It has been another busy day for oil and gas companies including TXO (LON:TXO), which emerged among the top risers in London markets after one of its associates moved to acquire assets in East Africa.
Proactive Investors dedicated one of today’s main stories to TXO, which traded at 0.77 pence this afternoon, up 15 percent from Tuesday’s close.
Through a joint venture US-based Empire Energy Corporation is acquiring East African Oil Company which in turn intends to bid on some oil and gas assets within the East African Rift System in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia and Tanzania.
TXO holds a US$1.5 million convertible loan note in Empire Energy which could ultimate provide it with a 19.9 per cent stake in the oil firm.
The new acquisition sees Empire buying a 75 per cent stake in East African Oil Company, which has spent the past four years studying African oil plays.
This included the East African Rift Valley section in Uganda in particular. During that time it spent around US$ $700,000 on geophysical, geological, source rock and basin development studies.
Proactive also covered a note from EnQuest (LON:ENQ) from Goldman Sachs, which said the company could do more deals in the North Sea.
The oil firm announced the acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in the Kraken oil discovery, which is operated by AIM quoted Nautical Petroleum (LON:NPE), on Monday.
It gives EnQuest a stake in an oilfield development project which is expected to be approved in the second half of this year.
Goldman analyst Christophor Jost says the Kraken acquisition highlights EnQuest’s ability to execute deals.
“(We) believe that some capacity remains for further deals to be done, especially if additional debt capacity is obtained,” the analyst added in a note to clients.
Goldman today repeated a ‘buy’ recommendation on the stock as it upgraded its target price from 193 to 198p a share to account for the Kraken transaction and the recent disappointment of the Tudor Rose well.
Jost said that EnQuest’s strong core value and production is especially attractive compared to other stocks followed by the bank.
Another article was dedicated to stem cell specialist ReNeuron (LON:RENE), which today said that its lead CTX neural stem cell line held up well under large-scale manufacturing conditions.
The stress tests were carried out by professor Mike Hoare and his team at University College London.
The results show that the CTX cells retained their morphology and growth characteristics when exposed to the stresses that could be experienced in future large-scale manufacture of the cells for widespread clinical use, ReNeuron said.
Dr John Sinden, the company’s chief scientific officer, added: "These new research results demonstrate the robust nature of ReNeuron's CTX cell line when subjected to manufacturing scale-up stresses and thus the potential of this cell line to form the basis of a cell-based therapeutic product for wide-scale clinical application.
“The ability to utilise ReNeuron's proprietary cell expansion technologies to readily manufacture our cell products at scale has always been a primary element in our product development strategy and one that we believe will pay off for the company when we seek to license our therapies to commercial development partners in due course."
The retail sector also garnered plenty of attention today as more companies including heavyweight Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) reported on the crucial Christmas period.
Sainsbury said this morning that shoppers embraced its Live Well for Less value lines as it recorded its best ever Christmas performance against a weak economic backdrop.
Underlying sales rose 4.8 per cent in the 14 weeks to January 7, or 2.1 per cent excluding fuel.
Festive transactions, meanwhile, were up 1.5 million to 26 million as Sainsbury even managed to grab market share from its rivals.
Its performance was in stark contrast to that of Morrisons (LON:MRW), which posted a 0.7 per cent rise in underlying revenues. However this was over a shorter six week period.
Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencers’ strong food sales reveal a split in the retail sector, with grocers displaying their resilience, while the mainstream clothing, furniture and electrical chains struggle.
Another story covered today’s Christmas sales report from Ultra-trendy fashion retailer Supergroup (LON:SGP). The group grew sales over Christmas as its warehousing problems eased and demand for its Superdry-branded hoodies and T-shirts held up.
Total sales increased by 22% to £79m (2011: £65m) in the nine weeks to 1 January, though this was well below the 42% growth seen in the previous three months.
Retail sales rose by 28% and outweighed a dip on the wholesale side, where sales fell 4% to £13 million. Overall, like-for-like sales rose by 5.8% for the period and by 9.3% in December.
Supergroup, which has more than 70 UK stores and over 100 overseas including franchises issued a profit warning in October after problems with a new warehouse system cost it £8.8 million.
Chief executive Julian Dunkerton said: “We are pleased to report a solid Christmas period when set against the difficult economic climate, our own distribution issues in the autumn and our exceptionally strong Christmas sales last year.
"Overall, our retail business has seen an improving sales trend as our stores became better stocked following the resolution of our warehouse issues and the continued demand for our products and brand. We have also successfully opened one floor of our Regent Street store."