Aquis Exchange (LON: AQX) is recommending a bid from rival exchange trading business SIX Exchange. The offer is 727p/share in cash, which values the company at £225m. There had been several previous proposals from SIX. The combined business will have greater pan-European scale and be able to expand internationally. SIX is particularly interested in the Aquis technology and there is also potential to develop the Aquis Stock Exchange a pan-European market. The share price jumped 114% to 705p. The company joined AIM in June 2018 at 269p/share.
Deltic Energy (LON: DELT) says Shell has provided an updated total well cost estimate of $48m for the Selene well site in the North Sea. Deltic Energy is carried for costs of up to $49m. There are plans for a second licence term as the partners move towards a final investment decision. This news and the full inclusion of tax losses has led Canaccord Genuity to increase its NPV10 share price target from 30p to 38p. The share price increased 42.4% to 6.55p.
There has been plenty of news from cancer diagnostics developer Angle (LON: AGL) this week. The DNA analysis of circulating tumour cells using Parsortix has been shown to identify EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer patients that are developing resistance to treatment with AstraZeneca drug Osimertinib. Uses of the Parsortix technology are being showcased at an American Association for Cancer Research special conference. Angle is presenting a talk on PD-L1 status in circulating tumour cells isolated by its Parsortix diagnostics technology from blood samples of lung cancer patients. Data produced has high analytical sensitivity and specificity and suggests that this technology can be used for personalised treatment of lung cancer patients. Additionally, there is a report on progress of developing a system to classify HER2 protein expression for breast cancer. This is being developed with BioView. Parsortix-based assays were showcased at the European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) Liquid Biopsies Conference in France. The share price is 39.4% higher at 11.5p.
Star Energy (LON: STAR) is selling land at Alton for £6.3m. This used to be the site of the Holybourne oil terminal. The sale depends on planning permission and that should happen in the middle of 2025. Perpetual increased its stake from 4.93% to 6.95%. The share price rose by one-third to 9.01p.
FALLERS
Oracle Power (LON: ORCP) says the latest drilling at the Northern Zone intrusive hosted gold project in Western Australia has completed and samples submitted to the laboratory. Oracle Power has raised £150,000 at 0.013p/share. Th cash will be spent on projects in Australia and Pakistan. The share price slid 38.5% to 0.0123p.
Film vehicles and services provider Facilities by ADF (LON: ADF) has been hit by filming delays and the cancelation of projects. It had appeared that there would a strong recovery in the second half following the Hollywood writers’ strike. Revenues have been reduced from £48.6m to £35.1m and margins have been hit by competition for limited contracts. This means that Facilities by ADF will not do much better than breakeven in 2024. There should be a recovery in 2025, but revenues have been cut from £67.3m to £56.8m – including a 12-month contribution from Autotrak. Rockwood Strategic has a 3.7% stake and related investment entities have a further 7.6%, while Octopus has taken a 6.49% stake. Downing and Otus have reduced their holdings. Chairman John Richards bought 200,000 shares at 30.5p each. The share price dived 35.5% to 34p.
Mongolia-focused oil producer Petro Matad (LON: MATD) is having mixed fortunes with the Heron-1 well outperforming, but Heron-2 disappointing. Heron-1 is producing 200-300 barrels/day, and this could be quadrupled. Heron-2 production reached 30 barrels/day and has been suspended. Shore has cut its NAV estimate from 7.2p/share to 6.8p/share – mainly down to foreign exchange and changes in the oil price. The share price declined 35.4% to 1.6p.
Delays to defence orders have hit Solid State (LON: SOLI) and profit will be much lower than expected this year. Cavendish has downgraded 2024-25 earnings by 58% to 5.5p/share and next year’s by 48% to 7.9p/share because it is uncertain when the order will come through. The UK government has paused spending on a major defence order ahead of a strategic defence review next summer. The dividend could be maintained at 4.3p/share. The share price dived 35.3% to 137.5p.