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Kibo Energy slips despite narrower half-year losses

Last updated: 09:47 22 Oct 2020 EDT, First published: 03:43 22 Oct 2020 EDT

Ascent Resources PLC -

Kibo Energy PLC (LON:KIBO) slipped 6.1% to 170p after posting a half-year loss of £1.26mln.

The loss was at least an improvement on the year before’s loss of £1.82mln, partly as a result of a decline in expenditure to £181,283 from £434,888 the year before.

The power production plant developer ended June with cash and cash equivalents of £68,612, down from £91,634 at the end of 2019.

1.55pm: Futura on the rise

Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM) shares shot 19% higher to 16p after it said it had made regulatory progress in the US.

Futura added it is garnering significant commercial interest for its erectile dysfunction (ED) gel, MED3000.

Investors were told discussions were taking place with a “growing number” of potential partners interested in helping Futura exploit the commercial potential of MED3000 as an over-the-counter treatment.

1.00pm: Countrywide to get cash injection from private equity group

Countrywide PLC (LON:CWD) shares were on offer at 162.2p – down 12% – after the estate agent announced a proposed recapitalisation of the business.

Alchemy Partners is effectively pumping around £90mln into the company, buying new shares and offering to buy stock off shareholders at a price of 180p a share.

Depending on the response to the open offer and tender offer, Alchemy could end up holding between 50.1% and 67.7% of the enlarged share capital of Countrywide.

12.15pm: Shaftesbury taps the market to keep the show on the road

Shaftesbury PLC (LON:SHB) lost a sixth of its value at 415.2p after it tapped the market for £307mln, issuing shares at 400p each.

The FTSE 250 group has more than 600 restaurant, pub and retail tenants, most of them in London’s West End, and warned in September it was concerned about possible new restrictions in London with many of its tenants already on support measures.

Since then, the UK capital has been placed under a Tier-2 lockdown that means pubs and restaurants have severe limitations on how they can operate but do not receive government support as technically they are not shut.

11.10am: Toople to earn some bread from extended bakery contract

Toople PLC (LON:TOOP) has had a good month, rising 8.8% to 0.155p today after announcing another contract win.

Following on from the announcement of two contract wins last week, the telecoms specialist is set to earn some bread from the sale of a range of new internet protocol cloud-based services to a baker in a 36-month extension to the existing agreement.

The London-based bakery chain has increased its retail footprint from 52 stores to more than 70 sites and telecom services to all these locations, including broadband, telephony and mobile Wi-Fi, plus high-speed broadband and Wi-Fi services to the bakery's headquarters and distribution offices.

10.10am: Pent-up demand boosts car dealer Pendragon

Pendragon PLC (LON:PDG), the car dealership, motored 11% higher to 11.76p after it benefited from a lot of pent-up demand in the third quarter.

The company said its quarterly profit almost entirely offset the first-half losses caused by COVID-19 disruptions.

In the three months to September 30, underlying profit before tax came in at £27.3mln, while the first half recorded a £31mln loss.

9.15am: Ascent talking directly to government of Slovenia in hopes of resolving dispute

Ascent Resources PLC (LON:AST), up 26% at 5.85p, was the top riser in early trade on Thursday after announcing a potential breakthrough in its dispute in Slovenia.

The company said it was entering into direct negotiations with the Republic of Slovenia to settle the dispute amicably.

The London-listed energy and natural resources company served notice of its dispute with Slovenia in July under the terms of the UK-Slovenia bilateral investment treaty and the Energy Charter Treaty.

Meanwhile, Alumasc Group Plc's (LON:ALU) annual general meeting promises to be a happy (virtual) affair after a trading statement sent the shares 13% higher to 89.5p.

The company said the first quarter of its current financial year (i.e. July – September) began strongly with the building products supplier clocking up record profits in the period.

The firm said, however, that it was too early to determine to what extent this performance was due to the release of pent-up demand after the construction industry reopened for business after the coronavirus lockdowns in the second quarter of the calendar year.

Proactive news headlines:

4D pharma plc (LON:DDDD) is to get a cash injection of US$14.6mln through a merger with Longevity Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:LOAC), a special purpose acquisition company. Longevity will receive American depositary shares, to be listed on the NASDAQ exchange, representing 4D ordinary shares, on terms that assume a value of 110p per 4D share. 4D shares closed at 93.2p on Wednesday. Longevity shareholders will end up owning around 13.1% of the merged company’s equity, with 4D shareholders owning the rest.

Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM) shares shot higher after it said it had made regulatory progress in the US and was garnering significant commercial interest for its erectile dysfunction (ED) gel. In an update, investors were told discussions were taking place with a “growing number” of potential partners interested in helping Futura exploit the commercial potential of MED3000 as an over-the-counter treatment. It said priority has been given to “certain negotiations for one specific region where discussions have advanced with parties for the exclusive marketing rights for MED3000”.

IXICO PLC (LON:IXI), the data analytics company delivering insights in neuroscience, announced that it has secured new contracts in Huntington's disease clinical trials. The contracts include retrospective analysis of data sets for three Natural History Studies in Huntington's disease with a new large pharma customer and a multicentre, open-label Phase II study in Huntington's disease with an existing large pharma customer.

Alien Metals Ltd (LON:UFO) has agreed on terms of a farm-out deal with Capstone Mining Corp (TSX:CS) for its Donovan 2 copper-gold project in Mexico. Capstone started due diligence last month as part of an exclusivity agreement and has now firmed that up into a full earn-out deal that could give it an 80% stake in the project through funding it to a pre-feasibility study. In the first stage, Capstone will take a 65% stake through a cash payment of US$290,000 to Alien over three years plus US$3.6mln of exploration expenditure.

genedrive PLC (LON:GDR) said it is now generating “very promising data” from its coronavirus (COVID-19) test, targeted for release in the first quarter of next year, having recently completed the assay design. Using point-of-care technology, results can be generated in 15 minutes for a positive sample, while a negative takes five minutes longer. The kit has been developed to detect SARS-CoV-2 amplified directly from saliva without the need to extract viral RNA.

Gaming Realms PLC (LON:GMR), which develops and licenses mobile devices-focused gaming content, has launched its Slingo Originals content with Paddy Power Betfair. Part of Flutter Entertainment PLC (LON:FLTR), Paddy Power Betfair is featuring Gaming Realms’ Slingo Originals content on its Paddy Power Bingo and Betfair Casino site, with Paddy Power Games and Betfair Bingo to follow shortly. Gaming Realms’ Slingo portfolio will be distributed through the company's aggregation partner, Relax Gaming.

Zephyr Energy PLC (LON:ZPHR) is counting down to spudding of the US government-funded State 16-2 well in Utah, with the programme slated to start before the end of 2020. The company is working with a project team led by University of Utah's Energy & Geoscience Institute (EGI), as previously announced, and, the project is sponsored by the US Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Energy Technology Laboratory. It means that the first US$2mln of well spending is funded via a DOE grant, and up to US$1mln of incremental funding will be covered by Zephyr - using funds raised in its recent oversubscribed placing.

Crossword Cybersecurity PLC (LON:CCS) has been accepted onto the UK Government G-Cloud framework version 12 in the 'cloud software' and 'cloud support' categories. The framework enables public sector organisations to procure Crossword’s Rizikon Assurance and Consulting cyber-risk management tools via the digital marketplace run by Crown Commercial Services.

Pembridge Resources PLC (LON:PERE) said a higher copper price gave a boost to its Minto mine in Canada in the three months to end September 2020. The mine was also helped by access to additional funding under the US$12.5mln prepayment facility with Sumitomo, said Gati Al-Jebouri, Pembridge’s chief executive and chairman. Payments of US$18.4mln were received by Minto from Sumitomo (Q2: US$9.8mln) during the period.

Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) told investors it has extended the deadline for closing its transaction with partner and associate Cobre for the Kalahari Metals venture. Presently, Metal Tiger owns a 62.17% interest in Kalahari Metals Limited (KML) and owns an 18.79% shareholding in Cobre. Cobre is set to acquire 51% of KML and the deadline for the transactions has been moved to December 20, 2020, to allow for the completion of due diligence.

Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) has confirmed that the flotation plant at its at Baita Plai mine in Romania is now fully operational and producing concentrate. The AIM-listed company also said that it is on track to surpass its initial copper sales delivery target included in the project production and associated operational cashflow forecasts announced on September 7, 2020, and expects to complete the initial production of copper concentrate by the end of October 2020.

88 Energy Limited (LON:88E) has highlighted its progress in the past quarter, with the recently enlarged Alaska explorer now steering towards two new farm-outs – both, designed to secure new drill catalysts for 2021 and beyond. 88 Energy completed its merger with XCD Energy this summer to acquire the Project Peregrine where, as announced last month, new seismic data analysis boosted prospects. At the same time, the company has retaken control of the ‘Area A’ portion of Project Icewine and recently expanded its stakeholding to 75%.

Tower Resources PLC’s (LON:TRP) chief executive Jeremy Asher presented at the virtual Africa Upstream, LNG and Gas Summit on Thursday. A copy of his presentation will be added to the company’s website - https://www.towerresources.co.uk.

Solo Oil has relaunched under its new name Scirocco Energy PLC  (LON:SCIR) and the shares now trade under the ticker symbol SCIR. The company said it will give a relaunch webcast on November 2, 2020, as its new website goes live.

Walls & Futures REIT PLC (LON:WAFR), the ethical housing investor and developer, has announced that at its annual general meeting held on Wednesday, all resolutions were duly passed.

Scancell Holdings PLC (LON:SCLP), the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease, has said its annual general meeting (AGM) will take place on Tuesday, November 17, 2020, at 2.00pm GMT. The company said it continues to monitor the coronavirus (COVID-19) situation closely, including UK Government legislation and guidance and will continue to do so in the lead up to the AGM. In line with the current UK Government advice, the group’s board has decided that shareholders, advisers and other guests will not be allowed to attend the AGM in person and anyone seeking to attend the AGM will not be permitted entry. In light of these measures, the board strongly encourages shareholders to vote by proxy following the instructions in the Notice of AGM.

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