs at the end of the half, up from 92 a year ago, and average utilisation was 57 compared to 48.

MaxCyte PLC (LON:MXCT) said its revenues grew by 30% to US$10.9mln in the first half of 2020 and told investors that its research and development operation was expected to be self-funded by the end of the year. The company licences out its technology, which generates a revenue stream and potential milestone payment, currently worth an estimated US$800mln, from life sciences companies that use its cell engineering know-how in drug development. It has also begun advancing its own potential treatments, creating an R&D business called CARMA Cell Therapies.

Proactive Research issued a note on MaxCyte following the life sciences firm’s latest trading update. Analyst Emma Ulker concluded: “MXCT is demonstrating its strong internal progress, and its recurring revenues help to insulate it from the pandemic uncertainty. With its technology established as the gold-standard in nonviral cell engineering, the prospects of continuing to benefit from the wave of innovation and buoyant investment look excellent.”

Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) said it has signed an option agreement to acquire a company called CHIMagents for a nominal sum. The business designs, manufactures, and tests agents for use in challenge studies, which complements the work carried out in the infectious diseases field by Open Orphan subsidiary hVIVO. CHIMagent's Adrian Wildfire, who has over 20 years of industry experience, will join hVIVO as a director. Open Orphan chief executive Cathal Friel said the option agreement was an “important strategic step as we rapidly grow our pipeline of challenge studies”.

Cello Health PLC (LON:CLL) said that, further to the announcement of a recommended all-cash offer for Cello by Value Demonstration UK Holdings Limited, a company backed by private equity firm Arsenal Capital Partners, the two firm's have received confirmation that the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 has been terminated, meaning condition 3.1 to the Scheme of Arrangement for the takeover has been satisfied.

Bezant Resources PLC (LON:BZT) told investors that due diligence for its proposed acquisition of the Hope Gold project in Namibia is “progressing as anticipated” as it provided new details from ongoing technical work. The company, in a statement, noted historical drilling information that has come to light during due diligence which creates further excitement and confidence for the project. "This is an exciting potential project for the company and the more we dig into the archives, it becomes evident that resources quoted were the subject of extensive drilling programmes which gives us added confidence," Colin Bird, Bezant chief executive said in a statement. “It is also evident that the contribution of gold has been neglected which in today's times could in our view be quite significant.”

Galileo Resources PLC (LON:GLR) has announced the appointments of two highly experienced and successful Kalahari Copper Belt exploration geologists,  Dr Quinton Hills and Fred Nhiwatiwa as members of the company's senior management to provide assistance with its exploration projects in Botswana. The company noted that the new team members have previously discovered mineral deposits that have led to the development of mines in Botswana. Galileo said it will shortly commence a comprehensive and targeted exploration program utilising geochemical and geophysical techniques that have been routinely used to find copper-silver deposits in the Kalahari Copper Belt.

Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAZ) has reported that it raked in an extra US$3.2mln in cash in the second quarter of 2020. In the three months to June 30, 2020, the Azerbaijan-focused miner said its cash balance stood at US$29.2mln at the end of the period, while gold production in the quarter had come in at 12,048 ounces (oz) compared to 17,149 oz in the prior year. Anglo Asian said the lower figure was due to lower ore grades processed from its Gedabek open pit operation, which had been its efficiency impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, and less ore from the Gadir underground mine.

Woodbois Limited (LON:WBI), the African forestry and timber group, has raised £13.1mln from existing investors, retail investors - via the PrimaryBid platform - and institutions as part of a debt restructuring and refinancing. Through the debt restructuring, holders have agreed to convert 75% of US$30mln of outstanding convertible bonds into new ordinary shares and new non-voting shares. The new shares were issued at 2p, a 43% discount to the close last night. In a statement, Woodbois said the fundraise and debt restructuring will position the company to grow its timber production and trading activities rapidly.

Kodal Minerals PLC (LON:KOD), the mineral exploration and development company focused on its Bougouni Lithium Project in southern Mali, said it has secured sufficient funding resources to accelerate completion of the next phases of its development projects and to evaluate exciting new opportunities via a US$1.5mln unsecured convertible loan agreement with Riverfort Global Opportunities PCC and YA II PN Ltd. It said the £1.5mln loan agreement, with an initial advance of US$750,000, will have a 15-month term and carry interest at a rate of 9.85% per annum payable monthly. The investors will have the option to convert outstanding principal and interest into new ordinary shares in the company. Kodal can repay the loan at any time in cash, and the investors will also be issued with warrants exercisable into ordinary shares in the company at a premium to the current share price.

Feedback PLC (LON:FDBK) has announced the appointment of Philipp Prince as a new independent non-executive director, effective immediately. It noted that Prince is a chartered accountant with extensive experience in senior finance roles in both private and listed technology companies and runs his own financial consultancy business, is a board adviser at Overmore Limited, a marketing technology firm, and recently joined BCB Group Holdings Limited, a financial services challenger, as its non-board CFO. He was previously the CFO of Defenx PLC, an AIM-listed mobile cybersecurity company, where he managed the IPO process, fundraising and investor relations and Interim CFO at Enecsys PLC, a private equity-backed solar micro-inverter developer. For over 20 years, Philipp worked at BDO LLP, where he was a corporate finance partner from 2002-2013. Rory Shaw, chairman of Feedback, commented: "Philipp has strong experience within the technology sector, especially fundraising, capital markets and M&A. His input will be invaluable as we look to deliver shareholder value with the rollout of Bleepa to the NHS and other healthcare providers."

Tiziana Life Sciences PLC (LON:TILS) (NASDAQ:TLSA) has announced a ratio change to its sponsored Level 3 American Depositary Receipt (ADR) programme, which is a 1.5 for 1 forward split for the purposes of the NASDAQ listing, equivalent to a share sub-division in the UK and will have the effect of increasing the number of ADSs in issue. It has no effect on the number of underlying shares in issue or the nominal value of the ordinary shares. The former ratio of five (5) ordinary shares to one (1) American Depositary Share (ADS) has been changed to two (2) ordinary shares per one (1) ADS, effective on July 31, 2020. There will be no change to the underlying ordinary shares.

e-therapeutics PLC (LON:ETX) has announced that further to the fundraise it announced on July 7, 2020, Numis Securities has exercised the broker option in respect of 2,875,000 new ordinary shares raising gross proceeds of approximately £0.35mln for the company. The broker option shares are being issued at a price of 12p per share, being the placing price and will be issued on the same terms and conditions as placing shares. With the completion of the broker option, the company said it can confirm that a total of £11.6mln in gross proceeds has been raised; comprising of a firm placing of £6.3mln, a share subscription of £2.8mln, a retail offer via the PrimaryBid platform of £750,000 and £1.69mln via the broker option.

Greatland Gold PLC (LON:GGP), the precious and base metals exploration and development company, said it has received notice from Numis Securities that it is closing its natural resources division. As a result, Numis will cease to act as joint broker to the company with immediate effect. The company added that is in advanced discussions to appoint a new joint broker to focus on further growing Greatland's institutional investor shareholder base, in the meantime, SI Capital is sole broker to the company.

Zaim Credit Systems PLC (LON:ZAIM), the Russian focused fintech group providing financial inclusion for those consumers who are not well served by mainstream lenders, announced that all resolutions proposed to shareholders at its annual general meeting held on Wednesday were passed.

Europa Metals Ltd. (LON:EUZ), the European focused lead-zinc and silver developer, announced that the resolutions proposed at its general meeting held on Wednesday, as set out in the Notice of General Meeting dated June 12, 2020), were all duly approved by shareholders. As a result of its approval in resolution 1, the company said it is proceeding with a 1 for 500 share consolidation with a record date of 6.00pm BST on today.

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