Small cap news round-up
Eddie Stobart Logistics has confirmed it plans to float on London's junior market next month to raise £130m to accelerate organic growth and make acquisitions.
The trucking and rail logistics company, which is 49% owned by former parent Stobart Group, will have an expected market cap of £550m.
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Shares in Ilika are up almost 6% after it was granted patent in the US on its proprietary process for making solid-state batteries that was jointly filed with Toyota Motor Company.
This patent followed the successful grant of applications from the same patent family in China, Europe and Britain in September 2015, July 2015 and May 2014 respectively.
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Shares fell in China Africa Resources on Thursday as the miner said there was a delay to its formal name change to Pembridge Resources.
The formal change of name and ticker on AIM has been “temporarily delayed “ due to “minor legal issues”, but the company maintained that it will continue to trade using Pembridge Resources until it has been resolved.
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Sound Energy's shares fell a little more than 2% after issuing updates on it Badile exploration well in Italy, and TE-8 well in Morocco.
It said the onshore Badile exploration well had been drilled to the second casing point at a measured depth (MD) of 1407 metres and that the 16-inch casing was being set and cemented in the Pleistocene Asti Sands formation.
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Atlantis Resources’ tidal power generation project is approaching generating 400m megawatt per hour of energy in the first phase of development.
In the first three weeks of March, average generation of the MeyGen project in Scotland has been generating energy enough to power the equivalent of 1,250 homes.
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UK data science-led marketing company Jaywing has launched its brand in Australia to fast-track local growth and expand its service offering.
The AIM-listed company acquired a majority stake in Sydney-based search and online media marketing agency Digital Massive in July 2016.
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Craneware which is specialises in software for healthcare billing, has won a “significant” contract extension from a US hospital operator.
The new contract with the existing client will add Craneware's value cycle solutions and related services to a seven-year contract originally won in April 2014.
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Digital media content provider One Media iP announced its final results for the year to 31 October on Thursday, with revenue slipping to £2.05m from £2.52m.
The AIM-traded firm said its EBITDA plunged to £240,000 from £670,00, while operating profit plummeted to £30,000 from £450,000.
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Shares in Intelligent Energy surged on Thursday after the company said it has signed a deal with the US’s PINC to supply its air cooled fuel cell systems for unmanned aerial vehicles for an undisclosed sum.
This marks the group’s first sale of fuel cell systems for UAVs as it moves forward with the commercialisation of its technology.
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Franchise Brands has struck a deal to buy drain clearance and maintenance service provider Metro Rod for £28m, which will be partly funded from a £20m discounted equity placing.
The company aims to raise funds with a share placing at 67p each through an accelerated bookbuild on Thursday.
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Shares in Science in Sport (SiS) are up almost 3% as investors overlooked a deeper full-year pre-tax loss to a 30% rise in revenue and confirmation of a strong start to 2017 sales.
The sports nutrition company's revenue came in at £12.2m, which was 30% up on the prior year's £9.4m thanks to particularly strong growth in Online channels and International markets.
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SIPP provider Curtis Banks Group announced its final results for the 12 months to 31 December on Thursday, with operating revenue rising to £29.7m from £17m in 2015.
The AIM-traded firm said its profit before tax, amortisation and non-recurring costs was up to £7.1m from £6m, although its profit margin was down at 24% against 35%.
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Rockhopper Exploration says it has begun international arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Italy in relation to the Ombrina Mare project.
This followed a decision in February 2016 by the Ministry of Economic Development not to award Rockhopper a production concession covering the Ombrina Mare field.
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Arbuthnot Banking Group announced a profit for the 2016 calendar year of £228m on Thursday, up from £27m in 2015.
The AIM-traded company, which is the holding company for Arbuthnot Latham & Co and has an 18.6% shareholding in Secure Trust Bank, said that profit was boosted by a £228m gain realised from the sale of Everyday Loans and Secure Trust Bank shares.
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Information management software provider Ideagen is to buy software firm PleaseTech for up to £12m on a cash and debt-free basis, which will be partly funded from an equity placing.
The company will pay £10m upfront in cash, all funded from a placing at 75p each, and a further £2m will be paid within six months of completion of the deal depending on PleaseTech achieving certain performance targets.
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Shares in WYG are down almost a fifth after it warned its full-year profit performance in the UK will not be as strong as we expected, but also flagged a double-digit rise in the company's revenue for the period.
The global programme, project management and technical consultancy said in a trading update for the year to 31 March that it saw full-year revenue growth of about 13% to £150m.
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Stellar Diamonds said it has conditionally raised about £183,751 gross in its open offer at 5.5p a share.
In February, the diamond development company focused on West Africa announced details of the open offer to raise up to £250,000 via the issue of 4.5m new shares at 5.5p each.
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AIM-listed Kibo Mining’s progress on the finalising its coal project in Tanzania has been slower than expected, although the mineral explorer remains satisfied overall with meeting its strategic objectives.
Chief executive Louis Coetzee said that the company was “very satisfied” with its progress on meeting its strategic objectives for the first quarter of 2017, although progress on finalising the Mbeya coal to power project’s power purchase agreement with the Tanzanian government was “slower than we had hoped”.
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Vela Technologies said it is looking to subscribe for 50,000 equity units, equating to about C$135,000, in BTL Group's proposed fundraising.
Vela said its proposed investment would be funded from existing cash resources.
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Esports operator Gfinity announced OMEN by HP as its first official partner of the inaugural esports tournament, the Gfinity Elite Series, on Thursday.
The AIM-traded firm said as the official hardware partner, OMEN would be integrated throughout the 10-week professional season which was set to commence in June 2017, together with the supporting Gfinity Challenger competition.
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Shares in Wentworth Resources are down almost 1% despite it posting a reduced full-year pre-tax loss as total revenue for the period more than doubled, with the company also noting a pleasing reserve report.
It said an independent evaluation put the value of proved + probable (2P) reserves at the company's gas fields in Tanzania at $180.3m NPV (10%) after tax at 31 December 2016.