(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Friday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Castings PLC - West Midlands-based iron caster - Notes monthly demand since November has been running ahead of pre-Covid levels but notes that while it has seen an improvement in demand production has been hampered by the need for more employees to self-isolate as UK Covid cases increased around the turn of the year. Assures however that this has now subsided and results for its financial year ending March 31 - which will be published on June 16 - are expected to be in line with market forecasts.
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Vaalco Energy Inc - hydrocarbon exploration company - Completes USD29.6 million acquisition of Sasol Gabon SA's 28% interest in the Etame Marin block offshore Gabon, therefore increasing its own stake to 59%. Notes the purchase nearly doubles its total net production and reserves and is expected to be immediately accretive, with minimal additional variable costs.
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Coro Energy PLC - South East Asian energy company - Launches open offer through which qualifying shareholders will be able to subscribe for 134.5 million new shares at 0.4 pence each on the basis of one open offer share for every six existing shares.
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Mode Global Holdings PLC - bitcoin banking app company based in London - Raises GBP6 million through the placing of 10.9 million shares at GBP0.55 each, with the placing price representing a 10% premium to the October IPO price of GBP0.50p and a 12% discount to the closing price on Thursday. Will use new cash to expand its client base, further develop its product offering and invest further unto bitcoin.
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Sabien Technology Group PLC - Maidenhead, England-based energy efficiency technology - Invests GBP100,000 into Aeristech Ltd, a UK-based manufacturer of power-dense compressors used within hydrogen fuel cells as part of Aeristech's GBP5.1 million pre-IPO funding round. Sabien subscribed for 41,667 shares at GBP2.40 each, giving it a 0.3% stake.
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Target Healthcare REIT PLC - UK purpose-built care home investor - Raises GBP60 million through the issue of 54.1 million shares by way of a placing, intermediaries offer and subscription offer, having initially increased the size of the initial issue from GBP50 million as a result of high demand. Following admission, Target Healthcare will have 511.5 million shares in issue.
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Yellow Cake PLC - Jersey-based uranium investor - Raises GBP99.3 million through the issue of 44.5 million shares at GBP2.23 each under a placing and retail offer launched on Thursday. The company will use the new cash to fund the purchase of at least 3.5 mmlb of physical uranium under the company's agreement with JSC National Atomic Company Kazatomprom at a price of USD28.95 per pound. Following admission, it will have 132.7 million shares in issue.
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Asiamet Resources Ltd - microfinance institution - Raises GBP1 million through the placing of 45.5 million shares at 2.20 pence each. Announced the fundraise on Thursday, saying at the time it plans to raise GBP10 million through the placing of up to 440.9 million shares at 2.2 pence each and the subscription of 16.5 million shares at the same price. Will use the new cash to progress its proposed copper project in Central Kalimantan and support drilling to test the potential for a high grade extension of the Beutong deposit.
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Path Investments PLC - energy and natural resources investment company - Raises GBP350,000 through the subscription for 140 million shares at 0.25p each. "Following the announcement of our GBP3.5 million fundraise we were made aware of demand from certain significant existing shareholders that had not been accommodated already. We are therefore pleased to increase the overall size of the fundraise in order to accommodate them and raise further funds to help facilitate our search for acquisition opportunities in line with our investment strategy," says Chief Executive Christopher Theis.
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Byotrol PLC - UK-based infection prevention and control company - Develops new test to determine whether cleaning and sanitising products have long-lasting efficacy against viruses such as Covid-19 in real-life use. Byotrol says the new test could help minimise the spread of the virus when used in conjunction with the cleaning and sanitising of shops, schools and offices when they reopen plans and adds it plans to gain approval to make the test the British standard for proving the long-lasting efficacy of disinfectants against viruses.
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Shield Therapeutics PLC - Newcastle-based specialty pharmaceutical company - Plans to raise GBP25.0 million through the placing and subscription for shares at 30.0p each, with the price representing a 44% discount to the Thursday closing price. Adds it will also make an open offer to shareholders at the same price to raise up to 4.2 million, noting the open offer will be on the basis of 2 open offer shares for every 17 existing shares. Shield Therapeutics says it will use the new cash to execute a plan for the self-commercialisation of iron deficiency product Accrufer in the US. Peel Hunt LLP and finnCap Ltd are acting as joint bookrunners.
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Baron Oil PLC - oil & gas explorer in UK and Peru - Says 33% investee SundaGas Banda Unipessoal Lda has been granted a 12-month extension to Contract Year 1 of the Chuditch PSC in Timor-Leste. The new expiry date of Year 1 of the 3 year initial licence phase is now November 8, 2021. "We are delighted that SundaGas has been able to get the Chuditch project back on track. We look forward to updating shareholders as we move forward with this exciting and material investment," says Baron Oil Chief Executive Andy Yeo.
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RTW Venture Fund Ltd - New York-based investment company focussed on life sciences - Notes investee clinical-stage oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company Artiva Biotherapeutics Inc completes USD120 million Series B financing round . Adds Artiva plans to use the proceeds from the financing to advance its allogeneic natural killer cell therapy development programs and expand ongoing research and development activities.
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St James House PLC - lottery and e-commerce company - Says from January 27 to February 25, the Payment Services division has seen growth, with sterling and dollar transactions growing an additional 27% in volume compared to the period from December 23 to January 27. Transaction volumes in Euro have more than trebled and transaction volumes in sterling have more than doubled. Notes the Lottery Services division is benefiting from recent news regarding the lifting of Covid restriction as clients bring staff off furlough and face-to-face interactions begin to increase. St Frances House Ltd in the Legal Services divisoion has a current workload of 258 cases in progress, has completed or reached the settlement stage in a further 66 claims in the last four weeks and added 40 new cases in the same period. Positively, adds it has concluded the work needed for the publication of its results for its financial year ended January 31, 2020 and hope to publish it next week. Shares will continue to be suspended until after its results for its half-year to July 31 are published.
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Card Factory PLC - Wakefield, West Yorkshire-based card and gift retailer - Is in talks with its banking syndicates and notes its banks has provided further waivers in respect of anticipated covenant breaches until March 31, 2021. Adds it is engaging in plans to refinance the company and assures that coupled with the expected reopening of the majority of its store estate in April, its is confident on the future of the business.
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Pensana PLC - UK-based exploration & development company - Says it paid USD92,433 in mining and licence fees to the government of Angola during its financial year ended June 30. Notes payment was in relation to its Longonjo Project. No other payments were made to governments during the period
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Oracle Power - Cambridge-based natural resource and power project developer - Says the Ministry of Energy in Pakistan will move forward with a consultative session in early March to mobilise the policy proposal process for its Coal-to-Gas and Coal-to-Liquid strategy. The consultative session aims to organise and coordinate a proposed commercial framework through which development of coal to gas and liquid at Thar Block VI could be fast-tracked, in order to help address Pakistan's gas shortage and reliance on imported liquid fuels.
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Alpha Real Trust Ltd - real estate financing investor - For the three months ended December 31, posts adjusted earnings per share of 2.3p, down from 1.6p recorded in the quarter ended September 30. Net asset value per share as at December-end was 2019.3p, down from 211.1p at September-end. Basic loss per share for the quarter was 1.5p, widening from 1.3p the prior quarter. However, the trust declares a quarterly dividend of 1.0p as it highlights a "robust" financial position.
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Silence Therapeutics PLC - novel RNA therapeutics developer with offices in London and Berlin - Will receive a milestone payment of USD2.0 million following the commencement of work on a third target as part of its research collaboration with Mallinckrodt PLC for the treatment of complement pathway-mediated diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Silence is responsible for preclinical activities and for executing development of each target through Phase 1, after which Mallinckrodt will assume responsibility for clinical development and global commercialization. Silence highlights it is also eligible to receive tiered double-digit royalties on net sales for each optioned product candidate and up to USD2 billion in total milestone payments across all three targets.
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By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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