Bourses across Europe opened higher on Monday, reflecting overnight gains on Asian markets, where the majority of equity markets were buoyed on hopes Beijing would undertake additional stimulus measures to support the Chinese economy.
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Printing and business services group St Ives (SIV) said results for the financial year are expected to be in line with current market expectations. The integration of the recently acquired businesses Amaze and Branded3 is progressing well despite difficult trading conditions across the business.
Whitby-based potash miner Sirius Minerals (SXX) has secured a £25m convertible security financing deal with a New York based institutional investor. Sirius said the financing will be used for general corporate purposes and adds to existing cash of £8.5m that will cover the necessary work to secure approvals for the York potash project. The move comes after the chief executive of Canada's PotashCorp said the split between Russian and Belarusian members of one of two global cartels running the global potash would not last long, and talk of a 25 per cent plunge in global prices for potash is unwarranted.
MITIE Group (MTO)said it has made a positive start to the year, and is "well placed" to achieve good levels of organic growth in the current financial year. By the end of June, 89 per cent of budgeted revenues for this financial year had already been secured.
Engineering Services Group, Renew Holdings (RNWH), announced the acquisition of Lewis Civil Engineering Ltd for £7.9m in cash. The acquisition has been funded from cash resources and overdraft facilities provided by HSBC Bank.
Clontarf Energy announced that Rurelec (RUR), an AIM-traded energy provider in South America, has entered into an agreement with Peru Oil and Gas Exploration Ltd to purchase gas from Block 183 in Peru, when and if gas is produced. Under the agreement with Peru Oil and Gas Exploration Ltd announced 15 May 2013, Clontarf holds a 3 per cent royalty on production from any commercial discovery.
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Highland Gold Mining (HGM) reported that combined production of gold and gold equivalents from Mnogovershinnoye and Novoshirokinskoye (97.9 per cent interest) came in at 105,630 oz - a 3.7 per cent increase compared with the first half of 2012.
Sareum Holdings (SAR) expects that its financial results for the June year-end will be slightly ahead of market expectations, with a post-tax loss anticipated at £540,000.
AIM-traded Vatukoula Gold Mines (VGM) has secured a $40m (£26m) funding deal from its largest shareholder Zhongrun International Mining, which will be put towards the Fijian gold miner’s capital expenditure programme for the coming fiscal year.
OTHER COMPANY NEWS:
The container shipping industry must prepare for a new era that will see growth in demand fall to half the levels seen over the past two decades, the head of Maersk Line, Soren Skou, has warned. The container shipping industry has already been plagued by overcapacity and highly volatile freight rates in recent years.
