Oxford Nanopore Technologies PLC (LSE:ONT) slipped 6.6% to 565.22p despite hiking its revenue guidance for 2021.
On Friday the company, which is developing a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology, said it expects to report core Life Science Research Tools (LSRT) revenue of more than £120mln, compared to LSRT revenue of £65.5mln in 2020. Previous guidance for LSRT revenue in FY21 was £105-111mln.
The group expects to report total revenue above £126mln, compared to total revenue of £113.9mln in 2020.
However, the shares fell on a (largely positive) note from RBC Capital Markets, which cut its price target to 750p from 800p "due to weakness in peers' shares".
On the plus said, analysts at the investment bank said the 10% increase in revenue guidance for 2021 "underplays the likely momentum in trading, in our view".
Since the majority of the recent outperformance "probably" occurred in the last couple of months of the year, the uplift in implied guidance for this trading period "could have been as much as 50%", the analysts added, increasing 2022 and 2023 forecasts by 10% and 6%, respectively.
3.20pm: Likewise Group lower despite open offer signifying strong demand for shares
Likewise Group PLC (AIM:LIKE) fell 9.4% to 42.75p after the distributor of residential and commercial flooring said last month’s open offer raised £2mln.
The offer was oversubscribed with the company receiving valid acceptances for quadruple the amount of shares on offer.
2.40pm: COPL makes significant oil discovery in Wyoming
Canadian Overseas Petroleum Ltd shot up 24% to 25.25p after the company announced a 'significant' conventional light oil discovery in Wyoming.
The discovery, comprising 1.5bn to 1.9bn barrels of oil in place, was identified spanning Converse and Natrona Counties, Wyoming – with the majority of the estimated 1.275bn to 1.64bn barrels present across the company’s leasehold in Converse and Natrona Counties, Wyoming.
It comprises multiple zones and production has already begun from the lowermost, Dakota Fm, with the discovery well BFU-14-30VF flowing between 100 and 120 barrels of oil per day.
1.40pm: Microsaic Systems sees early gains turned into losses
The initial positive response to the trading update from Microsaic Systems PLC (AIM:MSYS) has now turned negative, with the shares off 13% at 0.17p.
The shares peaked at 0.22p this morning after the company confirmed that revenues for 2021 significantly exceeded those of 2020, recovering to a level slightly ahead of that in (pre-pandemic) 2019.
The Microsaic Systems board is targeting a significant increase in revenues in 2022, underpinned by scientific services opportunities, particularly in bioprocessing and water markets, but also the extension of Microsaic's detection platform into Human and Environmental Health real-time monitoring.
12.45pm: Avacta pauses sales of its AffiDX antigen test
The pandemic has given a boost to the share price of diagnostics specialist Avacta Group PLC (AIM:AVCT) but the gains are draining away quickly.
The shares, which hit a peak of 273p in May of last year, slumped 26% to 86p today after the company said its AffiDX antigen test is less effective at detecting lower viral loads of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 compared to the sensitivity of the test on other forms of SAVRS-CoV-2.
“Our data show that the Affimer reagent in the AffiDX test detects the Omicron variant with the same sensitivity as the Delta variant, and it is the performance of the antibody, with which the Affimer is paired in the test, that has been affected by the additional Omicron mutations,” Avacta explained.
The company has therefore independently taken the decision to pause sales of the AffiDX antigen test whilst it replaces the antibody in the product to ensure that its performance with the Omicron variant matches the high performance with previous mutations.
11.50am: Abingdon dragged lower with Avacta
Abingdon Health PLC (AIM:ABDX), down 21% at 22.5p, was dragged lower by Avacata Group PLC’s announcement about the latter’s AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test assay product.
Abingdon, which develops and manufactures diagnostic tests, said it had completed the technical transfer of the AffiDX test as planned, back in mid-December.
Avacta today indicated it would suspend sales of the test while it makes a few adjustments to it to try to make it more effective in detecting the Omicron virus when testing lower viral loads.
10.55am: Microsaic Systems shines after exceeding pre-pandemic revenues in 2021
Microsaic Systems PLC (AIM:MSYS), the spectrometry instruments developer, jumped 5.1% to 0.205p on the back of a trading update.
The company confirmed that revenues for 2021 significantly exceeded those of 2020, recovering to a level slightly ahead of that in (pre-pandemic) 2019.
Microsaic's backlog of orders remaining from 2021 will be shipped in early 2022, which mainly reflects global supply chain pressures resulting from COVID-19, the company said.
10.00am: market gives thumbs-up to Tavistock's latest purchase
Tavistock Investments PLC (AIM:TAVI) advanced 5.9% to 4.5p after the company welcomed the acquisition of a minority stake in LEBC Holdings Limited, an independent financial advisory group.
The financial services firm will pay £10mln for the stake to Marie McVitie, the widow of LEBC’s founder and former chief executive, with £6mln of that being paid upfront and £4mln a year after the deal completes.
LEBC's largest shareholder is the AIM-quoted company, BP Marsh & Partners (AIM:BPM) PLC, which owns 60% of LEBC's voting rights. Brian Marsh, the chairman of BP Marsh, welcomed Tavistock as an investment partner, with all parties committed to accelerating LEBC's commercial development and operational efficiency.
9.05am: Corcel soars after lining up offtake deal while Caspian Sunrise rallies after resuming activities in Kazakhstan
Corcel PLC (LSE:CRCL) increased in value by around a quarter after it said it has a nickel off-take deal lined up with Shangdong New Powder COSMO.
The natural resource exploration and development company has entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Shandong New Powder for the supply of nickel from the company's Mambare and WoWo gap nickel projects, where the company owns a 41% and 100% interest respectively.
The initial term of the offtake agreement will be for three to five years. Pricing of the products will be linked to the underlying commodity prices on the London Metals Exchange, or some other mutually agreeable index, with consideration given to purity and specification.
Caspian Sunrise PLC (AIM:CASP) rallied 18% to 4.3p after it said it has resumed drilling and production activities.
The company suspended activities last week in view of the political unrest and anti-government protest in Kazakhstan.