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Parallel Media mystified as share price doubles

Last updated: 03:14 10 Jan 2017 AEDT, First published: 20:14 09 Jan 2017 AEDT

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“Don’t ask me, guv”, was essentially the gist of the statement from Parallel Media Group plc (LON:PAA), in response to a sharpish price movement.

Shares more than doubled to 34.75p and, possibly with a bit of prodding from the London Stock Exchange, the company put out a statement in response.

On 30 December 2016 the sports promotion and events management company released a statement including the comment that it was reviewing acquisition prospects that would enable PMG in 2017 to confirm opportunities in the live event and entertainment sector.

It is not uncommon for statements put out on the last trading day of the year to get overlooked, and often companies are happy for them to be so, and in this case it seems someone has been doing their homework.

Parallel said it continues to review acquisition prospects but there have been no material developments since its 30 December announcement.

HaloSource Inc (LON:HALO), the clean water technology company, attracted a flood of buyers  after its trading update.

One of its major Chinese customers, Perfect Purification, has now resumed shipments. As the company has 600,000 in-home water purification units installed across the land, this is a big deal for HaloSource, which provides the powered cartridges for the devices.

12.14 ...

Orogen Gold PLC (LON:ORE) lost more than a fifth of its value after it published drilling results from its Silverton gold-silver property in Nevada.

It wasn’t that the drilling did not discover gold mineralisation, but as chief executive Colin Bird explained, “The programme was designed to test for high grade feeder zones and as such we did not identify any new lithology or conditions to support this prognosis”.

The usual analysis of the samples will be done, and the company will continue to pore over historic data, but for now, the company will concentrate on the more advanced Mutsk gold project in Armenia.

Also on the slide in the morning session was SpaceandPeople Plc (LON:SAL), the self-style brand experience specialist.

Shares tumbled 4p to 18p as the company said the key month of December was poorer than expected.

Returning to the gold sector, Keras Resources PLC (LON:KRS) fell 5% on drilling results at its flagship Klondyke gold project in the East Pilbara district of Western Australia.

The market seemed disappointed with the results, but managing director Dave Reeves pointed out that “It is important to note that our drilling tested only 1.4km of the 7.5km trend and that historic drilling did not test the full trend”.

9.14 ...

It would be a stretch to claim that iron ore pellets have become sexy, but Ferrexpo PLC (LON:FXPO) is certainly on a charge.

It was the best performing FTSE 250 stock in 2016, and with an 8.2% rise under its belt this morning, it is probably not far off being the best performer in the mid-cap index this year, either.

Today’s share price surge was sparked by a trading and production update.

“As today’s 4Q16 production update shows, 2016 was a pivotal year for FXPO with iron prices recovering and the pellet premium increasing,” noted Cantor Fitzgerald, as it reiterated its ‘buy’ rating.

“These favourable trading conditions helped the company to meet its debt repayment obligations and build a healthy cash position. 2017 looks set to be another favourable year for the company with a modest increase in production expected as well as a further increase in the pellet price premium,” it added.

The broker has a price target of 166p, some 26p above Ferrexpo’s share price.

In 2017, Ferrexpo expects to benefit from higher pellet premiums while production volumes will continue to reflect better-quality output with total production increasing modestly compared to 2016. Costs remain subject to commodity prices, the Hryvnia exchange rate and inflation levels in Ukraine.

There was a bit of a pregnancy theme going on among the small caps this morning.

Concepta PLC (LON:CPT), the healthcare company, advanced 8% as it achieved ISO13485 accreditation for its myLotus fertility product, due to be launched in the UK and mainland Europe in the second half of this year.

The share price reaction to the announcement from WideCells Group PLC (LON:WDC) was more modest – a 0.9% rise – as it revealed a tie-up with umbilical cord blood sample storage specialist Biovault.

Biovault will market WideCells’ CellPlan stem cell insurance product to its customers.

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