UK General Election Live Updates

Ishen Patel
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12
UK General Election Live Updates

00:33BST – Former Speaker of the House John Bercow has said that the initial results have been disastrous for Labour.

00:29BST – Swindon North are announcing their results. Justin Tomlinson (CON) wins the seat with 32,584 votes.

00:24BST – Labour have held Middlesborough, Labour 5 Conservatives 1.

00:07BST – The Shadow Chancellor has said it will be “really disappointing” if the exit poll is accurate.

00:06BST – Sunderland Central. Julie Elliot (LAB) wins the seat with 18,336 votes.

00:04BST – Newcastle East are declaring their results.

11:54BST – Liberal Democrat candidate Christine Jardine has said that the poll results in Scotland are “very surprizing”. 11:48BST – Swindon North are expected to announce their results shortly. 11:46BST – Twitter have responded to the Blyth Valley results. 11:41BST – The full results for Blyth Valley are listed below: https://twitter.com/Conservatives/status/1205248699934347264 11:33BST – Conservatives win Blyth Valley, a swing seat that changed hands. The first of what could be a few seats that the Conservatives take from Labour 11:31BST – Labour heading for Number 10 as it stands, Labour 2 Conservative 0   11:30BST – Houghton & Sunderland South are the second seat. Bridget Phillipson wins the seat as a Labour representative. Updates on the British Pound: 11:26BST – The first seat has been announced for the 2019 Election. Newcastle upon Tyne Central. LD 2,709, Brexit Party 2,542, Labour 21,568, Conservative 9,290, Green 1,365. Chi Onwurah wins the first seat of 2019. 11:21BST – An exit poll carried out by Ipsos Mori has predicted that the Conservative Party will win the election with 368 seats, with a majority of 86 seats in the Commons. 11:19BST – Don Valley could fall in Conservative Hands of Nick Fletcher, another swing seat which has taken by the Tories. 11:16BST – It appears that the Liberal Democrats will need to think about the prospect of a new party leader. Did Jo Swinson ever really attach to voters? Apparently not. 11:13BST – Football fans giving their piece – it seems that some fans are more worried about their team’s Premier League fixtures on Saturday rather than the daunting nature of the exit polls. https://twitter.com/arlowhite/status/1205263972171231232 11:04BST – If Corbyn were to depart, John Mcdonnell has flirted with the prospect of taking over as an interim leader, however he has just said he has no intentions of running as permanent leader. The decision by Mcdonnell may come at a cost for Labour, a very credible candidate with a wealth of experience. Former Spurs player Jamie O’Hara had his say on Twitter. Jamie now plays for Billericay Town in Essex for keen fans. https://twitter.com/Mrjamieohara1/status/1205260402235465728 10:55BST – Navigating an election in the system of Parliamentary democracy is a tricky task, and certainly this election has not filled either voter base with much confidence. 10:53BST – It seems that the hype of the election has crumbled on the exit poll, looking at Twitter and other social media platforms, Labour Party voters have lost all confidence and certainly did not expect such landslide figures in the exit polls. 10:44BST – As rosy as the exit polls do look for the Conservative Party, it is important to remember that this is only based on 144 seats. I feel there are still a few more twists and authorturns which may be seen across the night. 10:40BST – Where does the future of Jeremy Corbyn lie? Who are the options for the next Labour leader? Many questions must be circling Labour party supporters … 10:36BST – If the SNP were to get their allocated 55 seats, could this lead a push for another Scottish Independence Referendum? 10:32BST – Labour results in the exit poll show one of Labour’s worst performances in British Political History. 10:29BST – Boris Johnson has just updated his twitter following. Constituencies remain busy as votes are tallied. 10:22BST – The British Pound has spiked on the announcement. https://twitter.com/GBNReports/status/1205250647270055944 10:20BST – Bolsover expected to be a Tory Seat 10:16BST – Barry Gardiner talking on sky did not really seem surprised as one would expect as a high profile member of the Labour Party – makes voters wonder whether Labour had expected this as polls opened this morning. Interesting exit poll, in an election where no party really built enough trust with a entire group of voters – it seems that Labour have not done enough and have massively disappointed their voter base. 10:10 BST – Sky have just said that the exit polls make boring television, it seems that many did not expect the exit polls to show such a strong Conservative majority Corbyn from the result of the exit poll could go down as one of the worst performing Labour Party Leaders. He said the following: Exit Poll reactions: 10:00 BST – The Exit Poll results show a 368 Conservative Majority, Labour 191, LD 13, Brexit Party 0, SNP 55, Other 22, Green 1. The British media are preparing for a busy night ahead, Alastair Campbell had his say earlier in the day As polls are set to close, the nation prepares for one of the most uncertain elections in years.   Interesting stat for football fans. MEP’s have taken to Twitter to encourage voting in the final few minutes. Former English Rugby player Brian Moore has had his say on the election, seemingly bored of Westminster antics. All 650 seats have been contested in today’s election. The winning line in the 2017 election saw a spread of: 318 Conservative, 202 Labour, SNP 35, Liberal Democrat 12, DUP 10, Other 13. The UK Investor Magazine will give updates on the UK General Election as we hear the results and news.

Dow Jones hits all-time high as Trump declares deal nearly done

Jamie Gordon
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1
Dow Jones hits all-time high as Trump declares deal nearly done
The POTUS with a penchant for Twittering sent markets into a late session frenzy, which was led by the Dow Jones hitting an all-time high. Donald Trump gave indices another glimmer of hope with a Tweet on Thursday afternoon, declaring that a trade deal with China was close at hand. Neither the first, nor likely the last time the President has spoken positively and hoped it would manifest itself in tangible progress – markets were happy to chase any good news they were given during an otherwise dull day. Other notable mentions of course include Christine Lagarde’s first meeting as ECB Chief and uneasiness in the run-up to the UK’s General Election result. On the world stage, however, the limelight was stolen by the good news coming out of the US. The mood generally appears to be: today we’ll rally, tomorrow we’ll worry about how substantive those claims of Sino-US progress end up being. Speaking on today’s market movements, Spreadex Financial Analyst Connor Campbell stated,

“What started as a fairly dull session exploded into action on Thursday, both on the election and trade deal fronts.”

“For the US and European indices the focus was a tweet from Donald Trump stating that Washington is ‘getting VERY close to a BIG DEAL with China’. Interestingly, not only did he say that ‘they want it’ – a regular refrain from the President – but that ‘so do we!’ On top of this the WSJ reported that US negotiators have offered to cut existing tariffs – Beijing’s major red line – to get the deal done.”

“All this has sparked hopes a ‘phase one’ agreement can be put in place before the US smacks another $156 billion in Chinese goods with tariffs on Sunday. Or, if not a signed off deal itself, then at the very least a delay to that long-scheduled hike in order to give time for the i’s to be dotted and the t’s to be crossed.”

“Investors got a bit giddy following the tweet, swiftly pivoting their attentions away from Christine Lagarde’s first meeting as ECB chief to pour into the Western indices. The Dow Jones shot up by 300 points, rocketing back to 28200 to hit a fresh all-time high. The DAX and CAC climbed around 1% apiece, with the FTSE once again passing 7300 thanks to a 90 point increase.”

“With the Telegraph’s final poll suggesting the Tory lead has shrunk to just 5 points, putting the result of the election in potential hung parliament territory, the pound had a notable wobble. Against the dollar it fell half a percent, cable returning all of yesterday’s Fed-inspired gains; against the euro, meanwhile, a 0.3% drop took sterling back to €1.182”

Elsewhere, in company news, Superdry (LON: SDRY) said it was happy with its progress despite making a loss, Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL: 2222) touches a $2 trillion valuation and Sainsbury’s (LON: SBRY) needs bids on its £1.9 billion mortgage book.

Active Energy updates on Lumberton operations

Ishen Patel
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2
Active Energy updates on Lumberton operations

UPDATE:

Active Energy have said that t has started commercial lumber production at its forest-to-energy plant in Lumberton, North Carolina, US. “We are delighted that lumber related activities including the sawmill and wood processing operations have commenced; these are already generating revenues for AEG,” said Chief Executive Michael Rowan. “These activities complement the business activities relating to our CoalSwitch and biomass operations, including accessing feedstock for CoalSwitch from wood residues and waste materials and accessing future customers of CoalSwitch and black pellet fuels for AEG,” he continued. Rowan added: “We expect these lumber operations to scale up during the first half of 2020, bringing online more operational capability, including operating a double shift each day; I look forward to providing further updates regarding the expected economic benefits to AEG in due course.”

Active Energy Group (LON: AEG) plc is a London listed renewable energy company focused on traditional and second generation biomass products that have the potential to transform the traditional coal fired-power industry and develop an international forestry management business.

Shares of Active Energy spiked 8.84% to 0.48p. 11/12/19 12:36BST.

Last week, Active saw their shares surge over 30% as the firm saw progress in their Canadian operations. The firm agreed terms for the issuance of its first CoalSwitch licence agreement to RMD Environmentals.

RMS is a Canada-based forestry management and environmental engineering and consultancy business.

Today, the firm updated shareholders saying that e North Carolina Department of Environment & Natural Resources is continuing to review its application to begin commercial production at its coalswitch plant in Lumberton, US.

“Once the permits have been awarded, the company will commence construction of the reference plant to produce up to 5 tonnes per hour CoalSwitch,” Active said.

While the company awaits approval, Active said it is continuing to work on plans to construct and produce facilities for larger production at the Lumberton plant following its licence agreement with Canadian forestry firm RMD Environmentals Inc.

Under the deal, RMD will develop and manage projects using wood fibre fuel product Coalswitch in British Columbia and Alberta.

Chief Executive Michael Rowan said: “Having submitted all the relevant documentation, we are positioned to commence construction of the initial 5 tonnes per hour CoalSwitch reference plant at Lumberton once we receive the final permits. In the meantime, we’re making good progress across the business, looking to utilise the Lumberton site for complementary lumber activities and planning for the scale up to the 50 tonnes per hour CoalSwitch facility.”

In the renewables sector, yesterday saw a busy day and a few trading updates. British investment trust The Renewables Infrastructure Group announced on Tuesday that it had exchanged contracts to acquire a stake in an offshore wind project in the German North Sea.

The deal gives TRIG a c.36% equity interest in the Merkur Offshore project, which is a 396MW operational offshore wind farm.

Additionally, Renewables asset investor Greencoat Renewables PLC announced yesterday that it had exceeded expectations with an impressive sum raised in its share placing.

The firm said it had raised €125 million in a materially oversubscribed placing. Conditional on shareholder approval at the Group’s EGM, 110,619,469 Placing Shares will be issued at a price of €1.13 per unit.

Certainly, Active Energy shareholders and board will hope that the pause isn’t for too long, and the industry moves swiftly day by day.

However, shareholders should remain optimistic as the firm can expect long term benefits once clearance has been reached.

UK regulators flag up Amazon Deliveroo merger concerns

Ishen Patel
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4
UK regulators flag up Amazon Deliveroo merger concerns

As Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) fight competition regulators to try and get a merger deal done with Deliveroo, this morning UK regulators have expressed concerns over the deal.

On Wednesday, a UK watchdog said Amazons’ investment in Deliveroo raises serious competition concerns”.

Amazon have recently expanded their range of services to be come one of the global dominating names. The firm has its own food services through Prime, Prime Now and Whole foods was named as Deliveroo’s largest investor back in May in a fundraiser.

Deliveroo also faced donations from T Rowe Price (NASDAQ: TROW), Fidelity (NYSE: FIS) and Greenoaks Capital, however Amazon came up trumps as the biggest donator.

Additionally, Amazon have started streaming Premier league football as shown last week, expanding their influence into the sports broadcasting market.

In October, the rumors of the merger deal hit headlines when it was announced that the CMA would be investigating the deal.

When the CMA announces their intentions to investigate, Amazon said the following. “We believe this minority investment will enable Deliveroo to expand its services, benefiting consumers through increased choice and creating new jobs as more restaurants gain access to the service.”

Today, there has been an update which has concerned UK regulators and watchdogs. Deliveroo makes global sales of £500 million, with operations in over 100 UK towns and cities.

The CMA said that the merger could lead to Amazon opting to not re-enter the food delivery business in the UK, which would lessen competition,

“Although Amazon closed its Amazon Restaurants business, the CMA believes evidence uncovered in Amazon’s internal business documents shows a strong, continued interest in this sector and a material likelihood that Amazon would look to re-enter,” the regulator explained.

“Given the limited number of existing suppliers, the CMA found that the potential re-entry by a supplier such as Amazon would significantly increase competition in online restaurant food delivery in the UK.”

CMA Executive Director Andrea Gomes da Silva said: “There are relatively few players in these markets, so we’re concerned that Amazon having this kind of influence over Deliveroo could dampen the emerging competition between the two businesses.

“If the deal were to proceed in its current form, there’s a real risk that it could leave customers, restaurants and grocers facing higher prices and lower quality services as these markets develop. This is because the significant competition which could otherwise exist between Amazon and Deliveroo would be reduced.”

Amid the ongoing merger deals flirting with news headlines, rival Just Eat (LON: JE) have hit news as an ongoing deal continues to develop.

Just Eat have been at the centre of an ongoing battle between Prosus and Takeaway.com NV.

On Monday, it was reported that Just Eat said that they are reviewing the increased offer from Prosus and are advising shareholders to hold off from accepting the proposition.

TUI announce new dividend payout policy

Ishen Patel
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0
TUI announce new dividend payout policy

TUI AG (LON: TUI) have reported a resilient performance in their recently completed financial year, amid “challenging” market conditions.

TUI have seen a good year of trading, and in October the firm revealed its new routes for 2020. New flights from Glasgow Airport have gone on sale with Bodrum Flights operating on Mondays and Fuerteventura on Sundays.

TUI expanded the length for inclusive holidays, by now offering 10 or 11 day packages to eight destinations including Orlando, Antalya and Zakynthos.

TUI have been quick to respond after the demise of Thomas Cook, only a few weeks ago. This move looks to fill the void made by Thomas Cook in oder to establish market dominance.

The travel company said its pretax earnings for the year to the end of September fell 28% to €691 million from €966 million a year earlier, despite revenue growing by 2.5% to €18.93 billion from €18.47 billion. On a constant currency basis, revenue rose by 2.7%.

TUI explained that its earnings were bruised by €293 million cost from the grounding of the Boeing (NYSE: BA) 737 MAX aircraft.

The firm said it has delivered results in line with expectations and results a year ago, which was driven by strong growth in its Holiday Experiences businesses.

The FTSE100 listed firm declared its annual payout of €0.54 per share, which slipped from €0.72 a year ago, which may concern shareholders.

TUI also updated shareholders on changes to its payout policy for dividends, in effect from 2021.

The firm said the new policy is expelled to result in lower payouts, but shareholders will be guaranteed a minimum distribution irrespective of the market environment of the tourism industry.

TUI intends to pay a core dividend payout of between 30% and 40% of the its underlying EAT, with a guaranteed minimum payout of €0.35 per share a year.

Forecasting for the future the firm expects underlying earnings before interest and taxes for current financial 2020 in the range of between €950 million to €1.05 billion.

“This coming year will see us focus on driving competitiveness in Markets & Airlines, asset-right expansion of our Holiday Experiences business, and building reach and scale through our digital platforms in new markets and Destination Experiences, to enlarge TUI’s ecosystem,” the company said in its statement Wednesday.

Certainly, shareholders of TUI should not be worried for the future.

The travel and airline industry has been very volatile over the last few months. It seems that some firms such as Fastjet are struggling to stay afloat in an ever increasingly tough operating market.

Shares in TUI currently trade at 940p (-0.21%). 11/12/19 12:19BST.

Savannah shares spike for the second time in a fortnight

Ishen Patel
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0
Savannah shares spike for the second time in a fortnight

Savannah Resources PLC (LON: SAV) have seen their shares spike on Wednesday after the firm won a new mining licence in Mozambique.

Savannah Resources Plc is a multi-commodity development company focused on building cash generative and profitable mining operations. The firm has operations in Portugal, Oman and Mozambique.

Shares in Savannah Resources spiked 3.82% to 2p on the announcement. 11/12/19 12:01BST.

Last week, Savannah saw their shares in green as they announced progress in their Mozambique operations.

The firm said the minister of Mineral Resources & Energy has issued Mining Licence 9735C to its subsidiary Matilda Minerals Lda. The licence covers 11,948 hectares. It is valid to April 2044 and includes a 25-year extension option.

Notably, company operates the Mutamba project in a joint venture with FTSE100 listed Rio Tinto (LON: RIO).

Rio Tinto saw their shares spike at the end of November following a pledge to take part and underwrite a fundraise by invest Energy Resources of Australia.

Today, Savannah have said that they have won a new mining licence award for the Mutamba mineral sands project in Mozambique.

The 16,126 hectare licence is valid until May 2044, with the possibility of an extension for another 25 years, said Savannah. The first mining concession award at Mutamba was announced on Monday by Savannah.

“We are delighted with progress thus far at Mutamba, which we’re developing in partnership with Rio Tinto PLC. We believe this is one of the most attractive undeveloped mineral sands deposits in the world,” said Savannah’s Chief Executive David Archer.

“Having received a second mining licence, we’re now waiting on a third, which has already been conditionally awarded; together, the three concessions contain an indicated and inferred mineral resource of 4.4 billion tonnes of ore at 3.9% total heavy minerals.”

Savannah hold a 20% stake in this project, and this could rise to 35% once a pre-feasibility study is delivering, a process ongoing. If a feasibility study is achieved, Savannah’s stake could go to 51%.

Shareholders of Savannah will be excited on this mornings announcement and should retain optimism for the firm to deliver strong results with the help of Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto, have made an ensured effort to collaborate with other firms in the industry as seen with Savannah.

Last week, Apple Inc said they had bought the first batch of carbon-free aluminum which was supplied by Elyis, a Montreal based firm composing of Alcoa Corp and Rio Tinto.

Faron Pharmaceuticals shares in green on Clevegen trial progress

Ishen Patel
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1
Faron Pharmaceuticals shares in green on Clevegen trial progress

Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON: FARN) have seen their shares in green after the firm gave an update about their Clevegen clinical trial performance.

Faron Pharmaceuticals is clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for medical conditions with significant unmet needs.

Last week, the firm gave shareholders an impressive update entailing the winning of regulatory approval for a cancer medication, which sent shares soaring.

The US Food & Drug Administration approved the IND application for Clevegen, an immunotherapy targeting tumour associated with macrophages in some metastatic or inoperable solid tumours.

Today, the firm has updated the market about the performance of Clevegen in its clinical trial phase.

Some of the cancer types Clevegen could be used in include cutaneous melanoma, hepatobiliary/hepatocellular, pancreatic, ovarian, and colorectal.

“We have always believed Clever-1 to be a master regulator of immunity, but we are very encouraged to find Clevegen can down regulate a range of major inhibitory immune checkpoints, that current immuno-oncology therapies aim to suppress,” said Chief Executive Markku Jalkanen.

“We intend to carry out further analysis of other Matins patients and aim to understand which combination of immuno-oncology therapies would build the optimal host immune activation for various cancer types or individuals. To have one single and safe treatment as early as possible would improve patient outcome,” Jalkanen continued.

“These results indicate Clevegen treatment could potentially allow increased efficacy of other immuno-oncology treatments through the biomarker analysis of patient’s blood cells post Clevegen induced immune activation, finally offering a biological rational to guide combination therapies.”

In the pharmaceuticals industry, the market has been busy. Last week, FTSE100 listed GlaxoSmithKline plc updated the market saying that they had completed submission of a new drug application to the US Food & Drug Administration, seeking approval of fostemsavir.

ViiV Healthcare is majority owned by GSK, with rival firms Pfizer Inc and Shionogi Ltd as a minority shareholders.

Across the last two weeks, shareholders of Faron will be thoroughly impressed. There will be a hope that the solid performance at the end of 2019 can be carried through 2020 so shareholders see good returns and positive trading updates. Shares of Faron Pharmaceuticals trade at 289p, rising 3.21% on the announcement. 11/12/19 11:57BST.

Cora Gold shares jump on Mali update

Ishen Patel
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2
Cora Gold shares jump on Mali update
Cora Gold Ltd (LON: CORA) have seen their shares jump on Wednesday as the firm reported progress on its Mali operations.

Cora Gold is a gold exploration company focused on two world class gold regions in Mali and Senegal in West Africa. Historical exploration has resulted in the highly prospective Sanankoro Gold Discovery, in addition to multiple, high potential, drill ready gold targets within its broader portfolio.

Cora Gold’s primary focus is on further developing Sanankoro in the Yanfolila Gold Belt (southern Mali), which Cora Gold believes has the potential for a standalone mine development.

Shares in Cora Gold Ltd jumped 2.26% to 5p. 11/12/19 11:40BST.

Cora Gold have seen a great few weeks, in July the firm saw its shares bounce after hey announced an extension of high grade gold mineralisation at its Sanankoro Gold Discovery in Southern Mali.

A few weeks after, Cora again pulled it out of the bag as it reported progress at its Selin project at the Sanankoro Gold Discovery in Southern Mali.

Last week, the firm said that it had received a maiden pit constrained mineral resource estimate from independent consultants SRK Consulting UK Ltd for its Sanankoro gold project in southern Mali, which further bettered shares.

Today, Cora have said that they have made progress on their venture at the Sanankoro gold discovery in southern Mali.

Chief Executive Jonathan Forster said: “This is an exciting time at Sanankoro with four rigs now scheduled to operate through to the end of the year. The objective is to selectively step out from a known resource area, as well as access more information on the sulphide potential.

“In parallel, new targets are being subjected to an initial exploration drill programme. The team is doing an excellent job on the ground and we are looking forward to receiving the assay results back in due course and updating shareholders on the results.”

Cora is currently carrying out a 5,000 metre drilling programme at Sanankoro, looking for new sulphide and deep oxide targets as well as to expanding existing targets.

In the mining sector, there have been updates. This morning, coal miner Edenville Energy saw their shares rally on two investors which have said they intend to provided funding for their mining operations.

Eurasia Mining saw their shares rally following progress in their Russian operations. Eurasia reported that it is edging closer to securing the final approval for the Tipil permit, a platinum group metals target located in Russia.

Notably, last week FTSE100 listed Fresnillo saw their shares crash yesterday, after the firm gave a pessimistic annual production estimate.

Election campaigns: the final countdown

Dina Caruso
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0
Election campaigns: the final countdown
Just one day of campaigning remains for parties ahead of tomorrow’s general election. In fact, by the end of the week, the nation’s political outlook just might be a little bit clearer. Parties have taken to social media to campaign ahead of the voting date, to desperately win votes. With just one day to go, let’s take a look at the last minute attempts made by Labour and the Conservatives to win over voters.

Labour

Jeremy Corbyn has an active Twitter feed this morning, taking to the social media platform to share his policies: https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js The Labour Party‏’s Twitter account has also been active this morning: https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js A clever move from Corbyn, the leader of the Labour Party has adopted a classic online “meme” format for his campaigning, targeting younger voters and providing a comedic element:

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Conservatives

It is no surprise that Boris Johnson‏’s Twitter account has also been active this morning with just one more day until the general election. Much like Corbyn, the leader of the Conservative Party has also used comedy in his campaign, using a play on words in the following Tweet: https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js The current Prime Minister went back to emphasising his main tag line in the next Tweet: https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js The Conservative Party’s Twitter account is also sharing the party’s number one priority this election: https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js With just a day to go until the nation casts their votes, the question remains; will this general election provide some form of political clarity for the first time in three years?

Edenville Energy shares rally on investment confidence

Ishen Patel
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2
Edenville Energy shares rally on investment confidence

Edenville Energy PLC (LON: EDL) have seen their shares rally after the firm gave confident expectations on Wednesday morning.

In July, the firm gave the market a very impressive update which alluded to record levels of coal production.

The firm said in July “The coal in this area measures collectively at approximately 20 metres thick and up to 40 metres thick in some areas, which is dense compared to previously mined areas with approximately 3.5 metre thickness.”

Again today, Edenville have seemed to pull it out of the bag which has caught shareholder appetite.

Edenville signed two “significant” coal supply contracts for its flagship project, as it announced today.

Further, the company said a second potential investor has expressed interest in providing funding for the project which sent shares rallying

The two contracts, covering coal from Edenville’s Rukwa project in south-west Tanzania, will see the company supply 6,000 tonnes of washed coal per month to a customer in Rwanda and 3,000 tonnes a month to one in Uganda.

The Rwandan company is Tara Group Ltd which is a part of part of Kitanyoe Group Co Ltd which supplies coal, limestone and other natural resources to the sector.

In Uganda, the firm said they will supply coal to Springwood Capital Ltd who also supply comedies to the market.

At the end of November, Edenville said it needed investment from a partner to keep Rukwa going at acceptable levels, and said at the time it was in “advanced” talks with an investor.

Chief Executive Alastair Muir commented: “I would like to acknowledge the project team’s efforts, and particularly those of former CEO Rufus Short, for their groundwork and efforts in making these contracts possible. The project has a significant advantage being the most northerly coal mine in the region by some 700 kilometres.

“I believe these contracts represent an important first step; now Rukwa has to deliver and assuming the required operational funds are secured we should see the mine and plant delivering as initially planned and our goal of becoming cash flow positive being realised. I look forward to providing our shareholders with further updates in due course.”

In the industry, firms have given mixed updates which have seen shares become volatile.

Fellow coal miner, South32 Ltd have agreed to sell a major South African coal unit for ZAR100 million in an upfront payment deal, as the report outlined.

Elsewhere in the wider industry, Eurasia Mining saw their shares rally following progress in their Russian operations. Eurasia reported that it is edging closer to securing the final approval for the Tipil permit, a platinum group metals target located in Russia.

Notably, last week FTSE100 listed Fresnillo saw their shares crash yesterday, after the firm gave a pessimistic annual production estimate.

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