CFO leaves NorDiag, sells shares in a hurry

Biotechnology company NorDiag ASA (OSE: NORD) has been attempting to solve a financing crisis with the aim to either give current shareholders an exit opportunity or to secure long-term capital by attracting strategic investors. The gene-based diagnostics focused laboratory tools developer said yesterday that negotiations with strategic investors and/or potential acquirers are unlikely to yield a solution within the period during which the company has sufficient cash to support operations.

NorDiag said it needs to attain more liquid assets in April 2012 and will therefore shortly call for an extraordinary general meeting proposing a new share issue. If a solution is not obtained, the company said it may enter into liquidation. In December the company was able to attain 15 million NOK when faced with a similar situation.

In Q4 the company posted revenue of 8.3 million NOK. It sold 30 NorDiag Arrow platforms intended for purified nucleic acids and cell separation during the quarter. Operating expenses were around 11 million NOK and EBITDA around -6 million. Full-year revenues was just above 30 million and EBITDA around -31 million NOK. The company’s cost cutting measures will start to take effect from Q1-Q2. In total those should scrap 11.5 million NOK from total base.

Today an announcement was made that Chief Financial Officer Tone Kvåle has ”agreed with the company” to resign from her position. She proceeded to fire sale her sales in a hurry, with two announcements coming within a two hour period. First patch of over 2.8 million shares sold at 0.09 NOK and the second nearly 7.8 million lump was sold at an average price of 0.0663 per share leaving her with just a few shares. In December there was a big jump from 0.06 NOK to 0.30 NOK. Today’s closing was at 0.08 NOK. Just last spring the share was trading around 2 NOK.

Plenty of news, Nordic stocks in the black on Thursday

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB (STO: HM B) November 2011 sales decreased by 1% in comparable units. Total sales were up by 9%. In one year the company added 266 new stores to bring the number up to a total of 2472. Fourth quarter sales were over 36.1 billion SEK including VAT (unaudited, 30.9 billion VAT excluded). The numbers were below expectations. Retailers have blamed warmer than expected weather for sluggish sales as of late. H&M gained 1% in today’s session on high volume.

CEO Magnus Hall of Swedish paper firm Holmen (OMX: HOLM B) told Reuters news agency that orders for paperboard and printing paper remain weak and may fall further in the short term, where as market for timber is already so weak that Hall does not think it can get much worse.

Metso Corporation (OMX: MEO1V) will supply world’s first commercial installation of LignoBoost technology to Domtar’s Plymouth North Carolina pulp mill in USA. LignoBoost separates and collects lignin from pulping liquor and Metso feels this order is an important breakthrough for the adobtation of the technology.

Biotechnology company NorDiag ASA (OSE: NORD) more than doubled its stock market value in a day. The news that its US subsidiary NorDiag Inc entered into a five-year distribution agreement with AutoGen Inc, wherein AutoGen will distribute NorDiag’s products to North American Life Science market was the catalyst. Financial details weren’t disclosed but NorDiag expects a significant sales impact from 2012 and beyond.

As a continuation of the news from the other day on confirmed Pancreas Disease in Central Norway, Salmar ASA (OSE: SALM) said a confirmed detection of the disease has been made in one of its sites. The site has 2 million fish, with around half a million of them vaccinated against PD, and a book value of 50 million NOK. Salmar’s stock price was down slightly.

Scana Industrier (OSE: SCI) shot down 20% after a trading halt this morning. The company announced plans for a fully guaranteed rights issue for 120 million new shares. The existing shareholders shall have pre-emptive rights with non-tradable rights. Eight largest shareholders and two other shareholders are behind the full guarantee. The company is also negotiating on a new three year bank facility to replace the outstanding multi-currency term loan and revolving credit facility from 2007 with maturity in October 2012. The price action in the past couple of months suggests this did not come as a terrible surprise. Scana recovered in late trading to finish the day down by 4%.

Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (OSE: EMGS) and world’s largest oilfield service company Schlumberger intend to enter into a cooperative agreement from January 3 2012 onwards. The parties will offer their expertise in marine electromagnetic related fields of processing, advanced modelling and earth model building and Schlumberger will withdraw from the ongoing patent disputes. The companies will cross-license patents relevant to the CSEM acquisition business. EMGS ended the day up by more than 12%.

Christmas sales reports from Nordic countries are mixed, with some chains already offering discounts that traditionally start after holidays. Finnish retailing conglomerate Kesko (OMX: KESB) managed to grow sales by 7.4% in November.