Caledonia Mining CFO hopes 2014 was ‘the low point in our fortunes’

Mark Learmonth, the chief financial officer of Caledonia Mining (LON:CMCL, TSE:CAL), says he hopes 2014 was the low point in the company’s fortunes.

‘We’ve already started on the process of dealing with the issues that gave rise to the lower production,’ says Caledonia’s CFO on the new plan at the Blanket gold mine in Zimbabwe.

Learmonth says it is a year the company is ‘happy to put behind us’ but he hopes the process of rebuilding is well underway. He says looking at new opportunities at the moment would be ‘too great a distraction’ for the company.

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UPDATE - Gulf Keystone share sale raises US$40mln as takeover talks continue

--ADDS BROKER COMMENT--

Gulf Keystone Petroleum (LON:GKP) shares fell around 10% after a share sale raised US$40mln to bolster the group’s finances while it continues negotiations to potentially sell the company.

The Kurdistan-based oil company is issuing 85.9mln new shares priced at 32p each to new and existing institutional investors.

The cash injection adds to the company’s cash balance of around US$86mln, and comes amid uncertainty over payment schedules and after the company has called on some of its lenders to waive certain financial covenants.

Sami Zouari, GKP’s chief financial officer, said: "This successful placing will strengthen the company's financial position while discussions with interested parties in relation to possible asset transactions or a sale of the company and the board's assessment of a number of longer-term funding options to progress to the next Shaikan production target of up to 70,000 barrels of oil per day are ongoing."

“The share issuance was flagged before, so doesn’t come as a surprise,” said analyst Jamal Orazbayeva.

Sam Wahab, analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, described the new placing as an important milestone for GKP, as he reinstated a ‘buy’ recommendation and set a target price of 112p.

“We believe that in raising additional capital at this stage underlines continued shareholder support for GKP’s story against the backdrop of difficult macro-conditions and civil instability in Iraq,” he said in a note.

“Despite concerted efforts on behalf of company management, slower than anticipated progress in ratifying an oil law between the KRG and the federal government, and difficulties in receiving payments for export production has weighed heavily on the company’s share price.”

GKP separately announced that non-executive chairman Simon Murray is to retire from the board with immediate effect.

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Mercia Technologies invests £1mln into Soccer Manager Ltd

Mercia Technologies (LON:MERC) has invested £1mln in a developer of online football management games.

The AIM quoted technology investor is backing Soccer Manager Ltd, and is helping fund ongoing development and marketing for the Soccer Manager 2015 title. Following the investment the AIM quoted group's stake in the games developer is around 21%.

Soccer Manager 2015 was launched in February and it is available on a breadth of platforms including Android, iOS, and Facebook.

"Soccer Manager is a scalable business that addresses the global and expanding market for soccer-based gaming,” said Mark Payton, Mercia Technologies chief executive.

This expanding market is worth more than US$100bn worldwide, according to Payton.

"The founders of Soccer Manager have been developing the business for the past nine years and are clearly passionate about two things: soccer and technology,” he added. “We are delighted to be working with them as they move to the next stage of product development with their most recently launched title, Soccer Manager 2015."

Specifically the funds provided by Mercia will pay for development and translation of the game into Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Steven Gore, Soccer Manager Ltd’s operations manager, said: "Mercia's investment in our business, as well as the expertise in the digital and gaming sectors provided by their senior team, will provide strong support to our business as we expand our offering globally."

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