The main shareholder of Avesoro Resources Inc (LON:ASO) has acquired the remaining shares of the company in an update on Monday.

The controlling shareholder, in the form of Avesoro Jersey Ltd has acquired all remaining shares it does not own in the west Africa-focused gold producer.

In December, Avesoro Jersey owned 79.9 million shares in the firm, equating to a 98% stake.

In an update on Monday, the shareholder has picked up the rest of the 1,7 million shares in issue at a price of 100p per share.

In October, the Avesoro board unanimously recommended the 100 pence per share bid from Avesoro Jersey, which is owned by Turkish businessman Murathan Gunal, however it seems that fortunes have changed.

As a result of this decision, Avesoro will have their shares delisted from both the London and Toronto market and should be taking place on Tuesday.

The firm also announced that Chief Financial Officer Geoff Eyre would be set to take up the same role at mining firm Adriatic Metals PLC (LON: ADT1).

Tough times for Avesoro

The decision comes after a tricky few months for the firm. In October, the firm saw its guidance under review as operational difficulties weigh on gold production volumes.

Third quarter production at it New Liberty venture dived 57% compared to Q2, down to 8,059 ounces – though its also attributed this dip to ‘heavy rainfall flooding the main pit’.

Similarly, its Youga prospect’s output dropped by 6%, to 14,619 ounces. It said a degree of this drop owed to a security issue which ‘hampered mining fleet availability’.

Company CEO Serhan Umurhan added “Following the transition to contractor mining at New Liberty and Youga earlier this year, both mines have experienced operational issues that adversely affected our mining rates and gold production performance in the Quarter.”

“However, I am confident that operational performance will improve at both mines during Q4, with the end of the wet season allowing New Liberty to materially enhance productivity in the near term despite the recent pit-wall failure. Meanwhile, an additional 15 trucks, 6 excavators, a rock drill and further auxiliary equipment will be available at Youga later this week at the mining contractors cost, and we expect that this will result in an uplift in production during Q4.”

“Given a number of operational uncertainties our full year production guidance remains under review. The Company intends to provide updated guidance once operational performance has stabilised for a sustained period of time.”

Lekoil Ltd (LON:LEK) have updated shareholders on Monday on two new appointments.

LEKOIL is an Africa focused oil and gas exploration and production company with interests in Nigeria and Namibia.

The Company was founded in 2010 by a group of leading professionals with extensive experience in the international upstream oil and gas industry as well as in global fund management and investment banking.

The firm said that it has hired hired Mark Simmonds and Tony Hawkins as non-executive directors with immediate effect.

Additionally, interim Chief Financial Officer Greg Eckersley and Non-Executive Director John van der Welle step down from their respective roles.

Simmonds has a wealth of experience as he served as the as the UK’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office Minister. He was also a member of the UK Parliament as well as a senior adviser to former prime minister David Cameron.

Hawkins is currently chief executive at oil & gas exploration company Columbus Energy Resources PLC (LON:CERP) having previously been Legal and M&A Director there.

He also previously worked as General Counsel & Head of Commercial for oil & gas firm Sterling Energy PLC (LON:SEY).

Eckersly was appointed as interim financial officer in May 2019, will be stepping down from his role as non-executive director upon completion of his term in the finance role. Lekoil said the process to appoint a new chief financial officer is ongoing.

Lekoil Chair Samuel Adegboyega commented: “I would also like to welcome Mark and Tony to the Board and thank both Greg and John for their significant contribution. I know I speak on behalf of the full board when I say that we will miss their contribution to the board function, and we wish them all the best in their future endeavors.”

Lekoil receive approal for loan to fund Ogo Field Drilling

Last week, Lekoil said that it had obtained funding from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund for appraisal drilling and initial development of the Ogo field offshore Nigeria.

The loan was secured against the shares and assets of Lekoil subsidiary Lekoil 310 Ltd, as well as Mayfair Assets & Trust Ltd.

The loan will carry a 3.7% interest rate and has an upfront fee of 2.8%, and the firm will have to ensure that it meets numerous criteria to remain in good standing.

Chief Executive Lekan Akinyanmi pledged his entire 39.1 million holding of Lekoil shares as part of the facility’s security package.

He will receive a fee of $1.8 million offset against a $1.7 million loan that was made to him in December 2014.

“Following the recent achievements of the OPL 310 license extension and the securing of funding for the appraisal drilling and development programme, we are delighted to have made strong progress, as promised, towards the start of the appraisal drilling programme on Ogo. We will continue to work closely with our partner and the Operator of the OPL 310 License, Optimum Petroleum, as we pursue value for our shareholders,” said CEO Akinyanmi.

Open Oprhan PLC (LON:ORPH) have announced their intentions to relist on the London AIM market in an announcement on Monday and also announced an undisclosed merger deal.

The firm said that the decision was made following its merger with clinical development services provider hVIVO PLC (LON:HVO).

Last week, Open Orphan said that the merger deal had been unconditional after the firm received total valid acceptance for 72.5 million shares, which amounted to 87% of hVIVO’s entire issued share capital.

Under the terms of the agreement, hVIVO shareholders will receive 2.47 new Open Orphan shares per hVIVO share. The deal values hVIVO shares at 15.56 pence each, a 34% premium to the clinical development services company’s closing price of 11.62p on December 8, the day before the initial announcement.

In the Monday announcement, it was said that hVIVO will own 45% of the newly formed parternship with Open Orphan taking the other 55%.

Arden Partners (LON: ARDN) will be acting as broker and nominated advisor.

Shareholders were further impressed as Open Orphan announced a three year contract with a German Pharmaceuticals giant, which has built on an existing relationship.

Terms of the deal and financial details are yet to be provided, however Open Orphan remained optimistic saying said the new deal guaranteed “significant annual revenue” with work expected to get underway this month.

“This new contract is further evidence of Open Orphan delivering against one of its key objectives, transforming Venn by transitioning from ad-hoc short-term contracts to long-term contracts with high quality customers thereby delivering secured recurring revenues for the business,” said chief executive Cathal Friel.

“We look forward to delivering the contract and building upon this great partnership with one of the leading companies in the European pharma industry.”

hVIVO deal

In December, the firm announced the tie up deal with hVIVO. Under the terms of the agreement, hVIVO shareholders will receive 2.47 new Open Orphan shares per hVIVO share.

Open Orphan Chief Executive Cathal Friel said: “The merger of Open Orphan and hVIVO is a key milestone in the execution of our strategy to become a larger-scale specialist pharma services business and in complementary segments where specialist skills and know-how command higher margins.

“The merger allows the combined business to maximise shareholder value through delivering cost and revenue synergies across the businesses and one that is better positioned to consistently capture greater market share as part of a properly profitable business with losses confined to the past.”

Shares in Open Orphan trade at 5p on the announcement (+11.34%). 6/1/20 12:24BST.

Serabi Gold PLC (LON:SRB) have seen their shares rise nearly 15% as the firm gave an impressive update to the market on Monday.

Serabi Gold plc is a gold exploration and production company involved in the evaluation and development of gold deposits in Brazil.

On Monday, the firm said that diamond drilling at the Sao Chico orebody in its Palito project in Brazil “significantly” extended the resource beyond the current mine limits.

Serabi have begun a 9,600 metro step out diamond drill operational program, in the last quarter of 2019, testing the east and west continuity of the Sao Chico orebody.

Serabi added that key intercepts to the west include 21.03 grammes per tonne and 15.39 tonnes per gramme. To the east, intercepts include 16.61 grammes per tonne and 27.35 grammes per tonne.

Chief Executive Mike Hodgson praises Serabi

Chief Executive Mike Hodgson said: “This is clearly excellent news for the company. We are embarking on an aggressive surface and underground drilling programme mostly focusing in and around the Sao Chico orebody to assess its long-term potential. We have always seen the strong potential in and around Sao Chico and exploration success here is key to our next expansion plans should they be justified.”

“Our initial plan is to drill over an area, beyond the current mine workings, of up to 300 metres to the east, 500 metres to the west, and approximately 250 metres at depth,” Hodgson continued.

He added: “The company has completed approximately 20% of the planned programmes, which are expected to be concluded by the end of June. Our objective is that the drill programme will provide enough new information to allow us to commission the preparation of an updated geological resource and mineral reserve for the Sao Chico orebody during the third quarter of 2020.”

Hodgson said: “The recent start-up of the reverse circulation drilling into the large terrestrial geophysical anomalies just two kilometres to the west of the Sao Chico orebody is also very exciting. These anomalies, which we originally confirmed in November 2018, are quite spectacular when compared to the equivalent geophysical anomaly that overlies the Sao Chico orebody, which has produced approximately 75,000 ounces of gold to date.”

“In the near term, operations have continued to perform well over the last quarter of 2019, and I was at site in December for the initial testing of our ore sorter. Further calibration work will be undertaken this quarter with the manufacturer at site this month. With the ore sorter being tested during this first quarter, we expect the first quarter’s gold production to be at similar levels to 2019, with the enhanced production impact being realised from the second quarter onwards,” Hodgson added.

Serabi picks up from impressive third quarter

Serabi have continued the flush of good form into 2020, as it ended the year very strongly following a bullish third quarter update.

In the three months up to September, the gold producer confirmed 10,817 ounces of production. This showed an increase of 26% from 8,101 in the same period last year.

Serabi have publicly expressed their expectations from the final quarter, expecting figures of 40-41,000 ounces of gold reflecting a 10% rise.

In the first quarter of 2019, production tallied at 10,164 ounces whilst the second quarter saw a fall to 9,527.

Mike Hodgson CEO commented “We are delighted to report our third quarter production of 10,187 ounces of gold, which is another excellent performance and as a result the Company is very well placed to exceed 40,000 ounces of gold production for 2019 and significantly improve on the 2018 gold production of 37,108 ounces”

Brazil Miners begin to see potential

Like Serabi Gold, fellow Brazilian operator Jangada Mines (LON:JAN) have seen success in their operations.

In November, Jangada said it identified eight magnetic anomaly targets to follow further exploration operations at Pitombeiras, located in Brazil.

The firm reported that high grade vanadium, titanium and iron was found at the surface which sparked shareholder optimism. This will see pre-drilling exploration concluded by the end of the final quarter of 2019 and a three-month drilling programme to commence in January 2020.

Serabi will continue to develop their operations across 2020, which will give shareholders both excitement and optimism.

This seems like a period of really positive trading for the firm, and if 2020 continues like 2019 ended then shareholders will be thoroughly impressed.

Shares of Serabi received a 13.07% boost on Monday afternoon, trading at 78p. 6/1/20 12:05BST.

Stock Spirits Group PLC (LON:STCK) have received questioning from a private investor over their decision to not pay out a special dividend.

Western Gate Private Investments Ltd have responded to the decision as the firms Annual General Meeting fast approaches.

Western Gate holds a 10% stark in the spirits focused business, requisitioned the resolution. Known as resolution 20, it calls for a €0.1219 per share special dividend to be paid March 20.

Notably, this would be a large ruse that the €0.0631 per share final dividend recommended by the Stock Spirits board.

Stock Spirits declared that under its own articles of association, no dividend declared by shareholders via an ordinary resolution can exceed the amount recommended by its board. Given that Stock Spirits does not recommend the special dividend, an AGM vote in favor of resolution 20 would not compel Stock Spirits to pay.

Stock continued to defend their decision saying that this would limit the firms ability to grow through mergers, acquisitions and organic growth.

Western said that Stock Spirits would not be pausing the special dividend even if shareholders approved it, believing it “shows a total disregard for shareholder rights and is a further red flag to shareholders that the company is run for the board and management rather than for the shareholders themselves”.

According to Western Gate, “there is no economic behind the decision to recommend voting against the resolution” given that Stock Spirits would still have a net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation ratio 20% below the upper level defined by the Stock Spirits board and 33% below the sector average.”

Stock Spirits speak out following an impressive update

“We do not believe that this is the right time, both from an M&A perspective and an organic business perspective. On the latter point, the expected excise duty increases in Poland and Czech from the start of 2020 require us to maintain our financial strength to ensure we can respond to market developments, which we expect will only become fully apparent by May 2020. Payment of a special dividend would place the company at a disadvantage at a particularly sensitive time,” said Stock Spirits.

In December, the firm saw a good year of growth as its successful strategy of premiumisation continues to make progress.

Stock Spirits said said for the financial year ended September 30 its revenue rose 9.2% to €312.4 million from €282.4 million in a comparative period a year ago.

Another impressive figure which caught shareholder interest was that pretax profit had risen 24% from €282.4 million to €312.4 million.

The company increased its annual dividend by 5.1% which would have put the icing on the cake for shareholders, however this does not seem to have satisfied Western Gate.

“While there are challenges in certain areas of our business, notably in managing any impact that might result from the proposed excise tax increases in the Czech Republic and Poland, we remain confident in the strength of our brands, the quality of our people and the viability of our strategy. As a result, we feel well positioned for future success,” the company said.

Stock continues to outperform market

Shareholders of Stock Spirits should be very pleased with the recent update, however pressures from Western Gate have only come about due to the impressive performance.

Stock have managed to outperform competitors such as Fever-Tree (LON:FEVR) who saw their revenues bruised for the full year.

Fever-Tree said that it expects revenue for the full year to lie within the £266 million to £268 million range, which represents a year-on-year growth of 12-13%.

Additionally, the company previously warned in July that the UK had seen a moderation in growth rates for the first half of 2019.

Shares of Stock Spirits trade at 209p (-0.95%). 6/1/20 11:45BST.

Plus500 Ltd (LON:PLUS) have speculated on lower annual earnings on Monday, which has seen shares in red.

Plus500 is an international financial firm providing online trading services in contracts for difference, across more than 2,000 securities and multiple asset classes.

The firm has seen its shares dip 4.9% to 811p on the announcement. 6/1/20 11:20BST.

The firm said that shareholders can expect a substantial drop in earnings and revenue across 2019, following a “period of change within the industry”.

The firm said that its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation is expected to be $190 million, on revenue of $354 million, which will worry shareholders.

This would see the firm drop its earnings by over 62% from 2018, and a 50% fall in revenue.

However, it was not all gloomy news for shareholders as the firm said that it gained a boost in the second half of the year which allowed results to recover, it still seems there is much work to do where competitors such as CMC Markets (LON:CMCX) have seen stability.

Chief Executive Asaf Elimelech said, “We finished the year in good financial and operational shape following a period of change for the industry, which has provided a more certain regulatory outlook for Plus500. I am encouraged by the momentum we have shown in the second half, reflecting continued optimisation of our marketing spend, enhancements to our customer service, and improvements in our proprietary technology platform.”

“Looking to 2020 we are confident of the prospects for the group as we focus on further strengthening our customer offering and market positions”, he added.

Third Quarter seems to have saved Plus500

At the end of October, the firm saw revenue and earnings grow in their third quarter, something which the firm alluded to today.

For the quarter ending September 30th, the online contracts-for-differetnt trading service reported revenue of $110.6 million, showing a 10% climb from the $100.1 million figure posted a year before.

Notably, there was a significant increase from the second quarter results where revenues increased 18% from the $94.1 million figure in Q2.

Chief Executive Asaf Elimech commented on the third quarter, saying: “Underlying operational performance and new customer acquisition metrics remain robust. We are confident we can continue to outperform our peer group in terms of customer acquisition, by maintaining the level of highly targeted marketing investment to exploit market opportunities as they appear, with these new customers expected to provide incremental revenues in due course”

There was also consumer gains, where revenue per user increased 1.6% to $997 from 2018’s third quarter figure of $981 and a bigger increment of 15% from the second quarter’s $866.

EBITDA also increased by 39% year-on-year to $70.1 million whilst Ebitda margin widened to 63% from 50% the year before and 57% in the second quarter.

Where Plus500 seem to have struggled, the second half performance of last year will give shareholders something to hold onto.

Plus500 are set to release their 2019 results on February 12, where they will be scrutinized by shareholders and executives.

Anglo African Oil & Gas PLC (LON:AAOG) have seen their shares crash on Monday, in a speculative update to shareholders.

The firm said that it has agreed a deal with both Riverfort (LON:RGO) and Zenith Energy (LON:ZEN) for two separate financing deals to allow the company to continue operating.

Zenith are set to purchase an 70% stake in Anglo African Oil & Gas’s Congo subsidiary for £1 million under a sale and purchase agreement.

The deal has been put on hold however as Anglo African Oil & Gas shareholders have yet to approve the deal.

Anglo already hold a 56% interest in the Tilapia field in the Republic of the Congo. Once the transaction is complete, Anglo African Oil & Gas will become a cash shell on AIM.

It intends to use the proceeds from the disposal to finance its day-to-day operations and consider potential reverse takeover options.

The firm said that due tot timing, it will not have sufficient cash to allow it to continue as a going concern beyond the start of February.

Anglo African ask Riverfort for guidance

Following the lack of funds and a recent share subscription, Anglo African entered negotiations with Riverfort for a convertible note loan.

However, a deal has not be struck. Riverfort have agreed terms where Anglo will receive an initial tranche of £250,000, if shareholders approve the Zenith deal, and a further £50,000 every month until negotiations over the convertible notes concludes, which leaves shareholders will power.

Zenith has also agreed to advance a £250,000 loan to AAOG to help with its cashflow position. This loan, whilst subject to shareholder approval, is not contingent on the sale of AAOG Congo. The loan is for an initial six month period but may be extended for an additional three months.

Anglo American comments

“When the board entered into the sale and purchase agreement on December 24, the reality facing the company and its shareholders was that AAOG had very limited cash resources, a large debt owing from Societe Nationale des Petroles du Congo with no certainty as to when the debt would be repaid, a significant creditor position both at the plc level and at AAOG Congo, a work programme at Tilapia that was not fully funded and the likelihood of a significant signature bonus attaching to reattribution of the Tilapia Licence which expires in July 2020,” AAOG said.

“The company’s preference had always been to unlock the sums owed by SNPC in order to finance any signature bonus on the licence, regularise the creditor position and initiate the planned work programme. This has not been possible,” AAOG added.

Zenith Chief Executive Andrea Cattaneo added: “We have a bona fide intention to assist AAOG and its shareholders. As announced on December 27, we believe the Tilapia asset has potentially transformational productivity and we look forward to completing the deal in order to begin preparations for drilling activities in TLP-103C as soon as we assume operational control of the asset.”

Shares of Anglo American trade at 0.48p, crashing 16.52% on the announcement. 6/1/20 11:03BST.