UK TRADING UPDATE SUMMARY: Novacyt Unveils New Test For Mink Covid

Mon, 14th Dec 2020 22:04

(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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Novacyt SA - Anglo-French biotechnology group focused on clinical diagnostics - Launches research-use-only polymerase chain reaction test for a new strain of Covid-19 and the development of two new RUO PCR tests for avian influenza following recent outbreaks across Europe. "Originally found in mink in Denmark and the Netherlands, the Y453F mutation quickly spread to humans and has also been detected outside of Europe," company adds. Says mutation is of potential concern to scientists and clinicians as it causes an amino acid change which affects antibody binding. Novacyt has also taken the strategic decision to develop two new RUO PCR tests for avian influenza amid recent outbreaks. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has announced that since October 2020, multiple European countries, including the UK and France, have reported outbreaks for highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses.

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Urban&Civic PLC - London-headquartered master property developer - Shareholders approve GBP506.0 million takeover offer by Wellcome Trust at general meeting. Deal now expected to go through on January 21. Under the acquisition's terms, Wellcome will acquire Urban&Civic for 345 pence per share, reflecting a 64% premium to the company's closing price of 211.0 pence the day before the announcement and above Urban&Civic's EPRA net asset value on September 30 of 343.2p.

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Kape Technologies PLC - digital security and privacy software company - Launches first unified privacy and security suite to customers. "The all-in-one digital freedom, data privacy and system security suite provides consumers with a comprehensive protection solution required to safely navigate their life online. Today's announcement marks another milestone in Kape's strategy to provide a holistic solution for our users' privacy and security needs all in one easy product," Kape says. Calls new suite: CyberGhost Privacy.

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Open Orphan PLC - pharmaceutical services contract research organisation - Says first in human study of Codagenix Inc intranasal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate has received approval from the UK's independent Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. hVIVO, part of Open Orphan, is working in collaboration with US biotech firm Codagenix to conduct the Phase I study of COVI-VAC, Codagenix's intranasal SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate. "The study will evaluate safety and immunogenicity of a single-dose nasal vaccine candidate in 48 healthy young adult volunteers at hVIVO's state-of-the-art Quarantine Facility in Whitechapel, London," company says.

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Invinity Energy Systems PLC - storage battery manufacturing company - Sells 0.8 megawatt hour vanadium flow battery to Absolute Solar & Wind Ltd for use in a solar plus storage project at a waste-water treatment plant in Perthshire, Scotland, owned by Scottish Water. The sale has an anticipated revenue contribution of about GBP700,000, relating to the Invinity battery system itself, ancillary components and associated services. The project is expected to go live in 2021.

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Oncimmune Holdings PLC - immunodiagnostics firm - Signs commercial contract to supply its EarlyCDT Lung blood test to NHS Norfolk & Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group. Additionally, the company has also signed a commercial contract to supply EarlyCDT Lung blood test into the NHS Lung Health Check Programmes in Wessex and Yorkshire as part of the iDx-LUNG evaluation programme.

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Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC - energy storage fund supporting the transition to low carbon power - Raises gross proceeds of GBP60 million from initial placing, subscription and intermediaries offer, where a total of 60 million new shares will be issued at 100 pence each. Due to the significant level of demand that exceeded the target proceeds of GBP60 million, a scaling back exercise has been undertaken with respect to applications received pursuant to the initial Issue, Gore Street says. Company adds: "The net proceeds of the initial issue will be used to acquire new projects in the company's pipeline and/or to fund capital expenditure requirements of investments in Gore Street's existing portfolio. The investment manager has identified a pipeline of investments with a total project size of approximately 1.3 gigawatts."

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Bluejay Mining PLC - exploration and development resource company with projects in Greenland and Finland - Says exploration licence for the Dundas ilmenite project will be granted and signed by the government of Greenland. The licence will allow Dundas to progress towards procurement, construction and ilmenite production. Bluejay notes the licence is valid for 30 years and can be extended.

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Chariot Oil & Gas Ltd - Africa focused transition energy company - Negotiates key terms of a new licence, Rissana offshore in Morocco. The formal award of the licence is expected to occur in 2021 and is subject to the normal Moroccan regulatory procedures and approvals. Says 75% interest and operatorship of the Rissana licence to be awarded to a wholly owned subsidiary of Chariot in partnership with the Office National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines which will hold a 25% interest.

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Alien Metals Ltd - minerals exploration and development company - Says Elizabeth Hill silver and Hamersley iron ore projects in Western Australia advancing. Notes program of works has been approved by the Western Australia Mines Department for initial trenching and drilling at the Elizabeth Hills mining licence. For Hamersley, Alien currently planning additional reconnaissance and geological mapping work on Brockman tenement, as it awaits final results of brief in-fill sampling at the Kalgan prospect from recent reconnaissance access trip.

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Gunsynd PLC - investment company focused on the natural resources sector - Invests, alongside Pires Investments PLC, GBP200,000 in white-label pool betting platform for professional sports franchises Low6 Ltd. Both Gunsynd and Pires have each subscribed for 6,667 shares in Low6 at GBP30 per share. The investment is part of a GBP1.5 million funding round.

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Mosman Oil & Gas Ltd - oil exploration, development, and production company - Says alcon-1 well at the Champion project in East Texas commenced commercial production last Friday. The well has been tied into new production facilities consisting of a separator and tanks. Oil will be sold from the tanks and gas sold via an existing pipeline. Actual production rates will be reported once stable oil and gas rates are established.

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MobilityOne Ltd - e-commerce infrastructure payment solutions and platform provider - Says wholly owned operating subsidiary in Malaysia has entered into an agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of Tanjung Pinang Resources Sdn Bhd for about GBP55,567 in cash. TPR's principal business activities are to provide money-changing and remittance agent services in Malaysia. "TPR holds a money changing licence from the Central Bank of Malaysia which is complementary to the group's existing remittance business via its 50% owned subsidiary, OneTransfer Remittance Sdn Bhd," company says. The licence is valid through to March 2022 and capable of extension with the approval of the Central Bank of Malaysia. Currently TPR only has one money changing outlet in Malaysia.

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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com