The Russian-related losses have caused more than £13billion of losses to the largest international investment company.
Blackrock stated that it had to reduce the value of Russian holdings for clients after sanctions and closed markets rendered them unsellable.
According to the Financial Times, Russian assets were held by customers in New York that were valued at more £13.9billion as of January 31, before Russia invaded Ukraine.
The City of London Metal Exchange is like the Wild West
The prices of UK shale gas stocks IGas Energy Plc and Egdon Resources PLC rose on Thursday, as the government rethinks their position on fracking. This could allow for domestic gas resources to be unlocked to reduce dependence on Russian imports.
Cuadrilla is a privately held company that has taken the UK’s shale gas industry to its feet. The sector had been largely in limbo since projects failed regulatory approval or planning approval. The majority of the projects were located in the North West of England. They allowed the British Geological Society and the company to envision decades of supply, but not enough to allow the gas to be commercially tested.
Cuadrilla was the leader in advanced projects, while London Stock Exchange-listed IGas (and Egdon) amassed material potential acreage throughout Cheshire, Lancashire, and Lincolnshire. IGAS shares rose 55.46% and EDR by 48.18% in the past week.
Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC (AIM: QBT) shares soared after it reported strong results from its mining operations and artificial intelligence (AI). The group filed a patent application to create a new qubit-based algorithm for Bitcoin mining. This week, shares rose 60%
The technology, when combined with the ASIC miner will increase hashing speed in comparison to other ASIC miners that have been announced by rivals.
Amur Minerals Corporation (AIM: AMC) is one of the companies that is seeing a rebound. It is focused on projects involving base metals in the far east. This week, the shares of the company rose by 34%. According to the company, sanctions against Russia won’t have any impact on its business. The shares rose high before hostilities in Ukraine. This was due to expectations that Irosta Trading, the company’s subsidiary, would sell Kun-Manie, a nickel-copper-sulphide project located in far-east Russia.
PetroNeft Resources PLC was up by a quarter this week. It was another stock that had Russian interests on the return trail.
Harvest Minerals Ltd, (AIM: HMI) informed investors that the accumulated sales orders for 2022 totalled 30,161 tons, which is a 1,070% increase on the fertiliser producer’s internal forecasts. This represents a 35% rise compared to 2021 and 20% of the total sales target of 2022, which was 150,000 tonnes.
The company stated that it is now planning to increase its capacity by 200,000 tonnes. Harvest Minerals shares rose by 30% this week
Shares in PipeHawk (AIM: PIP), 28% more after a contract was won for one of its subsidiaries
Ventive Limited was awarded the contract for the second phase to produce a revolutionary ‘green energy product’ to heat domestic water and heating. This product combines heat recovery technology and air source heat pumps to create an efficient solution that can replace conventional gas- or oil-fired heating systems. It is expected to be phased out in the UK’s transition to “Net Zero”.
Russian miner Evraz has fallen after Roman Abramovich, its largest shareholder, was hit by UK sanctions. New measures targeted seven oligarchs, including Mr Abramovich who has a 30pc stake in the company. Evraz shares fell more than 12pc.
This comes just days after Evraz downplayed its Russian links and stated that it had not granted loans to the oligarch. This week, the miner also cancelled its interim dividend which would have paid cash to Mr Abramovich.
TEN directors depart Evraz as the Russian steelmaker’s London-listed shares are suspended and Abramovich is sanctioned.
- With immediate effect, all non-executive directors have resigned.
- These include Britons Stephen Odell, Deborah Gudgeon
- This is because the UK sanctioned Evraz’s largest investors, Roman Abramovich
Not a good week as Gfinity lost 45% after receiving a profit warning.
The e-sports company’s half-year results revealed it was making progress towards profitability, but the company also disclosed that the return to live esports events has been slower than expected. This has had an impact short-term revenue and profits. The directors expect that the ongoing discussions about a material partnership within the betting sector will continue, but it is unlikely that this will have the same impact on current fiscal year revenue as originally anticipated.
The company expects that full-year revenue will fall below market expectations, but directors are confident in the long-term prospects as well as the future path to profitability in 2023.
Parsley Box Group PLC, (AIM: MEAL) which is the meal delivery group, was also lower after raising funds. Through the issue of shares at just 20p, it raised PS5.9mln.
The shares traded at 21p on Friday. This is 21% less than the 52p that the shares traded last week. It’s a far cry of the 200p at the time the shares were floated less than a year ago.
Funds raised will be used for new customers and the development of an “online customer experience” that is tailored to their demographic (which may just mean very large fonts on a website), as well as the creation of a membership program to create a customer community.
SRT Marine Systems PLC, (LSE: SRT) fell by 20% to 32.75p following a raise of £4.9mln via a placing share at 30p per share.
Provider of digital navigation safety transceivers and integrated maritime surveillance systems wants to increase working capital to speed up multiple multi-system project implementations.
