register and receive 3 compimentary small cap company reports

Penny Share Review 454

Monday 18 August 2008

The Small Talk section of today’s The Independent provided coverage of Desire Petroleum’s (DES) agreement with Arcadia Petroleum to farm-in to a potential 7.8 trillion cu ft gas project, offshore Falklands. The deal, it said, “is a rather nifty piece of business, which not only gives Desire the chance of getting the gas at no cost, it also avoids the prospect of going cap-in-hand to investors…” However, it looks like a bit of profit-taking since has continued into today and the shares were 2.5p off at 77.25p at the time of writing.

Lonrho (LONR) investee, Lonrho Mining, announced an option agreement to sell its 80% stake in the Schmidtsdrift diamond mine for approximately £7.2m. The news was picked-up on by The Times on Saturday and today’s reaction is a 1.5p gain to 24.5p in early trade. The same paper noted the repeat by Petmin (PTMN) of its cryptic message regarding a potentially price-changing corporate deal. Perhaps the reminder that a deal is in the offing helped the stock 1p higher at 23.5p this morning.

Much press attention was given to the bid approach by US OTC stock GeneThera for Oxford BioMedica (OXB). According to the Weekend Financial Times, GeneThera, an animal vaccines business valued at barely over £120,000, had offered 35p per share for OXB, but there was unilateral rejection of such an offer from the Company and the analysts that cover its fortunes. Saturday’s The Times believes that GeneThera has “the backing of an unnamed US billionaire” in order to finance the deal. Meanwhile, OXB’s partner, Sanofi-Aventis, cannot be ruled out of a race to buy the Group, so said the Daily Mail (Saturday), having agreed to buy Acambis for £275m. That OXB is now considered ‘in play’ by traders would explain a rise of 0.75p to 11p today.

A rally in NightHawk Energy (HAWK) shares was attributed to hopes of soon-to-be-released upbeat drilling news, according to Saturday’s Daily Mail. The recovery from sub-60p recent lows has continued and the shares now sit 2.75p better off at 72.5p.

The Directors’ Deals section of the Weekend Financial Times focused on Chairman Simon Richards’ purchase of stock last week in Red24 (REDT), his third purchase of the year, although this prompted no change in the share price, which remains at 3.13p. The section also mentioned Director buying at Tepnel Life Sciences (TED), which coincided with a strong recent performance from the shares, although they may be catching their breath as they remained level at 12.25p so far.

Some buying by Directors helped shares in River Diamonds (RVD) recover some ground, as noted by the Weekend Financial Times. The stock was unchanged at 1.88p this morning.

A trading update by Scotty (SCO) featured in The Independent on Saturday, quoting a belief to beat market expectations for a profit of £600k. The Group has proposed a consolidation of its shares on a 50-for-1 basis and a further update is due next month. Shares in the Group stayed at 1.75p on Monday.

Prices above were taken at around 10:20am on Monday, 18 August 2008.

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.

Amphion Innovations (AMP): Interim Results.

Gold Oil (GOO): Acquisition and Operational Updates.

Networkers International (NWKI): Notice of Interim Results.

Oxford BioMedica (OXB): Notification of Major Interest.

Pantheon Resources (PANR): Drilling Update.

Plus Markets Group (PMK): Holdings in Company.

Synchronica (SYNC): Acquisition, Placings, Contract Update, Disposal and notice of General Meeting.

TSE Group (TSEG): Appointment of Broker.

Vialogy (VIY): Contract with ASTFS.

Vision Media Group (VMG): Launch of Iconic Pods.

Zambezi Resources (ZRL): Dispatch of Rights Issue Prospectus.

Look out for this week

Monday, 18 August – Amphion Innovations (AMP) Interims. Rightmove August House Prices.

Tuesday, 19 August – Nothing of note.

Wednesday, 20 August – Business Direct (BDG) AGM. Bank of England Minutes; July Public Finances; M4 Money Supply and Lending; CBI August Industrial Trends.

Thursday, 21 August – UK retail sales.

Friday, 22 August – Coms plc (COMS) share consolidation takes effect, SectorGuard (SGD) Final Results (estimated date). Several UK economic metrics TBA.

The next Penny Share Review will be posted on Tuesday, 26 August 2008 (Monday is a Bank Holiday).

Compiled by Andrew Thacker

Penny Shares Online - penny shares research and information service.




Risk Warning

There is an extra risk of losing money when shares are bought in some smaller companies including 'Penny Shares'. There is a big difference between the buying price and the selling price of these shares. If they have to be sold immediately, you may get back much less than you paid for them or you may have difficulty in selling them. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The price may change quickly and it may go down as well as up. You could lose every penny put into a particular share.

The information contained above has been compiled from documented sources which are believed to be reliable but, due to their very nature, are subject to a degree of historical inaccuracy and have not been independently verified and cannot be guaranteed. The pages on this website are provided for information only. City Equities Limited will not accept responsibility for loss incurred by any person or body acting, or refraining from acting, as a result of information and/or opinions given anywhere on this website. Issued by City Equities Limited, Aldermary House, 10-15 Queen Street, London, EC4N 1TY. Registered in England. Registered No. 2742847. Registered Address: Amwell House, 19 Amwell Street, Hoddeson, Herts. EN11 8TS. City Equities Limited is Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority. Registration No. 155051.