Economic and Market News for 3 March 2021

Oil company Nostra Terra said it was planning to drill a second well with partner Cypress Minerals at the Pine Mills project in East Texas. The well, following one that was put into production in...

Energy consulting company Inspired Energy said it had completed the acquisitions of Businesswise Solutions, and General Energy Management to boost its market share for energy assurance services,...

Meter installer Smart Metering Systems said it had agreed to acquire around 15,000 I&C large power electricity meters for £8.3 million. The assets had an average life of 4.6 years and would...

Materials and textile group HeiQ said it had signed an agreement to acquire 51% of Belgium-based Chrisal N.V., an industrial biotechnology company, for €7.5 million in a cash and shares deal....

Saint-Gobain said it invested €40 million to construct a new plasterboard manufacturing line in its Quinto plant near Zaragoza , Spain. This line will be operational in 2022 and lead to a...

International Personal Finance swung to an annual loss on pandemic-led weakness in its home credit business. For the year ended 31 December 2020, the pre-tax loss was £40.7 million compared with...

Computing and power product manufacturer Solid State said it had acquired electro-mechanical product manufacturer Willow Technologies for up to £9 million. The initial purchase price was £10.0...

Logistics property investor Urban Logistics REIT said it was providing £23.0 million of forward funding for two development sites. Contracts had been exchanged with Wilson Bowden Development,...

Automotive company Cambria Automobiles said the various lockdown and tiering strategies to curb Covid-19 infections through the important plate change month of March, would have a material impact...

Insurance company Beazley said chief executive officer Andrew Horton is set to depart to become the CEO of QBE Insurance in Australia. Adrian Cox has been appointed to replace Horton as CEO...

Insurance company Hiscox swung to an annual loss, driven by the impact of event cancellation and business interruption claims owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. For 2020, the company reported a...

Infrastructure fund JLEN said it had acquired Gigabox South Road, which held the development rights to construct the West Gourdie project, a 50MW lithium-ion battery energy storage plant based in...

Online gambling company 888 said Lord Jonathan Mendelsohn, chair designate, would take up the role of chair on 31st March 2021. Brian Mattingley would remain a member of the board and chair until...

Gambling software group Playtech said it had appointed Brian Mattingley as its chairman. Mattingley was currently chairman of rival gambling group 888 and would take up his new role at Playtech on...

Enterprise software company Micro Focus International said it had signed a commercial agreement with Amazon's web services business. The agreement would see the companies 'accelerate the...

Recruitment company Page booked an 89% slump in annual profit after the pandemic hit job markets. Pre-tax profit for the year through December tumbled to £15.5 million, down from £144.2 million...

Advertising company WPP said it had acquired commerce services group for retailers NN4M, for an undisclosed sum. Edinburgh-based NN4M employed 50 people and worked with brands including...

Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said a US court had ruled in its favour in a legal case against Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Kindeva Drug Delivery, determining that three of the company's patents...