Drax Group (DRX) shares ticked up 9.94% to 412.5p as it finalises acquisition
Shares in the British electrical power generation firm jumped after the group finalised its recently unveiled acquisition of Canadian wood pellet supplier Pinnacle Renewable Energy.
Drax originally entered into an agreement for Drax Canadian Holdings, which is an indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary of Drax to purchase Pinnacle Renewable Energy in February 2021.
The purchase price of C$11.30 a share values the fully diluted equity of Pinnacle at C$385 million (£226m), with an implied enterprise value of C$741m, including C$356m of net debt.
Drax believes the acquisition advances its biomass strategy ‘by more than doubling its biomass production capacity, significantly reducing its cost of biomass production and adding a major biomass supply business underpinned by long-term contracts.’
88 Energy (88E) shares soar 73.7% to 1.425p prompting the group to address its shareholders
Shares in the Alaskan-focused explorer soared during Monday afternoon, prompting the company to address shareholders in an afternoon statement in which the company confirmed that it was ‘not aware of any specific reason’ for the sudden increase.
However, the group noted that drilling operations at the Merlin-1 exploration well in Alaska ‘are proceeding according to plan’ with the well currently drilling ahead at 1,340 feet.
88 Energy kick-started drilling at the Merlin-1 exploration well on the North Slope of Alaska last Wednesday. The drilling programme at Merlin-1 forms part of the company’s Project Peregrine which holds nearly 200,000 contiguous acres on the North Slope of Alaska.
Merlin-1 will initially be drilled to 1,500 ft, after which surface casing will be installed and the blow-out preventer system tested. 88E said this is expected to take around one week.
Premier African Minerals (PREM) shares jumped 22.58% to 0.38p following confirmation of EPO
Shares in the group have risen over 7% since Friday when the multi-commodity mining and natural resource development company confirmed that it had received formal grant of an exclusive prospecting order (EPO) covering its Zulu Lithium and Tantalum claims.
Commenting on the EPO, George Roach, CEO of Premier said, "I am deeply appreciative of the Zimbabwe Government for the granting of this substantial EPO and Premier will reciprocate with mobilization for the commencement of the Definitive Feasibility Study on the Zulu deposit which has an estimated completion time of 14 months.”
The granting of the EPO reaffirms the Zimbabwean Government policy that Zimbabwe is open for business and further supports the Ministry of Mines policy of creating a US$12 bn mining economy by 2023. It noted on Friday that Zulu remains ‘a significant deposit.’
Gfinity (GFIN) shares rose 18.75% to 4.75p as GDM division secures new partnership
The esports group has unveiled a new partnership between its Gfinity Digital Media ('GDM') division and Magic Lamp Technologies which owns video game map website, MapGenie.
Gfinity believes the partnership will provide Gfinity with valuable gaming tools that will in turn expand GDM's existing tutorial offering around some of the industry's biggest games.
The partnership is expected to drive the advertiser appeal of GDM's websites and forms part of Gfinity's wider strategy to accelerate growth across GDM, which receives up to 14m monthly users and remains on track to deliver target revenues of c.£2m this financial year.
“This partnership is the first of many initiatives the GDM will be rolling out over the next few months as we accelerate the growth and engagement of our users, Talal Musa, Head of Gfinity Digital Media told investors.
Provident Financial (PFG) shares fell 25.34% to 195.45p as FCA initiates investigation
Shares in the doorstop lender fell on Monday after it told investors that the Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has started an investigation into its consumer credit unit.
The group also noted that during the second half of last year it had seen a 200% rise in complaints compared with the first half, with £25m having been paid out. It said an internal review “has made it clear” it needed to address the issue of rising customer complaints.
The group said it had performed "slightly" better than expectations during its fourth quarter and the full year. "The appointment of investigators does not mean that the FCA has determined that rule breaches or any other contraventions have occurred,” it told investors.
It added, "The FCA also continues to assess whether CCD is complying, and is likely to comply, with the standards it is expected to meet and the group's proposed approach to future lending as and when further details of such proposal are made available."