Network International Holdings PLC (LON:NETW) rose 18% to 279.6p after directors showed their faith in the company with share purchases.
Darren Pope, the senior independent director, and Rohit Malhotra, the group chief financial officer, purchased a total of 8,824 shares and 20,000 shares respectively of the company.
Pope paid 224.4p on average for his shares, stumping up ££19,801 in total, while Malhotra splashed out £47,040, paying 235.2p per share.
10.10am: Iofina refinances
Iofina PLC (LON:IOF) saw its shares rise 12% to 14.5p after it said it has signed binding documentation to refinance its entire debt.
It has entered into a new loan agreement with First Financial Bank, (NASDAQ:FFBC), a Cincinnati-headquartered, US regional bank.
The specialists in the exploration and production of iodine and manufacturers of speciality chemical products said the facility provides the group with debt capital of up to US$18mln, with the proceeds to be used to pay off existing debt and to provide working capital for the group. It said a total amount of US$13mln was available and drawn on the closing of this arrangement.
9.15am: Sigma Capital unveils rental homes joint venture
Sigma Capital Group PLC (LON:SGM), up 16% at 114p, was the top riser in London on Tuesday morning after it launched a £1bn residential joint venture.
The residential development and urban regeneration specialist is hooking up with EQT Real Estate, the property platform of global investment firm EQT, to build homes for private rental in the Greater London area.
The joint venture is being supported by Homes England, the housing agency of the UK Government, and is targeting the establishment of an initial portfolio of around 3,000 homes with a value of more than £1bn.
Meanwhile, Ergomed PLC (LON:ERG) climbed 4.45 to 720p after an upbeat set of interim results.
The provider of specialist services to the pharmaceutical industry saw its adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) surge by 40% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 and the company said it expects to see the momentum continue in the second half of the year, driven by demand for its pharmacovigilance (PV) and contract research organisation (CRO) services.
The group reported adjusted EBITDA of £9.1mln, up from £6.5mln in the same period of 2019, and profit before tax grew to £6.0mln from £4.1mln the previous year.
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Iofina PLC (LON:IOF) saw its shares rise strongly on Tuesday after it said it has signed binding documentation to refinance its entire debt by entering into a new loan agreement with First Financial Bank, (NASDAQ:FFBC), a Cincinnati-headquartered, US regional bank. The specialists in the exploration and production of iodine and manufacturers of specialty chemical products said the facility provides the group with debt capital of up to US$18mln, with the proceeds to be used to pay off existing debt and to provide working capital for the group. It said a total amount of $13mln was available and drawn on closing of this arrangement.
Power Metal Resources PLC (LON:POW) has released assays results from due diligence sampling at the Silver Peak project in British Columbia, Canada. The project includes the Eureka-Victoria silver mine, the first Crown-granted mineral property in British Columbia. Ten channel sample and one grab sample assay results were received from ALS Canada laboratories and two showed bonanza silver grades. Significant copper and lead grades were also returned. Among the highlights were 0.50 metres grading 10,718 grams per tonne silver, 2.14 % copper and 2.99 lead, and 0.50 metres grading 14,937 grams silver, 3.05% copper and 11.95% lead.
Rock Resources Australasia Ltd, a joint venture between Red Rock Resources PLC (LON:RRR) and Power Metal Resources (LON:POW), has released the results of an NI 43-101 technical report on the BMV gold project. BMV comprises eight exploration licences out of the twelve for which the joint venture has applied, all of which are subject to pending licence applications. The report highlights several areas where the exploration potential is “excellent.”
Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC (LON:SYM) said that Brazilian supermarket chain Cotripal has launched a new range of shopping bags using its technology. The carrier bags contain both Symphonys d2w (biodegradable) and d2p (antimicrobial) additives and will be made by Plastifilme, which has been working with d2w since 2004. Testing of d2p samples by UNICAMP University in Brazil according to ISO 21702 found a virus reduction of 99.9% in only one hour, said Symphony, which is vital during the coronavirus pandemic. Alien Metals Ltd (LON:UFO) has begun follow-up detailed geological mapping and sampling at the Hamersley iron ore projects in Australia. The programme is designed to validate recently announced exploration targets across both projects and will consist of four-to-five kilometres of grid-based sampling across priority prospects, and detailed mapping over exposed iron ore formations.
Ergomed PLC (LON:ERGO) saw its adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) surge by 40% year-on-year in the first half of 2020 and the company said it expects to see the momentum continue in the second half of the year, driven by demand for its pharmacovigilance (PV) and contract research organisation (CRO) services. The group reported adjusted EBITDA of £9.1mln, up from £6.5mln in the same period of 2019, and profit before tax grew to £6.0mln from £4.1mln the previous year. Total first-half revenue rose by 14.8% to £40.4mln from £35.2mln in the corresponding period of 2019, with service fee revenue up 25.9% – or 18.0% on a like-for-like basis, excluding Prime Vigilance USA, which was acquired in January 2020 – to £36.9mln.
Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) has announced that its Venn Life Sciences subsidiary has secured an important new contract to support a major European pharmaceutical company. The specialist CRO pharmaceutical services company, which is the world leader in the testing of vaccines and antivirals using human challenge clinical trials, said the Paris team of Venn will be assisting a prospective, multicentre, longitudinal, non-interventional oncology study which is expected to enrol over 750 subjects whereby Venn will handle all data management, statistics and medical writing for the study. The group said the contract reinforces Venn's position as one of the leading providers of data-management, statistics and medical writing services to many of Europe's leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies, a service the Company has a strong track record or providing. In a separate statement, Open Orphan also said it has received a notice of exercise of warrants by an investor who participated in the Venn loan note financing in December 2018 over 269,866 ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each in the capital of the company at a price of 0.1p per share for 95,539 ordinary shares and at a price of 2.2p per share for 174,327 ordinary shares. The gross proceeds of this exercise received by the company amounts to £3,930.74.
Bango PLC (LON:BGO) said it has partnered with EPIC ON, the premium OTT platform by IN10 Media Network, to expand access to EPIC ON's vast array of subscription-based entertainment content into new regions. The AIM-listed data-driven commerce platform noted that EPIC ON is a multiform content platform enabling users to Watch, Play, Listen, Read and engage with innovative ways on a single app. Users can access its content on a monthly paid subscription basis. Under the agreement, EPIC ON will work with Bango to expand its global presence, growing its paying user base and opening up access to its wealth of content and services by offering customers alternative payment methods.
Litigation Capital Management Limited (LON:LIT), the disputes funding specialist, said its assets under management rose sharply over the past year while there was a significant increase in firms seeking a legal solution. Coronavirus is likely to accelerate this trend, it added, with the likelihood of a substantial rise in insolvency-related litigation in all the jurisdictions where it operates. In the year to end June 2020, Litigation Capital Management said it received 522 applications for funding, which was a 25% increase on the previous year, though only 3.5% of these received an investment. The Australia-based company funds both portfolios and single cases and said there had been eight resolutions in the two corporate portfolios over the past year.
Live Company Group PLC (LON:LVCG) told investors it has begun to build new properties for significant demand that is anticipated in 2021 and it continues to work with its key partners. In its half-year results statement, LIVE Company noted that revenues are starting to return during the third quarter and the fourth quarter is expected to be stronger. Agreements have been struck giving the company access to World of Beatrix Potter – including Peter Rabbit and, separately, Paddington Bear. A new long-term contract was signed for the BRICKOSAURS event which is continuing at the Holon Toto Arena in Israel from October 1, 2020, through to May 3, 2021, before it is installed in a European zoo until November 2021 and goes on tour to Asia for 2022.
Parity Group PLC (LON:PTY) has said activity is picking up again after coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disruption affected the first half of the year. Revenue in the six months to end June 2020, fell by a third to £29.9mln while underlying profits were £61,000 against £203,000. Since June, things have improved, Parity said, helped by new contracts including two slots in the Scottish governments online purchasing system and a consultancy slot on a cyber services training contract in Northern Ireland in partnership with CyberGym.
Coinsilium Group Limited (AQSE:COIN) has updated shareholders on efforts to revive the token economics of the Indorse (IND) digital currency asset, through the use of a new decentralised finance (DeFi) based model, with the company now looking forward to key catalysts next month. The Aquis-exchange listed investor holds a 10% interest in Indorse and owns 5.79mln IND tokens, representing around 15.37% of its circulation. Eddy Travia, Coinsilium chief executive, said the firm is working closely with the Indorse team in the development of a comprehensive strategy to update the token model to what is being referred to as IND 2.0. A new Light Paper is due to be published in mid-October, to layout in more detail the proposed developments and updates which will feature in Indorse 2.0.
ADES International Holding PLC (LON:ADES) has confirmed revenue growth of 13.4% to US$249.3mln for the first six months of 2020. The group said this demonstrated its resilience to the exceptional challenges posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and oil price volatility. Half-year underlying earnings (EBITDA) improved by 3.6% to US$93.3mln, though a normalised version of the figure – to exclude one-offs charges – shows an 11% gain to US$99.9mln. The group's margin was trimmed to 37.4% from 40.9% in the same period a year earlier. The company reported a net profit of US$15.5mln, versus US$3.2mln.
Alliance Pharma PLC (LON:APH) has held its dividend and said it is seeing signs of better trading after disruption from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected its first half. "We are now starting to see further signs of recovery and expect trading to continue to recover as we move through the remainder of the year,” said Peter Butterfield, chief executive of the healthcare products group in its interim results statement. Revenues in the six months to end June 2020, dropped 7% to £61.7mln with prescription medicines particularly affected as routine treatments were delayed by COVID-19. The companys flagship consumer healthcare brands were helped by a strong performance from scar prevention treatment Kelo-cote, where revenues were up 8%.
Rosslyn Data Technologies PLC (LON:RDT) has confirmed revenue growth in the first half of 2020 and highlighted higher levels of client engagement since the onset of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The company said that although sales opportunities were temporarily delayed during lockdown, in recent weeks it had begun to see increased activity from prospective clients. Revenue and the pipeline remain strong, it added. The group pointed to a focus among larger companies on supply chain resilience, supply chain rRead More – Source
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