Cineworld Group (LON:CINE) shares rose 7.24% to 68.31p off the back of $450m facility
Shares in the world’s biggest cinema chain continue to rise after the group said last month that it had arranged additional bank facilities of $450 million to keep it afloat until May 2021.
Shares have increased by nearly 20% since the announcement on 23 November 2020.
The loan is part of a larger c.$750m package of extra liquidity to support Cineworld until the lockdown restrictions are eased and studios are allowed to bring their releases on screen.
The Group said its base case scenario assumes a reopening of cinemas no later than May 2021. Under this scenario, the Group said it has sufficient headroom for 2021 and beyond.
As part of its financing package, Cineworld noted that it will see all bank financial covenants waived until June 2020, an existing $111m bank facility extended until 2024, as well as accelerated tax closure to bring forward an expected tax refund of over $200m to early 2021.
"In light of the severe financial challenges facing the Group arising from the significant disruption to the entire industry, the Board is confident this additional liquidity will preserve and maximise shareholder value over the long term,” said Chair of CINE, Alicja Kornasiewicz.
Over the long term, the operational improvements we have put in place since the start of the pandemic will further enhance Cineworld's profitability and resilience,” added Mooky Greidinger, CEO of Cineworld.
Braveheart Investment Group (AIM:BRH) shares increase 49.30% to 53p with special dividend
The company informed investors of its intention to pay a special dividend worth more than the group’s current share price following the sale of its stake in Remote Monitored Systems.
Braveheart stated that its special dividend payment is 42.75p per share, compared to a current share price of 35.25p, and is worth around £15.5 million in total. As at 30 November 2020, the Company and its subsidiaries had net cash reserves of around £18.15 million.
Braveheart’s valuation of its Strategic Investment portfolio has materially increased as a result of the completion of the sale of Pharm 2 Farm to Remote Monitored Systems for £17.4m.
The group therefore made a profit of £0.4m in 1H20 for the six months ended 30 September 2020 compared to a loss of £0.12m in 1H19 on revenues of £0.895m (1H19: £0.25m).
Commenting on the group’s performance in 1H20, CEO, Trevor E Brown said, “We are delighted with the achievements so far made in the current financial year and are working towards being able to continue this progress in generating further value for our shareholders.”
He added, “The ability for us to have been able to announce a special dividend of 42.75 pence per share is regarded by the Directors as very satisfactory and continues our policy of returning any excess cash back to shareholders as soon as practicable.”
N4 Pharma (AIM:N4P) shares jumped 42.50% to 8.55p after reporting positive findings
The pharmaceutical specialist which focused on developing Nuvec® reported positive findings this morning as part of its ongoing research collaboration agreement with Nanomerics.
As reported back in February 2020, the Company initiated the first phase of research to test the stability of different formulations of Nuvec® loaded with a well characterised plasmid DNA.
N4 reported that Nuvec® formulations that had been freeze dried and then stored for 14 days either at room temperature or at four degrees Celsius were shown to have ‘no significant drop in in vitro transfection capability following reconstitution compared to fresh formulations.’
In parallel to continued work on analysing stability duration, different formulations will now be chosen to move forward into phase two of the work programme testing the efficacy of the dried and reconstituted plasmid DNA in an in vivo antibody generation model, it noted.
"Demonstrating that Nuvec® loaded with a plasmid DNA can be dried, stored at convenient temperatures and reconstituted without any drop in transfection is a significant step forward in our formulation development work,” said Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive of N4 Pharma.
He said “work will continue in this area and will add to the breadth of proof of concept data we are building for the use of Nuvec® as a delivery system for vaccines and cancer treatments.”
Kazera Global (AIM:KZG) shares rose 19.44% to 1.1p after identifying three minerals
The investment company reported on Tuesday that it had identified the presence of three different minerals in "commercially viable quantities" as part of new exploration results.
After exploring 30% of Tantalum Valley Mine in Namibia, Kazera identified tantalite grades above 25%, lithium grades above 4% which, with a flotation plant extension could rise 6%, and feldspar grades +12% to supply high quality ceramics and glass smelters among others.
Kazera said samples of feldspar were collected and analysed by the Ministry of Mines and Energy in collaboration with experts from Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften and Rohstoffe, Germany and were presented to the Company showing that the grades were ‘very encouraging’ and could be of use in both the high end ceramics and glass industries.
The Company highlighted to investors that it anticipates ‘relatively low costs of production since the minerals are in the same ore body and share a production process.’
Hochschild Mining (LON:HOC) shares fell 13.54% to 204.6p after founder sells stake
The precious metals company told investors that Pelham Investment Corporation, the company’s personal investment vehicle, has sold an aggregate of 61,665,067 ordinary shares of Hochschild Mining, representing around 12% of its existing issued ordinary share capital.
The move follows yesterday's announcement that the company which is owned by Mr Eduardo Hochschild, Chairman of Hochschild, had decided to sell a large portion of the stock with investment bank JP Morgan placing the 61.7 million shares in the company at 200p each.
Shares in Hochschild Mining decreased by more than 14% to 202.8p after the news today, with the placing price representing a 16% discount to the stock’s closing price on Wednesday.
The company said Hochschild remains committed to the business but that he believes that ‘now is an appropriate moment to recycle some capital from his holding in the company to facilitate investments elsewhere across his existing businesses and in new opportunities.’
Hochschild Mining also told investors that it believes the sale would increase the free float of the company and therefore enhance liquidity, ‘to the benefit of all shareholders.’
‘Mr Hochschild reiterates his firm belief in the company’s future and his confidence in the company’s current management team to continue delivering strong operating results as they have done this year in exceptionally challenging circumstances,’ the company added.