3.355pm: Nostrum boosted by production update
Nostrum Oil & Gas PLC jumped 11% to 8.94p after a third-quarter operational update.
Average daily production after treatment for the first nine months of 2021 totalled 17,532 barrels of oil equivalent (boe) with average daily sales volumes of 15,838 boe per day.
Condensate inventory is not included in the reported sales volumes and as at 30 September 2021 amounted to about 254,000 boe, which is planned to be sold before the end of the year, the independent oil and gas company said.
2.40pm: Panthera higher after share subscription
Panthera Resources PLC (AIM:PAT) has agreed to acquire Metal Mining India Private, the company’s joint venture partner in the Bhukia and Taregaon projects.
Alongside the deal, the junior is also raising GBP780,000 in new money through a share subscription at 10p per share. Subsidiary Indo Gold (IGL) will execute the deal, which sees it take 100% ownership of the projects, giving Panthera a 95% interest.
The market welcomed the news, sending the shares 15% higher to 11.5p.
1.45pm: Harwood opts not to bid for GYG
GYG PLC (AIM:GYG) shares tumbled 8.2% to 61.5p after Harwood Capital said it would not be proceeding with a possible offer for the company.
Harwood said it would continue to support the AIM-listed superyacht services company.
GYG welcomed the announcement and confirmation of Harwood’s continued support and took the opportunity to reveal it does not believe that it will need to seek additional funding from shareholders in the foreseeable future to maintain operations or to meet its obligations.
12.50pm: OTAQ all at sea
OTAQ PLC (LSE:OTAQ), down 20% at 29.5p, was the day’s big loser after it received notice of termination on one of its contracts.
The marine technology outfit said one of its contracted customers making use of OTAQ’s acoustic deterrent devices (ADDs) operating in Scotland, has given the required notice to terminate in accordance with the original terms of the two-year agreement ending in April 2022.
The trial phase of a trial programme in the Moray Firth has now concluded, and the data collected is being processed with an expectation of results before the end of 2021. The board of OTAQ believes that this processed data will support and better inform the EPS (European Protected Species) licensing process required to enable the future operation of ADDs within Scottish waters.
11.50am: NatWest underwhelms
NatWest Group PLC (LSE:NWG) disappointed the market on Friday despite delivering profit figures comfortably ahead of expectations.
The FTSE 100 bank reiterated the outlook guidance provided in its interims but said it no longer expects to achieve the majority of the remaining risk-weighted assets (RWA) reduction towards the medium-term target of GBP20bn this year.
The shares, down 4.4% at 221.2p, were the worst performers on the FTSE 100.
“A lot of attention’s being given to the money put aside to pay for money laundering regulation breaches. Clearly, this kind of issue is unsavoury, and with the PPI scandal only just disappearing in the rear-view mirror, it’s uncomfortably common,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, an equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.
“However, a longer-term problem is lower-yielding loans which have hurt the all-important net-interest margin. Natwest was keen to point out it’s increasing mortgage rates, but the full effect of this won’t show up until full-year results. In the meantime, any updates on interest rate hikes would go down particularly well where Natwest is concerned, which is more exposed to the rate environment than some other banks,” she added.
10.55am; Lamprell directors chip in as company raises funds
Lamprell PLC (LSE:LAM, OTC:LMPRF) pushed ahead by 5.7% (2p) to 37p after it saw strong demand for a share placing at 32p a throw.
The company’s brokers conditionally placed 67.9mln shares, raising GBP21.9mln.
Certain directors of the company subscribed for 445.000 shares (in aggregate) at the discounted placing price.
10.00am: Quantum Blockchain gets cash injection
Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC (AIM:QBT) was 7.8% heavier at 3.45p after it raised GBP350,000 of proceeds as a result of an exercise of warrants.
Some 17.5mln warrants were previously issued to John Story, in connection to a GBP1mln share placing in February. They have been exercised at a price of 2p – compared to the current market price of 3.69p per share.
The company said it will use the cash injection as working capital designated for its research and development programme.
9.05am: Bens Creek higher after contract mining services agreement
Bens Creek Group PLC (AIM:BEN) climbed 17% to 20.5p after it entered into a contract mining services agreement with Mega Highwall Mining (MHW).
MHW will be responsible for the production of Ben Creek’s metallurgical coal reserves for an initial 12 month period. It will deploy a single high-wall miner, which is designed to meet the target sales volumes disclosed in the recently signed off-take agreement between the company and Integrity Coal, as announced on 21 October.
The surplus production of 18,000 tons per month can therefore be sold under any future off-take agreements the company may enter into at prevailing market prices, Bens Creek noted.
Zenith Energy Ltd (ASX:ZEN) rose 6.3% to 1.25p after it announced a significant production uplift from the Robbana-1 well in Tunisia.
A flow rate of 124 barrels of oil per day (BOPD has been achieved. The company expects the production rate to stabilise at about 100 BOPD, representing a 500% increase in production from ROB-1 over the previous daily production rate of 20 BOPD that had been recorded since the last workover performed in 2012.
“We are very pleased with the outcome of our inaugural operational engagement in Tunisia. The workover of ROB-1 has been executed without incident and on budget, enabling the company to increase its daily net cumulative production to a total of approximately 650 BOE/ day [barrels of oil equivalent per day], the highest production rate in the company’s history,” said Andrea Cattaneo, the chief executive officer of Zenith.
