Baron Oil PLC (AIM:BOIL) is slipping lower after the oil and gas exploration company unveiled plans to relinquish its licence in Peru and leave the country.
It said it had been frustrated in its attempts to access the area in order to carry out operations and had set out four requirements to continue the project:
- confirmation that a three-year extension option to the Licence was available;
- attracting a local farm-in operating partner;
- freedom to conduct workshops with the local communities; and
- drilling authorisation at the local level from, amongst others, the regional president and council.
It said that, regrettably, none of these criteria had been met.
Chief executive Andy Yeo said the company was making progress on its other projects which had good potential.
But he added: "By contrast, Peru Block XXI has a materially smaller prospective resource with no certainty around pathways or timelines to drilling, hence the company's decision to relinquish the licence and ultimately withdraw from the country."
Baron shares are down 4.23% at 0.077p.
12.33pm: Cerilion upbeat after record six month performance
Cerillion PLC (AIM:CER) (Cerillion PLC (AIM:CER)) has seen its shares climb after a record six months.
The billing, charging and customer relationship management software specialist, said half year revenues were expected to be up 26% at around £16.1mln.
Adjusted earnings are set to jump 48% to some £7.1mln.
It said the first half performane reflected work on new customer implementation projects and strong demand from existing customers, against a wider back-drop of continuing strength in demand for telecoms services and substantial on-going investment in 5G and fibre rollout.
Its sales pipeline remains strong, and it is confident full year trading will be in line with its expectations.
Chief executive Louis Hall said: "The business has delivered a record performance for any six-month period, driven by our backlog of new customer implementations and strong demand from existing customers. The market backdrop remains highly favourable for Cerillion. With a strong pipeline of new business, we remain well-placed for continuing growth this financial year and next."
Its shares have climbed 5.2% to 804.8p.
11.33am: SysGroup upbeat as IT spending starts to improve
IT services group SysGroup PLC (AIM:SYS) is upbeat about its prospects amid signs of recovery in its sector.
It expects to report adjusted earnings of £2.8mln for the year to the end of March, in line with market expectations, despite a decline in revenues as customers deferred spending on IT projects.
It added: "Encouragingly, during the latter part of [the second half of the year], we have started to see enhanced trading conditions with both new and existing clients.
"Whilst not yet at pre-pandemic levels, customers are once again starting to feel confident to commit to spending on enhancements to their essential IT services. Coupled with the acquisition of Truststream, which has added further capabilities to our managed security service offering, the group is well positioned to deepen it existing client relationships and is looking forward to the future."
Chief executive Adam Binks said: "This is a very robust performance given the headwinds faced for a prolonged period of time...
"We are ready to scale as conditions improve. We will do so both organically and through further earnings enhancing M&A, as evidenced by the post year end acquisition of Truststream...
"We have started to see the first green shoots of recovery in customer spending and look forward to the future with confidence."
SysGroup is up 3.45% at 30p.
10.33am: SSP Group falls after analyst downgrade
SSP Group plc (LSE:SSPG), the catering group best known for its outlets in train stations and airports, is the biggest faller in the mid-cap index after a broker downgrade.
The company, whose brands include Upper Crust, Camden Food Co and Ritazza, has been hit by the COVID-19 slump in the travel industry and now faces the prospect of another downturn in the global economy.
Analysts at Deutsche Bank have cut their recommendation on the company from buy to hold and their price target from 333p to 265p.
They said: "Although the catering sector (concession as well as contract catering) is still in recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, the global economy is now facing macroeconomic risks due to the war in Ukraine, strong inflation (especially in energy, food costs, and wages), and resultant expectations of interest rate increases over quicker time frames in the next few months."
In the market SSP shares are down 5.97% at 230p.
9.44am: Invinity Energy Systems achieves key ISO certifications
Shares in Invinity Energy Systems PLC (AIM:IES) have been energised by the award of a key certification.
The manufacturer of utility-grade energy storage said it certified as compliant with ISO standards for quality management, environmental management, and health and safety management.
It is now one of the only flow battery manufacturers worldwide to hold all three standards concurrently.
It believes that compliance with these three standards will accelerate its commercial development by attracting new customers.
Chief executive Larry Zulch said: "As Invinity commercialises our long-duration vanadium flow batteries, our focus must progress from simply developing leading technology to superb execution across the entire organisation. We undertook the ISO process determined to meet the highest standards; by obtaining certification in these three major areas, we have demonstrated our ability to achieve them."
Invinity is up 6.28% at 97.25p.
8.50am: Tintra lifted by Mauritius update
Tintra PLC (AIM:TNT) is in demand after its Mauritius subsidiary was granted permission to begin business under its services licence.
The agreement with the Mauritius Financial Services Commission allows the subsidiary to operate as an online payment provider, including payment services and merchant online services for accepting electronic payments.
Tintra said Mauritius had become an important financial services hub for Africa and South Asia and the approval was an important step in the development of the company's Web 3.0 Banking strategy.
Its shares have jumped 6.15% to 172.5p on the news.
Elsewhere precision measurement specialist Spectris PLC (LSE:SXS) is up 3.92% at 2611p after it sold its Omega Engineering business to Arcline Investment Management for US$525mln (£403mln) and also announced a £300mln share buyback programme.
The company said the disposal would give it scope for future investment activity, including possible acquisitions.
Chief executive Andrew Heath said: "In 2018, we set out to improve the quality of Spectris and simplify our business.. Spectris today is a more focused, more profitable, and more resilient business, underpinned by a very strong balance sheet. .. The divestment of Omega will further improve our financial profile."