Monday's most followed: US Oil & Gas, Mediterranean Oil & Gas, Entertainment One, Griffin Mining, Aveva Group, GloboReported by Proactive Investors on Monday, 28 May 2012 (on May 28, 2012)
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*US Oil & Gas (GXG:USOP)* was among the most actively discussed stocks today after becoming the top performer in the oil and gas sector on Friday.
The surge in the share price, which at one point was up more than 200 percent, was triggered by an update on the company’s Eblana-1 exploration well in Nevada.
On Friday morning, the company, which currently trades on a Danish OTC matched bargain system, had encountered what it believed was live light oil.
The company added that further oil shows had been encountered in deeper reservoir horizons that were currently being drilled.
On message boards, investors following USOP were optimistic about the news reported from the well so far, noting that the well has yet to reach its target depth and hoping that Friday’s news will be followed by an RNS with oil flow rates.
Sector peer *Mediterranean Oil & Gas (LON:MOG) *also garnered attention today after receiving a vote of confidence from its non-executive chairman Keith Henry, who has increased his stake in the firm.
Henry has bought 250,000 shares at a price of 5.44 pence per share, taking his shareholding to one million shares, which gives him a 0.23 percent interest in the company.
Investors welcomed the news with shares in MOG rising 2.5 percent to 5.63 pence in early deals.
Back on Friday, Panmure Gordon said the company’s full year results showed that it had turned the corner.
The broker said MOG could now concentrate on unlocking value from its exploration permits and producing concessions with cash flows of €1.05 million, a stronger balance sheet and an upward revision in its onshore reserves.
It can also seek a farm-out partner for its Area 4 offshore Malta licence, which is the near term transformational catalyst for the firm, added analyst Leila Reddy.
This year, MOG increased the resource estimate for the Guendalina gas field by 42 percent to 31.2 billion cubic feet, with 6.2 billion cubic feet net to the company.
In April, the company completed processing of 3D seismic data, Malta offshore Area 4.
Here, nine prospects with a total of 1,500 million barrels of prospective oil resources have been identified, and after interpretation of the data and a CPR, expected in the third quarter this year, Panmure expects the company to accelerate "monetisation initiatives" on the licence.
In the meantime, today’s most read RNS statements included full year reports from *Entertainment One (LON:ETO)* and *Griffin Mining (LON:GFM)*, which were met with a positive response from the markets.
Griffin posted full year results for 2011 thanks to the completion of processing plant upgrades and increased mining rates with uninterrupted production throughout the year.
Revenues reached a record breaking US$79.06 million compared with US$41.05 million a year earlier, with record metal in concentrate sales resulting in pre-tax profit of US$40 million, up from US$13.14 million in 2010.
Zinc prices were generally unchanged from 2010, however, the average price per tonne of zinc metal in concentrate received by the company increased to US$1,546 in 2011 from US$1,409 due to higher demand for zinc concentrate within China.
“Whilst China and the emerging markets continue to grow and demand raw materials, the outlook looks rosy, particularly for the supply deficit predicted in the zinc market in the next two years,” said chairman of Griffin Mladen Ninkov.
“However, uncertainty remains with the mountain of debt in the public sector, the undercapitalized banking sector and the contracting economies of the European Union and the inevitable consequences for world trade, growth and commodities demand.
“We can only sit and wait to see what will be the outcome of this fiasco.”
Meanwhile, film and TV distributor Entertainment One called 2011 “another positive year, which saw a seven percent increase in its revenues to £502.7 million, resulting in a 33.1 percent surge in pre-tax profits to £43 million.
Earnings per share rose 18.5 percent to 15.4 pence.
During the year, the group released 152 films theatrically with gross box office receipts of $212 million including The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1.
Digital sales doubled to £66 million, reflecting the impact of exclusive five year licensing deal in the UK with LOVEFiLM and strong growth in North America.
Entertainment One also noted that Peppa Pig remained number one UK pre-school property and is expanding well internationally, while it also remains on track for nationwide licensing and merchandising launch of 2012.
“I look forward to the year ahead and we plan to continue to drive further value for our shareholders through both organic growth and acquisition opportunities,” said chief executive of Entertainment One Darren Throop.
*Aveva Group (LON:AVV)*, which also released its full year figures today, and *Globo (LON:GBO) *caught the eye of investors as both showed up among the top risers in London markets today.
Shares in Globo were up 7.5 percent at 17.75 pence after the mobile technology specialist reported a strong start to the year, while engineering group Aveva posted a 16 per cent increase in full year profits.
Aveva booked a £57.7 million pre-tax profit for the year to end March, up from £49.8 million in the previous year, as revenues climbed to £195.9 million from £174 million.
In the second half, the FTSE 250 company achieved organic growth of 15 per cent compared to the same period in 2010/11.
“The strong close to last year has put AVEVA in a very good position to deliver against our strategy and to continue our focused investment to expand the business in all areas,” said chief executive of Aveva Richard Longdon.
“We expect growth in the oil & gas industry to continue apace along with our expanding presence in mining.
“Power is set to provide a solid base of customers continuing to prepare for the growth in nuclear whilst marine is expected to remain slow.”
Furthermore, the group added that it expected to continue to perform strongly in Latin America and see further growth in China, while inventing in the development of its Indian business.
In 2011, revenues at the group’s business in the Americas and the Europe and Middle East (EMEA) businesses rose 24 percent and 21 percent respectively.
Globo also reported a strong performance of its overseas business, which now accounts for 60 percent of total group revenues.
The group said its active subscriber base grew by 21 per cent to 1.7 million in the first five months of the year as demand for its consumer mobile apps CitronGO! and GO!Social was strong.
On the financial front, Globo currently has €21 million in the bank following a £9.6 million share placing in May.
“Globo's success in building a significant international mobile business over recent years has been outstanding,” said chairman of Globo Barry Ariko.
“Globo has a substantial opportunity for profitable growth over the coming years and we have the vision, strategy and resources to achieve this.
“As a result we are excited about the group's prospects and are confident that we will deliver a strong financial performance for the current year.”
Links:  Full news story
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