Analysts at Liberum Capital have placed their 149p target price for Atlantic Lithium Ltd under review while they revise their model for the company following news on the Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) for the Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana.
The City broker's analysts noted that the Ewoyaa PFS envisages production of 255,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) of spodumene concentrate grading 6% Li2O (SC6) over 12.5 years.
Scottish Power and Utilita Energy have been warned by energy regulator Ofgem for failing to meet standard licence conditions with respect to their most vulnerable customers.
Spanish-owned Scottish Power is accused of taking debt repayments regardless of customer circumstances while Utilita failed to offer additional support to vulnerable customers, says Ofgem, despite being required to do so by law.
Learning Technologies’ first half performance was ahead of expectations says broker Peel Hunt, with its assets seeing steep margin expansion since acquired alongside strong organic growth,
Peel Hunt now sees full-year earnings per share at the e-learning group potentially beating forecasts by around 1% and helped by a forex benefit.
Many homeowners will see their yearly mortgage costs rise by approximately £600, according to a trade association, after the Bank of England’s decision to hike interest rates by 0.5 basis points to 2.25%.
UK Finance insisted borrowers whose mortgage payments directly track the base rate set by the BoE's Monetary Policy Committee will be spending an extra £49 a month.
ATOME PLC’s appointment of Natixis to structure and secure financing for its 60 MW Villeta green hydrogen and ammonia project in Paraguay marks another step towards fulfilling its ambition of becoming a major green hydrogen and ammonia producer, says broker finnCap.
Natixis is part of the second-largest banking group in France and one of the world leaders in hydrogen and energy infrastructure funding, said the City broker.
Shares in IGas Energy PLC (AIM:IGAS, OTC:IGESF) and Egdon Resources PLC (AIM:EDR) rose on Thursday after the government formally lifted the ban on fracking in the UK as part of its push towards greater domestic energy security.
The moratorium on fracking had been in place since 2019, but it has now been lifted as the government seeks to promote gas production in the UK, where the industry is supported by local communities.
JPMorgan Cazenove (JPM) is the latest broker to sing the praises of Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) raising its end-2023 price target to 640p from 590p.
On Tuesday, Barclays set a 700p price target and painted a scenario where shares in the company could double from current levels.
Lidl has followed its supermarket rivals and raised hourly pay rates for its UK workers for the second time this year amid the cost of living crisis.
The German-owned discount retailer has said it will now pay workers outside of London a minimum of £10.90 an hour, up from £10.10, and workers in London a minimum of £11.95, up from £11.30.
Shares in Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) and other big UK lenders moved lower after analysts said mooted reports that the government may introduce "interest on reserves" was a potential risk for the sector.
Analysts at Barclays and Citigroup commented following a Bloomberg article quoting Gerard Lyons, "external economic advisor" to Liz Truss, on the possibility of introducing reserve tiering.
The Nasdaq stock exchange is taking its first steps into the crypto markets by offering custody services for Bitcoin and Ether to institutional investors.
The news comes as Ira Auerbach, former head of brokerage services at Gemini - the crypto exchange launched by the Winklevoss twins - joined Nasdaq as head of its new digital assets division.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), Microsoft Corp and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)-owned Google face an investigation into competition in cloud services in the UK.
Communications regulator Ofcom also said it would examine other digital markets over the next year, including messaging services such as WhatsApp, FaceTime and Zoom, and connected televisions and smart speakers.
Talks with unions have broken down for both Royal Mail PLC (LSE:RMG) and BT Group PLC (LSE:BT.A), triggering more expected strike action as the UK summer of strikes looks set to continue well into the second half of the year.
After five months of talks, Royal Mail said it has failed to reach an agreement with its main trade union over pay and conditions, writes Joshua Lamb.
Jade Road Investments Ltd (AIM:JADE) swung to a profit in its first half, a result partly attributable to the partial disposal of one investment.
The pan-Asian diversified investment vehicle, which is focused on uncorrelated and risk-adjusted long-term returns, made a net profit of US$1.02mln for the six months ended June 30, 2022.
Scotgold Resources Limited (AIM:SGZ) said it has completed the majority of optimisation initiatives at its Cononish gold and silver mine in Scotland.
Third-quarter production is likely to be lower than expected due to the successful, but delayed, commissioning of underground power and ventilation upgrades, but the company said optimisation work means that the fourth quarter should be “significantly ahead” of the third and second quarters and meaning that the optimisation phase production run rate of circa 16,000 ounces for the year of gold will be achieved.
Lord Rothermere is to take over as chief executive of his family's newspaper business following the resignation of the chief executive, Paul Zwillenberg.
The decision further cements family control of the Daily Mail and General Trust (LSE:DMGT) (DMGT) and follows the move to take the group private earlier this year, ending its 90-year run on public markets.
The Bank of England has said the UK may already be midway into a recession, with the economy on course to shrink in the current quarter, but it still hiked interest rates, albeit by less than some expected, as a deep recession may be avoided.
As well as hiking interest rates to 2.25%, their highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) cut its forecast for inflation and for economic growth.
HMV is returning to making records for the first time after 40 years after launching its own music label, 1921 Records.
Named after the year the company opened its first His Masters Voice store on London’s Oxford Street, the label will be available exclusively at its 115 high street stores as well as online.
In Wednesday’s congressional hearing on accountability in the US’s largest financial institutions, JPMorgan’s Chase’s chief executive officer Jamie Dimon made his thoughts on cryptocurrencies clear as day.
“I’m a major skeptic of crypto tokens, which you call currency, like Bitcoin,” Dimon told the Democrat-led House Financial Services Committee.
JD Sports Fashion remains confident it can achieve last year’s record performance but is that optimism misplaced?
Today’s interim results were in line with the board’s expectations, albeit profit before tax and exceptional items slipped in the first half due to it receiving a one-off fiscal boost in the US last year.
J Sainsbury PLC (LSE:SBRY) has moved to simplify its property ownership structure via the sale and purchase of a number of stores in two separate deals.
The supermarket retailer has agreed to buy 21 stores in the Highbury and Dragon investment vehicle in which it has held a 49% stake since it was created in 2000.
Safestyle UK PLC (AIM:SFE) swung to a loss in the first half of the year and has trimmed its full-year profit guidance after a cyberattack in January delayed a planned pricing move designed to keep pace with soaring raw materials costs.
But with profitability having "recovered rapidly to planned levels" in May and into June, the retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors returned to paying a dividend with an interim payout of 0.4p per share.
MicroStrategy chairman and co-founder Michael Saylor reckons Bitcoin has hit the price floor and is ready for its journey to all-time highs of US$68,990 in the next four years.
But that’s peanuts compared to where it’s going in a decade; speaking to MarketWatch editor-in-chief Mark DeCambre on Wednesday, Saylor suggested a price point of US$500,000 is not totally unreasonable.
Adnams plc (AQSE:ADB), the Southwold-based brewer, moved to reassure investors that it had stabilised its trading and financial positions as it reported results for the six months to June 30, 2022.
The group, which makes Ghost Ship, Broadside and Southwold Bitter, said trading during the period was marked by stabilisation and consolidation following the prior two years of disrupted trading with revenues rising £9mln to £30mln resulting in a reduced operating loss of £0.7mln (down from £3.1mln), in line with expectations.
Biome Technologies PLC (AIM:BIOM) reported slightly lower revenues in the first half due to raw material availability issues and warned that these are expected to result in “significantly lower” second-half sales than previously anticipated.
Its shares more than halved on Thursday morning, degrading 58% to 70p after the bioplastics and radio frequency (RF) systems group, which had been looking forward to significant growth from its new customer product launches based on its ‘home compostable’ bio-based and biodegradable plastics, issued the profit warning.
Jesse Powell, co-founder and chief executive officer of Kraken, is stepping down from his position, the Delaware-based digital asset exchange has confirmed.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which first published the news, Powell plans to stay active in the company by spending his time on product development and industry advocacy.
The acrimonious debate in the US over crypto regulation continues to generate headlines, this time with Gary Gensler, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), laser focused on Ethereum (ETH) now that the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency works under proof of stake (PoS).
Pretty rude of Gensler, some might say, just as Etherum head honcho Vitalik Buterin was celebrating the successful protocol upgrade that marked one of the most important days in crypto history.
Begbies Traynor (AIM:BEG), the corporate restructuring firm, said last year’s performance was “comfortably ahead of original market expectations” in a statement issued before today's AGM.
The improved performance was largely due to acquisitions and improved trading, executive chairman Ric Traynor said.
Learning Technologies Group PLC (AIM:LTG) reported revenue growth of 241% in the first six months and said it remains optimistic it will perform ahead of analysts' consensus for the year despite challenges in the macro environment.
Revenues rose to £281.8mln for the six months to 30 June, from £82.6mln in H1 2021, the digital learning firm said in a statement.
Judges Scientific PLC (AIM:JDG) has hiked its interim dividend by 16% after achieving 13.4% profits growth in the half-year to June 30, 2022.
The company said it expects instruments maker Geotek, acquired for around £80mln in May, to make a strong contribution to its full-year performance, with results for 2022 now predicted to be “significantly” ahead of existing market expectations.
The manager of the Seraphim Space Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SSIT) has developed a proprietary tool that will form part of a new responsible investment policy to review potential space technology portfolio companies for exposure to climate, sustainability and social impact risks.
Seraphim Space Manager LLP worked with environmental, social and governance (ESG) experts Sancroft to develop a proprietary tool, which it said it would use as part of its investment criteria, adding to its existing ESG considerations that were “already stringent”.
Bens Creek Group PLC (AIM:BEN, OTC:BENCF), the owner of a metallurgical coal mine in North America supplying the steel industry, said its permit application has now been approved to operate a second highwall miner at its site in West Virginia.
As previously notified, the company's wholly-owned operating subsidiary, Bens Creek Operations WV LCC, had made an application for a permit to mine a much larger area than is currently being mined by the first highwall miner, which had been submitted to the Department of Environmental Protection in West Virginia (WVDEP). This permit has been granted with an effective date of September 21, 2022.
Aquis Exchange PLC (AIM:AQX) chief executive Alasdair Haynes told investors that the small and micro-cap bourse has demonstrated it has “the right model, team, technology and vision” to deliver shareholder value despite the prevailing economic uncertainty and it looks to the future with confidence.
The company has today reported a 21% increase in first-half revenue to £8.3mln versus £6.9mln, and marked £1.4mln of earnings (EBITDA), against £1.6mln last year, as it invested in technology and development resources.
Polarean Imaging PLC (AIM:POLX, OTC:PLLWF) has announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has requested additional information from the manufacturing partner for the company's xenon-129 gas blend drug.
The company said this request is related to the recent cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) pre-approval inspection at the partner's production facility. The FDA has suggested that the required information would constitute a major amendment to the New Drug Application (NDA) that, if timely submitted, would allow for the FDA to grant a 90-day extension to the review timeline.
Creo Medical Group PLC (AIM:CREO) has said its founder and chief technology officer (CTO), Chris Hancock has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The company noted that the Academy has elected 72 leading figures in the field of engineering and technology, comprising 60 Fellows, seven International Fellows and five Honorary Fellows.
Jersey Oil and Gas PLC (AIM:JOG, OTC:JYOGF) chief executive Andrew Benitz highlighted “great progress” as the North Sea junior reported its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2022.
Interest in the Greater Buchan Area (GBA) field development was further bolstered in recent months amid favourable fiscal and macroeconomic developments, the company highlighted.
Atlantic Lithium Limited (AIM:ALL, OTCQX:ALLIF, ASX:A11) said its Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana, West Africa now has an estimated value of US$1.33bn and will recover its build costs in just five months.
The figures are central to a new pre-feasibility study, managed by Atlantic, that incorporated an upgraded JORC resource of 30.1 mln tonnes (Mt) at 1.26% Li2O announced in March 2022.
Halma PLC (LSE:HLMA) reiterated guidance for revenue growth and return on sales given in June as it updated the market on trading today.
The company reported it had made “good progress in the first half of the financial year to date, in line with the board's expectations”.
Ethernity Networks Ltd (AIM:ENET, OTCQB:ENETF) has sketched out plans to combat component shortages as it posted interim results.
The AIM-quoted provider of networking processing semiconductor technology saw its margins tighten in the first half as it battles the worldwide shortages that have hit the industry.
One Media iP Group PLC (AIM:OMIP) has said that Mark Adams will join its board as an independent non-executive director, pending regulatory approval which is expected in the next few weeks.
Adams has nearly 30 years of experience working in senior finance roles and will join the board's audit and remuneration committees, the digital media content owner said.
KEFI Gold and Copper PLC (AIM:KEFI, OTC:KFFLF) told investors it has completed a three-day workshop with representatives of various Ethiopian Government agencies and other local representatives, to agree immediate actions required to launch the Tulu Kapi gold project.
The workshop saw agreement on action plans, including matters such as the first phase of the community resettlement, increasing employment of local personnel, and upgrading of security protection.
DeepVerge PLC reported record revenue in its first-half results following an uptick in demand for its goods and services.
Sales for the six months ended 30 June 2022 rocketed 94% to £6.4mln for the environmental and life science group, with March’s production orders of £5mln for Modern Water equipment contributing to higher inventories.
PZ Cussons (LSE:PZC) PLC, the producer of hygiene products such as Carex, reported a slight drop in full-year profits but said these were still ahead of market expectations.
Adjusted pre-tax profits fell 2.9% to £66.6mln with pricing and productivity initiatives largely offsetting cost inflation which cost the business around £40mln, equating to around 11% of sales growth.
General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) (GM) has said it will close reservations for its electric GMC Hummer pickup and the forthcoming GMC Hummer SUV after more than 90,000 of the vehicles were reserved, CNBC reported.
The number of reservations is notable because of the starting prices of the vehicles, which range between roughly $85,000 and $111,000, the report added, noting that closing the reservations is a way for the automaker to attempt to fulfill the current list of reserved vehicles, which extends out to at least 2024.
Induction Healthcare Group PLC (AIM:INHC) said the group’s cash position has improved ‘significantly’ since it last updated on its financial progress.
This, it said, was thanks to strong NHS renewals of its Attend Anywhere video consultation platform.
Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (AIM:GWMO) chair Brian Hall has cheered what he described as “very exciting” final assay results from the summer’s drilling in the OMCO Mine area of the Olympic gold project, Nevada.
The results confirm that the OMCO Mine vein was intercepted, and, an extension to the OMCO Mine area has now been established, the company noted.
The crypto markets have hit new monthly lows of US$910bn, mainly due to an Ethereum that can’t seem to catch a post-Merge break.
Now changing hands at US$1,270, ETH has slashed over 20% from its market cap in the past week alone, with the bulls and bears fighting it out in equal measure throughout Thursday morning’s trade.
JD Sports Fashion PLC said half-year profits came in at the top end of its expectations and said it expects to achieve its full-year guidance despite the challenging macro-environment.
Profit before tax and exceptional items amounted to £383.5mln in the six months to July 31 2022, down from £439.5mln in the same period last year, when its businesses in the US saw a significant one-off boost from the fiscal stimulus made available by the federal government, the FTSE 100 fashion retailer said in its earnings release.
Ceres Power PLC said it expects to tie up definitive agreements for its joint ventures in China with major backers and shareholders Weichai and Bosch in the final quarter of 2022.
Heads of terms were signed in February for the ventures, which will see the establishment of a manufacturing facility in China for Ceres' solid oxide fuel cell technology.
Smiths News PLC (LSE:SNWS) has reported good trading for the second half of the current year and said it expects profits for the full year to beat market forecasts.
Underlying profit (adjusted EBITDA) for the 52 weeks to August 27, 2022, is expected to be no less than £40mln, ahead of analysts' estimates, the UK’s largest newspaper and magazine wholesaler said in a trading update.
GSK PLC (LSE:GSK, NYSE:GSK) has inked a licensing deal with a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech that will give it access to an oral antibiotic for complicated urinary tract infections.
The UK group is paying Spero Therapeutics Inc an initial US$66mln to license the latter’s tebipenem pivoxil hydrobromide, which is about to enter phase III clinical trials.