AMEC (LON:AMEC) has completed the acquisition of MACTEC, a US engineering and environmental services company. As previously announced, the cash consideration was US$280 million.
SABMiller (LON:SAB) announced that its subsidiary SABMiller Africa BV has agreed to sell its 20% shareholding in Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) to East African Breweries Limited (EABL), for cash consideration of about US$225 million.
SABMiller International BV has also agreed to terminate a Brewing and Distribution Agreement with KBL, and KBL will cease to distribute SABMiller's brands in Kenya after a short transitional period.
WS Atkins (LON:ATK) has acquired Pöyry's 130 people-strong oil and gas business debt free for a cash consideration of €17.25 million.
Aegis Group (LON:AGS) confirmed that it is in discussions with Ipsos in relation to a potential transaction regarding its market research business Synovate.
Tullow Oil (LON:TLW) has had mixed success with the drill bit in Uganda and Ghana.
This morning it revealed a new oil find in untested waters offshore Ghana, however this ‘wildcat’ discovery is not commercial at this location. Meanwhile in Uganda Tullow has struck oil in two wells.
Ukrainian mining company Ferrexpo (LON:FXPO) upped its production last month of pellets from its own ore by 9.9 percent on the previous month. In May this year the company produced 790,600 pellets opposed to 719,400 in April - a 9.9 percent rise.
SeaEnergy (LON:SEA) said this morning that it is selling its 80.13 per cent stake in the SeaEnergy Renewables Limited windfarms business for £30.7 million to a subsidiary of Spanish oil giant Repsol. The deal with Repsol Nuevas Energias will also see the AIM-listed group recover the £8.1 million invested in the business.
DiamondCorp (LON:DCP, JSE:DMC) announced that a review of development costs at its Lace project South Africa showed very strong economics of the mine, estimating very high margins and revenues.
“The Lace mine has the potential to be a significant cash generator for DiamondCorp with more than 25 years of mine life. At current strong diamond prices, the initial minimum operating margin is expected to be a robust 46 percent, rising to very high levels if the diamond grade improves with depth as forecast in the geological model,” said chief executive of DiamondCorp Paul Loudon.
Churchill Mining (LON:CHL) told investors that its new Indonesian investors have been appointed to the board of directors.
Between them the two Indonesian executives, Mr Rachmat Gobel and Ms Fara Luwia, have subscribed for just over 19 million new shares in the company. The shares were priced at 40 pence each – a 60 percent premium at the time of the agreement – and they represent around 16 percent of the enlarged share capital.
After a tough 2010 Mediterranean Oil & Gas (LON:MOG) will continue to focus on the development of its key Ombrina Mare and Guendalina projects, while it reviews its wider asset base in order to spot opportunities for rationalisation, the firm said today.
Kazakhstan-focused Frontier Mining (LON:FML) says it has appointed Yerlan Aliyev as a non- executive director.
The 42-year-old is one of the principals of Coville Intercorp Ltd - Frontier's largest shareholder, and is a board member of Kazakhstan's JSC Delta Bank.
Patagonia Gold (LON:PGD) reported that drilling at the Monte Leon prospect in the Santa Cruz province of Argentina has intersected wide near surface zones of potentially bulk mineable gold and silver mineralization.
Equatorial Palm Oil (LON:PAL) reported the results for 2010, which saw its successful listing on the AIM market and a US$60 million joint venture agreement with BioPalm. The group said that now it has what it takes to reach its goal of achieving 50,000 hectares of plantations within 10 years.
Shares in Sound Oil (LON:SOU) advanced more than 7 percent in early deals after it began well completion work on the Marciano-1ST well in Italy. The Marciano-1 well was originally drilled in 2007 by Sound’s Italian subsidiary Apennine Energy. Back then it found two thin gas-bearing sand intervals, and the well was cased ready for production.
Eurasia Mining PLC (LON:EUA) says continuing good news flow must deliver capital growth in the future.
The firm, which released its results for the year to 31 December 2010, said the company was continuing this year to assess opportunities in Russia and that it hoped the gold exploration licences applied for in the far east of the country will become available under reasonable terms during 2011.
SocialGO (LON:SGO) – the provider of do-it-yourself social network software – said sales of its software as a service (SaaS) offering continue as expected, with monthly subscriptions and upgrades for the first quarter of 2011 continuing in line with management expectations.
The firm added that the development of Version 2 of the SocialGO product is on course to launch this summer following final testing among users.
Banbury headquartered security firm Westminster Group PLC (LON:WSG) said it has secured distribution rights for OmniPerception facial recognition products in African and Middle East territories through its subsidiary Westminster International.
Oil and gas firm Ithaca Energy Inc (LON:IAE, CVE:IAE) has completed the last well on the Athena field in the UK North Sea, it said.
Development drilling is now over and the project is on track to start in the fourth quarter this year - at around 22,000 barrels of oil per day, approx 5,000 barrels of oil per day net to Ithaca.
Kazakhstan focused explorer Max Petroleum (LON:MXP) has placed the Borkyldakty field on trial production after securing final regulatory approval. The trial production project (TPP), which is valid through March 2013, allows Max to produce the field and drill additional exploration and appraisal wells to obtain necessary data to prepare a full field development plan.
West Africa-focused firm Cluff Gold (LON:CLF, TSE:CFG) confirmed today there has been an illegal labour dispute at its Kalsaka mine in Burkina Faso, which has temporarily halted operations.
The company said it noted media reports and confirmed the dispute.
Shares in Fiji-focused Vatukoula Gold Mines (LON:VGM) rose nearly 4 percent this morning on director dealing. The firm revealed that chief executive David Paxton bought 35,000 shares in the company on June 3 at £1.10 per share, giving a total cost of £38,500 for the transaction.
Speech recognition technology vendor Eckoh (LON:ECK) has won a deal to develop a smartphone application for North Ireland’s largest electricity retailer NIE Energy.
Industrial piping and tubing group Tricorn (LON:TCN) saw its shares ease on profit-taking after it posted robust full year results and cheered investors with a maiden dividend payout. Thanks to strong demand from key markets, notably energy and transporation, pre-tax profits for its year to March jumped 288 percent to £1.1million on revenue ahead 45 percent to £21.8 million.
Landore Resources (LON:LND) is set for a £1.75 million cash boost after it agreed a share subscription. It is issuing 11.6 million shares priced at 15 pence each. The new funds have been earmarked for exploration and drilling work on the B4-8 nickel zone, which is part of the Junior Lake project in Ontario, Canada.
Aureus Mining (LON:AUE, TSE:AUE) has hired plant design engineers, DRA Mineral Projects Ltd, as part of the definitive feasibility study (DFS) on the flagship New Liberty gold project.
Biotech company Silence Therapeutics (LON:SLN) revealed today promising results in studies of its potential treatment for solid tumors - Atu027. Nine of 24 patients treated with it achieved "stable" disease after repeated treatment, said the firm.