AO World (AO. ) shares ticked up 6.17% to 317.5p as it receives light relief from investors
Shares in the European electrical retailer ticked up during afternoon trading despite having lost around 25% in value since the beginning of the month.
Despite a recent positive update highlighting a ‘significant increase’ in demand, AO incurred ‘significantly higher costs’ as it negotiated some of the operational challenges of working in a Covid compliant environment, particularly in the reverse supply chain, it noted.
‘We have also seen a slightly increased rate of cancellation of individual consumers' long-term contracts in mobile and warranties, driven by Covid impacts on customers behaviour,’
However, analysts at Shore Capital said the group will recover due to the fact that the online market has seen a ‘structural shift’ that could be permanent by current customers.
It stated, "We note the outlook statement but also highlight both the increased Covid operating costs and infrastructure developments to further increase capacity.
AO World has had a great run and clearly is another Covid winner and whilst the sales momentum continues, we also note the increased operating costs.
The big challenge will be whether the revenue momentum can continue during (the first quarter of) 2022 given the tough comparatives that the business will start cycling."
Eurasia Mining (EUA ) shares rose 44.4% to 26p enquires after sale of 27,400,000 shares
The mining company acknowledged its share price following yesterday’s announcement of the trade for 27,400,000 shares by Alexei Churakov. It said it had received no notification of this trade prior to it being reported by Churakov himself via RNS on 27 January 2021.
It said it has now made initial enquiries of Alexei Churakov regarding the sale of the Shares.
It said he has now notified EUA that he sold the shares to cover an urgent and critical cash call, that all the shares were acquired by Veles International, a subsidiary of an investment firm Veles Capital; and that he has no intention to sell his remaining shares and/or options.
The Company noted that the acquisition by Veles evidences interest in Eurasia among institutional shareholders. Veles is a well-established and one of the oldest professional institutional investors in Russia. Eurasia said it is now continuing with these enquiries.
Genedrive (GDR ) shares jump 36.61% to 76.5p as it enters partnership to target US and Europe with COVID-19 kit
London-listed Genedrive announced that it has entered into a distribution agreement with Beckman Coulter Life Sciences ("Beckman Coulter") for its Genedrive® 96 SARS-CoV-2 Kit.
The agreement will enable Beckman Coulter to sell and distribute GENE’s high-throughput COVID-19 PCR Kit in the US and Europe for use on upper respiratory viral samples.
The partnership is the result of an agreement announced in August 2020, under which the companies worked to develop and validate a fully automated PCR process for Beckman’s Biomek automated workstation in conjunction with its RNAdvance Viral XP extraction kit.
Genedrive has described its SARS-CoV-2 test as ‘ideally suited’ for use on the high throughput robotic Biomek i7 instrument due to its ready-to-go nature of the test.
According to Beckman Coulter, it is estimated that this new turnkey solution could process around 1,000 PCR samples per Biomek workstation installed during a standard 8-hour working day, using just a 0.5 full-time-equivalent in technician time for processing.
Bowleven (BLVN ) shares jump 30.39% to 5.96p following EEA renewal
Shares in the African-focused independent exploration and production group have gained c.15% in the past few days after announcing that New Age, Operator of the Etinde licence, has received formal approval to apply for a new Etinde Exploitation Agreement (EEA).
The agreement was reached following discussions with the Government of Cameroon's representative, Société Nationale des Hydrocarbures, the national oil and gas firm of the Republic of Cameroon and will replace the existing EEA which came into force in 2015.
The authorisation was cleared on the basis that the EEA will produce hydrocarbons including the delivery of gas to thermal power plants or any other projects confirmed by the State.
Paragon Banking Group (PAG ) shares fall 5.70% to 449.4p despite making steady gains
Despite an afternoon trading dip, shares in the diversified financials group have more than doubled since the beginning of November 2020 with the stock gaining 60% in three months.
In fact, in recent weeks, Analysts at financial services firm Canaccord Genuity raised their target price on Paragon from 454.0p to 548.0p, highlighting the company’s "exemplary track record" in terms of asset quality and operating performance throughout economic cycles.
Analysts at Canaccord Genuity, who have upgraded their earnings per share forecasts for Paragon by 18% and 9% in 2021 and 2022, respectively, reiterated its 'buy' rating on the stock and noted that Paragon's FY20 results were reflective of its historical performance.
"Our previous forecasts were very cautiously struck under a severe economic scenario, which to date has not materialised due to ongoing government support measures for individuals and businesses," it noted.