Rank Group (LON:RNK) shares see a steady rise, ticking up at 9.34% to 147.8p
Shares in the company continue to steadily rise - despite its value remaining well below pre-pandemic levels, the stock has soared by over 60% since the beginning of November.
Shares in the company which operates Mecca Bingo and Grosvenor Casino have seen some recent light relief in recent weeks after the group successfully raised £70 million last month.
The operator said it would use the funds to ‘strengthen the Company’s balance sheet’ and ‘provide ample working capital to operate through this challenging trading environment.’
Shares in the gambling company have shed more than 35% in value since the beginning of August 2020 after the business suffered as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
It said it entered lockdown with ‘significant momentum to revenues and profits driven by its transformation strategy, a tightly controlled cost base and a strong balance sheet.’
The group reported underlying operating profit for 2019/20 of £51.1m which it said reflects the closure of nearly all of its venues businesses from mid-March through to the year end.
Rank expects to rebuild revenues through the year with an increase in footfall expected once social distancing and other supply constraints are reduced and customer confidence returns.
Echo Energy (AIM:ECHO) shares rose 40.37% to 0.605p after inking new contract
The Latin American focused upstream oil and gas firm secured a new contract at a premium to prevailing spot market rates with a key gas customer for four months until end April 2021.
Echo said the timeframe of the contract will be pursuant to which the Company will supply the customer with approximately 1.8 MMscf/d gross (1.3 MMscf/d net to Echo) of natural gas.
In the absence of the new contract these volumes would have been sold to the spot market. The gas price under the contract is a flat $2.00 per mmbtu representing a significant 26% premium to the prevailing local spot price in November 2020, the company told investors.
Echo Energy said it continues to sell gas under a combination of secured contracts of up to a year in duration and spot sales and the result of the new contract is that approximately 60% of daily gas production from Santa Cruz Sur, under current market conditions, will be sold under secured contracts at significant premia to the current spot price during Q1 2021.
FireAngel Safety Technology (AIM:FA.) shares rose 27.91% to 14.5p as positive trading continues
FireAngel, one of Europe's developers and suppliers of home safety products, told investors that it has appointed Jon Kempster to the Board as Interim CFO with immediate effect.
It also noted that positive trading has continued since its last statement last month which stated that October had been its highest revenue month in the year to date by some margin.
This morning, the company noted that group revenues for November had been ‘significantly higher’ than October and up 20 per cent when compared to the same month the prior year.
This was driven by the Company's Trade and Retail sectors with both business divisions delivering revenues in November which were materially higher than any other month this year.
The Group's Trade sector made particularly strong progress, delivering the highest level of monthly revenue for three years. Overall, it said higher sales and improved product mix have driven a recovery in gross margins in Q4 2020 which are now close to pre-lockdown levels.
Physionomics (AIM:PYC) shares jump 25.00% to 6.75p as it secures new partnership
The oncology consultancy has partnered with Tabula Rasa HealthCare® ("TRHC"), a healthcare technology firm advancing the field of medication safety, where it will integrate its own personalised docetaxel model into TRHC's precision dosing solution, DoseMeRx®.
The group highlighted that its personalised dosing models rely only on ‘inexpensive, standard blood tests’ that could help doctors and pharmacists in making decisions about the dose of cancer drugs for individual patients as current drugs can be expensive and not standardised.
It said TRHC's DoseMeRx ‘enables healthcare providers to optimise dosing and streamline operations, reduce adverse drug events, and decrease costs. The unique DoseMeRx platform incorporates Bayesian science to guide the safe and effective dosing of 42 different drugs.’
In a separate announcement, Physionomics said its existing client, Merck KGaA ("Merck"), has committed to an initial tranche of projects for 2021 with an aggregate value of £270,000.
These projects are expected to be completed during the first 6-8 months of the next calendar year and will span several drug targets and treatment types in pre-clinical and clinical settings.
Avon Rubber (LON:AVON) shares fell 14.04% to 3,207.5p following contract delay
Shares in the respiratory equipment manufacturer fell today after it warned investors that approval processes relating to several US contracts previously secured have been delayed.
The company outlined to investors in its statement that, “Disappointingly, these approval processes have been delayed as a result of a failure encountered in First Article Testing.”
It added, “Whilst we remain confident of completing these processes and are working with our customers to expedite the approvals, this initial delay means that first deliveries under these contracts are now expected to commence in the first half of our 2022 financial year.”
Separately, the group said it has been notified that a protest has been made against the U.S. Army Next Generation Integrated Head Protection System sole source contract announced on 24 September 2020. Whilst the delay created by this protest is unwelcome, it said the outcome is not currently expected to have any material impact on expectations for FY21.
Avon said trading continues as expected in 1Q21, ‘with good order intake across its portfolio of life critical personal protection systems for the world's militaries and first responders.'