Among the small caps, Thor Mining PLC (AIM:THR, OTC:THORF, ASX:THR)'s rollercoaster week looks like ending on a high.
Shares in the junior tumbled Wednesday only to bounce back yesterday as it reported it had unearthed some impressive gold-bearing indications from drilling at its Sterling prospect
The results look characteristic of gold mineralisation prevalent in the East Pilbara Craton, home to a number of big Western Australian mines.
Thor added that due to mechanical issues it had only been able to carry half of the planned drilling with “50% of the strong gold anomalies therefore remaining untested”.
Shares rose 17% today to 0.7p to make a two-day gain of 49%.
1.44PM: Ocado Group shares extend bad run
Ocado Group PLC (LSE:OCDO) shares were the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 on Friday, down over 6% to 1,455.5p in mid-afternoon on news about the online groceries company's court battle with Norway’s Autostore over patent infringements.
The latest was that a court in Munich has suspended Ocado’s effort to get the sale of Autostore’s B1 robot banned in Germany.
All the more reason why Ocado, whose shares have fallen 11% over the month and 47% over the past 12 months, was keen to flag its new range of robot helpers earlier this week.
11am: Court drama
Cineworld Group PLC (LSE:CINE) shares have dived 6% to 36.97p after it said that Canadian rival Cineplex, following a ditched takeover attempt at the start of 2020, has submitted a 'cross-appeal' to Cineworld's own court appeal to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
"Cineplex's cross-appeal suggests that it should be awarded alternative forms damages, if the Ontario Court of Appeal determines that the damages award of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice is incorrect," Cineworld said.
Analysts at AJ Bell said the Anglo-US cinema operator can ill afford such a court battle "given it is only just picking itself up after the devastating impact of the pandemic and it already has an overstretched balance sheet" and "the bottom line remains just how much if anything Cineworld will have to pay out".
8.50am: Hola Amigo
Amigo Holdings PLC (LSE:AMGO) shares found some favour on Friday morning, rising 8.6% to 2.4p after a new finance chief was unveiled, just three days after the last one departed.
On Monday, the provider of guarantor loans warned it would go out of business unless shareholders approve a 19-for-1 rights issue to raise money to settle complaints from customers relating to its business practices in the previous decade.
The controversial guarantor loans provider said today its new chief financial officer will be Danny Malone, co-founder and former finance director of Everyday Loans, chief executive of Secure Trust Bank and European CFO of a division of Citigroup.
The appointment is subject to approval by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Elsewhere, shares in Advance Energy PLC bounced 32% to 0.31p after it also announced a board appointment, with boss Leslie Peterkin leaving and non-executive Larry Bottomley promoted to replace him.
One of the former Chariot Oil & Gas boss's first moves as interim chief executive is to lop off 50% of the company's cost base, following its unsuccessful well offshore Timor-Leste, which led to the shares dropping over 90% this month.
"Advance Energy has an exciting set of opportunities in the business development pipeline and a motivated and high-quality board focused on growing the company,” Bottomley said. “Reducing the cost base leaves the company with sufficient cash and no debt, and importantly allows more time to assess and progress this pipeline."