News

Mineral exploration firm Beowulf said Australian firm WAG Ltd has entered into a farm-in and joint venture agreement on the Kallak Magnetite Project in Sweden.

WAG will earn a 50% interest in the Kallak Project by completing
drilling, metallurgical testwork and a magnetic survey by April 2010.

"Upon WAG earning a 50% interest in the Kallak Project, the parties shall be associated in an unincorporated joint venture," said the group.

Ukraine-based grain and oilseed grower Landkom brushed off setbacks to produce an oil seed rape crop (OSR) well ahead of its original expectations.

The company harvested more than 22,100 tonnes of the oilseed, of which 18,532 tonnes was high quality. The remaining lower quality (OSR) will be used to make biodiesel for use in its own agricultural and logistics fleet.

"We are delighted by the yields and excellent quality of this, our first OSR crop, despite the late start to the land preparation last year, limited equipment availability following the pre-IPO round and derelict state of the land brought back into production," chief executive Richard Spinks said.

Property investment group Raven Russia said its Megalogix warehouse joint venture has signed a $95m loan facility agreement with the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group.

The new facility will be used to finance the joint venture's logistics project in Novosibirsk. The group said the construction is well advanced, with completion targeted for the end of this year.

Richard Jewson, chairman of Raven Russia, added: "This is Raven Russia's second project with the IFC and demonstrates the strong relationship we have developed. We look forward to working on more projects together as Megalogix expands."

Specialist fund manager Syndicate Asset Management has raised £309,752 via a placing of 387.2m shares at 80p each to fund the acquisition of Pagan Osborne Independent Financial Advisers.

Chief executive John Morton and his immediate family have bought 100.94m shares as part of the placing.

House cleaning services firm Myhome International has received an offer from a potential investor, subject to contract, to replace its existing £8m Lloyds TSB banking facility with an equivalent facility on terms to be agreed.

But the deal requires Myhome to issue new shares at a substantial discount to the current market price in order to provide additional working capital.

Shares in infrastructure fund Babcock and Brown advanced, even after pre-tax interim profits fell by nearly a quarter to £6.3m, as the company outperformed the FTSE 100 All-Share by 10.7% and said the outlook was positive.

Skyepharma's shares jumped nearly a fifth after the pharmaceutical firm more than halved its pre-tax interim losses to £6.4m and reported progress with its Flutiform asthma inhaler.

Scottish media group SMG said was on track to meet 2008 targets as it reported pre-tax profit of £4.2m and revenues of £75.6m, compared with £1m and £88.9 respectively over the same period a year ago.

Full-year pre-tax profits were flat at £7.1m at the car manual group Haynes Publishing, with the weak automotive market in the US holding back growth.