Parkmead Group (AIM:PMG) is in demand after a positive update on its UK onshore renewable energy projects.
It said Kempstone Hill Wind Farm, bought in February this year, had now been fully integrated into the group and had beens immediately revenue and cash flow enhancing. The wind farml benefits from an attractive inflation-linked, Feed-in Tariff through until 2036. The annual power purchase agreement was renegotiated for the year commencing 1 August 2022 and this has seen wholesale export electricity prices increase by nearly 250% leading to a significant boost in near term cashflow.
Parkmead has been looking at a number of opportunities to enhance the wind farm, such as the potential inclusion of solar power generation, and expanding sales of electricity to local industrial users.
Meanwhile it is now planning a planning application for a combined wind and solar farm at its Pitreadie project, with added potential for a battery storage unit.
Executive chairman Tom Cross sai: "The Kempstone Hill Wind Farm acquisition has been complementary to our earlier stage, high-upside renewable energy projects, which we are now progressing at pace. We are delighted by the contribution made to date by Kempstone Hill to the Group, especially considering the significant upside arising from the increases in wholesale electricity prices seen in the last 12 months.
"The Parkmead team continues to assess all opportunities to expand our Renewable Energy division, both organically and through acquisition."
Its shares have surged 12.78% to 60p.
3.13pm: Chemring lifted by positive trading update
Defence and aerospace firm Chemring Group (LSE:CHG) is on the rise after a positive trading update.
It said that despite the difficult macro-economic climate, its full year results were in line with expectations, with strong growth in its order book.
This stands at £678mln, up from £488mln at the end of April this year. Some £40mln of the increase comes from foreign exchange gains arising from the stronger US dollar.
Order cover for 2023 was building, the company said, with its countermeasures and energetics division having 93% order cover of expected revenue and the shorter cycle sensors and information sector having 60% cover.
Its shares are up 5.43% to 320.5p.
2.23pm: Karelian climbs after it wins two mineral licences in Northern Ireland
Karelian Diamond Resources PLC (AIM:KDR) is sparkling after announcing that applications for two additional mineral prospecting licences in Northern Ireland had been granted.
The licences would allow the company to explore for the presence of Nickel-Copper-Platinum mineralisation.
The licences, KDR-2 and KDR-3, are valid for a period of six years, and cover an area of approximately 500km2 and are adjacent to the company’s existing KDR-1 licence, giving a total exploration area of approximately 750km2.
Professor Richard Conroy, chairman of Karelian, said: “I am very pleased that both these prospecting licences adjacent to the KDR-1 licence in Northern Ireland have been granted to the company and look forward to what could be a highly exciting period leading to the discovery of Nickel-Copper-Platinum mineralisation in the area.”
Karelian shares have jumped 56.1% to 3.2p.
12.11pm: Mobile Streams drops as it unveils plans to raise nearly £1.5mln with share issues
Mobile Streams PLC (AIM:MOS), the content and data intelligence company, has dropped sharply as it announced plans to raise up to £1.44mln with a series of share issues.
It said the move was to provide the resources to enable further NFT (Non-Fungible Token) contracts to be progressed, including several expected to be signed this month.
It has conditionally placed 666,666,666 shares with investors at 0.18p to raise £1.2mln. Each share comes with a warrant to to subscribe for another share exercisable at 0.3p each for a period of 18 months from the date of admission of the new shares to AIM.
In addition five directors propose to subscribe for another 25,930,446 shares at a cost of £46,575 and will also receive warrants.
There is also a broker option over another 111,111,111 shares granted to Peterhouse to allow existing shareholders to participate. If this is taken up fully, it would raise another £200,000.
In total the new shares and warrants if exercised would represent around 45% of the diluted issued share capital.
Chief executive Mark Epstein said: ""We have already received first revenues from the Pumas NFT contract announced in July, with further revenues expected from this and other contracts this month.
"The funds raised in this placing will enable us to take advantage of significant similar revenue generating opportunities and help us grow the business at a faster rate. With the FIFA football World Cup imminent, we are delighted to have been able to act quickly to enable us to sign up further recently negotiated deals and now add significant funds to the business which will help us take up further deals as they present themselves. We are now well-funded, and the business is in the strongest position it has been in for years."
News of the fundraising has sent its shares down 29.63% to 0.19p, just above the placing price.
10.35am: Volution boosted by increased demand for energy efficiency
Volution Group PLC (LSE:FAN), a specialist in energy efficient ventilation products, has seen its shares blown higher after a positive update.
The company said full year revenues had rise 12.9% to £307.7mln with pretax profits up 57.2% to £42.2mln.
It said the new financial year had started well, with revenue and profit ahead of the same period last year.
Despite the macroeconomic climate, it said the regulatory, air quality and energy efficiency agenda throughout Europe had never been more supportive.
Chief executive Ronnie George said: "We have again achieved a strong performance, with good organic revenue growth across all three of our geographies and maintaining our operating margin in the face of challenging operating conditions.
"We further increased the group's product and geographic diversification in the year, with non-UK customers now representing 61.6% of our revenue. Our strategic investment in higher levels of component and finished goods inventory, a decision taken over one year ago, has helped underpin excellent service levels...
"The energy crisis has focused customers' minds on the importance of heat recovery ventilation and this category now accounts for over 30% of group revenue. This desire to reduce heating bills, a tightening of regulations relating to carbon reduction in buildings, as well as heightened awareness of the importance of air quality to health, continues to drive demand for our innovative solutions."
Volution's shares are 11.09% or 34p better at 340.5p.
9.00am: AMTE powers ahead after deal to manufacture its battery cells
AMTE Power PLC (AIM:AMTE) has seen its shares soar after unveiling a manufacturing deal for its ultra high power battery cells.
It has signed a contract to manufacture the cells at the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre in Coventry to support the next phase of its commercialisation plans.
Under what it called a milestone agreement, AMTE can request UKBIC to manufacture up to 60,000 of these cells each year, over an initial term of 24 months.
It said the deal would allow AMTE to deliver its first cells in sufficient scale to allow customers to hold in-vehicle trials, as the industry transitions away from traditional fuels.
Ramping up production of the cells at UKBIC is due to start from January 2023, generating initial revenues for the company and enabling it to meet growing demand from within the automotive sector principally for high performance Electric Vehicles and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles.
AMTE has existing non-binding memoranda of understanding in place with key automotive partners Cosworth, Viritech and MAHLE Powertrain, in addition to development agreements with Sprint Power, Eltrium and BMW.
Chief executive Kevin Brundish said: ""Having already secured significant early interest in our Ultra High Power cell from major automotive partners, this contract will enable us to bring our products to market sooner while we progress our own MegaFactory.
"This new phase in our journey builds on the partnership that we've established with UKBIC through cell development. It is testament to the investment that the UK Government has made in this market-leading battery manufacturing and scale-up facility that we are now able to put that development work into practice with the first production contract at UKBIC to get cells into customers' hands as we power the energy transition."
AMTE shares have jumped 16.92% or 11p to 76p.
Elsewhere Seeing Machines Ltd (AIM:SEE, OTC:SEEMF) has surged 10.35% to 6.4p after announcing a deal with Canada's Magna International (TSX:MG).
Seeing Machines, which designs AI-powered operator monitoring systems to improve transport safety, and Magna will exclusively co-market driver and occupant monitoring systems targeting the interior rear-view mirror.
In return, Magna has agreed to invest US$65mln into Seeing Machines via an exclusivity arrangement payment of US$17.5mln and up to $47.5mln through a convertible note maturing in October 2026.
Seeing Machines chief executive Paul McGlone said: "We are extremely pleased to see Magna's investment as we work closely together to win market share targeting the interior rear-view mirror and grow our mutual businesses. Seeing Machines is now funded to deliver on our current business plan and we look forward to focusing on achieving significant growth across each of our target transport sectors."