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Alfa Financial raises guidance

Last updated: 10:36 13 Jul 2020 EDT, First published: 04:13 13 Jul 2020 EDT

Image Scan Holdings PLC -

Alfa Financial Software Holdings PLC (LON:ALFA) revealed trading in the first half of 2020 was better than expected, sending the shares 14% higher to 72.2p.

Demand has been largely resilient to the pandemic and the impact of remote working has had little impact on Alfa’s operations, other than fewer holidays being taken than normal, and as a consequence, an increase in the number of days work delivered to clients.

Cash performance has remained strong with net cash increasing in the period, further strengthening the balance sheet, the mission-critical software specialist said.

12.45pm: Management changes in development at Photo-Me

Photo-Me International PLC (LON:PHTM) revealed its chief operating officer, Eric Mergui, has quit the board, sending the shares 9.2% lower to 50.3p.

Serge Crasnianski, who already holds down the roles of chief executive officer and deputy chairman, will assume Mergui's role and responsibilities.

The instant-service vending equipment company will issue an announcement before the end of the month providing details on a management restructure.

11.30am: Frontier IP buoyed by progress at investee company, Pulsiv

Frontier IP Group PLC (LON:FIPP) climbed 5% to 63p after an upbeat update on its investment company, Pulsiv Solar.

Pulsiv is continuing to make “strong commercial and technical progress” with its energy efficiency and power generation technology, Frontier said.

The intellectual property investment firm said Pulsiv has started design work, funded by a major multinational, to incorporate its technology in a new product line, and is also in discussions with a number of other large firms about a range of further industrial applications.

10.30am: Ethernity Networks tumbles as it issues shares at a heavy discount

Ethernity Networks PLC (LON:ENET) lost just over a quarter of its value at 14p after it issued shares at 12p a share.

The supplier of functional acceleration ethernet adapter cards raised £780,000 through the issue of 6.5mln new shares, with the directors subscribing for £240,000 of those shares.

The company said the funds would strengthen its balance sheet and allow it to “support the growing number of engagements for its 5G offering towards successful field deployments”.

9.30am: Image Scan surges as it hooks up with security technology company

Image Scan Holdings PLC (LON:IGE), up 32% at 2.25p, was the top riser in London in early trade on Monday after signing a partnership agreement with a security technology company.

The agreement will lead to the launch of a new range of security X-ray screening systems for the international market. The first system to be produced under the new agreement will replace the former "Axis 2D" machine in Image Scan’s product range.

Modern Water PLC (LON:MWG) was up 16% to 2.15p after its reagent production agency partner, Integumen PLC (LON:SKIN), hooked up with Avacta PLC (LON:AVCT).

READ Integumen formalises collaboration with Avacta as it develops coronavirus detection technology

Avacta and Integumen will collaborate on an evaluation of the former’s affimers - small proteins that bind to target molecules – in real-time identification of localised coronavirus (COVID-19) hot spots in wastewater.

If the testing is a success then the plan is to retrofit the sensors into Modern Water's Microtox water contamination system units to detect COVID-19, with the potential for Modern Water to play a key role in sales, marketing and distribution of the upgraded contamination detection systems.

Proactive news headlines:

Gfinity PLC (LON:GFIN) said its Gfinity Plus rewards programme will go live on Wednesday, allowing gamers to register and be eligible for giveaways and incentives. The esports group said Gfinity Plus will also offer exclusive content, forums and gamification for its online community from August. The company will use its technical IP for the first time on its websites to provide functions that deepen visitor engagement such as fan forums and the ability to comment on articles. Gfinity Plus will be available to gamers who visit all of the company’s digital media sites, starting with gfinityesports.com before being rolled out to realsport101.com and stealthoptional.com.

Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG), the security and technology group, has said revenues jumped by around a quarter in its latest half-year despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic uncertainty. The AIM-listed group said trading started the half-year on a positive note, which continued throughout the period even with the disruption from COVID-19. Westminster noted that interim revenues rose by 24% to £7.0mln (2019: £5.6mln) with the company making both a pre- and post-tax profit.

Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON:JLP) has delivered its sixth consecutive six-monthly period of double-digit growth, posting a 54% increase in first-half earnings to £12.8mln. The growth was achieved notwithstanding the loss of the equivalent of approximately two months' of operational time due to restrictions under coronavirus legislation in South Africa, where Jubilee has its operations. The company was also able to boost revenue by 18% to £29.4mln.

Integumen PLC (LON:SKIN) has formalised its collaboration with Avacta PLC (LON:AVCT) to use the latter’s technology in a coronavirus (COVID-19) detection kit. It has signed a material transfer agreement to use recently-generated affimers that bind the SARS-COV-2 spike protein to pick up the tell-tale signs of the respiratory infection in wastewater. The affimers, small proteins that bind to target molecules, will be coated to Integumen’s wafer nano-photonic surfaces. The company will test up to six separate variations of the Avacta IP at its facility in York over the “next few weeks” before the validation of the sensors on SARS-CoV-2 at a secure lab at Aberdeen University.

Clinigen Group PLC (LON:CLIN) said the US regulatory authorities have granted its cancer drug, aldesleukin, orphan drug designation for the treatment of the degenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) decision confers certain benefits if aldesleukin is shown to have a therapeutic effect on people with ALS. These include seven years of marketing exclusivity in the US, as well as tax credits for clinical development costs and fee waivers.

Directa Plus PLC (LON:DCTA) has revealed that its Setcar has bagged its third major contract win since the AIM-listed company bought a controlling stake in November 2019. Setcar has signed a contract to supply total waste management services to Cummins Generator Technologies Romania, a part of the Fortune 500 company, Cummins. The contract is valued at around US$3mln over three years from October 1, 2020.

Corero Network Security PLC (LON:CNS) said the first half of 2020 saw it continue the momentum built up in the second half of 2019 as the work from home boom during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has heightened awareness of its services. The network security expert said order intake in the first half of 2020 increased by 58% to US$7.9mln from US$5.0mln in the first half of the previous year. Half-year revenue is expected to be up 48% year-on-year to US$6.2mln. By July 12, 20230, annualised recurring revenues (ARR) had increased to US$8.8mln, driven by growth in DDoS (distributed denial of service) protection-as-a-service (DDPaaS) and software subscription orders.

Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:ECO) told investors that decisive early action to prioritise cost control has delivered considerable savings during the coronavirus pandemic, whilst the explorer continues to eye plans for new wells in 2021. The company, in its financial results, said it has saved around US$1mln in general and admin expenses, and public company costs. It ended the twelve-month period, March 31, 2020, with C$26.48mln of cash and equivalents.

Coinsilium Group Limited (LON:COIN) has said it is undertaking a strategic review of its business to capitalise on “substantial opportunities in the burgeoning decentralised finance (DeFi) and crypto finance sector” and realign itself to participate in its recently launched IOV joint venture in Singapore. The crypto investment and advisory group noted that the global crypto finance market is showing “strong month-on-month growth”, with active collateral on DeFi platforms now over US$2.1bn.The group said it is currently working on several DeFi models intending to launch commercial solutions either independently or through its partner network. Meanwhile, as part of the review, the company said its investment holding company, Seedcoin Limited, has been redomiciled from the British Virgin Islands to Gibraltar to realise value from the firm “in the near term by way of a transaction, liquidity event or outright sale”.

Mineral and Financial Investments Limited (LON:MAFL) has detailed its latest investment of US$100,000 in the seed-round for Ideon Technologies which is described as “a world pioneer in cosmic-ray muon tomography”. Ideon, a spin-off Canada's national particle accelerator laboratory, is focused on applying its x-ray-like technology to mineral exploration and resource development ventures. M&FL noted that the technology is capable of providing visibility of up to 1 kilometre beneath the earth’s surface and may potentially exploration and resource development.

Frontier IP Group PLC (LON:FIPP) said its portfolio group, Pulsiv Solar Limited, is continuing to make “strong commercial and technical progress” with its energy efficiency and power generation technology. The IP investment firm said Pulsiv has started design work, funded by a major multinational, to incorporate its technology in a new product line, and is also in discussions with several other large firms about a range of further industrial applications. The investee, in which Frontier owns an 18.9% stake, is also in discussions with investors to raise further funding which, if completed, will be at a “significant premium” to the current book value, which will, in turn, be reflected in Frontier’s results for the year ending June 30, 2020.

Regency Mines PLC (LON:RGM) has said it is initiating exploration for the 2020 season at the 50%-owned Dempster vanadium project in Canada. The programme will include a soil and geochemistry program, and the reprocessing of a suite of existing core pulps for indications of major oxides and carbon, both of which would be highly correlated with elevated vanadium results. The company anticipates being in a position to drill in 2021.

Remote Monitored Systems PLC (LON:RMS) has raised £265,000 to support the growth of its GyroMetric and Cloudveil businesses. The monitoring, intelligence and security company has placed 106mln shares at 0.25p each; the shares closed trade on Friday at 0.24p. Existing shareholder Braveheart Investment Group PLC (LON:BRH) subscribed for 80mln of the newly issued shares, thereby increasing its stake to around 25.8% of the enlarged share issue of Remote Monitored Systems.

Panther Metals PLC (LON:PALM) has placed just over 3.8mln shares at 6.5p each to raise £250,000. The company will use the money to continue work on the 100%-owned Big Bear project in Ontario, Canada and the 100% owned Marrakai and Annaburroo projects in the Northern Territory, Australia. The placing shares approximately 7.63% of Panther's share capital.

EQTEC PLC (LON:EQT) has said it will vigorously defend a claim of patent infringement filed against it in the US, adding it was opportunistic and spurious. Aries Clean Energy of Franklin, Tennessee, filed the complaint on July 9, 2020, alleging the infringement in the use of EQTEC’s advanced gasification technology in the North Fork Community Power plant in California. The complaint is specific to the US only and does not extend to the company's activities and pipeline of projects in the UK and Europe, EQTEC said in a statement.

Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST), the AIM-listed mining company which owns the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine in Romania has confirmed that the shipping schedules of the remaining containers of equipment, as previously announced on June 8, 2020, remain on track with the arrival of the fourth shipment of equipment at the Port of Constanta in Romania this morning. The remaining containers are expected to arrive during this week. The company said it will release footage of these remaining containers being unloaded at Baita Plai on social media ahead of the commencement of production this month.

Salt Lake Potash Ltd (ASX:SO4) (LON:SO4) (OTCMKTS:WHELF) has been granted green label certification for debt issued to develop its Lake Way Sulphate of Potash (SOP) Project, which confirms the Western Australian project's positive environmental aspects. The green label is set out by the Loan Market Association (LMA) and Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (APLMA) green loan principles and will be positive for the company’s debt partners, as well as all other stakeholders including the local community, off-takers and suppliers.

Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO), a UK focused onshore hydrocarbon production, development and exploration company announced that it has been notified that an executive director of the company, Joseph 0`Farrell on July 10, 2020, purchased 11,100,000 ordinary shares of 0.025p each in Union Jack, at 0.225p per share. Following this purchase, the group noted, O`Farrell is the beneficial owner of 286,832,806 ordinary shares in the company representing 1.86% of the issued share capital.

Avation PLC (LON:AVAP), the commercial passenger aircraft leasing company, has announced that on July 10, 2020, the company repurchased US$1,000,000 Avation Capital S.A. 6.5% senior notes due 2021 issued under its global medium-term note programme. The notes were acquired through the market at a price equal to 76% of face value and will be cancelled.

Oracle Power PLC (LON:ORCP) has announced that in line with the company's investor communication programme, its CEO, Naheed Memon will be conducting a shareholder Q&A session which will be made available on the company's website by close of business on Monday, July 20. During the Q&A session, the group said, Memon will reflect on the developments and achievements of the company during Q2 2020 and post period end, specifically, she will discuss the progress made towards securing the previously announced Letter of Intent and project development milestones in respect to Oracle's Thar Block VI, in addition to the subscription and financing facility announced on July 9, 2020. It said shareholders are invited to submit questions to Memon by 5pm on July 15, 2020, via email at shareholderenquiries@stbridespartners.co.uk.

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