logo-loader

Jadestone Energy slides after Australian oil leak

Last updated: 15:40 20 Jun 2022 BST, First published: 10:02 20 Jun 2022 BST

Solid State PLC -

Jadestone Energy PLC (AIM:JSE) tumbled 15% to 80p in Monday’s late deals as the company reported the suspension of operations at the Montara field offshore Australia, after oil was observed on the surface of the sea adjacent to the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel.

A leak was discovered, with a 30mm diameter hole found in the bottom of the tank. The company said it controlled the release of oil and its next step will be to apply a temporary repair, before a further inspection and repair of the tank.

It noted that the released oil is estimated at three to five cubic metres, which was monitored and had fully dispersed by Sunday morning.

Australia’s National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority was notified of the incident immediately and will initiate an onsite inspection of the Montara facilities on Tuesday.

2.39pm: Forward Partners dives after its investments lose value

Forward Partners Group PLC (AIM:FWD) lost around one-sixth of its value at 50p after a trading update.

The investment firm said it has “experienced downward pressure on the valuations at which it holds its investments” since its last trading update at the end of February.

The company said it expects valuations to remain under pressure during the course of the year, driven primarily by changes in the valuation basis where funding rounds have been delayed and by declining share prices of the broader listed peer groups.

While acknowledging there is still significant uncertainty the board now expects to report a mid-to-high twenties percentage point decline in its Ventures portfolio valuation at the half-year, down on the previous market guidance of circa £117mln for 31 December 2021.

1.40pm: CYBA formally appoints Bassi as CEO after reverse takeover

CYBA PLC (LSE:CYBA) slipped 8.1% to 1.7p, apparently merely because it announced a change of name to NARF Industries PLC.

The former cash shell reversed into cybersecurity specialist NARF in March.

Steve Bassi, who is currently a non-executive director of the company and chief executive officer (CEO) of the NARF Industries Group, has been formally appointed as CEO.

Robert Mitchell will remain as executive chair and Rory Heier and John Herring will continue as directors.

12.44pm: Euromoney lifted by bid approach

Euromoney Institutional Investor (LSE:ERM) PLC surged 26% to 1,382p after confirming it is in talks with private equity firms Astorg and Epiris after they made a cash bid of 1,461p per share. 

The FTSE 250-listed publishing and events company said the latest offer from the consortium, which values it at £1.6bn, follows four previous approaches at prices of 1,175p, 1,250p, 1,310p and 1,350p per share.

No adjustment will be made for the payment of the recently proposed interim dividend of 6.1p per share.

As talks with the Euromoney board continue, the consortium has until 5pm on 18 July to make a firm offer or walk away.

11.34am: Kingspan retreats

Kingspan Group PLC (LSE:KGP)’s pre-closed period trading statement was a mixed bag that sent the shares 13% lower to 59.5p.

The company said it expects to report a record first-half trading profit in the region of €415mln, strongly ahead of the €329mln reported for the first half of 2021.

That’s the good news from the insulation firm. Here’s the bad.

“We have seen the mood in most end markets deteriorate over the last two months with order intake volume down significantly on the May and June period in 2021 although ahead versus the same period in 2019. Our global backlog of orders on hand in Insulated Panels is down 2% in volume at the end of May having been 19% ahead at the end of March,” it added.

10.00am: Frasers kicks off small share buyback

Frasers Group PLC (LSE:FRAS) shares headed higher after the retailer announced a £35mln share buyback programme.

The company said the programme will last until its next trading update which is scheduled for 21 July. The trading update will exclude digital retailer Studio Retail Ltd, which the company bought out of administration in February of this year.

Shares in Frasers were up 4.9% at 635.5p in late-morning trading.

9.05am: Solid State to get busy on beehive contract, Uplands lower on return from long suspension

Solid State PLC (AIM:SOLI) nudged 2.3% higher to 1,115p after the components supplier said it had won a bee monitoring contract worth roughly £2.4mln.

That’s bees as in those buzzy insects. The company will supply hardware to be used in beehive monitoring to a US-based client to improve bee health and crop pollination.

The client, a USA-based precision pollination service, has the capacity to rapidly scale up, Solid State said. Its aim is to go from its current 48,000 hives, housing up to 1.5 billion bees, to 300,000 hives during the next eight months.

The smart hives have proven to be extremely successful, increasing yields for 70% of major crops by an average of up to 30%.

Upland Resources (LSE:UPL) PLC returned from suspension 14% lower at 0.24p; the company’s listing has been suspended since 4 January.

The company added that further seismic reprocessing is currently ongoing on the Inner Moray Firth (IMF) licence 2478 in which it has a 32% interest. The technical work presently being carried out work for on IMF 2478 is intended to mature the Dunrobin prospect ahead of a potential drilling decision and or engagement with potential drilling partners.

Upland said it has determined that progression of farm-out efforts for its highly prospective Tunisian licence to be a priority and intends to continue discussions with interested parties, as well as opening discussions with new potential partners. Meanwhile, the company continues in its efforts to secure attractive licences in mature onshore and offshore basins with proven petroleum systems and added that it is pursuing an attractive exploration block in Sarawak.

Caledonia Mining tackles 2023 challenges with optimism for 2024 as it...

Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (AIM:CMCL, NYSE-A:CMCL) chief executive Mark Learmonth tells Proactive's Stephen Gunnion the company faced a challenging 2023, primarily due to poor production in the first half of the year at its core asset, the Blanket Mine in Zimbabwe, and an underperformance...

59 minutes ago