We start this month's round-up with news of a bid at just shy of a 50% premium for oil and gas exploration company I3 Energy (I3E:AIM) from US-listed Gran Tierra Energy (GTE:NYSEAMERICAN).The US firm, which has a market cap of $260 million, is paying roughly $225 million or £174 million for the UK company through a combination of cash and shares.I3 Energy operates in the Western Canadian...

There's a new boss at Intercede (IGP:AIM) with Klaas van der Leest becoming chief executive of the identity management software minnow.Getting the company to accelerate growth will be a priority given the company's dismal financial track record in recent years.Under former combined chairman, CEO and founder Richard Parris (he's staying on as a non-executive director), Intercede consistently...

The cyber security space is one of the most in-demand UK technology investment themes. Market appetite has been encouraged by a combination of high profile hacking attacks (TalkTalk (TALK), the NHS, Sony, eBay, Uber; it's a long list) plus tightening regulations on organisations.For example, European general data protection rules (GDPR) are set to come into force from May 2018.In tandem with...

The FTSE 100 shed almost 13 points in early trading as Thursday's general election looms. The polls are narrowing and investors' eyes will be on the exit poll released at around 10pm tomorrow to give the first solid indication of how the election will go.Plastic product design company RPC's (RPC) full year results to 31 March failed to convince the market as it shares fall by 2.4% to 829.5p....

When most people read the terms cybercrime, cyber security, hacking attacks or something similar a doom-laden future scape will often be conjured up. Investors need to look beyond the implied gloom and spot the opportunities to invest in what is clearly a big issue now, and it's getting more critical by the day.For those that can, the latest report from technology market researcher Juniper...

Access control systems supplier Intercede (IGP:AIM) has sealed a trio of new contracts just days before its 31 March 2017 year end.Worth around £0.4m, the news helps offset the warning on 3 March that about £2m worth of business, about 20% of the full year's forecast £10m revenue, would be late. Cash of £6.9m is also better than the £6m anticipated.

This is a pretty hefty profit warning from personnel identity (ID) management software supplier Intercede (IGP:AIM), illustrating the guessing game investors and City analysts are asked to play in predicting new business. This stems from a particularly slow start to the year to 31 March 2017, with new business through April to August way behind plan.It is not just contracts from new customers...

The FTSE 1oo is off modestly in early trading as banking stocks take a bath on the news Deutsche Bank (DBK:ETR) faces a $14 billion fine in the US.The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is the biggest faller down 4% at 186p.Distribution and aviation services outfit John Menzies (MNZS) is up 5.4% to 624p as it announces a £75 million rights issue to fund the purchase of commercial airline services...

Consultancy giant PwC has revealed plans to recruit over 1,000 technology specialists between now and 2020 as it delves ever deeper into the wide-ranging market for all things digital security. We're talking about effective threat vulnerability management, predictive analytics or intelligence and IT risk and resilience strategies.This is far from the first shot fired in the cyber security...

It's welcome news for investors to see a new cyber security specialist join AIM today, say hello to Osirium Technologies (OSI:AIM), a small but ambitious company hoping to hit the fast lane of growth. I won't bang on about it, more information is available in this week's issue of SHARES, which subscribers can read here (click here if you're not a sub and want a trial).That takes the number of...

'We stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.' So wrote Klaus Schwab in January, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. 'In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before.'Schwab was referring to what he calls the 'fourth...

The latest smartphones, 5G networks and more Internet of Things will be hot topics when one of the world's biggest technology events kicks off next week. From Monday 22 February through to Thursday 25 Feb an army of business entrepreneurs and gadget geeks will descend on Barcelona for Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016.This year will see more than 50 British companies at the event tucked under...

For the best part of two weeks the cyber attack on broadband and calls supplier TalkTalk (TALK) has been the talk of the town, there's been blanket coverage across UK newspapers and the web-o-sphere. That attack meant the group's more than four million customer's personal data and bank account details were potentially compromised. While CEO Dido Harding leapt into action to try to limit the...

UK shares remain largely flat in early trade on Tuesday as investors await a report that is expected to show a slowdown in UK construction activity growth. The Markit/CIPS UK construction purchasing mangers' index is estimated to fall to 58.8 in October, from 59.9 a month earlier. The benchmark FTSE 100 index is largely unchanged from yesterday's close at 6,359, while London midcaps and...

Johnson trading improvesDry cleaner and linen hire specialist Johnson Service (JSG:AIM) is trading ahead of expectations and its £65 million acquisition of London Linen is performing well. The stock is up 19.5% including dividends at 88p since our bearish call (12 Mar, Johnson Still in a Spin). Half-year results are due 2 September. (WC)Earthport focusCross-border payments platform Earthport...

London shares fail to hang on to early gains and start a steady decline as investors fret over more debt talks between Greece and Eurozone states. The FTSE 100 sags more than 50 points 6,902 despite gains made on Wall Street overnight, although once again UK midcaps put in a better showing, drifting just 10 points down to 18,209.Building services and supplies firm Wolseley (WOS) heads the...

An overnight rally on Wall Street and gains across Asian markets puts UK investors in positive mood in early trading on Wednesday, pushing London share prices higher. The benchmark FTSE 100 index is trading 40 points up, or roughly 0.6%, at 6,660 thanks to a swathe opf positive corporate announcements, although mid cap progress capped, the FTSE 250 nudging just 24 points higher, 0.15%, to...

A flurry of blue-chip company announcements and today's Bank of England (BoE) and European Central Bank (ECB) interest rate calls keep investor wary in early trade Thursday. The BoE is widely expected to keep interest rates at the record-low level of 0.5% when it announces its policy decision at midday, but that's likely to weigh on sentiment until confirmation comes through. The benchmark...

Strong gains across the mining sector fail to stem overall negative sentiment on London markets in early trading, the FTSE 100 slipping 48 points to 6,515. Airlines lead the Footsie loser board, with both Easyjet (EZJ) and International Consolidated Airlines (IAG) down 3.8% to £14.11 and 3.7% to 357.6p respectively.But the big news today comes from the revelation that FTSE 100 miner and...

If he didn't take online security seriously before, he certainly does now. Just last week (5 May) Gregg Steinhafel resigned as the chief executive officer of giant US retailer Target (TGT:NYSE) in the wake of December's data breach which reportedly compromised up to 40 million shoppers' credit card details. Research from American brokerage Cowen suggested Target's security and supply chain...