Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) has started drilling on two wells offshore Greenland, embarking on one of the main stages of its 2011 exploration campaign. The AT-7 well in the Atammik block, around 160 kilometres offshore Nuuk in west Greenland and the LF-7 well in the Lady Franklin block 300 kilometres offshore Nuuk, have now both started operating.
Morgan Stanley said it is struggling to see how Tesco (LON:TSCO) can gain any more market share as almost 80 percent of UK consumers already shop there. The American investment bank’s UK research arm has just completed a survey of UK consumer attitudes on food retailers in Britain.
Yesterday’s full year report from ASOS (LON:ASC) caused a mixed reaction from brokers with Citi raising its target price, while UBS slashed the stock’s rating to “sell”.
Broker Ambrian described Sylvania Platinum's (LON:SLP, ASX:SLP) tie-up today with Aquarius Platinum (South Africa) as "great". The company announced it had agreed a deal with the world's fourth largest primary platinum producer, in which the pair will assess mining ore from the Everest North deposit in South Africa's Bushveld complex.
Dragon Oil (LON:DGO) has completed its latest development well in the Caspian Sea, offshore Turkmenistan. The Dzheitune (Lam) B/155 development well – the sixth to be drilled from the B platform – has been completed on a dual production basis.
Tantalum miner Noventa (LON: NVTA,TSX:NTA) will need to raise US$25 million (£15.3 million) to bring the new plant at its Marropino mine in Mozambique into full operation, the company said this morning. Noventa’s shares closed down 61.5 percent yesterday after the firm announced a series of problems at Marropino including the need to invest further in plant at the mine in order to achieve targeted production of 600,000 pounds per annum.
Ariana Resources (LON:AAU) has completed a deal to acquire a number of prospective gold properties in western Turkey from KEFI Minerals. The two AIM-listed firms agreed the initial terms of the deal back in March. The four exploration licences cover two main areas, known as Kizilcukur and Muratdag.
Biopharmaceutical firm Lipoxen (LON:LPX) is looking ahead and says it is confident that its technology platforms - PolyXen in particular - will prove their potential through both clinical and commercial development this year. The AIM-listed company, which uses technologies to discover new therapeutic candidates, released its results for the year to 31 December 2010, in which revenues were up and operating loss was down.
Arian Silver (LON:AGQ, CVE:AGQ) told investors that it has uncovered a series of alleged thefts at the San Jose custom milling plant, which it believes contributed to a short-fall in silver recoveries in the previous quarter.
Afferro Mining (LON:AFF) said its reconnaissance drilling programme on Nkout East in Cameroon had identified high grade iron ore that warrants further investigation. The plan is to assess the potential of this higher grade ore in the surface oxidised cap to see whether it is of sufficient quality to be shipped to clients directly.
UK-focused hydrocarbons explorer EnCore Oil (LON:EO) says it will need to conduct further appraisal drilling in order to understand the potential of the two Channel systems it has found at its Cladhan discovery now that it has completed its initial four-well drill programme.
Falklands operating explorer Desire Petroleum (LON:DES) revealed that several directors have upped their stakes in the company after the company reported positive results of seismic exploration. On Tuesday, Desire reported preliminary results from the recently completed 3D seismic programme, which was carried out alongside Rockhopper Exploration (LON:RKH).
Toy maker Hornby (LON:HRN) has secured a worlwide licence for a range of new Star Wars Scalextric products as it told investors the firm was in 'great shape'. Speaking of the new licence wins, CEO Frank Martin said: "As the films are converted into 3D format by Lucasfilm over the next few years, we anticipate that we will get an encouraging reaction to our new range of speeder bikes and X-wing fighters."
Empyrean Energy (LON:EME) followed up the recent good news that energy giant Marathon Oil Corporation had become its partner at the Sugarloaf Project in southern Texas with an upbeat trading statement today that showed revenue from its US production assets had increased significantly over the past six months.