Households got a £60 income boost last year
Lochard to lose Thunderball
Aim-listed Lochard Energy will let its licence to operate the Thunderball natural gas discovery in the North Sea lapse, as it does not have enough funding to drill it on its own. It has tried to bring in a farm-in partner but has been unsuccessful. Additionally, the firm is to be de-listed from the Australian Securities Exchange, due to low level of liquidity in trading shares in Sydney.
Angle soars on cancer advance
Specialist medical technology company Angle yesterday said it had achieved a breakthrough in the use of a cancer diagnostic treatment, sending its shares on a sharp upward spike. The Aim-listed company said it had made progress in its Parsortix product, which captures and counts circulating tumour cells from the blood of cancer patients. Its shares closed up 139.66 per cent yesterday.
Wave of interest for Billabong
Australian surfwear company Billabong International has received a second takeover offer from US clothing firm VF and a private equity firm that matches a A$556 million (£367m) bid by its US boss, Paul Naude. Billabong said yesterday it will allow VF and the firm, Altamont Capital Partners, to see its books, after already opening the accounts to a consortium led by Naude and private equity firm Sycamore Partners.