RNS Hotlist: Angle, Bens, Caracal, 88, Hurricane, Lift Global Ventures, Nostra, Pires, Pluto, Poolbeg, Riverfort, Sound, Trident

The positive newsflow continues for Poolbeg Pharma (POLB), a clinical stage infectious disease pharmaceutical company, as it updated on the strengthening of its intellectual property for its asset POLB 002, a first-in-class, intranasally administered RNA-based immunotherapy for respiratory virus infections. The European Patent Office has granted this important patent in the POLB 002 patent family, which protects the use of a defective interfering influenza virus against infection by influenza.

Lift Global Ventures (LFT), the financial media and technology investor, unveiled its listing date on Aquis as April 29. The company has raised £1.7m in its IPO, led by stock market commentator and CEO Zak Mir. The financial media space has been transformed since the pandemic, with a £1.5bn takeover of Interactive Investor, the Robinhood / meme stocks phenomena, as well as Twitter and Telegram driving investor speculation.

Trident Royalties (TRR), the diversified mining royalty and streaming company, has reached an agreement with Equinox Gold Corp. regarding the sale of the Mercedes Gold-Silver Mine in Sonora, Mexico pursuant to which Bear Creek Mining Corporation is acquiring a 100% interest in the Mercedes Mine from Equinox. The Mercedes Sale is expected to close in April 2022 and will trigger an approx. $3.75m payment from Equinox to Trident.

Pires Investments (PIRI), the investment company focused on next generation technology, said that one of its investments, Pluto Digital PLC, has just finalised its audited accounts. Pires said Pluto has made substantial progress in the DeFi, Metaverse and NFT sectors since its inception around 12 months ago. The audited NAV per share figure represents a significant increase compared to the price of the most recent funding round, however, in terms of market valuation, companies similar to Pluto can often trade at a multiple of NAV.

Investing company Riverfort Global (RGO) updated on its investment portfolio. The company said its debt and equity linked portfolio is performing well and currently comprises over 20 investment positions in companies such as Jubilee Metals plc, Deepverge plc, Challenger Exploration Limited and Troy Resources Limited. It said good progress continues to be made on the listing of Smarttech247 and Pires, with RGO looking forward to publishing its 2021 results in the coming weeks.

Nostra Terra (NTOG), the international oil & gas exploration and production company, announced the commencement of drilling operations on its new, wholly owned Grant East Lease located in the Permian Basin of West Texas. The primary target is the Permian Age Clear Fork formation, with the first well to be spud in the coming days.

Sound Energy (SOU), provided an operational and strategic update. The company said the Tendrara Phase 1 mLNG project is now well underway and the Tendrara Phase 2 Development, which is significantly greater in scale than Phase 1 and therefore offers the potential for greater rewards.

ANGLE (AGL), a liquid biopsy company, said that the company has presented a poster showcasing the Parsortix® system at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference 2022, held in New Orleans, United States on 8-13 April 2022. The research presented related to the use of the Parsortix system with triple negative breast cancer patients.

88 Energy (88E) reported for the quarter ended 31 March 2022. The company acquired ~73% non-operating working interest in Texas oil and gas production assets for $9.7M, consisting of $7.2M cash and $2.5M in 88 Energy shares. 88 Energy had cash of A$32.6M and no debt (as at 31 March 2022).

Bens Creek Group (BEN), the owner of a recently re-opened metallurgical coal mine in North America supplying the steel industry, announces that Ben's Creek Operations WV LLC, on 13 April 2022, entered into a coal sub-lease agreement with Star Ridge Land, LLC with an effective date of 11 April 2022.

Caracal Gold (GCAT), the East African gold producer with over 650,000oz JORC-compliant gold resources, announced the appointment of Sheila Boit as Business Development Executive. Ms Boit has extensive experience working in Kenya in the sustainable construction and materials industry. The company also announced that Jason Brewer will be retiring from his role as Commercial Director, effective immediately, in order to focus on other work commitments. Brewer has been described as a “force of nature” since GCAT came to market last summer, in terms of his efforts at the company. He is now set to focus on Neo Energy Metals and All Star Minerals.

Hurricane Energy (HUR), the UK based oil and gas company, said that the updated Competent Person's Report on the Company's Lancaster Field by ERC Equipoise Ltd has been published on the company's website. Management's production guidance for the full calendar year 2022 is 7,500 - 8,600 bopd.  This assumes FPSO production planned uptime of 96.5% and production from the P6 well alone on artificial lift via ESP.  Guidance includes the impact of an annual maintenance shutdown, anticipated to occur during Q3 2022.