Economic and Market News for 1 February 2021

Power Metal Resources said it is going ahead with exploration on the South Ghanzi project in the Kalahari Copper Belt, Botswana. A combined airborne electromagnetic (AEM) and magnetic geophysics...

Betting technology business Sportech said it has entered into a conditional agreement to sell its Bump Worldwide business to Canadian Bank Note (CBN) for £5.7 million. CBN operates across four key...

Trident Royalties said it received $291,832 from royalty payments during the fourth quarter. The royalty payments were from the iron ore royalty at Koolyanobbing and copper ore at Mimbula....

AstraZeneca has agreed to sell its 26.7% stake in Viela Bio as part of the proposed acquisition of Viela by Dublin-based Horizon Therapeutics. AstraZeneca is expecting to receive cash proceeds and...

Remoted Monitored Systems said production of anti-viral masks had been delayed after two engineers contracted COVID-19. The engineers were from Lemu, the manufacturers of a mask making machine....

Base metal explorer Castillo Copper focused said it had appointed two key service providers to accelerate the next phase of development at the new copper discovery at Big One deposit, within the...

Digital learning and talent management services provider Learning Technologies confirmed it had completed the acquisition of Reflektive after meeting all required conditions. At 9:49am:...

Professional services group Parity said it had won an up to $5 million contract from the Scottish government for broadband infrastructure work. The company said it had been selected as the...

Biotherapeutics and reagents company Avacta said AffyXell Therapeutics, its joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceutical, had closed a series A venture capital investment of $7.3 million to further...

Media and technology business Iconic Labs said Greencastle Capital had issues notices of terminations of the management service agreements with the company following the resignation of key senior...

Battery storage fund Gresham House Energy Storage Fund said it had completed the acquisitions of a 35 megawatt battery project located in North Shields, Tyne and Wear and a 10MW battery project...

Consumer goods company Coca-Cola European Partners confirmed that it had received regulatory approval from the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board to acquire Coca-Cola Amatil. The approval...

Oil company Union Jack Oil said work on the Wressle oilfield development in North Lincolnshire had been completed, with a key well placed on continuous test production. The development was located...

Oil company San Leon Energy said definitive loan documents for the development of the Oza field in Nigeria were being finalized. Well site and drilling location preparation for the Oza-1 well...

Alternative fuel developer Quadrise Fuels International said initial testing of its bioMSAR product confirmed it was viable as a diesel engine fuel. The testing, at Aquafuel Research Ltd's UK test...

Oil and gas company Europa Oil & Gas said oil had started to flow at the Wressle oil field in North Lincolnshire. This followed the safe completion of operations to recomplete the...

Independent financial advisor Frenkel Topping said it had acquired specialist cost law firms A & M Bacon and Partners in Costs for a total of up to £9 million. The acquisitions were firmly...

Oil company Phoenix Global Resources said a bridging facility provided by Mercuria had been upped to $20 million while the companies continued debt restructuring talks. 'The board continues to...

Gold miner Panthera Resources said the planned sale of its Kalaka project in Mali to Moydow had been completed. Panthera had announced a divestment its interests in the Labola gold project in...

Online fashion retailer Asos said it had acquired Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT brands for £265 million. The acquisition of these iconic British brands would help 'accelerate our...

Cloud and IT services provider IDE touted further cost cuts and maintained its outlook on annual performance as second-half revenue and earnings declined compared with the first half of the year,...

Rental property and urban regeneration developer Sigma Capital said its joint venture with EQT Real Estate had appointed Kinleigh Folkard & Hayward. The property services group would assist...

Skin health focused SkinBioTherapeutics said it had increased the size of a food supplement consumer study to 250 participants, up from 200, following a high level of demand. The company and...

Power generation group Drax said it had completed the sale of Drax Generation Enterprise, which held four combined cycle gas turbine power stations, to VPI Generation. Following the sale Drax no...

Touch screen manufacturer Zytronic said it planned return up to around £10 million to shareholders via a share buyback. Zytronic shares were being acquired in a tender offer for 145p each....

Sportswear retailer JD Sports Fashion said it had entered into a conditional agreement to acquire DTLR Villa for $495 million. Based in Baltimore, Maryland, and currently majority owned by BRS...

Digital imaging technology group SDI said subsidiary Monmouth Scientific had acquired Uniform Engineering for £0.35 million. Uniform was a manufacturer of bespoke metal enclosures and housings...

Pharmaceutical services group Open Orphan said it had secured a contract renewal with Carna Biosciences. Carna Biosciences was a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on development of...

Out-of-hospital care group Totally said its Vocare unit had won two 12-month contract extensions worth about £16.8 million combined. Totally said that Vocare would continue to provide integrated...

Video game developer Sumo said it had acquired Poland's PixelAnt Games for an initial £0.25 million, plus potential performance payments. A further amount may be payable, in Sumo shares, depending...

Plumbing company Ferguson said it had completed the sale of Wolseley UK, its plumbing and heating distribution business, to Clayton, Dubilier and Rice. 'The company previously announced its...

B2B information services provider Euromoney Institutional Investor said it had acquired The Jacobsen, a price reporting agency, for $12.3 million. The Jacobsen is provided price assessments and...

Advertising firm S4Capital said its MightyHive business had acquired the assets of Asia Pacific-focused Google marketing platform Datalicious, for an undisclosed sum. The purchase from Equifax...

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said its Covid-19 vaccine, developed in partnership with the University of Oxford, had been granted a conditional marketing authorisation in the European Union....