Shield Thera Share News (STX)

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Ferrexpo PLC - Baar, Switzerland-based miner in Ukraine - Receives a further notification from the Ukrainian tax authorities of their decision to suspend the refund of VAT for two of its Ukrainian subsidiaries, Ferrexpo Poltava Mining and Ferrexpo Yeristovo Mining for February. The aggregate amount of the VAT refund is around USD11.1 million. Company notes the explanation provided by the tax authorities for the suspension relates to the imposition of personal sanctions on Kostiantyn Zhevago, a former director at Ferrexpo. Ferrexpo believes personal sanctions on Zhevago should not be used as an instrument to place financial pressure on it. The VAT refunds suspension is placing financial pressure on the group's liquidity and has forced a reduction in production to 25% of full capacity. To preserve liquidity, significant cost-cutting measures are ongoing. Efforts are underway with the respective authorities and government bodies in Ukraine and internationally to try to resolve this issue.

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Care REIT PLC - real estate investment trust focused on care homes and other healthcare properties in the UK - US real estate investment trust focused on seniors housing and healthcare-related properties, CareTrust REIT Inc says 108 pence per share bid for Care REIT is final and will not be increased. CRT recommends shareholders support the offer.

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BP Marsh & Partners PLC - London-based private equity firm, investing in early-stage financial services businesses - Announces up to GBP2 million share buyback to be run by Singer Capital Markets.

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Shield Therapeutics PLC - commercial-stage pharmaceutical company focused on iron deficiency product Accrufer - Says revenue was USD6.4 million in the first quarter from around 36,800 prescriptions of ACCRUFeR. Explains the first quarter is traditionally softer than the other quarters, while significant weather disruptions in the US, led to office closures and subsequently affected prescription numbers across prescription oral iron products in the market. ACCRUFeR was further impacted due to nearly 20% sales force vacancy in January and February. While March showed a recovery reflecting the fully staffed sales force, the impact of these weather-related events, coupled with the realignment of the US sales team, influenced the figures for the quarter. Shield continues to remain positive in its goal of becoming cash flow positive by the end of 2025.

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Haydale Graphene Industries PLC - Carmarthenshire, Wales-based developer of materials using graphene and other nanomaterials - Says auction process of Haydale Ceramic Technologies LLC has been completed. This eliminates further cash flow drain arising from the ongoing financial support required to support the loss making operation. Auction fetched USD680,000 but HGI does not expect a cash return. HGI says it has achieved its primary objectives of stemming cash outflows to the US and significantly reducing group overhead costs and operational complexity and protecting its core business.

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LungLife AI Inc - lung cancer clinical diagnostic solutions developer - has entered an exclusive license and distribution agreement with US-based liquid biopsy diagnostics company Circulogene Theranostics Inc, for its LungLB test. Circulogene will give LungLife an advanced payment of USD375,000 following signature, pursuant to a promissory note secured by certain LungLife physical assets. A further USD375,000 payment will be due following completion of the agreement. LungLife says it will then receive royalty payments equivalent to 20% of net revenue collected by Circulogene for the LungLB agreement's first year, with guaranteed minimum royalty payments of USD450,000 covering the first three quarters. The royalties will be equivalent to 15% for the second year. The agreement's initial term is for two years from completion, with options for renewal.

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Altona Rare Earths PLC - developing Monte Muambe magnet rare earths project in northwest Mozambique - Says pleased with the soil geochemistry results at the Monte Muambe rare earths project in Mozambique. Notes this clearly show the presence of a large gallium mineralised system at Monte Muambe, justifying a specific work program. "These anomalies being untested, this opens the possibility that mineralised zones with higher grades than those observed so far exist, and that more exciting gallium discoveries will be made in the near future," company says. Adds: "The potential recovery of gallium as a co-product of rare earths, and as an additional source of revenue, is also very encouraging, and we have adjusted our on-going metallurgical testing program to assess this."

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Iofina PLC - Colorado, US-based iodine producer - Says produced 124.1 metric tonnes of crystalline iodine from its seven IOsorb plants in western Oklahoma in the first quarter of 2025, a touch higher than 123.7MT a year prior. Whilst production during the winter months has always been lower due to the colder temperatures affecting the IOsorb process, Iofina says during January and February, Oklahoma experienced extremely low temperatures that affected all partners' hydrocarbon production operations. Consequently, this led to limited brine water at times being pumped to all plants. Since early March, the situation has been improving. But given the lower-than-anticipated Q1 production, Iofina now expects total iodine production for the first half to be closer to 300MT compared to the previously guided range of 320MT to 355MT.

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By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter

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