Countryside Properties PLC (LON:CSP), the housebuilder, tumbled 7.0% to 334.2p after it placed shares at 335p a pop.
The placing was announced, as seems to be the way these days, after trading closed yesterday and included a chance for alert Countryside shareholders to participate in the share issue via the PrimaryBid platform.
The company raised around £250mln from the issue of shares that were equivalent to one-sixth of the existing share capital of the company.
2.30pm: Kin and Carta dives after downbeat trading update
Kin and Carta PLC (LON:KCT), which advises companies on how best to exploit digital technology, saw its shares dive 7.7% to 51.4p after a trading update.
The company got off to an encouraging start to the second half of its fiscal year (i.e. February to July) but due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, half-year revenues are expected to be down roughly 20% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis.
Profitability in the second half of the fiscal year is expected to be similar to the first half.
1.30pm: Unilever tops the Footsie leaderboard
Unilever PLC (LON:ULVR) shares held pride of place at the top of the Footsie leader-board, up 8.8% at 4,712p, after it maintained its interim dividend.
Underlying sales declined by 0.3% in the first half of 2020, but free cash flow increased amid changing coronavirus lockdown conditions in the second quarter.
The consumer goods colossus also revealed it will sell its tea brands PG Tips, Lipton and Brooke Bond and all its tea estates, following a review over the past six months, with the disposal process beginning immediately and expected to conclude by the end of next year.
12.30pm: Midatech gives back some recent gains
Midatech Pharma PLC (LON:MTPH), down 24% at 37p, gave up some of its recent gains after it took down the “for sale” sign.
The drug delivery technology company, which saw its shares shoot up from 21.4p to 87p on Tuesday after it announced a collaboration with an unnamed European pharmaceutical company, said it had terminated the formal sales process initiated on April 20,
As part of the ongoing strategic review process, the company is evaluating early-stage proposals and expressions of interest from third parties that might lead to the sale of certain assets of the company or result in a reverse takeover (or both).
11.30am: Petropavlovsk puts the board room squabbles behind it to do a bit of mining
Petropavlovsk PLC (LON:POG) was sitting atop the FTSE 250 leaderboard with a 20% rise at 37.5p after a production update.
The miner delivered a 42% increase in gold production during the first half of the year.
The company’s mines in Russia produced 320,000 ounces in the six months to June, up from the 225,000 ounces produced in the corresponding period in 2019. The company also boosted production on a quarterly basis.
10.30am: Journeo returns to profitability
Journeo PLC (LON:JNEO) travelled 11% higher to 54p after it announced a return to profitability.
The information systems and transport technical services group revealed it has received £800,000 of purchase orders from the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) under the enhanced infrastructure framework agreement signed a year ago.
The group added that trading in the first half of 2020 had been better than in the same period of last year despite the impact of COVID-19.
9.30am: Gear4Music raises profits guidance; Alien Metals appoints non-executive director
Gear4Music (Holdings) PLC was up 21% at 490p early doors on Thursday as investors plugged into the online retailer of musical kit after it lifted profits guidance.
The company has already said that the coronavirus lockdown restrictions imposed by most European states had been a boon for business and this morning it revealed that sales in the three months to the end of June were up 68% year-on-year at £22.2mln.
The strong momentum continued into July, prompting management to predict that full-year profits would be “meaningfully ahead” of its previous expectations.
Alien Metals Ltd LON:UFO) shares rose 5% to 0.195p as the minerals exploration and development company announced the appointment of Mark Culbert as a non-executive director of the company with immediate effect.
Culbert is an experienced litigation lawyer and is the managing director of iLaw Solicitors Limited, a City Legal 500 law firm, which he co-founded in 2006.
His speciality areas are intellectual property, technology and media disputes and he is the chairman of the IT Disputes Group of the Society for Computers & Law.
Proactive news headlines:
Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC (LON:SYM) said its antimicrobial technology has been tested as effective against bovine coronavirus (COVID-19). Its d2p product has been designed to be embedded in the plastic so it will not wear off. A masterbatch was assessed by the lab group Eurofins, which detected a virus reduction of 99.84% in 24 hours. Symphony said bovine coronavirus “is a close beta coronavirus surrogate for COVID-19”. In a statement, Symphony chief executive Michael Laurier said: "This is a very exciting and positive development for our global sales team to bring to the market as quickly as possible and we look forward to receiving Eurofins final report in due course.
IronRidge Resources Limited (LON:IRR) has reported additional high-grade drilling results at the Zaranou gold project in Côte d'Ivoire and the sighting of visible gold observed amid deeper reverse circulation (RC) drilling. The visible gold was seen in cuttings from deep RC drilling at the Ehuasso target, in drill hole ZARC0013 which is part of the second phase drilling programme. It comes from an area that’s a further 60 metres below previously reported high-grade gold, measured in the prior ZARC009 hole. The high-grade results, meanwhile, were received from primary samples taken in prior air-core drilling, a 15,000-metre programme that took place on the Ehuasso target.
Learning Technologies Group PLC (LON:LTG) said its performance for the first half of the year has been “robust” and retention rates in its business have held up well despite the disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic. In a trading update for the six months to June 30, 2020, the digital learning group said it expects to report revenues of at least £64mln, 2% higher year-on-year, with a small decline in its underlying business offset by a contribution from the recently acquired Open LMS business in the second quarter. Learning Technologies also predicted underlying adjusted earnings (EBIT) for the period of £19.9mln, up from £19.5mln the year before.
Greatland Gold PLC (LON:GGP) has released what it described as outstanding new results from drilling at the Havieron deposit in the Paterson region of Western Australia. Extension drilling in the north-west portion of the property has confirmed and unearthed a new zone of higher-grade breccia mineralisation, the group said. Newcrest Mining, Greatland’s partner and project operator, revealed the latest finding and also stated that separate infill drilling had also yielded excellent results, confirming mineral continuity within the project area. Drill results to date support the investigation of both high-grade selective and bulk mining methods, according to Newcrest.
Curtis Banks PLC (LON:CBP) is to raise £25mln to help fund two acquisitions that mark a major expansion of its pensions business and a move into fintech. The AIM-listed SIPP specialist is acquiring Talbot and Muir for an initial consideration of £16.5mln and fintech group Dunstan Thomas for an initial £21.5mln. Both acquisitions are expected to be materially earnings enhancing in the first full year of ownership, said the statement. The £25mln will be raised from a placing to be carried out today through a bookbuild process at a price of 210p per share.
Personal Group PLC (LON:PGH), the employee services provider, said it had a positive first half of 2020 with underlying earnings (EBITDA) ahead of 2019. The company said much of the first half of the year was spent preparing for and dealing with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which happily did not have as big an impact on its business as feared. While half-year revenues were little changed year-on-year at about £30mln, EBITDA of around £5mln was ahead of the company’s expectations at the start of the pandemic.
OptiBiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI) said it has extended its manufacturing, supply and profit-sharing agreement with Agropur MSI to include WellBiome, developed to promote gut health. Agropur already has the rights to weight management range SlimBiome in the US, Canada and Mexico. Dr Fred Narbel, managing director of OptiBiotix’s prebiotics division, said the enhanced deal recognised its partner’s success in building sales of SlimBiome. First deliveries in the territory occurred in the second quarter.
KR1 PLC (LON:KR1) said it has sold 35,128 tokens in the Nexus Mutual project at an average price of US$14.03 each, netting the company US$492,991. The digital asset investment firm said it had acquired the tokens at an average price of US$2.24 each during a seed round for the project, which aims to recreate a mutual insurance company built upon the Ethereum decentralised (DeFi) finance system and smart contracts. KR1 said Nexus has seen “surging demand” over the last few months, with the insurer having written over US$16.39mln worth of cover since launch, adding that it was also expanding its capacities by growing its capital pool to US$7.64mln and signing up more than 1,000 members.
Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG), the airport security services company, noted that Sierra Leone’s Freetown Airport Lungi has been reopened for commercial flights. "Since the airport was closed in March to all but essential traffic, we have continued to maintain security of the airport, kept all of our staff employed and safe, utilising the time to enhance their training ready for when the airport reopens,” Musayeroh Barrie, Westminster Group’s country director said in a statement released late on Wednesday.
Alien Metals Ltd (LON:UFO) a minerals exploration and development company, has announced the appointment of Mark Culbert as a non-executive director of the company with immediate effect. It noted that Culbert is an experienced litigation lawyer and is the managing director of iLaw Solicitors Limited, a City Legal 500 law firm, which he co-founded in 2006. His speciality areas are intellectual property, technology and media disputes and he is the chairman of the IT Disputes Group of the Society for Computers & Law, an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Trade Mark Attorneys and an Associate Member of the Australian Risk Policy Institute. The group also advised that Chris Gordon has resigned as a director of the company at the same time.
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) said the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown and contractor equipment problems provided challenges for its operations in the second quarter of 2020. In its June quarterly production report, the group said run-of-mine feed into the plant reduced by 7% compared to the first three months of 2020, to total 253,256 tonnes, nonetheless, total contained tungsten and tin production increased by 0.5% to 47.6 tonnes with volumes helped by improved tin recovery. It noted that tin production actually increased by 65% in the three months, with a total of 20 dry tonnes produced. Tungsten volumes meanwhile reduced 17% to 2,756 tonnes with the temporary mine closure during the lockdown and a weaker than expected plant performance.
NQ Minerals PLC (AQSE NQMI) (OTCQB:NQMLF) has announced that the Tasmanian Government has now formally transferred the Mining Lease ML 1767 P/M, that covers the Beaconsfield Gold Mine, to NQ’s 100% subsidiary Pieman Resources Pty Ltd. David Lenigas, NQ’s Chairman, commented: “I’m pleased to announce that the Beaconsfield Mining Lease have now been formally transferred by the Tasmanian Government to NQ Minerals, and work has already commenced on site with respect to the gold treatment plant refurbishment and the deployment of geologists to site to commence a detailed sampling programme of surface stocks potentially available for start-up plant feed.”
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC (LON:GSF), London's first energy storage fund has said its annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on Wednesday, August 19, 2020, at 09.00am. The company noted that it is holding the AGM virtually in light of the coronavirus pandemic and it will be held by electronic means with the minimum necessary quorum of two shareholders to conduct the business of the meeting. The format of the meeting will be purely functional and will comprise of the formal business. Shareholders are asked to participate by submitting a proxy vote in advance of the meeting and appointing the chair of the meeting as their proxy through the Shareholders' portal at www.signalshares.com.
88 Energy Limited (LON:88E) (ASX:88E) has said it’s latest corporate presentation is now available on the 88 Energy website at www.88energy.com and via the following link: https://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/8797T_1-2020-7-23.pdf
Red Rock Resources PLC (LON:RRR), the natural resource development company with interests in gold, manganese and minerals, has invited interested shareholders to a scheduled Zoom meeting at 5.30pm on Thursday July 23, 2020: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/76620430710?pwd=dlRlNFl4UHVINnlpOUFjT2VZcXQxQT09; Meeting ID: 766 2043 0710; Passcode: 9QwfRU.