Small cap news round-up
AIM-listed exploration and production company Urals Energy has agreed to purchase Arctic Oil Company (ANK) from AMNGR, which is a subsidiary of Russian state-owned oil company JSC Zarubezhneft.
ANK’s sole asset is the central part of the Peschanoozerskoe oil field on Kolguyev Island.
Cape, an international provider of industrial services to the energy and natural resources sector, reported mixed results for the first half of the year due to weaknesses in the UK business, but maintained that full-year expectations were unchanged.
For the six months ended 3 July, order intake decreased by about 23% to £309m, compared to the same period last year, largely due to the timing of key contract awards which resulted in an order book of £820m.
AIM-listed financial services company City of London Group said on Tuesday that director Jason Granite has resigned.
In a very brief statement, the group said it wished to “thank him for his contribution”.
Instant-service equipment group Photo-Me International has agreed to buy Asda’s photo division for a maximum consideration of £6m.
The division consists of 191 photo centres and 172 self-service kiosk sites at Asda stores. The businesses will be managed by Photo-Me under a ten-year concession and the employees will transfer across the group.
Shares in Strat Aero have soared almost 60% after it was granted National Qualified Entity (NQE) status by UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), a key step in the commercialisation of the company's training programmes.
It said that in order to apply for a UAV pilot's licence, candidates needed to show they had been trained at an NQE-certified centre.
Serica Energy, a UK based energy exploration and production company, announced that it was facing further production delays at its Erskine field in the North Sea due to maintenance issues.
Production from the Erskine field initially restarted on 27 July following a prolonged period to clear a blocked pipeline and undertake planned maintenance on the Lomond platform, which provides treatment and export facilities to Erskine.
Hostelworld Group reported a 16% rise in 'core' bookings over the first six months of the year despite the recent rise in terrorist attacks around Europe and reaffirmed its expectations for the full-year.
Total bookings on the other hand slipped 2.7% to 3.5m in comparison to a year ago as the company continued its strategy of shifting away from lower margin bookings, focusing instead on its flagship brand Hostelworld, which at the end of the period accounted for 85% of the group's total bookings.
Jersey Oil & Gas has, alongside its co-venturer CIECO Exploration and Production (UK) Ltd, entered into a sale and purchase agreement for the farm-out of a 70% working interest in UK Seaward Licence P.2170, Blocks 20/5b and 21/1d, to Statoil (UK) Ltd.
Jersey holds, via wholly owned subsidiary Trap Oil Ltd, a 60% interest in the P.2170 Licence with CIECO holding the remaining 40% interest.