Shares in DeepVerge PLC climbed over 5% after the environmental and life science group revealed that production orders at its environmental division, Modern Water, increased by 39% in the first quarter, worth around £5mln compared with £3.6mln in the same period in 2021.
The orders, the biggest ever in Modern Water’s history, are for a range of drinking water testing, contamination and detection of SARS-CoV-2 equipment, DeepVerge said in a statement.
The equipment is earmarked for sites including the UK, the EU, China, India and the Middle East and is expected to be delivered during the current financial year.
2.29pm: Quantum Blockchain hails new patent
Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC (AIM:QBT) shares rocketed 20% as it returned strong results from its mining and AI operations.
The technology and blockchain company also filed a patent application for a new qubit-based algorithm for Bitcoin mining.
In combination with the ASIC miner, the technology is expected to increase the hashing speed compared to other ASIC miners announced by competitors.
“Based on data we have recorded to date, we expect to see a higher performance than originally estimated; this is mainly due to the optimisations which will be included in the second patent application, based on the work of our cryptography expert and the coding techniques implemented by our FPGA/ASIC Design Team,” said chief executive Francesco Gardin.
“All of the results will be verified before any cooling techniques are implemented which, if applied, could allow for a further increase in speed.”
1.29pm: Quantum falls after unsuccessful application for its COVID test
Omega Diagnostics Group PLC (AIM:ODX) lost over a quarter of its value early this morning, falling to just over 3p from 4.15p yesterday after revealing that it was unsuccessful in applying for official approval in the UK for its COVID-19 antigen test.
The UK Health Security Agency gave a negative result for the company's application for the professional-use VISITECT test under medical devices regulations, meaning the product will not be available for sale in the general UK market.
Some of the supporting data that had been submitted for review "were not CE-marked and/or did not meet the sensitivity/specificity requirements subsequently specified in the CTDA regulations", Omega said, meaning these had to be excluded from the review and so there was insufficient test results to meet the requirements.
Omega said it does not plan to commission further studies at this time, with management believing instead that the self-test market "is much more relevant in terms of opportunity".
It aims to meet a 31 March deadline for its submission.
11.15am: Novacy rallies as Biosynex takes a stake
Novacyt SA (AIM:NCYT, OTC:NVYTF, EPA:ALNOV), one of the most volatile stocks in the Covid-19 era, was back on the rise, advancing 15% to 181.85p on shareholding news.
The international specialist in clinical diagnostics announced that it was notified by Biosynex SA that, as at 7 March 2022, Biosynex's holding in the company on a voting and capital basis is 5.54% (3,915,350 shares).
Despite today’s climb, the shares are still at half the level they started the year at and well below the 1,194p peak hit on October 20 when the whole world seemed to be scrabbling around for Covid-19 diagnostic tests.
10.50am: SRT discount
SRT Marine Systems PLC (LSE:SRT) is the big faller on Friday, down 13.5% to 33.29p after completing a £4.9mln placing at a discount.
The fundraising was carried out at a price of 30p per share with existing and new investors, with the shares having closed at 38.5p yesterday and topped 50p earlier in the year.
Chief exec Simon Tucker said in a statement yesterday that SRT wanted the funds "to accelerate multiple MDA system project implementations by preparing equipment ahead of time and in our transceivers division, increase production to keep pace with demand".
9.31am: Pembridge gets some payback
Pembridge Resources PLC (LSE:PERE) shot up 18% to 5.625p after it received the first loan repayment instalment from Minto Metals Corp (TSX-V:MNTO).
The London-listed company lent a total of C$4mln Minto during 2019 and 2020 to fund Minto's surety account. The loan carries interest at 8% and is due to be repaid in full via quarterly instalments each of C$1mln during 2022, with the final interest payment in early 2023.
Minto has now paid C$500,000 and confirmed it will pay a further C$500,000 before the end of the month.
Hardide PLC (AIM:HDD) hardened 12% to 33.5p after it said the second half of its financial year had got off to a strong start.
The industrial coatings specialist said sales in the period are expected to be more than 40% higher than in the same period of the year before.
"The board is optimistic that the increasing demand from existing customers and the high-volume potential of a number of projects will result in the Group achieving its previous upward sales trajectory,” said Robert Goddard, chair of the group, in a statement issued ahead of today’s annual general meeting.