Oxford Instruments (OXIG) shares rise 23.19% to 2,482.5p amid £1,79bn takeover offer

Shares in Oxford Instruments increased as much as 37% after it received a takeover offer worth £1.79bn from Spectris; a price it said it is prepared to recommend to shareholders.

Today’s proposal is the latest in a series of earlier proposals from Spectris, the first of which was received earlier this month. The company said discussions between the two parties remain ongoing and that a further announcement will be made “as and when appropriate.”

Infrastructure India (IIP) shares jump 34.78% to 0.825p following subsidiary asset sale 

The infrastructure fund, which is focused on investing directly into assets in India, has signed an agreement to sell the assets of its wholly owned subsidiary, IEL, a power producer operating wind farms in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, with 41.3MW of installed capacity. 

IEL, which holds the wind farm assets in separate Special Purpose Vehicles (“SPV”), Theni and Gadag, has agreed to the conditional sale of its 100% interest in each SPV to AVSR Constructions, which develops, operates and maintains renewable energy projects in India. 

The total consideration to be received by IEL from AVSR for both assets is INR 550 million (around £5.45 million) and the transaction is structured with the separate sale of each SPV.

IEL was valued at £10.1m in IIP’s interim results for the period ended 30 September 2021.

Proton Motor Power Systems (PPS) shares rose 28.57% to 18p amid a “promising” year 

In a post year end trading update for the year to 31 December 2021, Proton Motor Power  Systems said the positive trend seen in 2021 has continued into a “promising start” to 2022.

During the year, the Company received orders worth approximately €3.2m and, subject to the completion of the audit, the company achieved revenue of €3.2m, up from €2.1m in FY20.

Since 1 January 2022, the Group has already booked orders worth €1.3 million from five customers, consisting of repeat orders from two existing customers and three new customer orders; orders were for the stationary and mobility segments, including large trucks, it said.

Dr. Faiz Nahab, Chief Executive of Proton Motor, commented: “Demand for larger graphite high power industrial generators is rapidly increasing to reduce the effects of global warming.”

 Harvest Minerals (HMI) shares rise 26.97% to 9.65p as the firm expects strong 2022 sales

Shares in Harvest Minerals have nearly doubled in value over the past three months as the company forecasted its calendar 2022 sales volume for its KP Fértil® to be 150,000 tonnes.

This projection would be a substantial increase from the total accumulated sales in 2021 of 85,030 tonnes, in addition to 54,115 tonnes in the year of 2020 and 27,559 tonnes in 2019. Last month, the Company said it had already seen encouraging sales orders placed for 2022.

“Our annual sales performance has grown exponentially over the last three full years as the quality and value of our product has been recognised by the market,” the group told investors. 

Petropavlovsk (POG) shares fall 24.15% to 7.197p as Western nations ramp up sanctions

Shares in the gold miner continue to fall as Russia-focused metals and mining stocks take a hit while Western nations ramp up sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

In the FTSE 250, the Russian gold miner Petropavlovsk has been today’s biggest faller.