Diurnal (LON: DNL) was the biggest riser on the week with a 139% gain to 26.85p following a cash offer for the company. Neurocrine Biosciences Inc is making a recommended bid of 27.5p a share in cash for Diurnal, which values the drug developer at £48.3m. The April 2021 placing and open offer was at 70p a share and the share price has slumped since then. More cash would need to be raised and that could heavily dilute existing shareholders, so the bid is attractive. Diurnal has two approved treatments. The Alkindi hydrocortisone treatment for paediatric adrenal hyperplasia and Efmody which is a similar treatment for adolescents and adults. Revenues have been slow to build for these treatments.
Digital payments technology provider Bango (LON: BGO) is acquiring the global payments division of NTT DOCOMO for €4m, but this reduces to €900,000 after the cash in the business is taken into account. There will be integration costs and additional overheads taken on. This deal adds new telecoms partners and adds Discovery and Shopify to the client base, as well as enhancing the position with existing clients, such as Netflix. Bango will provide payment services to NTT DOCOMO in Japan. The deal should be earnings enhancing in 2023, when revenues of $16m could be contributed. Less, positive are the $30m-$35m of restructuring charges, transaction costs and write-downs revealed for 2022. That is around the level of the expected income this year. Even so, the share price was 27.2% ahead at 198.5p.
Westminster Security (LON: WSG) is a bit of a yoyo share moving up and down on the latest news. This week a new mass entry screening contract for a theatre and exhibition centre in northern England pushed up the share price by 26.5% to 1.55p.
Shield Therapeutics (LON: STX) has fallen sharply this year, but stake building helped the share price recover 18% to 10.8p, which is still down by three-quarters this year. AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals AG, which targets rare diseases, has more than doubled its stake to 27%. Jupiter Fund Management reduced its shareholding from 5.87% to 4.6%. Shield Therapeutics has an approved iron deficiency treatment, but in common with Diurnal it is finding it difficult to build revenues.
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Fallers
Fusion Antibodies (LON: FAB) is the worst performer of the week, falling 38.2% to 51p, after the Belfast-based antibody developer released full figures. Annual revenues were ahead of expectations and the loss was flat at £1.3m, but management is cautious about the outlook for its customer base.
The cancellation of a contract by a client in Israel has hit the Ethernity Networks (LON: ENET), which has fallen by 26% to 9.25p. The contract relates to the provision of the company’s Universal Edge Platform. The client claims that its customers have complained about delays in product delivery. Ethernity Networks blames its client for delays due to discussions about pricing and amendments to designs. The contract was worth $930,000 and $107,000 has been invoiced. Last year’s group revenues were $2.64m.
IDE Group Holdings (LON: IDE) has further delayed the publication of its 2021 annual report. The managed services provider believes that the auditors will complete their work by the end of September. The share price fell 25% to 0.9p.
Disappointing drilling results from oil and gas producer and explorer Serinus Energy (LON: SENX) sent the share price 22.2% lower to 10.5p. Arden Partners has reduced is risked NAV from 55p a share to 53p a share. Management says the Canar-1 exploration well in Romania does not justify flow testing. There were signs of residual gas, and it is possible that the gas migrated through this zone. The next well to be drilled is Monfrinu Nord-1. Raising an unsecured convertible loan note facility of up to £750,000 was taken negatively by investors in oil company TomCo Energy (LON: TOM). The cash drawn down has to be paid by the end of November, yet the interest charge is a fixed 5% of the principal drawn down. There will still be a $1.25m loan from Valkor, which is due to be repaid in October. A longer-term solution to financing will need to be found. The share price slipped 20.7% to 0.436p.
