logo-loader

Minoan Group on the up as it sells travel & leisure unit

Last updated: 09:55 31 Aug 2018 EDT, First published: 04:01 31 Aug 2018 EDT

traveler

Travel agency Minoan Group plc (LON:MIN) saw its shares rise 2.7% to 5.5p in late-afternoon trading after it expected to shortly conclude the sale of its travel & leisure unit to its primary lender, repaying a secured loan facility.

The AIM-listed firm said it would sell its Stewart travel Ltd business to major creditor Zachary Asset Holdings Ltd, while also beginning a cost reduction programme which involved cutting the fees paid to its chief executive in half.

Meanwhile, Echo Energy Plc (LON:ECHO) was up 0.8% to 12.2p as it revealed a deal that sees the explorer potentially take up a new project, located onshore Bolivia.

It has signed a letter of intent (LOI) for a one year technical evaluation of the Rio Salado licence area.

The deal is with state-owned YPFB (Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos) and it gives Echo the right to negotiate contract terms for the project at the end of the evaluation period.

Echo explained that the evaluation will include the interpretation and integration of 2D seismic, acquired in 2015 and 2016, which the company said will be ‘invaluable’ in the definition of deep multi-tcf structure mapped across the Rio Salado and Huayco blocks.

In the fallers, shares in One Media IP Group PLC (LON:OMIP) slumped 28.9% to 7.3p as the music and video streaming specialist, backed by two of the UK’s best-known media titans, announced plans to raise £7.9mln at a big discount.

A placing of shares of 6p – some 4.4p below Thursday’s closing price – will bring in £1.9mln, while One Media will raise the remaining £6mln from the issue of loan notes.

Michael Grade and Ivan Dunleavy, who first invested in the AIM-listed company last December, are taking part in the placing, putting in a combined £75,000.

1.00pm: Rathbone Brothers jumps as it completes acquisition of Speirs & Jeffrey

Rathbone Brothers PLC (LON:RAT) shares jumped 3.7% to 2,616p in lunchtime trading after it completed its acquisition of investment management firm Speirs & Jeffrey.

The FTSE 250 asset management firm said the £104mln acquisition had been completed with £79mln in cash and the issue of around 1mln new shares to Speirs & Jeffrey shareholders.

In the fallers, AstraZeneca PLC (LON:AZN) dropped 1.4% to 5,825p after its anifrolumab lupus treatment has failed in a late-stage study.

Top-line results from the TULIP 1 Phase III trial showed adult patients with moderate-to-severe systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) saw no “statistically significant” reduction in their disease after a year of taking the drug.

SLE is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue in the body instead of primarily targeting viruses or other foreign invaders.

It can cause a range of symptoms, including pain, rashes, fatigue, swelling in joints and fevers.

Chief medical officer Sean Bohen said the results were “disappointing” for both the company and patients.

Meanwhile, security services specialist Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG) was down 9.2% to 11p after it raised £500,000 through a placing at 10p while it awaited a contract resolution.

Westminster has a US$24mln contract for an airport security system in Iran that is currently on hold due to the US withdrawal from the nuclear pact with the country.

The money raised will be used to prepare for the eventual start of that work, said the company.

One of the problems for Westminster is that suppliers of the equipment for its Iran contract potentially run the risk of breaching US sanctions, though European governments have said they will protect EU companies from any American action for doing business there.

11.00am: Amerisur Resources rises as it spuds first of three wells at Plaranillo block

Amerisur Resources PLC (LON:AMER) saw its shares rise 2.7% to 14.9p in late-morning trading after it spudded the first of three planned wells at Platanillo block in South America.

The AIM-listed oil & gas explorer said the three wells were targeting the N Sand anomaly, which had been identified on 3D seismic, with the first well Pintadillo-1 having a total planned measured depth of 8,448 feet.

The N Sand anomaly at Pintadillo is one of four such anomalies identified by the company in the central part of the Platanillo block and is estimated to hold P50 resources of 11.4mln barrels of oil.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil Corporation has made its ninth new discovery in the Stabroek block, offshore Guyana, with the Hammerhead-1 well - which provides yet more encouragement to Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:ECO, CVE:EOG), whose shares were up 11.3% at 39.3p.

Hammerhead is located just seven kilometres from the boundary to the Orinduik licence, where Eco has a 40% stake, is partnered with Tullow Oil and is set to farm-out to Total.

Eco highlighted that the Orinduik partners have extensively studied 2D geophysics data in the area, including out to the Stabroek block, and, has completed a significant 3D seismic survey last year.

Elsewhere, Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) was up 1.8% at 42p after it announced the signing of a new eight-year petroleum agreement which pulls together the Tendrara and Matarka exploration areas.

It spans some 14,500 square kilometres surrounding the Tendrara gas discovery. Sound will hold 47.5% of the area, alongside Schlumberger, which has 27.5% and the state’s ONHYM vehicle, which retains a 25% stake.

9.00am: Mobile Streams on the rise as it launches new digital wallet service in Argentina

Mobile Streams Plc (LON:MOS) shares leapt up 9.7% to 1.1p in early morning trading after the AIM-listed firm launched a new digital wallet for its services in Argentina.

The company said the new service would allow for the diversification of its payment options across the region, adding that the wallet would all the firm to generate revenue from a wider range of customers as it enabled payments through mobile devices.

In the FTSE 100, Whitbread plc (LON:WTB) shot up 17.5% to 4,715p after it agreed to sell its Costa coffee chain to The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE:KO) for £3.9bn.

The group, which also owns the Premier Inn hotel chain, announced plans in April to split off Costa into a separate entity after receiving pressure from activist investors Elliott Advisors and Sachem Head.

Whitbread chief executive Alison Brittain said the deal with Coca-Cola “represents a substantial premium to the value that would have been created through the demerger of the business and we expect to return a significant majority of net proceeds to shareholders”.

Meanwhile, the first-in-human data for Midatech Pharma Plc’s (LON:MTPH) MTD201 drug has suggested it is better than a rival product made by Swiss pharma giant Novartis, causing the company’s shares to shoot up 32.6% to 34.5p.

MTD201 is being developed as a treatment for a hormonal disorder called acromegaly as well as for carcinoid cancer.

Novartis has already cornered a large slice of the market with its Sandostatin LAR drug, but the interim data has shown MTD201 to be, at worst, a good alternative or, at best, a “differentiated improved product”.

Other Proactive news headlines:

Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) has closed its oversubscribed Sprott Offering and has raised £2.6mln to help fund its joint venture project in Botswana. The AIM-listed natural resources investment group said the funds would be added to those raised by a placing earlier in August, of around 93.4mln new shares issued at a price of 2.8p each, to give a total of around £6.2mln in combination.

ExxonMobil Corporation has made its ninth new discovery in the Stabroek block, offshore Guyana, with the Hammerhead-1 well - which provides yet more encouragement to Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd (LON:ECO) (CVE:EOG). Hammerhead is located just seven kilometres from the boundary to the Orinduik licence, where Eco has a 40% stake, is partnered with Tullow Oil and is set to farm-out to Total.

Echo Energy Plc (LON:ECHO) has revealed a deal that sees the explorer potentially take up a new project, located onshore Bolivia. It has signed a letter of intent (LOI) for a one year technical evaluation of the Rio Salado licence area.

Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) has announced the signing of a new 8-year petroleum agreement which pulls together the Tendrara and Matarka exploration areas. It spans some 14,500 square kilometres surrounding the Tendrara gas discovery. Sound will hold 47.5% of the area, alongside Schlumberger which has 27.5% and the state’s ONHYM vehicle which retains a 25% stake.

Premier African Minerals Limited (LON:PREM) has commenced the diamond drilling programme at the open pit at the RHA tungsten mine.

Security services specialist Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG) has raised £500,000 through a placing at 10p. Westminster has a US$24mln contract for an airport security system in Iran that is currently on hold due to the US withdrawal from the nuclear pact with the country.  The money raised will be used to prepare for the eventual start of that work, said the company

One-off costs and disruptions to Hollywood productions knocked annual numbers at film finance and services specialist FFI Holdings Plc (LON:FFI). Pre-tax profits to March fell 49% to US$5.3mln largely due to the US$9.5mln cost of listing on AIM in June 2017.

RYVL, the trading name of The Marketing Group (NASDAQ OMX:TMG), has reported net revenues and underlying earnings (EBITDA) for the growth for the first half but has cautioned on a potentially challenging second half for some of its subsidiaries.

Abzena plc (LON:ABZA,), the life sciences group providing services and technologies to enable development and manufacture of biopharmaceutical products, announces the appointment of N+1 Singer as its nominated adviser and sole broker with immediate effect.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

5 hours, 7 minutes ago