TRADING UPDATES: Digital 9 raises cash; Bluejay and Rio start drilling

Mon, 24th May 2021 12:02

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

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Digital 9 Infrastructure PLC - digital infrastructure assets investor - Plans to raise GBP100 million through placing of shares at 105p each, 7.1% discount from Friday's closing price of 113p. Stock down 5.8% at 106.40p on Monday morning in London. "The net proceeds of the placing will be used to acquire further assets in line with the company's investment objective, identified in the company's pipeline of investment opportunities at IPO, as set out in the prospectus," Digital 9 says. "There are some GBP600 million of opportunities capable of completion in the next 12 months." Digital 9 listed at the end of March, raising GBP300.0 million.

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Bluejay Mining PLC - exploration and development company with projects in Greenland and Finland - Says drilling at Enonkoski nickel-copper-cobalt project in eastern Finland has begun. Rio Tinto Mining & Exploration Ltd, part of Rio Tinto PLC, is Bluejay's joint-venture partner at asset. "The 3,000 metre drilling programme targeting mineralisation in the Tevanjoki and Laukunsuo areas within Enonkoski will be followed by a period of analysis to be carried out by the JV partners," Bluejay says. In addition, company reports that pretax loss widens to GBP2.6 million in 2020 from GBP1.8 million in 2019. Like in 2019, Bluejay generates no revenue. Administrative expenses rise 11% to GBP2.5 million from GBP2.3 million. Posts only GBP49,360 in other gains, compared to GBP567,068 in 2019.

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Deltic Energy PLC - London-based natural resources investing company - Says Shell UK Ltd, Deltic's joint-venture partner at Licence P2252, calls on Fugro GB North Marine Ltd to carry out geophysical and geotechnical site survey works at Pensacola prospect in UK southern North Sea. Shell UK is part of Royal Dutch Shell PLC.

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US Solar Fund PLC - Americas-focused utility-scale solar power plant investor - Refinances existing debt facilities of 22-project Heelstone portfolio. Refinancing uses up USD92 million of USD132 million fundraise. Refinancing reduces effective interest rate to 3% per year, from 6.25%.

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Princess Private Equity Holding Ltd - Guernsey-based investment holding firm - Partially realises investment in International School Partnership. Says pension plan for municipal employees of the Province of Ontario agrees to buy 25% stake in ISP from Princess's invement manager Partners Group. Transaction values the international school network at EUR1.9 billion and Princess's stake at EUR150 million, compared to the stake's EUR139 million book value. ISP had been the largest Princess's largest holding at 14% of net assets. "As part of the transaction Princess will reduce its exposure to ISP but will retain an investment of approximately EUR20 million to continue to participate in the future growth of the business," it says.

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Frontier IP Group PLC - London-based intellectual property commercialisation firm - Portfolio firm Pulsiv raises GBP1.5 million. Pulsiv also names Darrel Kingham as chief executive. Kingham held a general manager role at Aixtron SE, a Herzogenrath, Germany-based maker of equipment for the semiconductor industry. Frontier IP CEO Neil Crabb says: "We are delighted to have attracted someone of Darrel's calibre as chief executive of Pulsiv. The company is now at an important stage, and we believe Darrel is the right person to take it forward through the next phase of its development."

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Fulcrum Utility Services Ltd - Sheffield-based multi-utility infrastructure and services provider - Awarded five-year deal with E (Gas & Electricity) Ltd worth GBP20 million. Fulcrum will provide smart meter exchange and management services, becoming E's meter operator and meter asset manager for a portfolio of 320,000 meter points in UK.

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Africa Opportunity Fund Ltd - closed-end investment company - Plans to return USD7.2 million to shareholders through mandatory redemption. Says USD7.2 million return is equivalent to 10.2 million shares.

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K3 Capital Group PLC - Bolton-based professional advisory services firm - Signs first debt facility as a PLC. Secures debt facilities worth GBP15 million, composed of a GBP10 million revolving credit facility with an accordion option of up to GBP5 million. "Alongside the company's existing cash reserves and strong ongoing cash generation, the facilities will be used to support the company's growth ambitions and its declared intention to acquire complementary professional services businesses," K3 says

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NetScientific PLC - Buckinghamshire-based life sciences and technology investment and commercialisation company - Reports on progress at 95%-owned ProAxsis Ltd. ProAxsis had "transformational" 2020, NetScientific says, as life sciences company made "significant corporate advancements". NetScientific adds: "The company expects to commercialise five novel/improved products over the coming year."

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Fragrant Prosperity Holdings Ltd - seeking acquisition in cannabis therapeutics - Signs letter of intent to acquire London-based cannabis wellness company CiiTECH Ltd for GBP17.5 million. Deal to be satisfied through issue of Fragrant shares at 5.25 pence each. Deal will be classed as reverse takeover, so Fragrant shares suspended from trading on the London Main Market.

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Synairgen PLC - Southampton, England-based drug discovery and biotechnology company - Data finds SNG001 respiratory medication shows "potent antiviral activity" against Kent and South African Covid-19 variants. "As expected, these data confirm that SNG001 is a broad-spectrum antiviral product, now also demonstrating applicability against SARS-CoV-2 variants," Chief Executive Richard Marsden says.

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OnTheMarket PLC - property listing portal based in Aldershot, Hampshire - Signs commercial pact with Insurestreet Ltd, which trades as Canopy. Canopy provides tenant referencing services through its platform. "The partnership will enable OnTheMarket to provide its agent customers with free comprehensive tenant referencing, including employment and landlord references, for all tenancy applications," OnTheMarket says.

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Mountview Estates PLC - London-headquartered property manager - Reports on shareholder engagement following November general meeting which saw 33% of votes against the re-election of Chair Tony Powell and 31% against Mhairi Archibald's re-election as a non-executive director. Mountview says it identified "as far as possible" the shareholders who did not support the proposals. "Some shareholders did not wish to engage. The company remains committed to shareholder engagement and will continue to offer to have discussions with shareholders and will take into account their concerns and considerations in the future," Mountview says.

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Cloudcall Group PLC - Leicester, England-based provider of unified communications and contact centre software - Confirms trading for 2021 so far is in line with board expectations. "With both new business sales and upsells now running above pre-pandemic levels, revenue and platform usage is climbing steadily so that monthly recurring revenue, SMS and voice minutes are all at record highs and net renewal rates are back above 100%," says Chief Executive Simon Cleaver.

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Marlowe PLC - London-based business-critical services and software company - Acquires e-learning software platform Cylix Ltd for GBP1 million. Bath-based Cylix "broadens Marlowe's e-learning offering and will offer attractive synergies with Deltanet, our recently-acquired compliance & safety eLearning platform", company says.

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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com