Housebuilder Berkeley (BKG) says its pre-tax profit for the year to 30 April will be at the top end of market forecasts. It says the London and South East property market is returning to normal. In contrast, it reports a 16% decline in reservations year-on-year between August 2016 and February 2017. Berkeley’s share price jumps 4.4% to £30.92.
Stockbroker Panmure Gordon (PMR:AIM) has received a 100p cash per share takeover offer from Middle Eastern investor QInvest and Atlas Merchant. The offer is priced at a 68% premium to last night’s closing price. QInvest has held shares in Panmure for the past seven years. The stockbroker’s share price jumps 63.9% to 97.5p on the news.
Tullow Oil (TLW) has announced a $750m rights issue. This will help strengthen its balance sheet but only partially fixes its big debt problem. The oil and gas producer had $4.8bn net debt at the end of 2016. Its share price dips 3.5% to 229p.
Circassia Pharma (CIR) has struck a deal to buy US commercial rights to two products from FTSE 100 drugs giant AstraZeneca (AZN). It will see the latter business become a shareholder in Circassia. The market likes the news, sending its shares up 11.8% to 97.5p.
The private equity backers of The Gym Group (GYM) have finally sold their remaining shares in the leisure business. Phoenix and Bridges Capital offloaded their remaining stock at 175p per share. The shares were sold to institutional investors and represent 30.5% of Gym’s issued share capital. Its market price dips 4% to 177.5p following the announcement.
Henderson High Income Trust (HHI) is to gobble up Threadneedle UK Select Trust (UKT) by way of a merger. Threadneedle says it has struggled to close a large discount to net asset value, so it had to take action by combining forces with another investment trust. Shares in both products rise 1.5% on the news.
Shares in electronics group Laird (LRD) fall 18% to 144p as the price adjusts for a rights issue announced in February.
Marketing technology group Adgorithms (ADGO:AIM) says it has won a ‘significant’ contract with one of the world’s largest nutrition, health and wellness companies. It believes the contract will generate at least $300,000 of annual software-as-a-service fees. The shares leap 19.2% to 19.67p.
Another small cap exciting investors with a major contract win is billing software specialist Cerillion (CER:AIM). It has won a deal worth €2.4m with a wholesale telecoms operator in Europe, helping to push up its share price by 5.1% to 151.9p.
