Economic and Market News for 19 February 2020

Qatar Airways said it had upped its shareholding in British Airways-owner International Consolidated Airlines to 25.1%, from 21.4%. 'Our investment to date has been highly successful and the...

Plumbing and heating products group Ferguson said it had agreed to acquire Chicago-based Columbia Pipe & Supply, for an undisclosed sum. Columbia Pipe & Supply generated revenue of $220m...

Attis Oil and Gas said it was considering selling its 50% interest in the Fort Worth field in Texas after partner APEG Palo Pinto failed to meet its financial obligations. Attis had issued a...

Rare diseases focused Amryt Pharma said it had submitted a draft registration statement for a proposed listing of American Depositary Shares. The shares would represent Amryt ordinary shares on...

UK Oil & Gas said it had commenced operations to shut off an unwanted flow of water into a horizontal well at the Horse Hill oil project near Gatwick Airport south of London. Production...

Mining company Tertiary Minerals narrowed its annual losses after it booked lower exploration writedowns. Pre-tax losses for the year through September amounted to £0.83m, compared to losses of...

The US producer price index rose 0.5% in January, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The market had been expecting a more modest rise of 0.1%. Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

US privately‐owned housing units authorized by building permits in January rose 9.2% to around 1.55m, according to the Census Bureau. The increased beat market expectations for a more modest rise...

Kettle safety controls company Strix said its manufacturing facilities in China had experienced minimal impact from the coronavirus outbreak. The company said its manufacturing operations, located...

Payments and FX company Finablr said it was trying to resolve confusion over the size of key shareholdings in the company by the end of February. There are doubts over the size of investments held...

Software company Micro Focus International launched a $1.44bn debt refinancing and extension of a $500m credit facility. Proceeds of the senior secured term loan offering would be used to...

Specialist finance provider 1pm said it had increased an invoice finance funding facility with NatWest by an additional £5m to £42m. The facility would be used exclusively for the purpose of...

Aircraft leasing company Avation said that two of its existing aircraft had been subleased by Loganair, the UK airline branded as 'Scotland's Airline', and would start flying in the coming weeks....

Altus Strategies said shareholders had approved its plans to consolidate shares and backed La Mancha's C$11.2m investment for a 35.4% stake in the company. 'The directors believe that this...

The UK consumer price index rate was 1.8% in January, according to the Office for National Statistics. That represented an increased from the 1.3% recorded in December and beat market expectations...

Podcast company Audioboom confirmed that it had received initial enquiries from parties interested in buying the company, but was yet to receive a firm offer. The company currently expected its...

Dairy and livestock services provider National Milk Records reported a fall in first-half profit after it was hit by a cyber attack. Pre-tax profit for the six months through December dropped to...

Spirits group Distil warned on profit as the cost associated with a joint venture agreement with British Honey was expected to keep a lid on performance. Under the agreement, both companies would...

Alba Mineral Resources said it had appointed the German graphite experts, ProGraphite, to conduct its next phase of battery testwork at its Amitsoq graphite project, in southern Greenland. This...

Mereo BioPharma said a US healthcare investor had bought a stake in the company for $3m. The investor had bought around 12.3m shares at 18.8p each, a 20% discount to Mereo's closing share price on...

Echo Energy expressed disappointment that testing of its Campo La Mata exploration well in Argentina had returned non-commercial flow rates. Results from testing the lower secondary target of...

Telecom services provider to small business Toople said it had completed its planned acquisition of communications services group DMS. In the year to 30 April 2019, DMS's turnover was £3.1m, with...

Supermarket Income REIT said it had acquired a Sainsbury's store in Hessle from Reassure for £34.0m. The purchase price represented a net initial yield of 5.5%, the company said. The supermarket...

Sensor system provider Transense Technologies said executive chairman David Ford was standing down to take on an executive leadership role at the company. Ford would become chief executive of the...

Remote tracking group Starcom said it had inked an updated supply agreement with US shipping services provider CubeMonk. Starcom had already been working with CubeMonk over the last year to adapt...

Alternative sweetener developer PureCircle said it had secured an additional $8.6m of liquidity from its lenders. The company had also agreed to a full waiver of all previous defaults. The...

Skin health focused SkinBioTherapeutics said it had signed a development agreement with food supplement manufacturer Winclove Probiotics. The pact, conducted through subsidiary AxisBiotix, would...

Marketing software group Pelatro said it had sold more of its product to an existing customer in the telecom sector. Pelatro said the customer had bought two new modules and a bundle of change...

Oil explorer Tower Resources said it planned to start drilling an exploration well offshore Cameroon in June. The company said it was presently preparing drilling plans for the NJOM-3 well,...

Training and security group Pennant International said it had received a statement of intent for a potential major new contract worth up to £5m, for a suite of generic training aids. The statement...

Auto dealer Pendragon said it had appointed Bill Berman as its chief executive, effective immediately. Berman had been serving as interim executive chairman since October, when previous CEO Mark...

Challenger lender Metro Bank said it had appointed Dan Frumkin as its new chief executive officer. Frumkin had been serving as the company's CEO in an interim capacity since 1 January, having...