Thor Mining (LON: THR) have updated shareholders on Monday about its Bonya project, adjacent to its Molyhill project in Northern Australia.

Shares of Thor Mining are currently trading at 0.25p, and have spiked 9.6% on Monday. 25/11/19 14:25BST.

Thor Mining have been in and out of investor headlines, as the firm reported a new discovery at the start of this month.

Additionally, rival firm Metal Tiger Plc (LON: MTR) announced it had bought shares in Thor Mining buying 22.5 million shares valued at £45,000.

The opportunity for Metal Tiger to buy shares in Thor came after Thor used a share placing plan to raise £510,000 in late October.

The Bonya project is held in joint venture between Arafura Resources Ltd (ASX: ARU), which owns 60%, and Thor, which owns 40% and acts as project manager, with each party contributing to the cost according to their equity.

The mining firm said that eleven holes were drilled at the White Violet deposit, and a further eight holes at Samarkand.

Thor added that the completion of the program would lead to 1,386 meters drilled in total.

Mick Billing, executive chair of Thor Mining, said: “Our consistent objective for drilling at Bonya is to add to the Molyhil area mining inventory, and aim for a minimum life of ten years open pit mining and processing.”

“These results, subject to assay and follow up resource work, area very positive step towards that objective,” Billing added.

There have been updates in the mining sector, and firms have been active amid periods of volatility in shares.

Firms such as Bluejay Mining (LON: JAY) and Amur Minerals (LON: AMC) have also used share placing to raise funds for projects.

Established names such as Hochschild Mining (LON: HOC) have seen their shares crash since Friday after they cut their annual profit expectations.

Certainly, the update provided will please shareholders of Thor Mining. After the full report is published, it will be then deduced as to whether the Bonya operations delivered as Thor expected.

Mitsubishi Corp (TYO: 8058) have purchased Eneco in a deal valuing the Dutch energy firm at 4.1 billion euros.

This is a noteworthy deal for both parties, as Eneco reported that Mitsubishi bears rival bids from Shell (LON: RDSA) and private equity firm (NYSE: KKR).

Shares in Mitsubishi Corp jumped 1.71% on Monday afternoon to 2,889JPY.

Eneco, is a company owned by 44 Dutch municipalities and with a strong focus on renewable energy, said it had been swayed by Mitsubishi’s plans to allow the company to continue its strategy and retain its corporate identity.

There was no surprise that Shell had expressed interest in Eneco, after the global titan purchased wind farm specialist EOLFI as it plans to expand into the renewable energy sector.

Eneco said Mitsubishi’s group had “made the best offer for shareholders and all other stakeholders of Eneco, including employees.”

Misubishi have pledged to invest 1 billion euros in Eneco’s European operations, which mainly reside in Netherlands, Germany and Belgium.

The deal will give Mitsubishi 80% of Eneco and its partner Chubu (TYO: 9502) a 20% stake.

“Eneco fits perfectly with our current energy activities and offers us a platform from which to grow further in the European market,” Mitsubishi Chief Executive Takehiko Kakiuchi said in a statement.

Mitsubishi already owned 400 megawatts (MW) of Dutch offshore wind power and would combine those operations with Eneco, the Dutch company said.

In a highly competitive industry, many of the big firms are looking to diversify into other markets. Shell updated shareholders that they were looking into new acquisitions in the renewable energy sector, after the firm suffered a slip in its profits following poor trading and volatile oil prices. This will come as good news for shareholders of Mitsubishi, and the added fact of beating main rivals to this purchase will make the deal even sweeter. Mitsubishi seem to have given Eneco freedom to continue their operations and keep their identity, which was one of the reasons why Eneco chose the Japanese titan. Certainly, this seems like a shrewd piece of business and could exploit long term benefits if Mitsubishi are able to expand into the renewables market.

Personal Assets Trust PLC (LON: PNL) have updated shareholders with a cautious view, as they tread carefully in what that the firm described as a ‘benign’ first half of its financial year.

Net asset value per share over the six months to October 31 was £415.16, rose 2.5% from the figure recorded at the end of April.

This compares to a 1.8% fall for the FTSE All-Share Index over the same time.

PAT’s investment income rose 34% to £12.1 million, with pretax profit also rising 34%, to £30.3 million.

“Despite the modest fall in the FTSE, the environment has been relatively supportive amid falling bond yields and a resilient US stock market,” said the investment trust.

The FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed investment fund said that holdings in blue chip stocks drove its performance.

PAT holds investment in many big names, such as Microsoft Inc (NASDAQ: MSFT), Coca Cola HBC AG (LON: CCH), Nestle SA (SWX: NESN) and Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE: PG).

Looking ahead, PAT said: “As regards specific political events such as Brexit, the UK general election or the US 2020 presidential election, short-term tactical decision-making is likely to fail. We try to take account of, and protect against, substantive risks to the portfolio.

“This requires an appreciation and understanding of multifarious political outcomes. However, we spend a much greater part of our time identifying and analysing businesses which should perform well regardless of the wider political and macroeconomic backdrop.”

PAT are not the only firm that have alluded to the tough market conditions which have contributed to the global slump of trading and declining consumer confidence. The UK will wait till the 12th December for the next chapter in the Brexit saga, to find out if there will be any progress made on the tense relationship between Britain and the European Union. Additionally, the ongoing trade war between China and the United States has led to knock on effects for the global economy, and has not been helped by the ongoing crisis in Hong Kong.

Restaurant Group PLC (LON: RTN) have seen their shares crash on Monday, despite a strong performance from subsidiary brand Wagamama.

The Restaurant Group is a leading name in the casual dining market, and boasts a portfolio of over 650 restaurants. The firm owns household names such as Wagamama, Frankie & Benny’s, Chiquito and Brunning & Price.

Shares of the Restaurant Group crashed 5.68% to 137p. 25/11/19 12:43BST.

The FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed firm reported that Wagamama had continued to outperform the market in tough trading conditions, but this did not seem to be enough to suffice shareholder appetite.

Earlier this year, the Restaurant Group announced the acquisition of Wagamama into its group and this had an immediate effect.

It seems that now the Japanese food branch is the leader for the Restaurant Group as other brands slip from tough retail conditions.

The deal cost the Restaurant Group £357 million to acquire Wagamama, and after skepticism from shareholders the deal was finalized earlier this year.

Including Wagamama’s debt, the deal had an enterprise value £559 million, and Restaurant Group used a £315 million rights issue and a £220 million bank loan for the acquisition.

Wagamama reported strong second quarter gains, as revenues rose 11% year-on-year to GBP93.5 million, with like-for-like revenue growth coming in at 6.3%. Restaurant Group’s own financial year aligns with the calendar year.

Overall, the brand delivered a 5.1% outperformance of the UK market, the company said, and has consistently outperformed over the past five years.

Wagamama Chief Executive Emma Woods said: “Great businesses are built from dedicated people, a commitment to always be on the side of their customers and a galvanising sense of purpose.

“Wagamama has always followed this model, and I am thrilled to say has delivered another quarter of strong outperformance versus the market with a number of record restaurant sales weeks.

“We look forward to 2020, and whilst we don’t expect to be immune to the various headwinds facing our industry, we will stay true to our positive culture and growth mindset,” Woods continued.

The food and drink market has seen mixed results and shares have fluctuated across tough trading conditions.

Established names such as J D Wetherspoon plc (LON: JDW) have seen their shares rally after a period of strong trading.

The performance has not been quite matched by rivals such as Greene King (LON: GNK) and Whitbread (LON: WTB) have been hit headlines of slowing business and takeover bids.

Additionally, Slug and Lettuce owner Stonegate agreed to buy Ei Group (LON: EIG) for £1.27 billion which may give the Restaurant Group further competition.

Despite the strong performance of Wagamama, it seems that the other chains are living off the back of Wagamama success.

Seniority will have to address this issue as shareholders do not seem fully appeased following the stock price crash this morning.

TSB Bank have announced a new overhaul strategy which centralizes cutting costs and changing strategy following a mixed period of trading across financial 2019.

TSB Bank are owned by Banco de Sabadell (BME: SAB) and have seen a tough year involving an investigation into an IT crash which happened in 2018.

Banco de Sabadell bought TSB in 2015 for £1.7 billion as the Spanish bank looked to make gains in the British market.

The British bank have confirmed that they will close 82 branches next year, which forms 15% of their total branches.

The bank announced a change of strategy and plan to save £100 million in savings by 2022.

On Monday, TSB announced their medium term strategy for 2019-22 saying that the savings would help improve its cost-to-income ratio by 15 percentage points by the end of the plan and that restructuring charges will amount to £180 million pounds.

TSB said it was aiming for a profit after tax of £130-140 million by 2022, from a current breakeven position.

The bank, which will invest £120 million to transform its online channels, expects three quarters of its clients to be digitally active over the next three years.

Ian Gordon at Investec (LON: INVP) said: “Aside from the IT fiasco, it has since faced the challenges of lower-for-even-longer interest rates; a headwind for all UK domestic banks, but a particularly acute one for smaller, sub-scale banks.” He added: “It is hard to make the case for TSB as an independent force in UK banking.”

Today TSB said “customer journeys will be transformed” by “digital-led propositions”. Head-office functions will be “streamlined”.

TSB did not update the market on potential job losses, and employees await a full explanation about the certainty of their occupations.

The global banking industry seems to be in decline, and the strategy by TSB follows a change in plan to turnaround business.

Competitors such as HSBC (LON: HSBA) and Lloyd’s (LON: LLOY) have seen their shares fall after tough trading periods.

Additionally, the crisis at Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK) continues to unfold as the firm reported a third quarter loss.