RNS Hotlist: DeepVerge, Eco, EKF, e-Therapeutics, Europa, i3, Pires, Prospex, SDX, SEED, Thor, Tintra, Tirupati, Wishbone

A new week and a chunky win for DeepVerge (DVRG) subsidiary Modern Water. It announced new orders worth £2.1 million using All Membrane Brine Concentration technology to treat technically challenging wastewater for chemical plants in India and provide desalinisation services in water starved North Africa. These orders are expected to be delivered in the current financial year and in 2023. The company said that collaborating with local and regional engineering partners has increasingly highlighted the value of our AMBC water recovery technology in high water stressed territories. The results, over a three year period, have led to a recent increase in demand that contributed to more than doubling Modern Water revenues in 2021 and improved the size of the AMBC order book for 2022 and 2023.

Wishbone Gold (WSBN), announced drilling is delivering encouraging results, with the intersection of multiple zones of quartz veining, carbonate and chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite, from drilling targeting the previously reported 3.4km x 1km magnetic targets modelled at the company's Red Setter Gold-Copper Project in the Patersons Range area in Western Australia. The company said that on the strength of what is being seen to date, Wishbone is now endeavouring to secure an additional diamond drill rig.  It looks forward to further positive results as it target the ~3km strike of the magnetic models.

Pires Investments (PIRI), the investment company,  has placed 12,500,000 shares at 4p, raising gross proceeds of £500,000. Serial entrepreneur Chris Akers has agreed to subscribe for 1,250,000 shares in the Placing, bringing his aggregate holding in Pires to 26,400,000 or 14.43%.

Tirupati Graphite (TGR) announced the promotion of Mr. Ameya Gogate to Chief Financial Officer. Gogate is a Chartered Accountant who has held the position of Financial Controller with Tirupati since April 2019 and knows the business well. He replaces Mr. Kien Huynh, Chief Financial Officer since March 2019, who has now resigned in order to pursue other opportunities. The company said Tirupati is working to strengthen our Board and leadership team further with a Board level executive presence in London. This will support its engagement with shareholders and also plans to establish downstream and advanced materials facilities in the UK, particularly discussions with the relevant policy makers and governmental authorities.

SDX Energy (SDX), the EMEA-focused energy company, provided an update on production and capex guidance for 2022 following drilling success at South Disouq and provides an update on its unaudited capex, cash, and liquidity position for the six months ended 30 June 2022. This included Increased production guidance: Group 2022 entitlement production guidance is increased to 3,480 - 3,795 boe/d from 3,330 - 3,550 boe/d. $1.8 million increase to 2022 mid-point capex guidance. The Net Cash position was $12.8m (unaudited) as of 30 June 2022. The company said that with the introduction of Aleph Commodities Limited as a new cornerstone shareholder, a strategic review and expansion plans are being formulated with a focus on increased production, reserves and shareholder returns.

Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (ECO), the oil and gas exploration company, announced its results for the year ended 31 March 2022. The company said the past 12 months have seen it make considerable progress as a business, increasing the geographic footprint and overall acreage considerably, growing the company in some of the most “active and exciting” oil and gas exploration regions on the globe. This, combined with the improved commodity price conditions, means that interest in exploration activity in the areas where Eco has strategically important acreage has increased significantly.

Prospex Energy (PXEN), the AIM quoted investment company provided an update on the production and income from the El Romeral power plant in southern Spain.  The company said El Romeral continues to provide a very healthy income stream from selling electricity into the spot market in Spain.  The Company holds a 49.9% working interest in El Romeral through its interest in Tarba Energía S.L..

Thor Mining (THR) announced the commencement of a close spaced airborne survey over the north-eastern portion of the company's 100% owned Ragged Range Project, located in Eastern Pilbara, Western Australia. The company said this airborne survey will ensure full coverage of tenure with high resolution, close spaced magnetics data, which is critical to the understanding of lithological boundaries and structural controls on mineralisation. This will allow Thor to focus on further developing its geological models in this greenfield area.  

EKF Diagnostics Holdings (EKF), the AIM-listed global diagnostics business, provides an unaudited trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2022, a period of strong underlying (non-COVID) revenue growth, underpinning confidence in meeting full year expectations. The company said it is “excited” by the growth potential from our expansion plans which will support growth through to 2024 and beyond, funded by internally generated cash resources. EKF remains on track to deliver planned expansions in capability and capacity in Life Sciences, as well as the further broadening of our Laboratory Services offering beyond COVID.

e-therapeutics (ETX), a specialist in computational drug discovery, announced the filing of eight further patent applications in the United States to protect innovation arising from e-therapeutics' proprietary GalNAc-siRNA technology. The company said this second announcement of significant patent filings within three months demonstrates fast and meaningful scientific and technological progress.

Europa Oil & Gas (EOG), the oil and gas company, announced that all conditions precedent required to complete the farm-in to Block 13/23c have now been satisfied. The company announced the details of the Serenity Farm-in Agreement on 21 April 2022, noting that the farm-in agreement was subject to approval from the North Sea Transition Authority and other customary conditions. These conditions have now all been satisfied and the farm-in has now completed. The company said it was pleased it has now completed the final formalities of the Serenity Farm-in with i3 Energy (I3E) as operator, towards starting drilling operations in early September.

SEED Innovations (SEED), the AIM-quoted investment company announced that is has invested a total of £171,000 in Clean Food Group Ltd, a UK-based cellular agriculture company focused on the commercialisation of palm oil by fermentation. The company said this investment has come at a time where sustainability and minimising environmental damage is at the forefront of investors' minds. CFG seeks to utilise its disruptive technology to produce a bio-equivalent palm oil alternative using microbial fermentation.

Tintra (TNT) announced its audited annual report and accounts for the year to 31 January 2022. The company said the issuing of the Annual Report with its accompanying audit process marks the end of the transformation from the old St. James House. It wanted to produce a set of financials that appropriately reflected the business and as such it has impaired nearly all legacy assets to remove any ambiguity, forming a strong foundation for growth.