Shares in London rose on Friday morning in reaction to slightly better than expected economic data. Click here for The Trader Nicole Elliott's latest thoughts on the markets.
IC TIP UPDATES:
Shares in the rapidly-growing Diversified Gas & Oil (DGOC) have re-listed today, following a successful $250m premium equity placing to help fund the acquisition of conventional and midstream assets owned by New York-listed EQT Corporation. The deal remains subject to shareholder approval, though DGO said it had received undertakings from investors holding 74 per cent of stock, which has rocketed 30 per cent today to 125p a share. Under review.
Shares issued in Petra Diamonds' (PDL) 5-for-8 rights issue have begun trading this morning, after the gemstone miner received 95 per cent acceptances. Buy.
Maintel (MAI) has announced a strategic partnership with European IT services group, Atos and the £5.1m acquisition of certain customer contracts. The acquired customer base will give Maintel access to several hundred customers and will enable Atos to focus on its large customer accounts. With an increased customer base, we think this looks like a sensible move. Buy
Shares in Equiniti (EQN) are up 3 per cent this morning. Yesterday, analyst Peel Hunt released a note on the company which included a video interview with finance director John Stier, who said the integration of Wells Fargo Shareholder Services was now 50 per cent complete. Completion of the process is expected to lead to significant margin growth, which should help the shares retrace some of the losses made in recent months. Buy.
KEY STORIES:
Shares in Amigo Loans (AMGO) have been priced at 275p - at the upper-end of expectations, giving the guarantor loan provider a market capitalisation of £1.3bn. Founder James Benamor and some other managers will bank £327m. The shares will begin unconditional on the main market of the London Stock Exchange on 4 July.
Shares in Serco (SRP) are down 4 per cent this morning. The group has traded in line with expectations for the year, but is now only anticipating taking over 6 of Carillion’s former healthcare contracts, from 15 previously. Analyst Peel Hunt anticipate a small negative impact on 2018 profitability as a result, but left forecasts unchanged.
OTHER COMPANY NEWS:
Law firm Knights (KGH) has been admitted to Aim today. As announced on 26 June, the company successfully raised gross proceeds of around £50m from its share placing with institutional investors. The offer price of 145p gave Knights a market cap of £103.5m upon admission. The £30m in gross proceeds received by the company from the respective placing will be partly directed towards repaying most of its debt and fees. Bosses expect the IPO to help drive the firm’s growth organic and acquisitive growth strategy.
Hoping to replicate the success of fellow Egypt-focused explorer-producer SDX Energy, Transglobe Energy (TGL) has begun trading on Aim this morning. The upstream oil and gas firm, which is already listed in Toronto, has joined the junior London market to enhance shareholder liquidity, and "make it easier" to introduce the company to a wider investor base.
