() has reported positive results from a test of its d2p anti-microbial technology masterbatch against a bovine form of coronavirus. The AIM-listed firm said the Institute of Biology at Unicamp University in Sao Paolo State, Brazil, had tested polyolefin films incorporating the d2p technology for reductions in the presence of the virus at one, two and 24 hour periods. The tests showed a 99.9% reduction in the virus on the film at one hour, which then rose to 99.99% at two hours and 99.999% at 24 hours. In a separate announcement reporting its first-half results, Symphony said it had returned to profitability. For the six months ended June 30, 2020, the company reported a pre-tax profit of £18,000 compared to a loss of £86,000 in the previous year, while revenues increased to £4.8mln from £4.1mln.
Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN) (NASDAQ:SLN) has completed its search for a chief executive by appointing industry veteran Mark Rothera to the role. It means Iain Ross, who stepped in to take day-to-day control of the business last December, will return to his former role as non-executive chairman. Rothera, meanwhile, brings with him 30-years’ experience in the biopharmaceutical sector, latterly with Orchard Therapeutics where he secured US$600mln of financing and grew the business to a US$1.7bn market capitalisation at its peak. The appointment was announced alongside the gene silencing specialist’s interim results, which charted a period of significant progress. Key among the landmarks was a deal with () to develop as many as 10 small interfering RNA (siRNA) drug targets in the cardiovascular, renal, metabolic and respiratory diseases areas. It resulted in an upfront cash payment of US$60mln and a direct equity investment of US$20mln, which could be followed by potential milestones of US$400mln per target. As a result, Silence ended the six months to June 30 in rude financial health with just over US$64.1mln (£50mln) in the bank.
Seeing Machines Limited () has said it is planning to launch a fully supported, integrated driver monitoring system (DMS) kit on an automotive development platform (ADP) made by technology corporation Qualcomm Inc (). The AIM-listed firm said the DMS will support its full-stack DMS solution on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon ADP, targeting integration into either infotainment or centralised advanced driver assistant (ADAS) systems. The kit includes an optimised DMS reference camera, an ADP interface board and Seeing Machines software, and is expected to be available before the end of the current calendar year for use by tier one suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).
(), the mobile payments group, is continuing its push into Asia and has signed partnership agreements with five mobile app specialists in different countries. The new partners will use the Bango Audiences customer acquisition tool to boost their app campaigns or revenues for app developer clients.
() has reported sharply reduced losses in its first half as strong order bookings helped boost the firm’s recurring revenue by triple digits. For the six months ended June 30, 2020, the geospatial software group reported a pre-tax loss of £1.6mln, narrowed from £3.16mln in the previous year, while total revenues rose by over 50% to £3.6mln. Recurring revenues increased over 170% on the period to £1.6mln, while order bookings related to the firm’s products increased by over 120% to £5.5mln.
(), the freight forwarder and logistics group, said it is fully prepared for Brexit whatever the outcome as it posted an increase in first-half profits. Trading is almost back to pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) levels, the AIM-listed group said, helped by good performances in central Europe and a recovery in the UK following the COVID-19 disruption. Revenues dipped 3% to £99.6mln in the half-year to June 30, 2020, while profits rose by a third top £302,000 as the good performance in freight forwarding offset dips in affinity and warehousing, which were the arms most affected by COVID-19 restrictions.
() said it has entered into a binding agreement with Australasian Gold Limited for the sale of the non-core May Queen gold project in South East Queensland, Australia. Australasian Gold is an unlisted company established in 2018, operated by an experienced geological team. It holds an additional prospective gold exploration license in the Ashburton region of Western Australia, within 30 kilometres of the Paulsens gold deposit held by Northern Star Resources Limited (). The sale will allow IronRidge to maintain focus across its core African portfolio. IronRidge will receive 4.5mln shares in Australasian Gold, representing 34.6 % of the enlarged share capital. Ironridge will also invest AUD$100,000 at A$0.10 per share to provide additional working capital, taking the total stake to 39.3%.
() has updated investors on its activities at the Bailieston and Creswick gold projects in Victoria, Australia, which are owned by its subsidiary Mercator Gold Australia (MGA). The AIM-listed firm said field mapping and geochemistry is currently underway at multiple gold prospects in the Bailieston project area, with MGA having purchased its own portable Olympus XRF analyser in order to enhance and expedite its geochemical sampling capabilities. ECR said it has acquired a diamond drilling rig capable of drilling to 1,300 metres which is due for delivery next month and will be deployed immediately on a drill programme managed by the company. The group also said it has identified high priority gold prospects within both project area that have the potential for immediate drilling.
() told investors, in its interim results statement, that it is confident and optimistic as it remains on-track for first production from the Wressle field, located in North Lincolnshire before the end of this year. The onshore UK oiler ended the six months to June 30, 2020, with £4.6mln of cash, was debt-free and fully funded for its planned drilling, testing and development programmes. “We have seen significant progress at our three key project interests, namely West Newton, Wressle and Biscathorpe,” David Bramhill, Union Jack’s executive chairman said in the results statement.
PLC () said it has had its mining licence at Kabwe in Zambia extended for another ten years. The junior added that it also expects to produce its first copper concentrate from the Sable refinery at Kabwe within the next three months. Leon Coetzer, chief executive, said this will come from the most recently acquired copper run-of-mine material, after which it will start to process 150mln tonnes of copper tailings secured in June. The licence renewal covers lead, zinc, copper and cobalt. Jubilee also noted that Nick Taylor is also to join the board as a non-executive director on October 1, 2020. Taylor is a corporate finance veteran who has headed natural resource teams in several merchant banks, it added.
PLC () said it has exercised its option to earn-in to the Silver Peak Project in British Columbia, Canada. The project the Eureka-Victoria Silver Mine, the first Crown-granted mineral property in British Columbia. Exercise of the option enables Power Metal to earn-in to a 30% interest in the project including an additional C$225,000 committed by the AIM-listed firm on ground exploration.
() lost £922,000 in the year to June 2020. The company had cash and cash equivalents of £233,000 at the period end. “Thor Mining has a solid portfolio of assets from the development ready 100%-owned Molyhil tungsten-molybdenum project, the exciting Kapunda and Moonta copper projects, via our interest in Envirocopper Ltd, the large tungsten resource at Pilot Mountain, and our new Ragged Range gold-nickel venture in the Pilbara region of Western Australia,” said Thor’s chairman Mick Billing. He also highlighted the new uranium-vanadium project tenements in Utah and Colorado as showing significant potential.
Supermarket Income REIT () has made another addition to its growing portfolio of omnichannel sites with the acquisition of a Tesco outlet in Bracknell. The 7.3-acre site comprises a food store and a 400-space surface car park alongside several purpose-built online distribution docks that support Tesco’s online grocery business in the area. Supermarket Income REIT is acquiring the store from a client of CBRE Global Investors for £39.5mln, reflecting a net initial yield of 5.7%.
() told investors that the Stanley-4 well, in East Texas has been drilled successfully. The group said the well, which was drilled down to a target depth of 5,000 feet, showed several zones of interest during drilling and subsequent logging identified several potential pay zones in the Yegua formation, at depths between 4,600 and 4,900 feet. Stanley-4 will now undergo testing, and the company noted that flow rates will be reported when data is available.
() said its portfolio company, Fieldwork Robotics has received a continuity grant from Innovate UK to accelerate the development of its agricultural robot technology during the coronavirus pandemic. The IP investment group said the £84,000 grant will be used to support Fieldwork’s plans to expand its team and develop facilities amid what it said is “growing interest in its technology from potential industry partners”. The grant follows a previous £547,250 award from Innovate UK’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund in April 2019, as well as £320,000 raised in an initial equity funding round in January this year. Frontier owns a 26.9% stake in Fieldwork.
()() is a ‘buy’ for Peel Hunt, which has started coverage of the miner with a target price of 14p. The house broker forecasts potential for underlying earnings (EBITDA) to reach nearly £90mln by 2025. “We see HZM as a medium risk, but strong growth prospect for greater exposure to nickel and (eventually) cobalt,” the Peel Hunt analysts commented. “We expect further announcements on Araguaia Stage 1 funding in the coming six months, and also expect further nickel price momentum in the coming two years. Araguaia’s strong cash flow profile from Stage 1 should enable HZM to self-fund Stage 2 by Years 3-4 of production.”
() told investors it has today published its inaugural comprehensive sustainability report. It comes after the oil company, with operations in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, last week launched an effort to raise up to US$300mln in debt financing. The company noted that since 2006, it has invested almost US$60 million in social projects, it has programmes (including healthcare) which benefit local communities, has prioritised local hiring and engaged local contractors in contracts with an aggregate value of around US$36mln.
US Oil & Gas PLC (LON:USOP), the oil and gas exploration company with assets in Nevada, announced on Friday that it has placed with private investors 843,431 new ordinary shares of .0001 Euro each at a price of 0.32p per share to raise gross proceeds of circa $349,653. The group said the proceeds of the placing will be used to provide it with additional working capital, including the funding of drilling operations. Since no commissions are payable, the net proceeds to be received by the company are circa $349,653.
(LON::ORCP) said that further to the announcements of August 28, 2020 and September 8, 2020, along with its Consortium partners, China National Coal Development Company Ltd. and the private office of His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Dalmook Juma Al Maktoum, it formally presented the Thar Block VI project implementation plan to the Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPI)B on Friday 11 September 2020. As previously advised, the consortium’s presentation to the PPIB formed part of its LOI (letter of intent) application and is considered by the board of Oracle as one of the final steps in the award of the LOI. Further updates in respect of the timing, and next steps required, with regard to the issuance of the LOI will be made in due course as and when appropriate, it added.
() () is confident its Lake Way Project near Wiluna in Western Australia is on schedule to deliver first SOP production in the March quarter of 2021. The project is now 60% complete on an earned value basis with major vendor procurement packages over 90% committed with fixed costs.
Alien Metals Limited (), a minerals exploration and development company, announced that, following the receipt of warrant exercise notices, it has issued 63,333,333 new ordinary shares of no par value in the capital of the company at an issue price of 0.3p each and 29,479,167 new ordinary shares of no par value in the capital of the company at an issue price of 0.15p per share
(), a commercial-stage, pharmaceutical company with a focus on addressing iron deficiency with its lead product Feraccru/Accrufer (ferric maltol), has said it will announce its interim results for the six months ended June 30, 2020, on Wednesday, September 16, 2020.
(), a global leader in fuel cell and electrochemical technology has said it will publish its second set of interim results for the 12 months ended June 30, 2020, on Monday September 28, 2020, following its change of year-end to December 31. Ceres also said it will be hosting a live webcast for analysts and investors at 9.30am on the day. Further details will be made available in the interim results announcement and on the company’s website: www.ceres.tech
() has said its annual general meeting of shareholders will be held on September 30, 2020, and a general meeting of Shareholders will be held on October 30, 2020. In light of current measures relating to coronavirus (COVID-19) and the UK Government advice on physical distancing measures, no shareholder, except those designated as attending for the purposes of making up a quorum, will be admitted to the meetings. Shareholders should submit a proxy vote in advance of each meeting. Shareholders who wish to ask any questions relating to the business of either of the meetings are welcome to do so by means of an email to [email protected] with AGM as its subject.
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