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EVR's lift from Ally Pally virtual reality deal proves short lived

Last updated: 23:24 15 Aug 2018 AEST, First published: 18:24 15 Aug 2018 AEST

Virtual reality

EVR Holdings LON (LON:EVRH), the creator of virtual reality music content, has announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with Alexandra Palace Trading.

The Ally Pally, as it is colloquially referred to, is an iconic venue in north London that was used by the BBC in its early broadcasts in the mid-thirties.

These days it is used to host an eclectic mix of events, ranging from sport to music.

Users of EVR's MelodyVR platform can already experience a gig performed at the venue back in February by the Chainsmokers and more recorded and live content from the venue will make its way on to MelodyVR in the future.

None of which explains why the shares were down 8.6% at 6.98p, especially as the shares originally rose on the news.

The rot set in between 11 and noon when three fairly sizeable trades went through. People must really not like the Chainsmokers ...

DeepMatter heads higher after announcing three more agreements

DeepMatter (LON:DMTR), the company focused on digitising chemistry, has now entered into agreements with a total of five organisations for its DigitalGlassware Pioneer Programme.

The company had intended to initiate a minimum of five agreements in the whole of 2018, so it is comfortably ahead of schedule.

The shares shot up 7.1% to 3.75p after the company unveiled three new agreements, comprised of one with a research centre in the US and two universities – one in the UK and one in North America.

The company's DigitalGlassware platform collects, stores and processes data generated from chemical experiments and allows access to reproducible chemistry via internet protocols.

Shares in Versarien PLC (LON:VRS) were wanted after the advanced materials engineering group, said Peter Jay, the head of Policy and Governance for Outward Direct Investment at the UK Government's Department for International Trade has joined Versarien on a secondment for a minimum of 12 months.

During this period he will work exclusively for Versarien and will be primarily responsible for overseeing the company's planned People's Republic of China expansion implementation in the role of deputy head of International Strategy and Government Relations.

Versarien's shares rose 4.5p to 121p and have doubled year-to-date.

Hikma hiked after it raises full-year guidance; Debenhams still buoyed by bid speculation

Middle East-focused drugs maker Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC (LON:HIK) was wanted after it raised its full-year guidance on the back of a strong first half.

The generic drugs company said first-half revenue was up 10% on a constant currency basis to US$989mln.

Each of its three business segments achieved revenue and profit growth and full-year guidance for two of them – Injectables and Generics – has been increased.

READ: Hikma Pharma zips higher as it upgrades full-year guidance following strong first half

The group's profit before tax and one-off items rose to US$189mln from US$148mln in the first half of last year.

The shares were up 7.2% at 1,765.5p.

Meanwhile, department stores group Debenhams PLC (LON:DEB) continues to attract buying interest, with many speculators taking a punt on Sports Direct launching a full bid for the company and placing it into a combined entity with House of Fraser.

The shares were up 7.5% at 14.26p, valuing the company at around £163mln – you could buy a half-way decent centre-forward for that.

Dots before the eyes for frustrated Nanoco shareholders

The FTSE 100 may be stuck in concrete but there are some big movements at the small caps end of the market.

Nano-materials outfit Nanoco Group PLC (LON:NANO) was 7.2% lower at 43.6p after a trading update.

The maker of quantum dots – those tiny semi-conductors that can be used in flat-screen displays - announced unaudited revenues of £3.3mln in the year to the end of July, up from £1.3mln the year before.

The company said it continues to make progress in its display initiatives, initially with gaming monitors.

Nanoco's patented CFQD resin is being provided to Wah Hong to convert into a film for a Taiwanese display panel maker. These gaming monitors are on track to launch to the public for the 2018 end of the year holiday season.

The company tapped the market for £8mln in November; cash at the end of July had risen by to £10.7mln from £5.7mln a year earlier.

Moving the other way was IndigoVision Group PLC (LON:IND), the designer and manufacturer of closed-circuit television security systems.

The shares climbed 10% to 114p after Swedish businessman Peter Gyllenhammar AB, the investment vehicle of the former boss of Volvo, increased its stake in the company above 3%.

Shot in the arm for pets group 

Premier Veterinary Group PLC (LON:PVG) has signed a contract with a US operator of more than 140 pet hospitals.

The news sent the company's share price bounding 11% higher to 51p.

The contract will initially introduce Premier Vet's preventative healthcare programme for pets, branded "Premier Pet Care Plan" (PPCP) to 15 of the Customer's companion animal hospitals. At the end of the pilot phase, which is expected to last between three and six months, the contract can be extended to a three-year term with a full roll-out to all of the customer's companion animal hospitals.

The company said the contract is unlike previous co-operation agreements that have been signed with distributors in the US and will see the PPCP launched in all the customer's existing sites over a 12-month period.

Furthermore, the PPCP will be launched in hospitals acquired or opened by the customer in the future throughout the contract period.

The London-listed company said the contract represents a significant opportunity to grow its market share in this key territory.

The top riser in early deals, however, was Feedback PLC (LON:FDBK), which was up 22% at 2.2p after landing its first contract under its partnership deal with imaging giant GE Healthcare.

The end-user will be the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh, India.

Feedback's business development director, Dr Balaji Ganeshan, called the deal an “important milestone”.

“That one of India's leading medical institutions has selected TexRAD against other image analysis candidates is a strong endorsement of our technology," he added.

Other Proactive news headlines:

AIM-listed miner Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) has acquired an indirect 29.41% interest in the Blueberry project, which is host to highly prospective polymetallic mineralisation and sits in a prolific part of western Romania.

Coinsilium Group Limited (AQSE:COIN) has invested US$125,000 in Bundle Network Limited, a company developing an online platform to facilitate trading in cryptocurrency exchanges.

Minds + Machines Group Limited (LON:MMX) said that its ‘.work’ top level domain (gTLD) is the most investment supported new gTLD for start-ups in the current year to date.

NetScientific PLC’s (LON:NSCI) portfolio company, Wanda, has launched its new digital health app Wanda CareLink. The app allows the Wanda Patient Management solution to be used on a wide variety of internet-enabled devices including iOS and Android devices.

Frontier IP Group PLC's (LON:FIPP) portfolio company, The Vaccine Group (TVG), has been awarded a £50,000 grant to develop a vaccine to combat mastitis in cows.

Passenger aircraft leasing group Avation PLC (LON:AVAP) has signed leases with Danish Air Transport for the supply of two new ATR 72-600 aircraft. The leases are for 12 years and Avation will deliver the twin-engine turboprops in September and October this year.

Kibo Energy PLC's (LON:KIBO) has moved outside of its normal sphere of operations to buy a stake in a UK power project company in a deal that could provide a revenue stream for Kibo in the near future.

ECR Minerals PLC (LON:ECR) has told investors it intends to “become more proactive” in Argentina after management visited the country, meeting with the Department of Mining and being presented with multiple new opportunities.

Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (LON:COPL) chief executive Arthur Millholland told investors that the company is “very pleased” with its progress towards securing a vital financing package.

Chaarat Gold Holdings Limited (LON:CGH), the AIM-quoted exploration and development company with assets in the Kyrgyz Republic, announced that Linda Naylor today stepped down as its finance director. As previously announced, the group said Chris Eger is taking on many of her finance responsibilities as CFO.

Bluejay Mining PLC (LON:JAY), the AIM and FSE-listed company with projects in Greenland and Finland, has announced the appointment of Ian Henderson as a non-executive director with immediate effect. The group noted that Henderson has spent over 20 years at JP Morgan during which he ran both the UK Global Financials Fund and the firm's Natural Resources funds.

APQ Global Limited (LON:APQ), the AIM-listed emerging markets growth company announced that as at the close of business on 31 July 2018, its unaudited book value was 109.26 US cents per share, equivalent to 83.29p.

Australian Strategic Materials signs US$600 million LoI

Rowena Smith, CEO and managing director of Australian Strategic Materials Ltd (ASX:ASM, OTC:ASMMF), joins Jonathan Jackson in the Proactive studio to discuss the company’ s Dubbo Project, in Central West New South Wales. This project aims to extract and process critical minerals and rare earth...

10 hours, 52 minutes ago