Glencore Xstrata (XTA) rises 4.1% to 334.5p as it provides a significant amount of information on its future plans to investors in a day-long presentation. The market likes the news of $2 billion of synergies from buying Xstrata earlier this year, significantly ahead of the initial $500 million merger guidance. Also pleasing investors is a bullish stance on commodities in general, saying there is 'sound demand' and a reminder to shareholders that it is committed to returning cash.
Lots of Glencore's coal mining projects are being put on hold due to the low coal price environment. Platinum assets have been deemed non-core but the company doesn't seem in a rush to make a decision on the future of its 24.5% stake in Lonmin (LMI). Xstrata's greenfield projects have been put at the bottom of the pile, deemed low priority. That triggers an 8% drop in Zanaga Iron Ore (ZIOC:AIM) to 26p, which has a joint venture iron ore exploration project with Glencore Xstrata.
Kurdistan oil explorer Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP:AIM) jumps 21% to 227.25p after a judge in London dismissed a claim by US-based Excalibur Ventures that it had the right to 30% of its assets. Shares were suspended earlier on Tuesday pending the judgement.
Whitbread's (WTB) trading updates often show a massive growth in Costa sales versus a small growth in the rest of its business. So news of 'only' 3% like-for-like gains in the 11 weeks to 15 August for Costa, the same as Premier Inn, has clearly worried the market as Whitbread's shares fall 2.6% to £31.31. Even more interesting is that revenue per available room (RevPar), which is the key performance metric in the hotels industry, underperformed the peer group with 2.5% growth against 6.4% respectively.
NetPlay TV (NPT:AIM) rises 1.3% to 19p on a decent set of half-year results. We'll publish a news analysis on the stock later this morning on the Shares website.
Scientific and research tools developer Oxford Instruments (OXIG) falls 6% to £14.20 after flagging slow spending in US and Europe. We'll have more on this on line later, but it's worth pointing out that we flagged possible order delays back in May.
A poor second quarter pushes Amara Mining (AMA:AIM) down 7.7% to 18p. Gold production was lower than expected and therefore costs are way above forecasts.
Mechanical engineer Goodwin (GDWN) cranks up 11.5% to £33 as it reveals a 69% year-on-year increase in pre-tax profit to £6.4 million for its first quarter (to 31 Jul) on revenues up 23.7% to £37.6 million.
Aircraft enginer maker and specialist engineer Rolls-Royce (RR.) ticks up 1.1% to £11.46 on news of a $175 million services and equipment contract relating to a gas pipeline in Kazakhstan. The agreement with Asia Gas Pipeline will see Rolls (which we last looked at in detail here) support the flow of natural gas through Kazakhstan?s Line C gas pipeline, part of the 1,833 kilometre Central Asia-China gas network.
Industrial conveyor belt manufacturer Fenner (FENR) moves up 2.8% to 381.3p as it confirms full-year to 31 August will hit expectations, reiterates confidence in returning to growth in 2014 and flags lower-than-anticipated net debt of £125 million.
North African oil and gas play Circle Oil (COP:AIM) slicks up 4.5% to 20.5p after announcing positive results from a development well on the Al Amir SE field in Egypt. Investors are also likely to have taken some comfort from the implication Circle has been able to operate unfettered by the ongoing instability in the country. We last looked at the investment case in May.
Financial markets software supplier First Derivatives (FDP:AIM) wins a contract and the shares jump 5% to 785p. This seems a bit premature, no details at all other than to say 'no material financial impact.' Shares are 42% up since mid-June.
The market doesn't seem to like the ambitions of training software micrcap ILX (ILX:AIM), swiping 9% off the shares to 9p. The micro cap eyes a reverse takeover of Aussie communications integrator Progility in a near-£16 million deal. Bold or bonkers? The market thinks the latter given that strong revenue growth implies the business is doing fine on its own.
Blood monitoring specialist Deltex Medical (DEMG: AIM) improves 2.3% to 16.2p despite making a £1.4 million operating loss in the six months to July. The market likes the progress its probes business is making, which saw sales rise 9% to £2.7 million, generating a £2 million gross profit, up 8%. This was fuelled by strong US and UK demand, a strategy we looked at in May.
Online personal health services provider Fitbug (FITB:AIM) sprints 9.3% higher to 1.48p on news of its entry into the Australian market. The micro cap has inked a deal with US-based 'wellness services' provider Leap4Life to offer its connected health technology to 150,000 employees of Australian grocery giant Woolworths.
