Economic and Market News for 21 January 2020

Coating technology group Hardide said it had raised £2.5m via a share placing to fund the purchase of replacement and additional modern equipment. New shares in the company were issued at 63p...

Cambria Automobiles said it had acquired an one Aston Martin franchise and a Rolls-Royce cars franchise in Edinburgh from the administrator of Leven Cars for £1.6m. The acquisition included one...

Construction software group Elecosoft said it expected its annual results to be ahead of the prior year and in line with market expectations In a trading update for the year through December, the...

Greatland Gold said it had recorded positive results from an additional two wells drilled at its Firetower project in Tasmania, Australia. The company last year drilled 14 holes, which confirmed...

Jangada Mines said it had started a new 2,500 metres drilling programme at its Pitombeiras vanadium project in Brazil. Drilling would take place for 10 hours per day and was scheduled to be...

Caspian Sunrise said planned to acquire a vessel capable of drilling exploration wells in extremely shallow water for $25m in shares, in a related party transaction. The Caspian Explorer would be...

Egdon Resources said it had agreed to sell 70% stakes in two exploration licences in the North Sea to Royal Dutch Shell. Licences P1929 and P2304 contain the Resolution and Endeavour gas...

Georgian lender TBC Bank said it had obtained a preliminary banking licence in Uzbekistan. The company said the development was an essential step in the process of launching its banking operations...

Syncona said portfolio company Freeline would disclose further data from a trial of a treatment for haemphilia at a key conference in the Netherlands. Freeline's second-phase trial was...

Insurance group Aviva said chairman Adrian Montague would retire in 2020 once a successor had been appointed. Montague noted that when he became chairman in 2015, the board had asked him to serve...

Fashion retailer Joules reported a sharp fall in profit owing to a disappointing Christmas period marred by online stock availability issues and one-off costs. For the 26 weeks ended 24 November,...

Base Resources initial assay results from recent drilling on the Ranobe mineral sands deposit in Madagascar had revealed further high-grade mineralisation. Highlights included 15.7% heavy mineral...

The UK unemployment rate remained steady at 3.8% in the period from September to November, according to the Office for National Statistics, in line with market expectations. Average weekly...

Premier African Minerals said commissioning of grid electrical power had taken place at its RHA tungsten mine in Zimbabwe. Chief executive George Roach said adequate power was now available to...

Oriole Resources said it had extended the licence period for a key gold prospect in Senegal. An exclusive exploration licence for the Dalafin project had exceeded its maximum tenure of nine years,...

Wind sensor technology group Windar Photonics said it had received an order in China for 100 of its WindVision systems. The systems would be added to CNR wind turbines, with installation and...

Housing sector support provider Mears said it expected to report a 16% rise in underlying annual revenue, driven by its acquisition of MPS. The company also said it was at 'an advanced stage' in a...

Dixons Carphone reported flat like-for-like revenue growth over the key Christmas period despite a return to growth in its electricals business as its mobile business continued to decline. For...

Peru focused oil company PetroTal pegged its capital spending program in 2020 at $99m, to be funded with funds generated from operations and existing cash resources. The group said the program...

Training solutions provider Pennant International said it had agreed to acquire Brisbane-based technical documentation software company Absolute Data for up to A$6.5m (£3.44m). Half of the...

Advanced materials engineering group Versarien said it had continued to enter into confidentiality agreements in the US with potential partners. The agreements would examine collaborations and the...

Clinical AI technology group Sensyne Health posted a first-half loss, amid a rise in R&D and administrative spending. Pre-tax losses for the six months through October amounted to £9.9m,...

Advanced materials group Velocity Composites said it had received approval from Boeing to supply structural composite material kits for the aircraft manufacturer's single-isle, narrow-body jet...

BP said chief financial officer Brian Gilvary would retire from his position at the end of June. Gilvary would be succeeded by Murray Auchincloss, currently CFO of BP's upstream segment....

The Renewable Infrastructure Group said it had acquired Blary Hill Energy, with the rights to construct a 35 megawatt wind farm on the Kintyre Peninsula in western Scotland, for an undisclosed...