Revolution Bars Group PLC cries viva el government!

It was a case of Viva La Revolución as () welcomed the government’s latest lockdown guidelines.

The company, whose brands include Revolución de Cuba, said trading at its bars has been extremely strong since the government allowed bars with outdoor drinking spaces to reopen for business.

The shares rose 20% after the company said it is confident that further pent-up demand exists and that strong trading is anticipated in the months to come as restrictions fall away and it fully opens up its estate.

There was no “good on you, Boris!” statement from (), the Lebanese restaurants group, but that did not stop the shares from rising 32% this week.

Although demand for hospitality shares was high this week, oil firm (LON:MTAD) was the top riser this week after it received approval of the plan of development for its Heron Field project in Mongolia.

Mongolia’s Mineral Resources Professional Council has, subject to some technical clarifications being made, given the green light to the development plan.

With the recent relaxation of lockdown restrictions in Mongolia, Petro Matad is now in discussion with MRPC’s designated officials to clarify the points raised to secure MRPC written approval of the plan of development.

Shares in Petro Matad were up 68% on the week at 8.55p.

In a similar vein, PLC (), the battery metals specialist, jumped 32% after it said its joint venture partner has received the approval of the Environmental Permit Ep-L2 (708) authorising the excavation of laterite ore deposit and direct shipping ore operations at the company’s Mambare Nickel-Cobalt project in Eastern Papua New Guinea.

The approval is conditional, as is normal in Papua New Guinea, on the activity complying with the Environmental Act 2000. The granting of the approval brings to an end a wait of more than two years for Corcel.

Elsewhere in the resources sector, () jumped 46% after it said its joint venture partner has started its Year 4 exploration programme at the Senala gold project in Senegal.

The programme will comprise around 11,000 metres of reverse circulation and diamond drilling at the Faré and Madina Bafé prospects.

Another gold miner, Lexington Gold Limited (), rose by a third on the back of full-year results.

What was so thrilling about the results was not immediately apparent, with the company reporting a wider loss before tax of US$712,000 for 2020 compared to a loss of US$482,000 the year before.

The net cash position was much improved, however, at US$2.9mln compared to US$0.1mln at the end of 2019.

On the subject of share price mysteries, sector peer URU Metals Limited () and its board joined the rest of us in professing ignorance of the reasons for the company’s 36% share price increase this week.

The board said it is not aware of any specific reason for this increase.

It seems barely a week has gone by this year without Hurricane Energy PLC (LON:HUR) featuring in this column, usually on the debit side of things and this week is no different, with the shares down 18% after the company lifted the lid on its highly-dilutive debt deal.

A deal struck with a 69% majority of the group’s convertible bond holders will see some US$50mln of the total US$230mln debt swapped for new shares in the company.

These refinancing shares will equate to 95% of the group’s fully diluted pro forma equity immediately following the restructuring.

The bondholders – and subsequently the majority owners of the company – agreed to amend the terms for the remaining US$180mln of outstanding bonds to extend the maturity date out to December 2024.

Hurricane shares now trade at 0.69p; four years ago they would have set you back about 50p. Long-suffering Hurricane shareholders must be hoping the restructuring deal puts a line under things and the company can get back to exploiting its Lancaster field.