Atlantic Lithium (LON: ALL) returned from suspension after making a statement. This was prompted by a share price fall because of a negative short-selling report on Piedmont Lithium that accused Atlantic Lithium of obtaining licences in Ghana in an underhand way. Atlantic Lithium says that the allegations in the report are not true. It bought Joy Transporters from the son of the former chairman of the Ghana mining committee, but those licences are not connected to the Ewoyaa lithium mining licence application, which is referred to in the report. Having almost halved yesterday, the share price recovered 30% to 29.375p.
Structural steel supplier Billington (LON: BILN) has sparked another upgrade with its latest trading update and the share price, up 8.57% to 380p, is back above the level it was two years ago. Not only were 2022 profit and cash better than expected, the 2023 outcome is also ahead of estimates. Margins are improving as costs stabilise and the 2022 pre-tax profit has been upgraded from £5.3m to £5.8m, while the 2023 figure is increased by £1m to £8m. The 2022 dividend is expected to be 15p a share, rising to 20p a share in 2023.
Xeros Technology Group (LON: XSG) has secured a second domestic XFilter licensing agreement with a European household appliances manufacturer. The agreement is for five years and Xeros will receive a royalty for each filter device sold. There is already an agreement with Hanning. The share price rose 6.52% to 4.9p.
Symphony Environmental (LON: SYM) says its US distributor of d2w biodegradable plastics technology has signed an exclusive supply agreement with TricorBraun for its BioBottles for the nutraceutical sector. The d2w technology can be used for bottles for other uses. The share price is 2.5% higher at 10.25p.
Semiconductor wafers manufacturer IQE (LON: IQE) says 2022 figures are in line with expectations, but weaker demand for end products means that inventory is being built up leading to reduced customer orders. Revenues are expected to decline by £30m in the first half of 2023, which is more than one-third of the total in the first half of 2022. This is a highly geared business, so there will be a large increase in the reported loss. This is a cyclical business, and the problem relates to stock levels. Longer-term prospects remain good. The share price fell by one-third to 31.125p.
Share trading business Jarvis Securities (LON: JIM) reported a fall in pre-tax profit from £7.7m to £6.4m – excluding £300,000 of one off-costs – as trading levels on the stockmarket weakened. A skilled person review is ongoing and there are restrictions on taking on new clients. Some of the wealth management clients have been removed because they do not meet risk tolerance. Onboarding procedures are being improved. Higher interest income is offsetting some of the decline in revenues. WH Ireland has trimmed its 2023 pre-tax profit forecast from £7.6m to £7m, but it has upgraded the forecast dividend from 11p a share to 12p a share. The share price fell 12.3% to 142.5p.
Synergia Energy (LON: SYN) is adopting a jet pump solution for the onshore India Cambay PSC and this could be operational in 90 days. Synergia Energy plans to farm-out 50% of the Cambay PSCThe share price is 10.2% lower at 0.11p.
Midatech Pharma (LON: MTPH) shares continue to fall following the posting a circular about its proposed share consolidation and cancellation of the AIM quotation. The share price declined 12% to 1.1p.
Ex-dividends
Brooks Macdonald (LON: BRK) is paying an interim dividend of 28p a share and the share price is 25p lower at 1885p.
Colefax Group (LON: CFX) is paying an interim dividend of 2.6p a share and the share price is unchanged at 800p.
DX (LON: DX.) is paying an interim dividend of 0.5p a share and the share price declined 0.75p to 30p.
