G4S (LON:GFS ) shares ticked up 7.69% to 246.65p with £3.7bn offer from GardaWorld
G4S said Canadian company GardaWorld has increased its offer for G4S PLC by 24%, valuing the London-listed security company at 3.68 billion pounds ($4.94 billion).
G4S which is a British multinational security services company has issued a statement to say it was evaluating the new offer, together with its financial and legal advisers.
GardaWorld also told investors that an agreement has also been reached with the G4S UK pension trustee on a £770 million "support package" of cash and other measures.
The group said it urges G4S Shareholders to accept the Final Offer as soon as possible and, in any event, by no later than 1.00 p.m. (London time) Wednesday, 16 December 2020.
"Shareholders have a simple choice: remain invested in a company which has consistently failed them and the wider community for so many years, or realise their investment in cash, at a significant and highly attractive premium,” said Stephan Crétier, Founder, Chairman, President and CEO of GardaWorld.
He added, "There can be no better owner for G4S than GardaWorld. Ours is a programme for growth and investment that G4S so desperately needs. This will take time but we have the skills, expertise and ambition to take on this challenge.”
SpaceandPeople (AIM: SAL ) shares skyrocketed 194.12% to 12.5p with agreements
The retail, promotional and brand experience specialist signed exclusive agreements with the owners of four former Intu shopping centres for promotional sales and temporary retailing.
The centres are Lakeside Shopping Centre, Watford Shopping Centre, Braehead Shopping Centre and Victoria Shopping Centre, Nottingham and the agreements will commence now.
CEO, Nancy Culle commented, "We are absolutely delighted to have been chosen to sell short term promotional and retail space at this prestigious group of shopping centres.
This represents a significant opportunity for SpaceandPeople to strengthen our network of prime destinations and to offer brands and pop up retailers premium, high footfall spaces across the UK. We look forward to working closely with these venues to deliver activations that are aligned with their new strategies as they emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic."
Concepta (AIM:CPT ) shares soared 34.38% to 2.15p after launching COVID-19 testing service
The personalised healthcare firm has launched a “highly accurate” direct to consumer COVID-19 test which the group said will help drive awareness over the Christmas period.
The testing service will be launched under the personalised healthcare company’s new MyHealthChecked™ brand, the umbrella brand of a range of at-home DNA and RNA test, which has been in development following the recent acquisition of The Genome Store.
The first test swab kit available will be ‘a fast and reliable direct to consumer COVID-19 lab-based PCR test available to the UK public via a new ecommerce website.’
The service will use the Clarigene® SARS-CoV-2 test supplied by Yourgene Health plc and the PrimeStore® MTM sample collection device supplied by EKF Diagnostic Holdings plc.
CPT expects to launch a number of DNA tests covering a range of female and male wellness, food intolerance and lifestyle testing, and develop a pipeline of tests from Q1 2021.
MyHealthChecked™ will offer consumers a range of simple to use DNA tests across key healthcare areas, and target pricing affordably to improve accessibility for the public.
"As our pipeline development continues and we invest in our plans to build a sustainable, long term business, we're proud to be delivering on this short-term opportunity with a high quality, highly accurate coronavirus swab kit and testing service,” said CEO, Penny McCormick.
She added, “Our priority is to look beyond the pandemic with a range of affordable, meaningful at-home test kits, but it would be remiss of us - now with the expertise and operational channel in-house - not to make this kit available to the public.
Nucleus Financial Group (AIM:NUC ) shares rose 32.08% to 176p
The financial advisory company said it has received separate proposals today from both Integrafin Holdings PLC (LON:IHP) and private equity group Epiris LLP regarding possible cash offers for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of Nucleus.
The group said discussions between Nucleus and the respective parties are ongoing while it is also in preliminary discussions with Aquiline Capital Partners LLC and Allfunds Limited.
Nucleus said Sanlam UK Limited, which owns c.52% of Nucleus's issued share capital, is supportive of the Board engaging in potential offer discussions and that it intends to work constructively with Sanlam UK to ensure all shareholders’ interests are properly considered.
Avon Rubber (LON:AVON ) shares fell 7.81% to 4,275p despite strong results
Shares in the technology group fell even after the company raised its dividend by 30% after sales and underlying profits increased what the Board describes as “a transformational year.” Analyst at Broker Peel Hunt stated that the results were "bang in line with expectations".
Despite the stock dipping in value during afternoon trading, the company’s shares have skyrocketed in value since the beginning of the year - rising over 100% since January.
"We have again delivered strong results ahead of expectations and continued to make significant steps transforming the business into a leading provider of life critical personal protection products,” commented Paul McDonald, Chief Executive of Avon Rubber.
The company said its medium-term outlook is ‘underpinned by multi-year military contracts across the product portfolio’ which it said will provide excellent visibility for the new year.
Commenting on its outlook, Avon said, ‘The 2021 financial year will also benefit from a full year contribution from Helmets & Armor, versus the 9 months contribution in 2020.’
It added, ‘We expect revenues from helmet and armor products to continue at the current level in the first half of the year, with growth in the second half driven by deliveries under the new U.S. DOD body armor contracts following completion of first article testing.’