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Penny Share Review 195

Monday 04 August 2003

Several of Saturday's papers (The Guardian, Independent, and Mail) picked up on the fundraising by Griffin Mining (GFM). The Company placed just over 10.4m shares at 12p to raise £1.25m to fund further drilling at Caijiaying, its gold zinc project in China, and also for general working capital requirements. In particular, Griffin is looking to test for extensions of the best gold intersections and extend the known gold and base metals mineralisation in two of its zones. A feasibility study into the construction of a gold zinc mine and processing facilities at Caijiaying is currently being completed and the results of this study are expected by 1 September 2003. At 10.46 the shares were up by 0.5p to 14.5p from Friday's close.

Recent events at Murray Financial Corporation (MFC.L) featured in Saturday's Independent. Shareholders last month triumphed in ousting Ken Murray from the Board, but unbeknownst to them £850,000 had been deposited into an escrow account in June. Mr Murray and two former MFC directors, Anthony Fabrizzi and Russell Frith and the former company secretary Gavin Mair are signatories to the account, but none of the Company's new board members have access to it. Mr Murray had claimed that he was a due a pay-off of £850,000 after he was sacked as Chief Executive in May and has initiated legal proceedings against the Company for breach of contract. The newspaper quotes Mr Murray, " I was sacked…and it was made clear to me that my payment would be contested. That's why the escrow account was set up. The money will only be released if a court rules that I am entitled to it. If it doesn't the money will go back to the company." Jonathon Rowland, who runs Resurge, the turnaround finance company that led the shareholder action, commented that company funds had been "put completely out of reach from the people running the business." The Independent added that Resurge was ready to offer Mr Murray a settlement, but "was prepared to fight the matter in court." The shares were unchanged at 2.75p from Friday's close at 10.47.

Osmetech (OMH) is included in The Independent's 'Week in Review' column on Saturday. The gist of the comment is that its fortunes and share price have been "transformed" by an "astute acquisition of a company whose technology measures oxygen in the blood (OPTI)." This business has been growing due to the preference of doctors for on-the-spot tests, but the newspaper believes that OMH's shares are "unjustifiably, twice the value of rivals" and concludes, "You are more likely to make money from short-selling the stock than buying it." Despite this, at 10.47 the shares had moved forward by 0.05p to 3.95p from Friday's close.

Today's Announcements

The following companies, in which City Equities customers may have an interest, released announcements to the market this morning. These can be found by entering the relevant company name or ticker code in the search box on this site.

Aukett Group Plc (AUK) - Director Change.
EnnEurope (ENU.L) - Offer update.

Look Out For This Week

August 4, Monday - UK construction purchasing managers' index (July).
August 5, Tuesday - Mean Fiddler AGM, UK manufacturing production (June).
August 6, Wednesday - UK new vehicle production..
August 7, Thursday - Buckland AGM, UK interest rate decision.
August 8, Friday - Halifax home prices (July).

The next Penny Share Review will be posted on Monday, 11 August 2003.

Compiled by A McLintock

Penny Shares Online - penny shares research and information service.