Avacta Group Share News (AVCT)

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers on AIM in London on Wednesday.

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AIM - WINNERS

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Mkango Resources Ltd, up 20% at 20.99 pence, 12-month range 2.2p-21p. The explorer for rare earth elements says it has begun its flotation pilot plant test work for the Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi. Mkango says flotation is a "key part" of the processing flowsheet for Songwe, with "significant" test work having been completed in South Africa, Canada and Australia in order to increase grade and recovery from those in its pre-feasibility study. "The start of pilot plant processing is a major milestone for the company and Mkango joins the ranks of the very few rare earths projects that have been advanced to this stage of development. We look forward to announcing results from the pilot plant when available," says Chief Executive William Dawes.

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Best of the Best PLC, up 9.2% at 2,676.00 pence, 12-month range 310.9p-2,890p. The provider of online competitions to win cars and other prizes reports continued strong trading momentum. Says trading in the three months to the end of January has continued in line with the positive outlook set out in its interim results. "The Board is confident in the group's position and outlook for strong, sustained returns," says Chief Executive William Hindmarch.

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Avacta, up 4.5% at 185.95p, 12-month range 12.62p-224.88p. The developer of Affimer biotherapeutics and reagents reports momentum in both the Diagnostics and Therapeutics divisions, adding that cash position at end of 2020 was GBP48 million, slightly higher than market forecasts. "We are very excited by the commercial potential of our scalable, rapid coronavirus test. The recently announced clinical data strongly reflects the excellent analytical performance demonstrated in the lab and suggests that it may be, to date, the most sensitive S1 spike protein lateral flow test. We are now confidently proceeding into full clinical validation to support a CE Mark, with a potential commercial launch for professional use around the end of the first quarter of this year," says Chief Executive Alastair Smith.

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AIM - LOSERS

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N4 Pharma PLC, up 7.6% at 8.55p, 12-month range 2p-16p. The pharmaceutical company reports widened loss for 2020 as research and development costs multiplied. Reports GBP1.6 million pretax loss for 2020, far wider than its GBP947,340 loss the year prior, as research and development costs surge to GBP900,410 in 2020 from only GBP216,948 the year before. N4 is still developing Nuvec, a delivery system for cancer treatments and vaccines, and so reported no revenue in either 2020 or 2019.

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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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