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Quiz lifted by re-acquisition of its subsidiary's stores

Last updated: 23:51 10 Jun 2020 AEST, First published: 17:48 10 Jun 2020 AEST

Eco Animal Health Group Plc - Eco Animal Health up after swine fever woes are resolved

Quiz PLC (LON:QUIZ) advanced 14% to 7.69p in the early afternoon on the acquisition of its own standalone stores division for £1.3mln.

The occasionwear retailer said its wholly-owned subsidiary Kast has been placed into administration, so the wider group is buying the 82 shops located in the UK and Ireland from the administrators.

Leases for the majority of these stores will be renegotiated over next month, while only 822 of Kast’s 915 employees will be transferred.

12.30pm: Hornby higher on clockwork train 100th anniversary

Hornby PLC (LON:HRN) surged 16% to 37p at noon after proudly reminding the market that, as of June this year, it has been 100 years since Frank Hornby announced the first clockwork tinplate locomotive.

The model train maker said its sales held up well since the lockdown started.

“Over the last century much has happened including world wars, economic crises and of course this terrible global pandemic which hit our shores earlier this year. However, customers derive a great deal of value from our products and stick with us in good times and bad,” it added.

11.20am: Adams zooms on new healthcare software investment

Adams PLC (LON:ADA) zoomed up 127% to 17p in the late morning after announcing it subscribed for 21,630 new shares in software firm Oxehealth for £566,000, with the shares being £26.19 each.

Oxehealth provides vision-based monitoring and management technologies in the healthcare sector, using signal processing and computer vision to process normal digital video camera data to measure the vital signs and activity of patients.

Adams now holds 2.4% of the private company, while the board expects to have remaining cash balances of £240,000 following the investment.

10am: Spectra Systems drops on lost contract

Spectra Systems Corporation (LON:SPSY) dropped 10% to 128.98p later on Wednesday morning after losing a contract with a major Asian central bank.

The machine-readable high speed banknote authentication provider was selected alongside a competitor but the latter was chosen because it was offering a lowerprice.

"Lowering our price below the levels of our bid would have meant either offering an easily defeated counterfeiting technology or drastically lowering our margins, both of which are not in the long term interest of our business and reputation,” said chief executive Nabil Lawandy.

Elsewhere, Gulf Marine Services PLC slipped 9% to 12.5p on news of a debt restructuring to carry on with its business plan through the crisis.

The offshore vessel provider renewed existing term loan facilities totalling US$391mln, set up a new US$50mln facility and increased its financial covenant headroom to have more flexibility.

The firm also announced plans to raise US$75mln to strengthen its balance sheet via a share capital increase.

8.50am: Eco Animal Health up after swine fever woes are resolved

Eco Animal Health Group Plc (LON:EAH) topped the early risers on Wednesday with a 29% jump to 257p after announcing that strong trading seen in the Chinese and US markets in the second half of its last financial year has continued to now.

The AIM-listed firm said headwinds caused by the African Swine Fever outbreak in China and the tensions between Beijing and Washington during the six months to September have resolved thereafter.

The producer of therapies for animals is not recommending a dividend for the year to March 31, 2020, although revenues and underlying earnings (EBITDA) are expected to top forecasts.

In the pharma sector for humans, e-Therapeutics PLC (LON:ETX) rose 3% to 18.05p on the back of an agreement with Belgian life sciences giant Galapagos to study new treatment for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a serious lung disease.

The work, which will lean into ETX’s expertise in network biology and in-silico phenotypic screening, will focus on approaches to modulate one specific mechanism involved in IPF and other fibrotic conditions.

The AIM-listed firm did not provide financial details but said will receive “upfront and near-term payments material to [its] cash position”, while it is also eligible for pre-clinical and clinical development and commercial milestone payments.

Proactive news headlines:

e-therapeutics PLC (LON: ETX.L) is teaming up with Belgian life sciences giant Galapagos to uncover a new means of treating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a serious lung disease with a poor prognosis. The work, which will lean into ETX’s expertise in network biology and in-silico phenotypic screening, will focus on approaches to modulate one specific mechanism involved in IPF and other fibrotic conditions. Financial details were not provided; however, the UK company said it will receive “upfront and near-term payments material to [its] cash position”. It is also eligible for pre-clinical and clinical development and commercial milestone payments.

Ergomed PLC (LON:ERGO) executive chairman, Dr Miroslav Reljanović has told shareholders in advance of Wednesday’s closed annual general meeting that the company, which is focused on providing specialised services to the pharmaceutical industry, “had a good first quarter, with solid overall growth in revenue.” In a statement released ahead of the AGM, Reljanović concluded: “At this time the Company is confident that results will be in line with current market expectations for the 2020 financial year.”

Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) has completed a third financing arrangement with its lender under an umbrella facility, which will see it borrow a further A$1.17mln. The natural resources investor said it has entered a stock lending arrangement under which the lender will be able to borrow up to 289,109 shares in Australian explorer Sandfire Resources (ASX:SFR), while the company also has the right to sell 289,109 Sandfire shares to the lender in three years at 80% of the A$5.05 reference price. The lender also has the right to buy 289,109 Sandfire shares in three years at a premium of 145% to the reference price. Metal Tiger said it will use the proceeds to fund potential investment opportunities, adding that it can also agree with the lender to increase the size of the financing arrangement at later date.

Tower Resources PLC (LON:TRP) has told investors that its projects in Cameroon, South Africa and Namibia remain attractive even amidst crude oil market volatility. Posting its 2019 full-year results, the company noted that Brent crude is now trading at around US$40 per barrel, longer-term pricing (the December 2025 future) is pitched above US$52 per barrel, and there is potential for a tightening of supply in the coming years due to industry-wide cuts in capital investment. Even if prices slide back to US$45 per barrel the company believes its projects are attractive.

DP Poland PLC (LON:DPP) has announced that its annual general meeting will be held at Shafts Farm, West Meon, Hampshire  GU32 1LU on June 26, 2020, at 9.00am. In light of the current coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and related legal and other requirements of governmental authorities, it is required that shareholders do not attend in person but instead appoint the chairman of the meeting as their proxy (either electronically or by post) with their voting instructions. If any shareholder has a question they would like to put to the board relating to the business to be conducted at the AGM, this should be submitted to the chairman via info@dppoland.com.

Adamas Finance Asia Limited (LON:ADAM), the London quoted company focused on providing shareholders with attractive uncorrelated, risk-adjusted returns from a diversified portfolio of pan-Asian investments has said that it will hold its delayed 2019 AGM and 2020 AGM concurrently on August 14, 2020. The company announced on November 14, 2019 that due to the civil unrest in Hong Kong at the end of 2019 it was further postponing the 2019 AGM. Since then, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has presented further issues in convening such a meeting. Given the extenuating circumstances at the end of 2019 and through Q1 of 2020, the group said its board's opinion is that seeking to complete the business for 2019 immediately before the 2020 meeting is the most efficient way forward at this time.

Silence Therapeutics PLC (LON:SLN) a leader in the discovery, delivery, and development of novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of serious diseases with unmet medical need, announced that at its annual general meeting held on Tuesday all resolutions set out in the notice of meeting were duly passed on a poll.

Emmerson PLC (LON:EML), the Moroccan focused potash development company, announced that Align Research has completed a research note on the company. The note covers the world-class potential for its flagship Khemisset Potash Project focusing on the recently released Feasibility Study, confirming its potential to be a low capital cost, high margin mine development and uses comparable analysis to provide context as to the potential of the Project. The full note can be downgraded via the following link: https://www.alignresearch.co.uk/cpt-company/emmerson/ 

APQ Global Limited (LON:APQ) has advised that Parish Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of APQ Global, has replaced Aspida as the investment group’s company secretary and administrator with immediate effect.

genedrive PLC (LON:GDR), the near-patient molecular diagnostics company, has announced that its chief executive officer, David Budd will be presenting at an investor webinar being hosted jointly by Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Ltd and Vox Markets on Friday, June 12, 2020, at 2pm.

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