Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) has signed Sale and Purchase Agreements (SPAs) with CNOOC and Total (NYSE:TOT) to sell a one third interest to each party of the interests Tullow holds in Exploration Areas 1, 2 and 3A in Uganda. Tullow will retain a one third interest. The terms of the transactions include a total cash consideration payable to Tullow of US$2.9 billion.
GlaxoSmithKline (LON:GSK) confirmed that Pronova BioPharma Norge AS, which owns the patents for LOVAZA, has entered into an agreement with Apotex Corp. and Apotex Inc, to settle their patent litigation in the United States related to LOVAZA.
SABMiller (LON:SAB) announced that its subsidiary Bavaria S.A. has established a US$1.325 billion bond and commercial paper programme.
Shares in Dixons (LON:DXNS) slumped 12 per cent in early trade after the electrical retail sounded the earnings alert. The owner of PC World and Currys warned underlying profits for the year to April 30 were now expected at around £85 million and outlined an action plan to deal with the dire trading, including potentially pulling out of Spain and further cost cutting across the group.
Deltex Medical’s (LON:DEMG) lead product, the CardioQ-ODM system, may now be used on 837,000 surgical NHS patients each year in England.
Amphion Innovations PLC (LON:AMP) said its DataTern subsidiary has agreed further licenses involving two US patents and that non executive director James Macaleer will take over as chairman from Richard Morgan as of May 1 2011.
Hambledon Mining’s (LON:HMB) underground drilling programme on the Sekisovskoye gold project in Kazakhstan has yielded some encouraging early results. Eight holes have been drilled for a total of 1,700 metres, which uncovered grades of 4.5 grams per tonne over 33 metres all the way up to 10.75 grams per tonne over an eight metre section.
Firestone Diamonds (LON:FDI) is now very well positioned to become a significant diamond producer in 2011, according to chief executive Tim Wilkes. The company hopes to be producing 1 million carats a year from its two diamond mines, Liqhobong and BK11, by 2014. Next month Firestone plans to sell diamonds from Liqhobong and BK11, 5,000 and 2,200 carats respectively, at Gaborone in Botswana.
Silence Therapeutics (LON:SLN) revealed this morning that two of its scientists have been accepted to present at the world’s foremost cancer conference in the summer.
Aminex (LON:AEX) is anticipating a busy period of drilling in both the United States and in Tanzania. The company is one of several oil firms looking for big discoveries in East Africa. It recently raised US$39 million to fund new drilling which will include the 65 percent owned Nyuni well as well as contribute to the drilling on the joint venture in the onshore Rovuuma basin – alongside Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) and Solo Oil (LON:SOLO).
Xtract Energy PLC (LON:XTR) swung to a net profit of £786,000 in the first half from a loss of £2.2 million a year earlier and said the Luna prospect in Denmark will be drilled in Q3 2011 and Chevron is expected to drill a well on Netherlands Block P2 in Q4.
Ila Group (LON:ILA) said that trading has continued strongly after a successful half year period to the end of 2010, which saw revenues jump nearly fourfold. The outlook for the next six months and beyond is “very positive and the directors remain confident that the business plan can deliver sustained growth in what is a specialist market".
Judges Scientific (LON:JDG) reported a record financial performance in 2010, largely due to a significant contribution from the group’s latest acquisitions.
Intellectual property commercialisation specialist Fusion IP PLC (LON: FIP) said it is making good progress as it reported a 15 percent rise in revenue and portfolio returns to £2.09 million for the first half to January 31 2011. It reduced its operating loss to £414,000 from £1.22 million in the previous first half.
Oxford Advanced Surfaces (LON:OXA) is looking forward to a year of opportunity in 2011, according to chairman Michael Bretherton. In this morning’s full year results statement Bretherton highlighted that the group’s solid balance sheet is sufficient to take its technology through to commercialisation.
Desire Petroleum (LON:DES) has appointed its exploration manager Ken Black as exploration director just a day after spudding a new well on the Ninky prospect in the North Falkland basin.
Plus-listed U.S. Oil and Gas PLC (LON:USOP) said a new study has increased the estimate of recoverable oil for its main asset in Nye County, Nevada. It has also raised US$3.35 million in a placing and is close to securing convertible loan funding for up to US$5.1 million, which together would fully fund its entire upcoming drilling programme.
Europa Oil & Gas (LON:EOG) is planning to increase production from the new WF-9 well at the West Firsby field in Lincolnshire by installing a jet pump that is capapble to operating under higher pressures than the beam pump that has been used in the production test so far.
Regency Mines (LON:RGM) has enjoyed a stellar six months as it registered a sharp improvement in all its performance metrics. Pre-tax profit advanced to to £2.53 million in the six months ended December 31 from £388,000 a year earlier.