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Proactive news headlines: Xpediator, Bloomsbury Publishing, Pelatro, OPG Power Ventures ...

Published: 15:30 29 Jan 2021 GMT

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Xpediator PLC (LON:XPD), the freight management firm, has said it expects to deliver profits for the year just ended that are significantly ahead of market expectations. Following higher than anticipated demand for its services in the UK and Europe during November and throughout December, the group now expects to report adjusted profit before tax of about £7.2mln for 2020, up 40% on 2019’s £5.15mln. The group said it traded well ahead of budget in the final two months of the year with strong performances from Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries, particularly Lithuania.

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC (LON:BMY), the independent publisher, has raised revenue and profit expectations for the year to the end of February 2021. The company said revenue for the current fiscal year is expected to be ahead of market expectations while profit is tipped to be “well ahead” of the current consensus forecasts. The publisher said the better-than-expected performance has been driven by continued strong trading in the Consumer division, for both Adult and Children's publishing.

Pelatro PLC (LON:PTRO) said it has landed a new contract, with the company selected by an Asian telecoms company for campaign management operations. The marketing software firm described it as a recurring contract and over a three-year term said it is expected to generate US$1.0mln-US$1.2mln of revenue. The company is to provide a variety of services as well as its software product. Additionally, the company noted that it has also won additional business from an existing company. Pelatro is to provide advanced analytics to the client under the contract which is set to be a highly collaborative engagement with the client.

OPG Power Ventures PLC (LON:OPG) has said electricity demand in India is starting to recover from the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and it still expects to resume dividend payments this year. The coal-fired power station owner also said it will unveil a series of ESG in initiatives alongside its full-year results as criticism of the use of thermal power mounts. These plans will gradually reduce and offset carbon emissions from its Chennai plant, the group added, in recognition that a comprehensive decarbonisation strategy is critical for the company.

Catenae Innovation PLC (LON:CTEA) has said it will provide the data management platform for a pilot coronavirus (COVID-19) programme being rolled out by an unnamed Fortune 500 American professional services and construction company. The tests will be supplied and administered its partner BHA-Medical Limited with Catenae securely processing the results via its GDPR-compliant technology before sending them to the individual employees. The data will also be fed into Public Health England's database for use by the NHS Test and Trace service.

Guild Esports PLC (LON:GILD) said it is “on track to deliver strong growth” in 2021 as it reported results covering the period prior to its flotation on the London Stock Exchange on October 2, 2020. For the period from incorporation on September 3, 2019, to September 30, 2020, the developer of esports teams said it had secured investments prior to its initial public offering totalling £5mln while ending the period with net cash of £1mln alongside a pre-tax loss of £2.7mln representing start-up and listing costs and its pre-revenue status. Post-period, Guild said it had raised £20mln through its IPO, as well as clinching its maiden sponsorship deal with contracted revenues of £3.6mln over three years and setting up two esports teams comprised of top-ranked video game players. The company also said as of January 28 its cash balance stood at £18mln.

Argo Blockchain PLC (LON:ARB) said it has brought 1,295 S19 and S19 pro cryptocurrency mining machines into production this week. The company said the machines, which were ordered in November and delivered ahead of schedule, will add around 127 petahash of computing power to its existing fleet of mining machines, bringing its total computing power to 772 petahash.

Scancell Holdings PLC (LON:SCLP) said it has “significantly strengthened” its cash position which it noted will accelerate its pipeline of novel therapies for cancer and advance its vaccine candidate for coronavirus (COVID-19). In its results for the six months ended October 31, 2020, the developer of immunotherapies said it ended the period with £25.7mln in cash compared to £3.6mln in April last year, while post-period another £20.5mln had been raised from the issue of convertible loan notes and an open offer to shareholders. In the figures, the pre-revenue company reported a pre-tax loss for the period of £4.3mln compared to £3.08mln in the prior year.

Next Fifteen Communications Group PLC (LON:NFC) said it has raised expectations for the current fiscal year after a strong final quarter, the third hike in its current financial year. The company said revenues for the three months to the end of January are expected to be up by roughly 9% year-on-year, with a return to modest like-for-like revenue growth. The operating profit margin has also shown strong growth compared with last year. As a result, the group's board expects that results for the year ending January 31, 2021, will be ahead of current market expectations.

Inspired Energy PLC (LON:INSE) has said it expects its continuing operations to report underlying earnings for 2020 in line with the market consensus. The company, which in December sold off the division that provides price comparison and contract arrangement services for small-to-medium enterprises (SME) consumers to focus on providing energy procurement, utility cost optimisation and legislative compliance services, said its performance in the final quarter of 2020 remained resilient, despite the continued disruption caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The average energy consumption reduction by customers for the April to December period (i.e. after the first UK lockdown) is expected to be around 18% better than the 25% reduction modelled in the board's coronavirus downside case.

ADM Energy PLC (LON:ADME) has extended its agreement with Trafigura, over a US$120mln financing, for a further 12 months. Through an indicative memorandum of understanding (MOU) the companies intend to create a strategic alliance to develop energy projects in Africa. ADM is seeking opportunities in the African energy sector to present to Trafigura.

Tirupati Graphite PLC (LON:TGR) said its Tirupati Graphene and Mintech Research Centre (TGMRC), which is focused on graphene manufacturing, graphene applications development and minerals processing technology development, has secured its first commercial contract. The graphite specialist said the contract involves the provision of mineral processing technology development services to mining firm Optiva Resources to develop mineral processing technology solutions for the Vanadium, Titanium, Magnetite (VTM) deposits at its Marela project in Guinea.

Braveheart Investment Group PLC (LON:BRH) said investee company Paraytec has now received all clinical samples required to test its new coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnostic tool. Paraytec is working with Sheffield University on the tool and will use the samples to measure it against guidelines for false positive and negative tests set by the Medical Health Regulatory Authority. Results from this phase of clinical testing are now expected by the end of February due to the impact of the latest coronavirus lockdown on the delivery of the samples.

Oracle Power PLC (LON:ORCP) said it has kicked off a field exploration programme at the Jundee East gold project in Western Australia Jundee East is a previously unrecognised greenstone belt spanning some 80 square kilometres, close to Northern Star Resources’ Jundee gold mine, which produced over 7mln ounces of gold. The company is conducting soil sampling along with other field exploration methods as it seeks to determine the most effective method to define targets in the area.

IQGeo Group Plc (LON:IQG) has announced a large contract for software and services with a major telecoms network operator that serves more than 3.2mln customers in central and western Canada. The new customer contract has an order value to be recognised over the next two financial years of £1.3mln for perpetual software licences, associated implementation services, and annual maintenance and support, the group added.

Thor Mining PLC (LON:THR) has updated investors on the outlook for its projects in the March quarter of 2021. In a quarterly update, the AIM-listed company said for the first quarter of the year a program of field sampling and drill access permitting is planned for its Ragged Range gold project in Western Australia, as well as an initial 3,000-metre drill program. Meanwhile, Thor said there will be preparation for resource extension drilling and testwork at its Alford East copper project in South Australia, while at the Kapunda site in the same territory it is planning geotechnical and gold focussed drilling, additional borehole hydrogeological testing and the commencement of SELT drilling and copper and gold recovery testing.

ANGLE PLC (LON:AGL) (OTCQX:ANPCY) said a five-year study of five circulating tumour cell (CTC) isolation platforms has identified the “key advantages” of the company’s liquid biopsy system. The group said the research showed that Parsortix’s performance was “robust”, with mean cell capture rates of 71% and 67% for the two cell types targeted. The leading US-approved antibody-based CTC system was unable to enrich one particular line, called EpCAM low cells.

Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (LON:GWMO) said a follow-up magnetic survey at its Olympic gold project in Nevada has indicated where a previous productive gold vein might lie. A strong anomaly was detected on the prospect to the west of the former OMCO mine, which stopped producing in the 1940s, and has provided enough information to start drilling, the company said. The survey also indicated a strong magnetic anomaly underneath the Trafalgar Hill target at Olympic and money for drilling in both areas is in the budget for this year subject to coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions.

Scotgold Resources Limited (LON:SGZ) has provided an update on its progress ramping up production at its newly commissioned Cononish Gold and Silver Mine in Scotland, as well as its exploration activities on the Cononish Project and Grampian Project.  The gold exploration and production company focused on Scotland noted that its ongoing exploration programme is focused on increasing the mineral resources in the area around the Cononish Gold and Silver Mine where first gold pour was achieved on November 30, 2020, further delineating existing prospects, and making new discoveries. In a separate statement, Scotgold Resources confirmed that all resolutions put to shareholders at its annual general meeting held on Frday, were carried on a show of hands.

Zephyr Energy PLC (LON:ZPHR) has updated investors on its analysis of the State 16-2 well results which include positive indications of stacked, continuous oil and gas plays. The well, drilled in the Paradox Basin, Utah, USA, penetrated a total of 21 clastic reservoirs within the Paradox formation, and hydrocarbon saturation is indicated across most of them, Zephyr noted. It added that substantial drilling gas shows were observed across five of the reservoirs including the primary target, Cane Creek. Robust drilling gas shows were observed across a further ten of the reservoirs. In a separate statement, Zephyr Energy announced that it had received notice of exercise for warrants - issued in November 2019 -  to subscribe for 3,340,909 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each at a price of 2p per ordinary share.

Aminex PLC (LON:AEX) has told investors it is to restructure its board and further cut costs, as it seeks to take advantage of opportunities provided by the recently sealed farm-out deal for the Ruvuma project. The company said it plans to reduce gross general and administrative costs by 30% this year plus by a further 25%-30% next year. It aims to lower these costs to below £1mln per year, which would equate to a 75% reduction since 2018.

Sirius Real Estate Limited (LON:SRE) said it has collected almost all rent due from its portfolio of German business parks despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. For the first nine months of its financial year, which ends on March 31, 2021, Sirius said it has received 97.7% of rents with 98% receipts for calendar year 2020. Write-offs had amounted to €205,000 out of a total rent and service charge invoicing of €141.2mln, Sirus added.

Custodian REIT PLC (LON:CREI), the UK property investment company, has announced the disposal of four properties from its portfolio. The company said it has sold retail properties at auction in Chester, Scarborough, Bedford and Llandudno for an aggregate £1.6mln, in line with the most recent valuations. Custodian REIT said these disposals have reduced the company's high street retail sector weighting from 11% to 10%.

Jubilee Metals Group Plc (LON:JLP), the AIM and Altx traded metals processing company, has said it was notified on January 28, 2021, that Colin Bird, its non-executive chairperson purchased 500 000 Jubilee ordinary shares of 1p each at a price of 10.77p (223.26 rand cents) each and that Leon Coetzer, its chief executive officer purchased 500 000 ordinary shares of 1p each at a price of 10.90p (225.96 rand cents) each. Following the share purchases, Bird is interested in 500,000 Jubilee ordinary shares, representing approximately 0.022%, and Coetzer is interested in 527 810 ordinary shares, representing approximately 0.024% of the issued share capital. Coetzer commented: "Along with my Chairperson, I am pleased to be acquiring a further stake in Jubilee at this exciting stage in the Company's development. The strong support we experience from our shareholders, institutional and retail, is an endorsement of Jubilee's developments to date and I am very excited about the future growth and prospects of our Company."

IronRidge Resources Limited (LON:IRR), the African focused minerals exploration company, has announced the appointment of Amanda Harsas as its full-time company secretary, to take effect from February 1, 2021. It said Harsas is a senior finance executive with a demonstrable track record and over 20 years' experience in strategic finance, business transformation, commercial finance, customer and supplier negotiations and capital management. Prior to joining IronRidge, she worked across several sectors including healthcare, insurance, retail and professional services. Her appointment as company secretary will run in conjunction with her new role as chief financial officer to the company, as announced on November 16, 2020, and she replaces Karl Schlobohm, who has acted as IronRidge's company secretary since 2009. In conjunction with the appointment, the company also announced a change of registered office to Level 33, Australia Square, 264 George Street Sydney NSW 2000, Australia. The group said the Harsas appointment and change of registered office are in line with the company's strategy to gradually migrate all management and administrative services in house, as mutually agreed with DGR Global Limited. The company noted that DGR Global intends to maintain its equity interest in IronRidge following the completion of the administrative services contract.

Sativa Wellness Group Inc. (AQUIS:SWEL) (CSE: SWEL) has announced the results of the company's annual general and special meeting of shareholders held on January 26, 2021. There were 97,361,247 shares voted, representing 32.18% of the total shares issued and outstanding. A majority of the shareholders voted to accept the financial statements for each of the 2019 and 2020 fiscal years. Shareholders unanimously voted to set the number of directors at six. In addition, RSM Canada has been appointed as auditors of the company for the upcoming year. A majority of the shareholders voted against the resolution to approve the company's stock option plan. Sativa added that following the reverse takeover of Stillcanna Inc., the fiscal year-end of the company has changed to December 31. The change of year-end is expected unlock synergies amongst the vertically integrated operating subsidiaries of the company and is intended to lead to cost savings going forward.

Panthera Resources PLC (LON: PAT), the diversified gold exploration and development company with assets in West Africa and India, has announced the appointment of Allenby Capital Limited as the company's Nominated Adviser and sole broker with effect from Friday, January 29, 2021.

Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR), the AIM-listed investor in natural resource opportunities, announced that, in-line with its planned secondary compliance listing - as announced on August 21, 2020 - on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), it has now received conditional approval from the ASX in response to its formal request for admission to the Official List. The approval confirms that the ASX considers Metal Tiger to be suitable to list on the ASX, subject to the company satisfying certain customary conditions precedent prior to admission. Having received the conditional approval, Metal Tiger said it will set about satisfying the conditions with the intention of listing on the ASX in the coming weeks and a further announcement will be made in due course.

Metal Tiger also has noted that Cobre Limited, in which the firm owns 19.99% of the issued share capital, has released its quarterly activities report to December 31, 2020, which can be accessed via the following link: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-02335409-2A1277287?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4

In another separate statement, Metal Tiger noted that another investee company, Sandfire Resouces has also released its quarterly activities report to December 31, 2020, and associated presentation. Metal Tiger is currently interested in 6,296,990 Sandfire shares representing approximately 3.5% of the issued share capital. As announced on December 8, 2020, 2,842,667 of the Sandfire shares held by the Company are subject to an equity derivative financing arrangement with a global investment bank.  Sandfire Quarterly Report link: https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-02334789-6A1017465?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4; Sandfire Quarterly report presentation link: https://www.sandfire.com.au/site/PDF/ce5931a2-2155-43a9-9cb6-f5f0e38a5f61/SandfireDecember2020QuarterlyReportPresentation

Supply@ME Capital PLC (LON:SYME) has published numbers for the period during which it reversed into cash shell Abal Group. Turnover in the 6 months to June 30, 2020, increased to £368,000 (2019: £11,000) with losses after tax of £2.11mln. Exceptional listing costs of £1.37mln were written off during the period.

Galileo Resources PLC (LON:GLR) confirmed that it has issued a total of 750,000 fully paid ordinary shares in the company at a price of 0.6p per share following the exercise of warrants in terms of the placing agreement dated October 17, and 3,375,000 fully paid ordinary shares in the company at a price of 1.25p per share in terms of the placing agreement dated May 31, 2020.

Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW), the AIM-listed metals exploration and development company said it has received notices to exercise warrants over a total of 11,773,926 new ordinary shares of 0.1p each, 7,563,400 warrants at an exercise price of 1.0p for and 4,210,526 warrants at an exercise price of 0.75p for. Subscription monies of £107,213 have been received by Power Metal in respect of these exercises.

Landore Resources Limited (LON:LND) announced that it has received a notice to exercise warrants over a total of 357,142 ordinary shares, for which funds of £62,499.85 have been received by the company.

Salt Lake Potash Limited (ASX:SO4) (LON:SO4) has published its Quarterly Report for the period ending December 31, 2020. The company is focused on transitioning from developer to producer at the Lake Way SOP Project in Wiluna, Western Australia, as it looks to complete construction and commence commissioning the Process Plant in the current quarter.

Panther Metals PLC (LON:PALM), the company focused on mineral exploration in Canada and Australia, has announced that a new, updated, corporate presentation is available on the company website via the Investors tab, under Presentation: www.panthermetals.co.uk 

FastForward Innovations Limited (LON:FFWD) said it has raised £2.1mln through a share placing to fund its investment strategy that it said will focus on “providing investors with exposure to disruptive growth opportunities, in particular medical cannabis, that have near-term re-rating potential and would otherwise be inaccessible”.

Shield Therapeutics PLC (LON:STX) said it has executed formal agreements with two of its shareholders for loans that were originally announced on December 10. The pharmaceuticals firm said AOP Orphan International AG, which owns a 10.7% stake in the company, and Christian Schweiger, a board member with a 3.5% stake, have provided letters of intent stating that they would be prepared to lend the group up to €4mln (£3.54mln) and 1mln Swiss francs (£820,021) respectively in order to provide additional working capital, amounting to around £4.4mln in total.

Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) announced that at a general meeting held on Friday, January 29, 2021, at 14 Coach and Horses Yard, Mayfair, London, W15 2EJ all resolutions were duly passed.

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