Caspian Sunrise PLC lifted by oil production update

11.42am: Sun rises on Caspian

The charmingly named () is looking bright after its latest update.

The  Kazakhstan oil and gas company said its flagship BNG Contract Area asset produced 119,916 barrels in the first three months of the year, and while domestic prices remained low, thay had recently risen from approximately $6 a barrel to $7.27.

Chairman Clive Carver said: “With the improving weather we are able to increase the pace of our operations at BNG. We now have three operational rigs and expect a fourth rig to become operational in the next few weeks.”

Caspian’s shares have climbed 10.26% or 0.2p to 2.15p.

One of the day’s big movers is Minds + Machines Group Limited ().

It has surged 65.22% or 3p to 7.6p after it agreed to sell the majority of its assets to Registry Services LLC, a subsidiary of US web domain group , for US$120mln in cash.

The top-level domain registry firm said the deal represented an estimated value of 8.8p per share, a 91% premium to its closing price on Wednesday, adding there was a “strong strategic rationale” to sell to an established player in the industry.

10.16am: Drinks group goes tropical

Investors are toasting the latest news from drinks group  PLC ().

The company – whose brands include Blackwoods Vintage Gin and Blavod Original Black Vodka – has added another flavour to its RedLeg rum product.

RedLeg Tropical Rum, the third flavour extension to the brand, adds mango, guava and passionfruit to the rum base, which is led in the Caribbean.

Executive chairman Don Goulding said: “We’ve seen tremendous growth in the spiced rum category and for the RedLeg over the last 12 months. Our RedLeg Spiced Rum has performed well in major retail and the existing flavours have been instrumental in recruiting new consumers to the brand and have delivered incremental sales. We are confident that RedLeg Tropical Rum will continue to build on this success.”

Its shares have bubbled up 11.54% or 0.3p to 2.9p.

9.05am: Healthcare group signs collaboration agreement

() – whose businesses range from commercial property to pubs to life science investments – is in demand.

Its shares have climbed 6.46% or 1.68p to 27.68p after one of its investments, women’s health specialist Verso Biosense, announced the signing of its second product collaboration agreement with one of the UK’s leading fertility clinics, London Women’s Clinic.

The clinic will use its uterine monitoring device to refine Verso’s technology and biosensing platform to meet the needs of its fertility patients.

Joseph Cefai, Head of Product Development at Verso Biosense, said: “We are delighted to announce our partnership with the London Women’s Clinic, a true leader in providing world-class fertility treatment to women and couples. It is testament to the potential of our ground-breaking platform that this is the second partnership we have announced in the space of a few of weeks, following our agreement with Homerton University Hospital in March. We are moving at pace to provide our monitoring platform to meet the needs of patients and we are delighted by the progress that we are making.”

One of the day’s big fallers is  ().

The potash exploration and development company whose flagship asset is the 97%-owned Sintoukola Potash Project in the Republic of Congo (“RoC”) is down 0.4p or 24.24% to 1.25p.

The fall comes on news of an US$ 11mln fundraising for working capital for the next twelve months and to meet the cost of an optimisation study for the Sintoukola project.

To be fair, the day’s drop still leaves the shares above the placing price of 1.1p a share.

Under a proposed debt and royalty funding deal with its partners Summit Africa, SEPCO Electric Power Construction Corporation and China ENFI Engineering Corporation, Kore would not be required to contribute to the capital needed to build the US$1.65bn project and would retain a 90% equity interest. 

8.23am: Mining group upbeat on…