888 Holdings (888) shares jump 18.54% to 227.4p as it buys William Hill for a reduced price
Today, 888 announced that Caesars Entertainment had agreed to sell William Hill’s non-US assets to the company for up to £250 million less than previously agreed. 888 has also launched a reduced equity raise to fund its acquisition of these assets outside the US.
ENGAGE XR Holdings (EXR) shares jump 70.73% to 17.5p as its partner receives funding
Today, the virtual reality (‘VR’) technology company announced that its partner, VictoryXR, has been given funding by a subsidiary of Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:FB) to help roll out 10 ‘digital twin’ university campuses in the metaverse using Engage’s platform.
As part of the launch, each school will roll out a digital twin, replica campus for students to attend whether they are on campus or learning remotely. In addition, each student will also receive a Quest 2 virtual reality headset for use during the course they are taking, it detailed.
Three additional metaversities will be released in May on top of the 10 that are set to roll out.
Bezant Resources (BZT) shares rise 11.11% to 0.195p as it reports encouraging initial results
On Wednesday, Bezant said the results of an initial mineral resource estimate of the Troulli copper-gold project reflect “a very encouraging start” at the site, offering a good foundation for the expansion of the Mineral Resource as it starts to include extensions to the mineralization.
The Troulli Cu-Au project in Cyprus forms part of a joint venture between Bezant and the exploration and resource development company, Caerus Mineral Resources, which is focused on the Troulli Mine Development Project as well as other copper-gold JV targets in Cyprus.
Possible extensions to the current mineral resource identified will now be drilled out with the focused targeting of copper - gold gossans that have been already drill-tested; the companies say they have “a high degree of confidence” in their ability to define further resources.
Avacta Group (AVCT) shares tick up 10.87% to 76.5p amid ‘significant’ progress in 2021
On Wednesday, the clinical stage oncology and diagnostics company described the year ending 31 December 2021 as “a period of transformation” for the business, highlighting to investors that it is very confident about the group’s immediate and long-term opportunities.
Chairman, Dr Eliot Forster and CEO, Dr Alastair Smith said transformational and significant progress had been made across Avacta’s Diagnostics and Therapeutics divisions in 2021.
The Board believes that the most significant near-term value driver for the Company is the clinical data from the Phase I study of AVA6000 which is expected in the middle of 2022.
It said a positive readout would create a significant commercial opportunity with a potentially safer form of Doxorubicin, while immediately opening up a large and very valuable pipeline of pre|CISIONTM chemotherapy FAPα-activated drugs for development and licensing.
Countryside Partnerships (CSP) shares fell 12.85% to 234p as it issues profit warning
Shares in the Company fell on Thursday following the issues of a profit warning to investors as well as the results of an operational review which reported “execution-related” failures.
The Group said adjusted revenue had fallen by 13% to £658.6 million in the six months to 31 March 31 2021, down from £755 million in the year prior. Adjusted operating profit also dropped by 42% in the period to £45.6 million, down from £78.6 million a year before.
Countryside said the numbers have been accentuated by an “unusually strong” comparative period with the first half of financial 2021 which included an operating profit of £30m for the sale of 1,000 homes, which had been delayed from the second half of financial 2020.