Media giant British Sky Broadcasting (BSY) falls 2.4% to 868.5p after confirmingtalks to buy its European sister companies, Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. Such a move would consolidate Rupert Murdoch's European pay-TV operations. The German and Italy broadcasters are majority owned by 21st Century Fox, itself controlled by Murdoch. Investec says such a deal would be sensible for scale but notes the German and Italian businesses are in 'weaker competitive positions' with lower margins/returns versus Sky.
More revenue is being shifted to the right for professional services platform operator Blur (BLUR:AIM) which makes its second profit warningin 2014. What's really spooked investors is the hint of an emergency cash call as we discuss in this article. The shares crash 35% to 179p.
Annuity specialist Just Retirement (JRG) improves 5.8% to 166.4p on strong third quarter sales. We explain why the shares are on the move in this news analysis.
Don't be alarmed by the apparent 400% rise in insurer RSA (RSA). That's merely a technicality caused by a share consolidation.
Investors are disappointed that recent float XLMedia (XLM:AIM) has 'only' delivered a 26% rise in gross profit to $20.5 million in its full-year results. Expectations for the marketing group were clearly higher as the shares slump 10.3% to 72.25p. Perhaps investors failed to thoroughly research the company given the key financial numbers were already published in XLMedia's admission document (21 Mar). We looked at the gambling sector specialist earlier this year, ahead of joining Aim.
Oil explorer Faroe Petroleum (FPM:AIM) falls 7.3% to 137.9p as its Butch East exploration well in the Norwegian North Sea failsto uncover hydrocarbons. Faroe and its partners on the well Centrica (CNA) and Tullow Oil (TLW) will now move to drill the nearby Butch South West prospect.
Aim-quoted Wessex Exploration (WSX:AIM) dives 12.9% to 0.915p as it announcesdetails of a planned acquisition in the Philippines and an overhaul of its board. The shares had nearly doubled at the end of last week in anticipation of this announcement. An extraordinary general meeting later this week will see activist shareholder Milroy Capital try to oust the current management.
The share price rise in both platinum producer Lonmin (LMI), 2.2% higher at 288.9p, and iron ore group London Mining (LOND:AIM), up 3.9% to 59.5p, may seem perplexing given bad news from both companies. Lonmin's second-quarter outputhas been severely disrupted by labour strikes. London Mining's first quarter production numbers were disappointing. The market appears to be focused on a planned reduction in capital expenditure from both companies which gets the thumbs up from investors.
A strong startto the year for social media platform player InternetQ (INTQ:AIM) sparks a 6% share price jump to 328.25p.
Funeral services provider Dignity (DTY) drops 14.5p to £14.15.5p on news of a quiet start to 2014. The £760 million cap's first quarter trading update flags only modest sales and operating profits progress due to a 7.5% decline in death numbers year-on-year.
Horticulture products producer William Sinclair (SNCL:AIM) cultivates a 1.4% gain to 111.5p on the appointmentof Richard Carr as Commercial Director. The former Hozelock and Spear & Jackson director will head up a major sales drive from the seasonally-sensitive business later this year.
Strong mobile handset and network testing in the last quarter of the year encourages investors to chase shares in Anite (AIE) 9% higher to 90.5p. We anticipated this trend recently in Shares.
Drug developer e-Therapeutics (ETX:AIM) rises 2.1% to 35.5p on progressin its clinical trial and development pipeline. It has £43.1 million cash and liquid resources to fund work.
Property investor Conygar Investment (CIC:AIM) jumps 7.1% to 179.5p after being tipped by the Mail on Sunday and collecting£13.7 million from selling 9.6 acres of land in Pembrokeshire to Sainsbury’s (SBRY).
Oil and gas minnow Leni Gas & Oil (LGO:AIM) gains 6.4% to 1.16p after selling more than 100,000 barrels of oil from its Goudron field in Trinidad since taking over operations in October 2012.
Energy from waste specialist Alkane Energy (ALK:AIM) returns from temporary share trading suspensionas it enters talksover selling its onshore shale gas assets to Egdon Resources (EDR:AIM) for £7 million. Alkane stock edges up nearly 2% to 41.5p.
