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Friday's most followed, including Boohoo.com, Sainsburys, Tesco, Magnolia Petroleum and Baobab Resources

Last updated: 20:47 14 Mar 2014 AEDT, First published: 21:47 14 Mar 2014 AEDT

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There were no tears for Boohoo.com (LON:BOO) investors on Friday as it became the latest retailer to float in London - and was one of the most active stocks, with over 117mln shares changing hands.

The shares joined AIM at 50p a pop but quickly raced up to 80p – a rise of 60%. before easing back to 76.5p at the time of writing.

The money will go towards speeding up the online fashion group's expansion programme and distribution facilities, as well as repaying the convertible loan notes held by existing shareholders.

Meanwhile, market news was gaining hits as Footsie dropped for the sixth straight session as Ukraine tensions continue to bite. The blue chip index is down around six points.

After the sector wide supermarket sell-off yesterday, prompted by the slump in profits reported by Morrisons (LON:MRW), notably there were signs of recovery today.

Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) shares topped FTSE100, adding 2.98%, while Tesco (LON:TSCO) was also up - gaining 0.85%.  

There was big corporate news from defence group BAE Systems (LON:BA.) as it emerged the government is to invest a whopping £300 million to redevelop its submarine shipyard in Cumbria. Buildling of the first vessel should begin in September 2016 and create 1,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, one of the most read stock exchange statements was one from rapidly growing US focused oil play Magnolia Petroleum’s (LON:MAGP).

It said underlying profits will be ahead of expectations after a strong trading performance in the year to December.

The onshore US oil and gas group that has 142 wells in total across Oklahoma and North Dakota added that revenues are still on course to grow by 240% year-on-year.

Shares rose over 3.5%.

Also gaining readers on Friday was news from Mozambique focused explorer Baobab Resources (LON:BA.), which has been boosted by a cash injection to the  tune of £3.1mln.

It came from major shareholder Redbird Investments, after it exercised an option over 27mln shares at a premium to the market place.

Redbird, owned by the investment arm of the African Minerals Exploration & Development Fund, now owns 35.4% of Baobab.

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