Mercantile Ports and Logistics (LON: MPL) is pursuing legal remedies to regain control of port operating subsidiary, Karanja Terminal & Logistics. One bank did not sanction an agreement for a one-time settlement of company debt with the consortium of banks. The court has told the Committee of Creditors holding the company debt to consider an offer to redeem 100% of outstanding debt. There has been no progress and there are potential buyers interested in the assets. An international oil and gas company is a potential provider of funds to help redeem the debt. A meeting was held to consider Mercantile’s proposal on Friday 10 April. The share price rebounded 343% to 1.55p.
Van Elle (LON: VANL) is recommending a 52.3p/share cash bid from STRABAG UK, which values the ground engineering company at £58.8m. The share price has not been that high for more than three years. The directors had talks with other suitors before receiving this bid approach. Vienna-based STRABAG provides construction services, and it was seeking to expand in the UK. The share price gained 57.5% to 50.4p.
Wind energy services provider European Green Transition (LON: EGT) has a strong pipeline of repowering contracts that has accelerated since UK government policy changes. The ongoing services business provides visibility for revenues with upside from repowering contracts. The share price jumped 56.2% to 10p.
Frontier IP (LON: FIPP) says that the European Commission has approved a €211m Italian support package for the development of photonic optical transceivers based on graphene supplied by CamGraPhIC, which is 100% owned by investee company 2D Photonics. Another investee company, Fieldwork Robotics, has raised £3m to fund commercial trials of raspberry-harvesting robots. The Frontier IP share price is 47% higher at 15.8p.
FALLERS
Trading in shares of Secure Property Development and Investment (LON: SPDI) returned from suspension down 28.6% to 1.25p. The property company amended heads of agreement with energy storage technology developer Adven, which it is proposed will acquired SPDI, so it is not a reverse takeover anymore. Instead, Adven intends to join AIM and launch a share exchange for SPDI. Adven can then raise money via EIS.
Richmond Hill Resources (LON: RHR) plans to acquire Bartlett Mining Claims, from a company controlled by major shareholder James Ikin. The consideration is C$125,000 in cash and C$550,000 in shares at 1.75p each. The claims being acquired are near to the Martello gold project in Ontario. The share price slipped 27.5% to 1.45p.
Impax Asset Management (LON: IPX) published a disappointing quarterly update to assets under management. They fell 8% in the second quarter to £22.3bn, compared with the previous quarter, with net outflows in the quarter much higher than expected at £2bn. There was a small positive increase related to performance. Full year revenues are expected to be £109m to £113m and costs are being reduced. The share price slumped 22.4% to 94.1p, which is less than ten times prospective earnings.
Sunda Energy (LON: SNDA) subsidiary SundaGas Banda Unipessoal has entered a letter of intent with Finder TIMOR-LESTE B.V. to secure a drilling rig for campaigns offshore Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. SundaGas plans to drill the Chuditch-2 appraisal well on the TL-SO-19-16 Production Sharing Contract. Sunda Energy is also diversifying its interests by acquiring New Zealand based Matahio Energy NZ, which owns production and exploration permits onshore of the Taranaki Basin on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The assets produce 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day. The purchase price will be between $8m and $14m depending on the oil price and there is contingent consideration of up to $13m based on the outcome of exploration. A subscription will raise £900,000 at 0.02975p, while directors will contribute a further £800,000 through loan conversion and subscription. Convertible loan notes could raise up to £4.25m. A WRAP retail offer can raised £405,000 out of £750,000 on offer. Hannam and Partners estimates a risked NAV of 0.18p/share. The share price lost 21.1% to 0.296p.