Footwear retailer Shoe Zone (LON: SHOE) says trading was strong in May and early June and it expects to exceed expectations this year. There was early demand for summer products, which could just be a change in timing of buying. There were also lower transport costs that helped to improve margins. The profit for the year to 2 October 2023 should be at least £10.5m. The share price increased 10.7% to 232.5p.
The highest riser today is Itsarm (LON: ITS), which is surprising since the company has announced that its winding up petition will be heard on 26 July. Shareholders voted against cancelling the AIM quotation, but the board said that the company is running out of cash. The share price is up 115.6% to 0.485p.
Newly renamed Acuity RM Group (LON: ACRM), it was previously Drumz, has won a new customer for its risk management software. It is a leading British insurance company, but the initial order is small. There should be further opportunities generated by the company’s partners. The share price 11.4% to 9.75p.
Barryroe Offshore Energy (LON: BEY) warns that has around three weeks of working capital left after announcing it is no longer proceeding with the previously announced placing and open offer following the Irish government’s refusal to grant the lease for the SEL 1/11. The company is seeking additional cash for working capital, but if it is unsuccessful then it will probably have to go into liquidation. Trading in the shares is likely to be suspended on 3 July because the 2022 accounts will not be published by then. The share price dived 36.4% to 0.35p, which is a new low.
Selling this morning has hit the LungLife (LON: LLAI) share price, which fell 33.7% to 27.5p. Earlier this week, the California-based lung cancer detection technology developer published a positive study of the technology’s lung biopsy diagnosis and assessment performance. The initial six trades were sells valued at between £525 and £2,700, so they were not large. Later in the morning there was a purchase worth £1,942 at 25.9p, which was lower than all but one of the selling prices of the previous trades. They ranged from 22p to 40p. There was one other trade this week, which was on Thursday at 40p a share.
Graphene technology developer Versarien (LON: VRS) reported a higher interim loss of £3.4m on lower revenues. There was cash of £760,000 at the end of March 2023 with £530,000 added since then. However, the cash outflow from operating activities in the past six months was £1.83m, so that needs to be stemmed. Total Carbide and AAC Cyroma could be sold. The share price slipped 29.3% to 3.325p. This follows a sharp recovery from the low of 1.03p a few weeks ago.
Indian port operator Mercantile Ports and Logistics Ltd (LON: MPL) raised £8.9m from a placing and subscription at 3p a share from investors including existing substantial shareholder Hunch Ventures and Investment Private Ltd. A retail offer could raise up to £1.2m at 3p a share and will be open until 4.30pm on 12 June. The minimum subscription is £250. The share price declined 17.7% to 3.5p. Hunch Ventures owns 36.2% of the enlarged share capital. This cash will strengthen the balance sheet and put management in a stronger position when it is renegotiating its debt facilities.
