Oil rig refurbishment and construction firm Lamprell (LAM) ticked up 4% to 148.25p on new $181 million banking facility. In Liberum Capital's assessment this has addressed the market's concerns about financing and has prompted the broker to up its recommendation from 'hold' to 'buy', with a price target of 175p.
Dubai-based Lamprell hurt shareholders with five profit warnings last year as it ran into serious operational difficulties on a number of fixed-price contracts. The group subsequently reported a pre-tax loss of $105 million in 2012 from a pre-tax profit of $63.5 million in 2011. These problems helped drag the shares to a lowest close of 70p after having traded above 340p in April 2012. Last month Shares looked at whether the subsequent recovery in the share price had run its course.
Leyshon Resources (LRL:AIM) fell 31% to 11.05p after disappointing exploration results. We look at the news in detail here.
FTSE 100 miner Rio Tinto (RIO) dipped 5p to £27.81 despite raising $3 billion through a bond issue.
Life insurer and pensions group Legal & General (LGEN) advanced 0.7% to 172.1p after Mark Gregory was confirmed as the group?s new chief financial officer. Gregory takes up his position next month, stepping up from chief executive of the group?s savings business. He replaces interim finance chief Wadham Downing.
Emergency power group APR Energy (APR) jumped 6% to 890p after expanding a contract in Libya.
Marketing services group Communisis (CMS) added 0.25p to 54.5p after restructuring parts of its UK operations. It will stop printing cheques in Manchester by the end of the year and move production to an existing site in Leeds. This site will also undergo some changes, all contributing to £4 million in overall annual cost savings from 2014.
Support services provider Carillion (CLLN) advanced 0.9% to 257.4p as it won a £130 million contract to help build a conference and exhibition centre in Oman.
UK semiconductors specialist Imagination Technologies (IMG) failed to find support on the market despite signing a seemingly important new licence, falling 2.1% to 308.8p. The new licence agreement will see data storage technology specialist Cavium use Imagination's MIPS5 technology. This will spark long-run royalty income outside of its core graphics technology, a vital move for Imagination's future.
Latin American oil and gas play GeoPark Holdings (GPK:AIM) gained 3.2% to 588p after announcing a successful well test on its Tua field in Colombia.
Full-year results from diagnostic testing kits specialist Immunodiagnostics Systems (IDH: AIM) failed to move its share price, flat at 447.5p. Revenues fell 7% to £49.8 million and adjusted pre-tax profits dropped 21% to £9.8 million, broadly hitting market forecasts. The company ended the year with £19.6 million cash, up from £6.8 million a year earlier, while management raised the dividend 11% to 3p per share. Investec says the catalyst for a rising share price would be to deliver bottom line growth.
Momentum could at last be building for micro-combined head and power (mCHP) boiler specialist Energetix (EGX:AIM). The £19.7 million cap has recruited 36,000 energy customers. More important is a pair of manufacturing agreements that will see production units spring off the conveyor belt. This will ease investor worries after last month's cash crunch, firing the shares 6.5% higher to 14.25p. Next up are planned in-home installation and performance tests on a 100 units to be conducted this winter.
