TRADING UPDATES: Hipgnosis placing oversubscribed; Creightons delays

Tue, 06th Jul 2021 20:38

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

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Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd - Guernsey-registered music intellectual property rights investor - Placing sees "significant" demand, exceeds target amount of GBP150 million. Places 128.6 million shares at 121 pence each, raising GBP155.6 million. Will have 1.21 billion shares in issue when new shares are admitted. Founder Merck Mercuriadis says: "I am once again delighted with the support from both our existing and new shareholders with an oversubscribed raise of over USD215 million, GBP156 million. We will deploy this immediately into our pipeline of songs and I am incredibly appreciative of the incredible songwriters who have entrusted us with their iconic works."

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On the Beach Group PLC - Manchester-based online retailer of beach holidays - Proposes placing, totalling 5.0% of existing issued share capital. "Given the extended disruption to international travel from the UK throughout 2021 and the ongoing trading environment across the sector, the board believes it is in the group's best interest to seek supplementary financing now," company explains. At March 31, company has cash balance of GBP30.0 million, which excludes GBP24.1 million of customer monies held in a ring-fenced trust account and GBP11.8 million owing from airlines for forward refunding flights, and has access to an undrawn revolving credit facility of GBP75 million. Company adds: "Whilst the actions taken by the Group around cash management and credit facility negotiations have allowed it to continue to operate throughout the sustained disruption caused by the pandemic, the prolonged delay in the recovery of the UK travel sector has meant that the group's cash position has reduced to a level not foreseen at the time of the placing in May 2020."

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Triple Point Social Housing REIT PLC - London-based real estate investment trust - Completes acquisition of 10 supported housing properties and exchanged contracts on a further two properties, comprising 56 individual units in total, for an aggregate consideration of about GBP14 million. The properties are located in the the North West of England, Yorkshire and the South East. "The group has entered into new FRI leases in respect of each of the properties for a minimum period of 20 years. The leases are with specialist regulated housing providers, including Blue Square Residential, Chrysalis Supported Housing and Independent Housing," company says. Adds: "The rents received under the leases are subject to annual, upward-only rent reviews, increasing in line with the consumer price index."

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Tirupati Graphite PLC - graphite and graphene producer in Madagascar and India - Signs memorandum of understanding with Hanwa Co Ltd to expand markets for its suite of flake and speciality graphite products in Asia. Chief Executive Shishir Poddar says: "Given the East Asian markets are primarily international trading houses driven, we are delighted to have signed an MoU with Hanwa, which will significantly progress our marketing efforts in this important region. The Far East hosts extensive industrial and speciality graphite markets, which imports almost all of its graphite primarily from China. However, lithium-ion battery and its anode manufacturers are increasingly looking at the green credentials of their supply chain as well as diversification away from Chinese sources, which is where we can step in."

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Destiny Pharma PLC - Brighton, England-based biotechnology firm - Enters into cooperative research and development agreement with US Department of Veterans Affairs, to further research NTCD-M3 for the prevention of recurrence of Clostridioides difficile infections. "Destiny Pharma will collaborate on this research project with the Edward Hines VA Hospital in Hines, Illinois, utilising their CDI research expertise to complete new preclinical studies that could support the administration of NTCD-M3 to a broader CDI patient population and therefore strengthen the market opportunity. The research project is planned to complete in the fourth quarter of 2021," company says. Financial terms are not disclosed.

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Creightons PLC - manufacturer of personal care, beauty and fragrance products - Annual results for year ended March 31 due on Wednesday now delayed. Says its auditors they will not now be able to complete their audit. "The company anticipates a short delay and will publish a revised date for the announcement and the investor presentation as soon as the amended timetable is confirmed," company adds.

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Altus Strategies PLC - mining royalty company - Joint venture in southern Mali ups landholding at Tabakorole gold project. Company holds a 49% equity interest and 2.5% net smelter return royalty on the project. The venture's landholding increased by 56% to 292 square kilometres at Tabakorole. Chief Executive Steven Poulton says: "Tabakorole is shaping up to be a significant gold discovery not just in southern Mali, but in the west African context. This 100 square kilometre increase in the JV project area is strategically significant as the new licence area hosts a potential north-westerly extension of the 5 kilometre long 'Asgard trend', which is defined by strong, and often coincident, geochemical and geophysical anomalies." Also says partner, Marvel Gold is "aggressively advancing" the project.

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Baltic Classifieds Group PLC - advertising websites operator in the Baltics region - Over-allotment option for initial public offering granted by major shareholder Antler EquityCo for 30.0 million shares at 165p each. Company intends to raise around EUR120 million in the initial public offering, with 230.0 million shares being placed. Proceeds from the raise will then be used to repay existing debt. The IPO will include an offering of both new shares and existing shares to be sold by major shareholder Antler Equity Co, a company owned by funds advised by Apax Partners LLP.

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Cloudbreak Discovery PLC - natural resource project generator - Investee Imperial Helium Corp spuds IHC Steveville 1 at 102/03-01-020-12W4M, Imperial Helium's first well on its Steveville helium property, located in Southeastern Alberta, on schedule. Company owns 1.3% stake in Imperial Helium. "IHC Steveville 1 is the first of two appraisal wells Imperial Helium plans to drill on the Steveville structure. This first well targets the crest of the Steveville structure. With surface casing set, the rig will drill forward and set intermediate casing in the Stettler Formation, before continuing to a target depth of 2,047 metres. Upon reaching the target objective, a comprehensive suite of well logs will be acquired and evaluated, before completing the well and proceeding with production testing," company says.

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Live Co Group PLC - Surrey-based live events provider - Signs new contract with Singapore Zoo for Bricklive Brickosaurs from November 5, 2021 to May 2, 2022. "This is the first time we are working with Singapore Zoo and the first time we are partnering with a zoo in Asia," company says. Chair David Ciclitira adds: "This expansion into the Asian Zoo sector is something we have been looking to achieve for some time. As countries start to open globally, we have secured events in 3 continents - USA, Europe and now Asia."

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Hutchmed (China) Ltd - Hong-Kong-based pharmaceutical company - Starts Phase I study of HMPLâ€‘295, its investigative oral inhibitor of ERK, which is a downstream component of the RAS-MAPK pathway signalling cascade. "HMPL-295 has the potential to address intrinsic or acquired resistance from upstream mechanisms such as RAS, RAF and MEK. This is our first of multiple candidates in discovery addressing the RAS-MAPK pathway. The first patient was dosed on July 2," company says. The RAS-MAPK pathway is dysregulated in human diseases, particularly cancer, in which mutations or nongenetic events hyperactivate the pathway in more than 50% of cancers.

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Gunsynd PLC - London-based investment firm - Investee Charger Metals Ltd expected to begin trading on the Australian Securities Exchange this Friday. Charger Metals successfully raised AUD6 million in the IPO, based on this Charger will have 50.4 million shares in issue. Gunsynd will hold 3.6 million shares in Charger representing approximately 7.1% of the company's issued share capital.

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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com