The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Syncona Ltd - investor in healthcare companies - portfolio company, Autolus Therapeutics PLC to present data at European Hematology Association’s Congress on June 9-12. Data includes positive early safety and efficacy data from AUTO4 in T cell lymphoma, and promising early data in AUTO1/22 programme in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, as well as AUTO1 early safety and efficacy for relapsed/refractory primary central nervous system lymphoma.
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Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd - Turku, Finland-based clinical stage biopharmaceutical company - Will present data on the potential of bexmarilimab in combination with standard of care for blood cancers at the European Hematology Association’s Congress. Bexmarilimab is its wholly-owned novel precision cancer immunotherapy. It targets the Clever-1 receptor, which is associated with tumour-associated macrophages. ‘High Clever-1 expression is associated with poor survival in certain blood cancer patients and bexmarilimab provides a novel treatment approach for these patients, downregulating Clever-1 expression and igniting an effective immune response. We look forward to the imminent start of our hematology cancer clinical trial program to further explore these promising findings,’ says Chief Medical Officer Marie-Louise Fjallskog.
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Verici Dx PLC - Tennessee-based developer of clinical diagnostics for organ transplants - Results blinded, international, multi-centre validation study for Tuteva blood test showed significantly higher Positive Predictive Value for Tuteva than currently available kidney transplant blood tests. ‘The results reflect the wide clinical applicability of the test for comprehensive commercial adoption in a real-world setting,’ Verici says.
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Water Intelligence PLC - London-based leak detection services - Reacquires franchise in central Texas held within American Leak Detection subsidiary for $750,000 cash, building upon acquisition of Forth Worth, Texas franchise in January. ‘The group is executing this regional hub model across the United States with its more than 150 corporate and franchise locations,’ the company says.
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Graft Polymer (UK) PLC - Slovenia-based polymer modification and drug delivery systems -Is granted Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Point certificate for its R&D facility in Slovenia for GraftBio division. ‘The HACCP certificate will allow us to create a strong reputation in the B2C market as a manufacturer of quality and safe food supplements, selling direct to consumers over time - a more lucrative revenue stream,’ says Chief Executive Officer Victor Bolduev.
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React Group PLC - South Derbyshire, England-based cleaning, hygiene and decontamination firm - Completes acquisition of window, gutter and cladding business LaddersFree Ltd for up to £8.5 million. £4.7 million is paid in cash, with £1.0 million in 83.3 million new ordinary shares at 1.2 pence each. Deferred consideration of £1.5 million to be paid in instalments. The acquired company has a ‘consistent track record of organic revenue growth and profitability’, React says, and will broaden its customer base, reducing dependence on reactive and ad hoc work.
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AEX Gold Inc - Greenland-focused gold miner - Acquires mineral exploration licences No. 2020-41 and 2021-11 covering areas in south Greenland from Orano Group for no upfront consideration but a royalty on future production. The acquisition means AEX will be the largest licence holder in region, and the third-largest in Greenland, after Anglo American PLC and Greenfield Exploration. ‘We are excited to be substantially increasing our exposure to strategic metals and rare earth elements across Greenland. Greenland has the potential to become a crucial supplier of these vital minerals to the Western world, and AEX intends to be a key player in this,’ says Chief Executive Officer Eldur Olafsson.
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Puma VCT 12 PLC - venture capital trust managed by Puma Investments - Announces Sunlight Education Nucleus Ltd has been acquired, in which it invested £2.4 million in 2017. Exit represents 3.2 times return on its equity investment.
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Avation PLC - Singapore-based passenger aircraft leasing company - Completes second sale of series of ex-Virgin Australia Airlines ATR72-600s to Aegean Airlines for unspecified amount. Executive Chair Jeff Chatfield says: ‘Avation continues to reduce its few remaining unutilised aircraft in the fleet. We anticipate zero unutilised aircraft by the end of the calendar year 2022. Sales of unutilised aircraft provide capital to rebuild in a post-pandemic recovery phase.’
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Belluscura PLC -London-based medical device developer - Will raise £5 million in accelerated bookbuild via placing of new shares. Proceeds will be used to fund the purchase of raw material inventory and non-recurring costs of manufacturing and engineering, in relation to its manufacturing agreement with InnoMax Medical Technology Ltd. Dowgate Capital Ltd is acting as sole placing agent, bookrunner and broker, with SPARK Advisory Partners Ltd acting as nominated adviser.
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Circle Property PLC - London-based buyer, developer and manager of regional office assets in UK - Has exchanged contracts for the sale of 720 Aztec West in Bristol to Maybrook Properties Ltd. Sale price of £2.5 million is a 77% increase on the valuation of £1.4 million at the end of March last year.
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Clontarf Energy PLC - Dublin-headquartered oil & gas exploration and production company focused on South America and Africa - Updates on drilling for Sasanof-1 exploration well. Says Valaris MS-1 rig is anchored in Dampier outer harbour, scheduled to commence tow to Sasanof-1 location on Monday. The operator Western Gas’ drilling operations dteam are deployed to field and with now onboard MS-1 rig and undertake pre-mobilisation checks. Support vessels started operations on time on Monday. Drilling operations are expected to start on May 24. Has 10% working interest in Sasanof.
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Molten Ventures PLC - London-based venture capital firm focused on technology companies - Says portfolio company Aiven, a Finnish software company, closes externally-led series D funding round, raising $210 million. Valuation of Aiven now $3 billion, a ‘significant uplift on earlier rounds’. Molten holds interest through Earlybird Partnership. Says carrying value of its holding in Aiven will be finalised as part of its final results on June 13.
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Mercia Asset Management PLC - regionally focused specialist asset manager – Says Knowledge-Intensive and annual Enterprise Investment Scheme funds raise total of around £20 million in new capital over past year.
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Kefi Gold & Copper PLC - Cyprus-based gold and copper exploration and development company with projects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia - Says progress in Ethiopia remains on track over past month, and multi-party project financing is developing. Expects to sign umbrella financing agreement this quarter, with full construction to commence from October, at the end of the current wet season. ‘KEFI has been able to pivot onto a much more positive direction since December 2021 due to geopolitics, regulatory changes and exploration results. We now have three advanced projects in two countries that are now overtly pro-development - a more positive and less risky position than KEFI has confronted for many years,’ says Executive Chair Harry Anagnostaras-Adams.
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European Metals Holdings Ltd - mineral exploration and development company focused on Cinovec lithium-tin project in Czech Republic - Accepted to trade on US based OTCQX Best Market, under the codes ‘EMHXY’, ‘ERPNF’ and ‘EMHLF’ from Thursday. ‘Trading on the OTCQX comes at a pivotal time for investors seeking to leverage the transition away from fossil fuels, with the European Union offering significant funding to accelerate change and adoption rates of electric vehicles in the region continuing to climb,’ says Executive Chair Keith Coughlan.
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Future Metals NL - Perth-based platinum exploration company - Reports wide PGM assay results from drillhole samples at 100%-owned Panton PGM Project in northern Western Australia. Highlights include 60.5 metres at 1.24 grams per tonne palladium equivalent from 0 metres. ‘All drill hole results returned to date have confirmed significant intercepts of mineralisation, demonstrating the strong continuity of the Panton orebody along its current 3.5km strike, and the lateral extent of mineralisation sitting outside of the chromite reefs,’ says Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director Jardee Kininmonth. Is targeting new mineral resource estimate release in the coming weeks.
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Destiny Pharma PLC - Brighton-based clinical phase biotechnology company - Says data previously reported for c. difficile infection model study is accepted for presentation at Anaerobe 2022 Conference in Seattle. Data is on the ability of non-toxigenic strain M3 to colonise the gut following antibiotics. ‘The relevance and impact of this study cannot be underestimated as it indicates that the clinical use of fidaxomicin to treat CDI is unlikely to affect the ability of Destiny’s late-stage asset, NTCD-M3, to colonise the gut and prevent recurrence of CDI,’ explains Chief Scientific Officer Bill Love.
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Mattioli Woods PLC - Leicester, England-based asset manager - Says subsidiary Ludlow Wealth Management Group Ltd has acquired Ferguson Financial Management Ltd for an initial £600,000 and potential further consideration of up to £600,000 million dependent on the attainment of performance targets in the year after completion.
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Capital Metals PLC - developing eastern minerals project in Sri Lanka - Says study for project demonstrates ‘exceptional economics’ resulting in a high margin operation, enabling a short payback period. Says the long-term price assumptions used are below current prices suggesting ‘even more attractive economics are feasible’. Further, it says the study does not take into account any potential resource extensions, which would enable the expansion of mine life and throughput, providing even further upside.
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HeiQ PLC - Zurich-based materials developer - Will pay deferred considerations relating to acquisitions of RAS AG and Life Material Technologies Ltd. Will pay €2.6 million to RAS based on its annual performance through ordinary shares of 30 pence each in HeiQ capital. Will pay $2.8 million to Life, settled half in cash and half in new ordinary shares. Total new shares allotted for the transactions are 3.5 million.
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