Stockwinners Market Radar for July 02, 2018 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:51 EDT Nidec acquires CIMA S.p.A, terms not disclosed - Nidec Corporation announced that it acquired a 100% ownership interest in CIMA S.p.A., an Italian commercial motor manufacturer, from its shareholders on July 2, 2018, local time. As a result of the Transaction, CIMA became a consolidated subsidiary of Nidec. In line with its continuing initiative to create an optimal business mix, the company is actively moving forward with the development of new growth platforms with particular emphasis on appliance, commercial and industrial motors and solutions. Commercial equipment and products have been and will continue to be an important impetus in keeping the initiative on course. Since the acquisition of Kinetek Group Inc. and its subsidiaries, including FIR Elettromeccanica S.r.l., in November 2012, the Company has added to its product portfolio a new range of pumps and motors for commercial kitchen equipment used for food-service operations including restaurants and canteens, motors for construction equipment and pumps, primarily targeted at the European market.

19:00 EDT On The Fly: After Hours Movers - UP AFTER EARNINGS: Herman Miller (MLHR) up 11.5%. ALSO HIGHER: Micronet Enertec (MICT) up 65.1% after BNN Technology PLC acquired a stake... Acxiom Corp (ACXM) up 8.2% after selling Marketing Solutions unit to Interpublic. LOWER: Safety, Income & Growth Inc (SAFE) down 2.4% after equity offering... SS&C Technologies (SSNC) down 1.8% after cutting 900 jobs and related charge... Myomo (MYO) down 1.6% after equity offering... Facebook (FB) down 1.3% after reports of regulators scrutinizing the company's disclosures on data sharing.

18:37 EDT Preferred Bank to join S&P Smallcap 600 effective July 6 - Preferred Bank, an independent commercial bank focusing on the diversified California market, today announced that it will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 GICS Regional Banks Sub-Industry index effective at the opening of trading on Friday, July 6, 2018. The S&P SmallCap 600 measures the small-cap segment of the U.S. equity market, tracking companies that meet specific inclusion criteria to ensure that they are liquid and financially viable.

18:04 EDT CPI Aerostructures disputes claim to terminate pact to buy Welding Metallurgy - CPI Aerostructures (CVU) announced that it received notice from Air Industries Group (AIRI) that claims to terminate the Stock Purchase Agreement to purchase all of the shares of capital stock of Welding Metallurgy, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Industries, dated March 21, 2018. The company disputes the purported termination. The company believes that Air Industries' failure to provide full access to WMI's books and records, including inventory and accounting records, and financial, operating, and other data, is a material breach of the Agreement, and that Air Industries' purported termination of the Agreement is itself a material breach of the Agreement. CPI Aero is considering all of its options against Air Industries under the Agreement, at law and in equity.

18:01 EDT Boeing delivers first 737 MAX aircraft to Ethiopian Airlines - Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines celebrated the delivery of the first of 30 737 MAX jets for Africa's largest and fastest-growing commercial airline. The flag carrier of Ethiopia has long operated the efficient and reliable Boeing 737 airplane. With the MAX, Ethiopian will be able to achieve a double-digit improvement in fuel efficiency and provide passengers with a more comfortable experience.

17:45 EDT SPDR Gold Trust holdings fall to 809.31MT from 819.04MT - This is the 4th straight day of decline in trust holdings and also the lowest level of holdings since Aug. 25th, 2017.

17:33 EDT Longitude Capital reports 9.5% stake in Aptinyx - The reporting persons hold the securities of the Issuer for general investment purposes. The reporting persons may, from time to time, depending on prevailing market, economic and other conditions, acquire additional shares of common stock or other securities of the Issuer, dispose of any such securities, or engage in discussions with the Issuer concerning such acquisitions or dispositions or further investments in the issuer.

17:28 EDT Blue Harbour Group reports 7.2% stake in Wesco - The Reporting Persons acquired the shares of common stock for investment purposes in the ordinary course of business. The Reporting Persons acquired the shares of common stock because they believed that the common stock reported herein represented an attractive investment opportunity.

17:21 EDT Kite Realty Group says SVP Dave Buell acting as principal financial officer - On June 30, Kite Realty Group Trust and Daniel R. Sink, Executive Vice President and CFO of the company, entered into a Separation Agreement and General Release providing for certain terms in connection with the conclusion of Mr. Sink's employment with the company. Mr. Sink's intention not to renew his employment agreement upon its June 30 expiration was previously disclosed on April 23, 2018. Effective June 30, Mr. Sink's employment agreement expired, and he resigned from all positions with the company and its subsidiaries. The company is in the process of searching for a new CFO. In the interim, Dave Buell, SVP, Chief Accounting Officer of the Company, is performing the functions of the company's principal financial officer.

17:14 EDT TPG Pace Energy announces special meeting, will be renamed Magnolia - TPG Pace Energy Holdings filed a definitive proxy statement with respect to its business combination with EnerVest's South Texas Division. The special meeting of stockholders will be held at 9:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, on July 17. TPGE expects the business combination to close on July 31, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the approval of the business combination by TPGE's stockholders at the special meeting. In connection with the consummation of the transaction, on August 1,TPGE will be renamed Magnolia Oil and Gas,its Class A common stock will trade on the NYSE under the ticker symbol "MGY" and it will start implementing Steve Chazen's objective of maximizing shareholder returns by generating steady production growth, strong pre-tax margins in excess of industry norms and significant free cash flow.

17:05 EDT Micronet Enertec trading resumes

17:03 EDT Waiping Liu reports 16.2% stake in Biostar Pharmaceuticals - In a regulatory filing, Biostar board member Waiping Liu disclosed a 16.2% stake in the company, adding that she plans to nominate a new chairman of the board and certain candidates for election to the board if practical with her equity ownership interest in the company.

16:45 EDT Trimble completes acquisition of Viewpoint - Trimble announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Viewpoint. Viewpoint is a provider of scalable construction management software, which integrates contractors' financial and resource management with project operations, jobsite and field. Trimble funded the transaction using a combination of senior notes, term loan, existing credit facilities and cash on hand.

16:43 EDT Senvest Management lowers passive stake in Immersion to 5.0% from 10.5%

16:40 EDT Viking Global reports 5.4% passive stake in Eidos

16:36 EDT Air Products appopints Victoria Brifo as Chief Human Resources Officer - Air Products has appointed Victoria Brifo senior VP and Chief Human Resources Officer. She is accountable for all aspects of Human Resources at Air Products, including HR Operations, Diversity and Inclusion, Talent Management, Compensation and Benefits, and Global Health and Wellness.

16:35 EDT HMS Holdings announces $20M settlement agreement for 2010 asset purchase - HMS Holdings announced that it has reached a settlement agreement in litigation pending in the Supreme Court of New York. The case related to the acquisition earn out portion of the purchase price for Allied Management Group Special Investigation Unit, or AMG, which the company acquired in 2010. As previously disclosed, a jury trial verdict was returned in favor of the plaintiffs on their breach of contract claim on November 3, 2017 which included an award of $60M in damages. The parties agreed to settle the litigation for $20M and a settlement agreement was signed on June 27. "We are pleased to have resolved this matter," said Jeff Sherman, CFO. The company paid the settlement amount from available cash on June 28th, so will record a charge in the second quarter. "The settlement payment does not meaningfully change our overall liquidity profile, which remains very strong, and the charge will be treated as a non-recurring legal expense when we report second quarter results, so will not impact our adjusted EPS," added Sherman.

16:34 EDT Mudrick issues letter to LaSalle Hotel supporting Pebblebrook merger proposal - Mudrick Capital Management, which together with its affiliates beneficially owns 1M shares of the outstanding common stock of LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO), issued a public letter to LaSalle's board. "We are writing to express our support for the revised merger proposal made by Pebblebrook Hotel Trust (PEB), as publicly announced on June 11, 2018. We believe that the revised Pebblebrook proposal clearly is financially superior to the proposed transaction with affiliates of Blackstone (BX). We strongly urge you to negotiate the terms of a merger agreement with Pebblebrook. If you proceed to submit the Blackstone proposal to the company's shareholders for approval at a special meeting of shareholders, under its current terms we intend to vote our shares "Against" the Blackstone proposal. We wish to remind you of your fiduciary duties as members of the company's Board of Trustees to act in the best interest of all shareholders in this matter. We expect that in any further discussions with Blackstone regarding its proposal, you will be mindful not to change the terms of the merger agreement with Blackstone in a way that would inhibit the company from reaching an agreement with whichever party ultimately makes the superior offer, or would make it unduly financially burdensome for a third party to make a superior offer. If you fail to comply with your fiduciary duties we will be forced to explore avenues to protect the best interest of LaSalle shareholders."

16:32 EDT Prestige Brands sells its household cleaning business for $69.0M - Prestige Brands announced that it has signed and closed on an agreement for the sale of its household cleaning business for $69.0M in cash. The transaction includes Comet(R), Spic and Span(R), Cinch(R), Chore Boy(R) and Chlorinol(R) household product brands and related inventory. With the sale of these brands the Company's portfolio will be comprised entirely of consumer healthcare brands. The divestiture enables the Company to further concentrate its brand-building efforts around its "invest for growth" consumer healthcare brand portfolio to help support long-term organic growth. The Company plans to use the net proceeds from the divestiture to pay down debt. The Household Cleaning portfolio contributed $80.6M or 8% of total Company sales in fiscal 2018. In its Fiscal 2019 outlook issued on May 10, 2018, the Company expected the Household Cleaning business to provide revenue of approximately $78M and EPS of approximately $0.17.

16:31 EDT Laredo Petroleum says no injuries resulted from Glasscock battery fire - Laredo Petroleum provided the following information regarding a fire at a Laredo tank battery in Glasscock County, Texas. On June 30, 2018, a fire was reported at a Laredo tank battery in Glasscock County, Texas. No injuries were reported and the fire was extinguished the same day. Laredo's operations personnel were alerted by the company's SCADA system and were able to quickly respond and shut-in the producing wells, limiting the amount of oil consumed by the fire. Additionally, this area is part of Laredo's Medallion pipeline system acreage dedication, thus the amount of oil in the storage tanks was minimized as it was directly tied by gathering pipelines to the Medallion system. The cause of the fire is currently being investigated, although initial indications are the fire was caused by a lightning strike. The company is working closely with the relevant parties to gather all pertinent facts. Laredo operations personnel immediately began assessing the condition of production facilities and alternatives for reestablishing production as soon as possible. At the time of the incident, wells flowing into the battery were producing approximately 5,100 net barrels of oil per day. The wells sustained no damage and the company expects to restore approximately 70% of the shut-in production beginning Tuesday, July 3, and approximately 90% by the following week. All remaining shut-in production is expected to be restored by the end of July. Current efforts are expected to limit the impact of the shut-in production to approximately 400 BOPD in the third quarter of 2018, and the company is reiterating its previously stated guidance for oil and total production growth for full-year 2018 of greater than 10% and 12%, respectively. "We are very thankful that no injuries resulted from this incident and appreciate the quick response and professionalism of the first responders," stated Randy A. Foutch, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "While incidents such as these can never be anticipated, they can be planned for. Our protocols for responding to alerts in the field accelerated our assessment of the situation and, combined with past field infrastructure investments, enabled the return of significant amounts of shut-in production in a short period of time."

16:31 EDT Ryerson completes acquisition of Central Steel & Wire, declares special dividend - Ryerson Holding announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Central Steel & Wire Company pursuant to which Central Steel & Wire has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ryerson. In connection with the closing of the transaction, shareholders of Central Steel & Wire will receive approximately $150.8M, or approximately $616.32 per share of Central Steel & Wire common stock outstanding as of the closing. In addition, shareholders of Central Steel & Wire as of the closing of the transaction may receive up to $7.5M in the aggregate of additional consideration, which is representative of the amount held back in the transaction pending the final determination of Central Steel & Wire's actual net working capital and net cash to confirm that the closing payment amount was not overstated. Further, if actual net working capital and net cash exceeds the estimated amounts used to calculate the closing payment, shareholders will receive additional consideration for the amount above such estimates. An additional $1M has been held back to cover the expenses of the shareholders' representative, the balance of which, to the extent not used, will also be distributed to Central Steel & Wire's shareholders as of the closing of the transaction on a pro rata basis. Ryerson will also assume approximately $8.9M in transaction related obligations of Central Steel & Wire as a result of the closing, including certain transaction expenses and retention and change in control payments. In connection with the anticipated closing of the transaction and as contemplated by the transaction documents, Central Steel & Wire declared a special dividend in the amount of $50 on each share of its common stock, which was paid on June 29, 2018.Central Steel & Wire did not operate with any debt for borrowed money at the time of closing of the transaction. Ryerson funded the purchase price for the transaction by drawing on its credit facility.

16:28 EDT Acxiom to sell Acxiom Marketing Solutions for $2.3B to Interpublic Group - Acxiom (ACXM) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Acxiom Marketing Solutions business to Interpublic Group (IPG), one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies, for $2.3B in cash. The transaction was unanimously approved by Acxiom's Board of Directors and is expected to close by the end of calendar 2018. Upon closing, the company expects to realize approximately $1.7B in net cash proceeds, after taxes and fees. Consistent with its past capital allocation philosophy, Acxiom will continue its practice of executing a balanced approach to capital deployment. Specifically, the company will continue to focus its capital on investing in growth opportunities and innovation, making strategic acquisitions and, at the same time, returning capital to shareholders. Following the completion of the transaction, the company intends to: Retire its existing $230 million debt balance, resulting in a debt-free balance sheet; Initiate a $500 million cash tender offer for its common stock; Increase its outstanding share repurchase authorization by up to $500 million, and extend the duration of the program to December 31, 2020; Use the remainder of the proceeds to fund its growth initiatives, strategic acquisition opportunities and meet its ongoing cash needs; Transfer the Acxiom brand name and associated trademarks to IPG; and Rename the company LiveRamp and, shortly thereafter, begin trading its common stock under the new ticker symbol "RAMP".

16:23 EDT Apollo Medical announces NMM, APC acquire 50% ownership in French Hospital - Apollo Medical announced that two of its affiliates, Network Medical Management, or NMM, and Allied Pacific of California, or APC, have acquired a 50% ownership stake in the 128-bed French Hospital, the oldest hospital in Los Angeles, for $17M. ApolloMed partnered on the acquisition with AHMC Healthcare, which operates seven hospitals in Los Angeles County and Orange County. The total cost of the 2.5-acre, 90,000-square foot facility was $33M. The French Hospital was acquired from the non-profit Societe Francaise De Bienfaisance Mutuelle De Los Angeles. The hospital closed in November 2017 after its operators chose not to renew the lease with the French society because state law required the facility to complete nearly $100M of earthquake renovations. ApolloMed and AHMC plan to convert the facility into an integrated care center, complete with a 24-hour urgent care center, multispecialty clinics, imaging center, diagnostic lab, pharmacy, behavioral care center, infusion center and will also provide telemedicine services.

16:18 EDT WGL, AltaGas deal approved by DC PSC - WGL Holdings and AltaGas announced that they and the other parties to their unanimous settlement agreement signed in May have accepted the conditions imposed by the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia. The Commission unanimously approved the settlement agreement June 28 and issued its order on June 29. The acceptance of the conditions completes the final step in the regulatory review process, allowing the companies to move forward with closing the $4.5 billion transaction on Friday, July 6, 2018. Upon today's filing with the Commission of full acceptance of the its order with conditions, and pursuant to the companies' original merger agreement, AltaGas and WGL expect to close the transaction on July 6, 2018.

16:16 EDT Accenture names Omar Abbosh CEO of Communications, Media & Technology unit - Accenture has appointed Omar Abbosh group chief executive - Communications, Media & Technology, effective Sept. 1, 2018, succeeding Robert E. Sell, who will retire from the company on Aug. 31, 2018. Mr. Abbosh is currently Accenture's chief strategy officer with responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the company's strategy, innovation programs and investments, including ventures and acquisitions. He also has management responsibility for Accenture Security as well as the company's industry, research and corporate citizenship programs. During his 29 years with Accenture, Mr. Abbosh has held several management roles including serving as global client lead for some of the company's largest clients. In his new role, he will lead Accenture's Communications, Media & Technology operating group, which serves clients in the communications, electronics, technology, media and entertainment industries. Mr. Abbosh will continue to serve on Accenture's Global Management Committee.

16:15 EDT Dean Foods becomes majority shareholder of Good Karma - Dean Foods announced it has increased its ownership percentage and taken a majority stake in Good Karma Foods, a brand of flaxseed-based milk and yogurt alternatives. "Good Karma is a fast-growing brand that gets us back into the growing plant-based food and beverage category, making it an excellent addition to our portfolio," said Ralph Scozzafava, CEO of Dean Foods. "Our investment in Good Karma is just one example of how we are executing against one of the major pillars of our strategic plan, to build and buy strong brands."

16:13 EDT Navios Maritime Midstream receives proposal from Navios Maritime Acquisition - Navios Maritime Midstream Partners (NAP) has received a proposal from Navios Maritime Acquisition (NNA) pursuant to which Navios Acquisition would acquire the publicly held shares of Navios Midstream not already owned by Navios Acquisition in a stock for units exchange.Subject to negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement, Navios Acquisition is proposing consideration of 6.292 Navios Acquisition shares for each outstanding publicly held unit of Navios Midstream as part of a transaction that would be structured as a merger of Navios Midstream with Navios Acquisition. The proposed consideration represents a value of $3.838 per common unit of Navios Midstream based on the closing price of Navios Acquisition's shares as of June 28, 2018. The proposed transaction is expected to be a tax-free exchange to Navios Midstream's unit holders for US federal income tax purposes.The proposed transaction is subject to the negotiation and execution of a definitive agreement, approval of the board of directors of Navios Acquisition and the necessary approvals of the conflicts committee of Navios Midstream under Navios Midstream's limited partnership agreement. The consummation of the proposed transaction would be subject to customary closing conditions. There can be no assurance that any such approvals will be forthcoming, that a definitive agreement will be executed, or that any transaction will be consummated.

16:11 EDT Haynes reached tentative five-year agreement with USW - Haynes International announced that the company has reached a tentative five-year agreement with the leadership of the United Steelworkers Local 2958. The agreement covers approximately 482 employees at the company's Kokomo, Indiana plant. Before it becomes effective, the tentative agreement must be ratified by the USW membership. The USW has informed the company that it will take the tentative agreement to its membership for a ratification vote no later than July 6, 2018. Until the ratification process is complete, bargaining unit employees will continue to work under the existing collective bargaining agreement.

16:09 EDT Cormorant Asset Management reports 8.6% passive stake in Kezar Life Sciences

16:08 EDT Franklin completes acquisition of Stationary Power Division of Midtronics - Franklin Electric Co. announced that it has completed the acquisition of the Stationary Power Division of Midtronics, an Illinois-based company specializing in the design, engineering, manufacturing and marketing of battery testing and monitoring equipment used in a variety of industries including telecom, data center and electric utilities. SPD will be combined with the existing Grid Solutions business of Franklin Fueling Systems. In FY17, SPD had annual sales of approximately $8M.

16:06 EDT Innophos Holdings restructures acid sourcing arrangement with Nutrien - Innophos Holdings announced that as part of its strategic value chain repositioning initiative it has restructured its merchant grade acid strategic sourcing arrangement with global agricultural leader Nutrien, including a new MGA strategic supply agreement. Combined with the new Nutrien Purified Phosphoric Acid supply agreement announced earlier today and other internal strategic manufacturing optimization actions, Innophos will meaningfully diversify its supply base, deliver an improved sustainable cost structure and advance Innophos' previously announced strategic value chain repositioning effort that is expected to deliver a 10% improvement to adjusted diluted EPS by the end of 2019. Under the terms of the new agreements, Nutrien will supply Innophos with MGA, a key material used in the manufacturing of PPA, from Nutrien's US-based facility in Aurora, North Carolina and cease sourcing MGA from Nutrien's facility in Geismar, Louisiana. In addition, Innophos has made significant progress in advancing a multi-faceted program that will increase the self-sufficiency of MGA supply from its own Coatzacoalcos, Mexico facility. These initiatives, combined with Innophos' deep well capital investment at its PPA manufacturing facility in Geismar, LA, will enable Innophos to utilize multiple MGA sources, increase Innophos' internal PPA supply, reduce its dependence on any single supplier and lower its overall cost structure. In addition, as part of Innophos' commitment to overall social responsibility and good corporate stewardship, Innophos will no longer indirectly participate in a raw material supply chain which sources phosphate rock from the Western Sahara region in Africa, an area from which the Company has not directly purchased raw materials for more than three years.

16:04 EDT Abrams Capital reports 5.3% passive stake in Asbury Automotive

16:02 EDT Bank of the Ozarks raises quarterly dividend 2.56% to 20c per share - Bank of the Ozarks announced its board of directors has approved a regular quarterly cash dividend of 20c per common share payable July 20, 2018 to shareholders of record as of July 13, 2018. The dividend of 20c per common share represents an increase of 0.5c per common share, or 2.56%, over the dividend paid in the previous quarter. Bank of the Ozarks has increased its quarterly cash dividend in each of the last thirty-two quarters.

15:33 EDT KBR announces settlement with SEC regarding 2013 restatement - KBR announced that it has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the previously announced restatement of the company's 2013 Consolidated Financial Statements arising out of cost estimates in our former KBR Canada business in Edmonton, Alberta. KBR made the following statement: "We are pleased that this legacy issue has reached final resolution. KBR takes seriously the accuracy and integrity of our financial statements and we operate under the strongest of financial controls to ensure the veracity of our financial reporting."

14:29 EDT Remark Holdings enters into financing, stock purchase agreements - Remark Holdings entered into a pair of agreements that will allow it to continue executing on its long-term strategy. On June 29, the company entered into an amended financing agreement with its lenders that extends the previously-required repayment of $11.5M of principal and exit fees until September 28. Then, on July 2, the company entered into a common stock purchase agreement with Aspire Capital Fund that allows Remark to direct Aspire Capital to purchase as much as $30M of Remark's common stock over the 30-month term of the agreement. The new agreement replaces the previous agreement the company had with Aspire Capital. Although Aspire Capital had not made any purchases under the previous agreement since October 2017, approximately $7.2M of Remark's common stock could still have been purchased under such agreement.

13:56 EDT Seadrill trading resumes

13:45 EDT Seadrill announces emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy - Seadrill Limited announces that it has emerged from Chapter 11 after completing its reorganization pursuant to its plan of reorganization. All conditions precedent to the restructuring contemplated by the plan have been satisfied or otherwise waived, Seadrill says in a statement. The plan has equitized approximately $2.4B in unsecured bond obligations, more than $1B in contingent newbuild obligations, "substantial" unliquidated guaranty obligations, and $250M in unsecured interest rate and currency swap claims, while extending near term debt maturities, providing the company with over $1B in "fresh capital and leaving employee, customer, and ordinary trade claims largely unimpaired," Seadrill added. It noted, "The Plan has re-profiled the Company's debt and provided substantial liquidity that puts the Company in a strong position to execute its business plan." Seadrill has received approval to list its new common shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the same NYSE ticker symbol "SDRL" as the company's existing common shares. The company will have approximately 100M new common shares outstanding. Trading in approximately 16M new common shares issued to existing shareholders and holders of unsecured claims will commence on the NYSE one day after the effective date, on July 3, 2018. The company will issue its next earnings report in November 2018 which will include half year and Q3 results and reflect "fresh start reporting." In accordance with the plan, a newly constituted board was appointed today, consisting of John Fredriksen, Harald Thorstein, Kjell-Erik Ostdahl, Scott Vogel, Peter Sharpe, Eugene Davis, and Birgitte Ringstad Vartdal.

13:28 EDT Seadrill trading halted, news pending

12:58 EDT Integer completes divestiture of advanced surgical and orthopedics product lines - Integer Holdings announced that it has completed the previously announced sale of its Advanced Surgical and Orthopedics products lines to MedPlast for $600M in cash. Integer will apply the proceeds to reduce debt by approximately $550M, including the redemption of the company's outstanding 9.125% senior notes and the repayment of the outstanding balance of the company's revolving credit facility, with the remaining proceeds used to prepay outstanding Term B loans. The company expects the divestiture to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share as the lower interest expense from the debt reduction will more than offset the net income that is being divested. Free cash flow will remain similar to pre-divestiture levels. Integer will provide historical comparable financials, incorporate the divestiture into its fiscal year 2018 financial guidance, and provide further details on the financial impact of the divestiture when it reports its second quarter results on August 2, the company noted.

12:47 EDT Diversity advisers give Starbucks report on how to address racial bias - Sherrilyn Ifill of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. released an independent, comprehensive anti-bias and organizational transformation report in response to efforts by Starbucks to address racial bias within its company following the wrongful arrest of Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson at a Philadelphia Starbucks on April 12, 2018. The independent report, Toward a Vision for Racial Equity & Inclusion at Starbucks: Review and Recommendations, acknowledges the positive steps Starbucks took immediately following the incident and identifies the gaps that still need to be addressed to ensure racial equity over the long term. The company asked both Ifill and McGhee to serve as independent advisors for their national training on May 29th. The two leaders are independently issuing a report offering a broad range of additional ideas for how the company can apply a racial equity lens in all of its business practices and community engagements. Starbucks has already adopted some of the advisors' early recommendations and is currently reviewing the full report. Importantly, the report is intended to provide guidance not only to Starbucks, but to all corporations seeking to engage in a broad cultural shift toward racial equity. "We are committed to eliminating racism at all levels in our country, and that includes challenging corporate leaders to view their business practices and community impacts with a racial equity lens," said Demos former President and Distinguished Senior Fellow Heather McGhee. "We hope that other corporations follow Starbucks' lead in accepting that tackling racism is mission-critical, possible, and in all of our interests." Reference Link

12:26 EDT Coinbase says cryptocurrency custodial service 'open for business' - Coinbase said in a blog post: "Last week, Coinbase Custody accepted its first deposit. Today, we're proud to announce that we're officially open for business. Over the coming weeks, we'll continue on-boarding a set of world-class clients that includes leading crypto hedge funds, exchanges and ICO teams. Coinbase Custody's mission is to make digital currency investment accessible to every eligible financial institution and hedge fund in the world. We'll achieve this by striving to become the most trusted and easiest-to-use crypto custody service available. Coinbase Custody is a combination of Coinbase's battle-tested cold storage for crypto assets, an institutional-grade broker-dealer and its reporting services, and a comprehensive client coverage program.... Coinbase Custody provides secure storage of crypto assets for institutions in both the US and Europe. Before the end of the year, we hope to bring this offering to Asia as well. Additionally, over the coming months, pending regulatory notifications, we'll be focused on building the features and services that our institutional clients want." Reference Link

12:10 EDT Nike falls after Roger Federer signs deal with Japan's Uniqlo - Shares of Nike (NKE) are moving lower after Japanese apparel retailer Uniqlo announced a partnership with tennis star and former Nike client Roger Federer. The new partnership means that Federer will represent Uniqlo at all tennis tournaments throughout the year, starting with Wimbledon, Uniqlo announced in a press release. Federer said, "I am deeply committed to tennis and to winning championships. But like Uniqlo, I also have great love for life, culture and humanity. We share a strong passion to have a positive impact on the world around us and look forward to combining our creative endeavors." Federer today came out in unbranded warm-ups, and during his match against Dusan Lajovic wore a White Uniqlo shirt, shorts and headband with white Nike shoes, according to Sports Illustrated. His sponsorship with Nike expired in March, the magazine pointed out. Shares of Nike in midday trading are down 3%, or $2.56, to $77.12. Its peers Under Armour (UAA, UA) and Adidas (ADDYY) are also trading down on the day.

12:01 EDT Cummins acquires Efficient Drivetrains, terms not disclosed - Cummins announced that it is acquiring Silicon Valley-based Efficient Drivetrains, Inc., which designs and produces hybrid and fully-electric power solutions for commercial markets. Upon the addition of its fully-electric and unique four-mode hybrid powertrains, EDI will broaden Cummins' electrification expertise and products. The closing of the acquisition of EDI is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and is expected to close in the third quarter.

12:00 EDT Edenor falls -11.3% - Edenor is down -11.3%, or -$3.67 to $28.82.

12:00 EDT Dell Technologies rises 8.3% - Dell Technologies is up 8.3%, or $7.02 to $91.60.

12:00 EDT BRF S.A. rises 13.2% - BRF S.A. is up 13.2%, or 62c to $5.30.

11:52 EDT Perry Ellis says will evaluate Randa's unsolicited takeover proposal - The Special Committee of the Perry Ellis board of directors receipt of a non-binding, unsolicited proposal from privately-held Randa Accessories Leather Goods to acquire 100% of the fully diluted common stock of Perry Ellis for $28.00 per share in cash. As previously announced on June 16, 2018, Perry Ellis' Board of Directors, acting on the unanimous recommendation of the special committee of independent directors and with the support of independent financial and legal advisors, unanimously approved a $437M transaction to become a private company through an acquisition led by George Feldenkreis. Under the terms of the Feldenkreis merger agreement, Perry Ellis shareholders will receive $27.50 per share in cash at closing. "The special committee of the Perry Ellis board, in consultation with its independent financial and legal advisors, will carefully review and evaluate Randa's proposal to determine the course of action that the special committee of the Perry Ellis board believes is in the best interest of the company and all Perry Ellis shareholders. Perry Ellis remains subject to the Feldenkreis merger agreement. Shareholders need take no action at this time," the company stated.

11:36 EDT Roche commences tender offer for Foundation Medicine shares - Roche (RHHBY) announced that it has commenced a cash tender offer for all of the outstanding shares of common stock of Foundation Medicine, Inc. (FMI) at a price of US$ 137.00 per share. The tender offer is being made pursuant to the previously announced merger agreement dated as of 18 June 2018 among Foundation Medicine, Inc., Roche Holdings, Inc., an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Roche Holding Ltd, and 062018 Merger Subsidiary, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Roche Holdings, Inc. The tender offer period will expire at 12am midnight, Eastern Time, at the end of the day on 30 July 2018, unless the offer is extended. Foundation Medicine has also filed a Solicitation/Recommendation Statement with the SEC on Schedule 14D-9, which includes the unanimous recommendation of the Foundation Medicine board of directors (with all directors designated by Roche or its affiliates abstaining) that Foundation Medicine stockholders tender their shares in the tender offer. The closing of the tender offer is subject to a majority of Foundation Medicine's outstanding shares not already held by Roche being tendered in the tender offer. In addition, the transaction is subject to other customary closing conditions. The offer is not subject to any financing condition. Following completion of the tender offer, Roche will acquire all remaining shares at the same price of US$ 137.00 per share through a second step merger. The closing of the transaction is expected to take place in the second half of 2018.

11:04 EDT Univision says Dish rejected offer to extend existing contract - Dish Network dropped most of Univision Communications' networks and stations off its services indefinitely on Saturday, June 30, Univision said in a statement. "The removal of the channels followed DISH's rejection of an offer from Univision that would have extended the parties' existing contract to allow renewal negotiations to continue without interrupting viewers' access to Univision content," it added. The Dish blackout impacts Univision Network and its affiliated stations, as well as UniMas and its affiliated stations and Galavision. Dish also pulled seven Univision channels from its Sling TV streaming service, Univision said. It added, "Dish's refusal of an extension to continue providing its customers access to Univision's Spanish-language and Hispanic-serving networks is puzzling given DISH's extensive marketing to Hispanic consumers and its claims regarding the importance of Latinos to its services."

10:55 EDT Alkermes CEO calls today's Aristada Initio approval important - Alkermes CEO Richard Pops just tweeted, "Important approval today. Transition from the hospital to the community can be a vulnerable time. A way to fully initiate treatment on a long-acting injectable for schizophrenia on day 1 allows treatment team to focus on other important elements of care." Alkermes earlier today announced that the FDA approved Aristada Initio for the initiation of Aristada, a long-acting injectable atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults. "For the first time, Aristada Initio, in combination with a single 30 mg dose of oral aripiprazole, provides physicians with an alternative regimen to initiate patients onto any dose of Aristada on day one," the company said.

10:31 EDT MiMedx plunges as CEO, COO resign, investigation continues - Shares of MiMedx Group (MDXG) plummeted in morning trading after the company said its chairman and chief executive officer and its chief operating officer have resigned. The new executive departures come as the company continues an investigation of its accounting, which has caused it to restate all of its earnings going back to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2012. NEW EXECUTIVE RESIGNATIONS: MiMedx this morning announced that Chairman and CEO Parker "Pete" Petit has resigned from these roles, but will remain a director on the board for now. Additionally, the company said COO William "Bill" Taylor has resigned and will also leave the board. The resignations, which follow the recent resignations of the company's CFO and corporate controller and treasurer, "are based on the Board of Directors' business judgment regarding the company's leadership and direction, and arise, in part, from information the Audit Committee has identified through its previously announced independent investigation," the company said in a statement. MiMedx's board named David Coles, a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal, as interim CEO and Charles Evans, previously the lead independent director, as chairman. The company is conducting a search for a new permanent CEO and is evaluating internal and external candidates. OTHER RECENT EXECUTIVE RESIGNATIONS: In June, the company appointed Edward Borkowski as its interim CFO and said that Michael Senker had stepped down as CFO, along with corporate controller and treasurer, John Cranston. MiMedx said at the time that it would restate statements from fiscal 2012 to 2016 as well as for the first three quarters of 2017. It said that was due to the accounting treatment of practices used by two distributors "for which certain implicit arrangements modified the explicit terms of the contracts, impacting revenue recognition during specified periods." The company also withdrew all prior financial guidance for 2018, though the company said that the Audit Committee investigation was ongoing and that its underlying business was "strong." This morning, the company said it is seeking a permanent CFO and is looking to fill the posts of chief accounting officer and internal auditor. SEC, DOJ INVESTIGATIONS: The company also said this morning that it is continuing to provide documents to the Securities and Exchange Commission in response to a previously announced subpoena, adding that the Department of Justice is also reviewing these matters. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Earlier this year, MiMedx delayed its 2017 earnings announcement and came under DOJ scrutiny related to its business practices. The DOJ was investigating whether the company overcharged the government for its tissue-repair products, and the company has also been accused by short-sellers of "channel stuffing," or inappropriately booked sales of products that hadn't been ordered. MiMedx has denied these claims and has filed lawsuits against some of the short-sellers. PRICE ACTION: In morning trading, shares of MiMedx are down 32% to $4.36.

10:20 EDT Michael Dell says 'absolutely' wants VMware to remain a public company - Dell said Dell Technologies (DVMT) has "no plans" to fully consolidate VMware (VMW). Dell Technologies Chairman and CEO Michael Dell is being interviewed on CNBC.

10:07 EDT TCI Fund lowers Altaba stake to 7.1% from 9.7% - TCI Fund Management Limited disclosed a reduced stake in Altaba. The fund currently owns a 7.1% stake, which represents 57,057,273 shares. This down from the 9.7% stake TCI disclosed on May 15. The filing allows for activism.

10:00 EDT ProShares Trust Ultra VIX Short Term Futures ETF rises 7.4% - ProShares Trust Ultra VIX Short Term Futures ETF is up 7.4%, or 91c to $13.25.

09:50 EDT Nymox expands European application for Fexapotide Triflutate - Nymox Pharmaceutical announced that following the recently announced increased manufacturing capabilities, the company has formally decided to expand its European marketing plans for Fexapotide Triflutate to all countries in the European Community. Nymox says it is "now in the enhanced position to have sufficient manufacturing capacities in place to be able to realistically meet anticipated physician demand for FT upon approval." The company has initiated the process and is taking the necessary steps to submit an expanded application for FT to the European Medicines Agency for approval. The prior application in Europe will be replaced by the new expanded application. "The expanded application upon marketing approval will also greatly facilitate the overall drug-distribution logistics as well as the annual post-marketing safety filing requirements in Europe," Nymox said in a press release. The company also held a pre-NDA meeting with FDA earlier in 2018 and expects to file for approval in the U.S. later in 2018.

09:47 EDT Core Laboratories falls -6.5% - Core Laboratories is down -6.5%, or -$8.21 to $118.00.

09:47 EDT ProShares Trust Ultra VIX Short Term Futures ETF rises 8.8% - ProShares Trust Ultra VIX Short Term Futures ETF is up 8.8%, or $1.08 to $13.42.

09:47 EDT Dell Technologies rises 10.2% - Dell Technologies is up 10.2%, or $8.61 to $93.19.

09:23 EDT Daseke announces Bharat Mahajan as CFO - Daseke announced the appointment of Bharat Mahajan as the company's new CFO. Mahajan will assume the role of CFO from Scott Wheeler, who was named Daseke's president earlier this year. Mahajan previously served as CFO for Aveda Transportation and Energy Services, which merged with Daseke in June. Mahajan will work at Daseke's Dallas-area headquarters.

09:17 EDT Interlink Electronics announces $2.6M stock repurchase - Interlink Electronics announced that it has repurchased from Leonard Hagan and his affiliates, an aggregate of 867,681 shares of the company's common stock at a purchase price of $3.00 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $2.6M. All of the repurchased shares were cancelled and returned to the status of authorized but unissued shares of common stock.

09:11 EDT Tesla jumps almost 6% in pre-market trading after announcing Q2 production stats

09:09 EDT Tesla says has now delivered 28,386 Model 3 vehicles to date

09:08 EDT Tesla reaffirms guidance for positive GAAP net income, cash flow in Q3 & Q4

09:07 EDT Marsh & McLennan acquires Insurance Associates - Marsh & McLennan Agency announced that it has acquired Insurance Associates, a Rockville, Maryland-based independent insurance agency specializing in the construction industry. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

09:06 EDT Seeco Holding, Emotionally Unavailable announce partnership - Secoo Holding announced a partnership in Shanghai with Emotionally Unavailable, a lifestyle brand designed by the well-known Hong Kong entertainer and artist Edison Chen. Furthermore, the Company announced applying the block chain technology for the authentication of certain items sold on the Secoo platform. With this new technology, Secoo becomes the first e-commerce company to utilize block chain technology in the luxury industry in China.Utilizing strengths of block chain technology including decentralization, non-modification and traceability, the product's unique identification profile, complete with full authentication and anti-counterfeiting information, can then be accessed and reviewed by customers online, including through Secoo's customized mobile application.

09:05 EDT Fortive to acquire Gordian for $775M - Fortive announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Warburg Pincus to acquire Gordian, a privately-held, provider of construction cost data, software and service. The acquisition will be subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals, and will be financed with available cash. Gordian has expanded into cost estimating and facility planning workflow solutions across an extensive set of industry verticals. The purchase price for the acquisition is $775M and the transaction is expected to close in Q3. Fortive expects Gordian to generate approximately $130M of revenue in 2018. Upon closing, Gordian will become part of Fortive's field solutions platform within Fortive's professional instrumentation segment.

09:03 EDT Bioanalytical Systems, Seventh Wave Laboratories combine operations - Bioanalytical Systems and Seventh Wave Laboratories announced that they have signed an asset purchase agreement joining operations to provide broader solutions and greater scientific expertise to clients. BASi provides contract research services and niche instrumentation to the life sciences industry, primarily in drug research, discovery, and development in commercial and academic settings. The company's non-clinical toxicology laboratory provides clients with drug safety and general toxicology services, including carcinogenicity studies, DART and juvenile toxicology studies. The company offers regulated bioanalytical method development and analysis. In addition, the company provides non-clinical PK/PD from a purpose-built in vivo discovery center that includes a dedicated vivarium utilizing BASi's proprietary Culex Automated Sampling Systems. Seventh Wave Laboratories provides consultative integrated services to assess safety and efficacy of pharmaceuticals and devices. Bioanalysis, pharmacokinetics, and histopathology services cover discovery through regulatory approval, and are fully GLP compliant. The company's in vivo services focus on discovery stage support. Unique pharmacology model development and special pharmacology models are also offered, with emphasis on hepatitis B virus pharmacology using liver humanized chimeric models. Pursuant to the terms of the APA, Seventh Wave Laboratories received 1,500,000 Common Shares of BASI and approximately $7M in cash in exchange for substantially all of its assets. In order to finance the cash component of the consideration, BASi entered into a new term loan with First Internet Bank for $5.5M and increased the borrowing availability under its existing line of credit from $2M to $3.5M. As of the closing of the transaction, Seventh Wave Laboratories held approximately 17% of BASi's issued and outstanding Common Shares.

09:02 EDT Big Lots names Christopher McCormick, Sebastian DiGrande to board - Big Lots (BIG) announced the appointment of two new Directors to its Board of Directors after the retirement of two long standing, valued Board members. Christopher McCormick and Sebastian DiGrande joined the Board effective June 30, 2018, filling the seats vacated by Philip Mallott and Russell Solt who have retired from the Board. McCormick is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of L.L. Bean. DiGrande is the Executive Vice President of Strategy and Chief Customer Officer for Gap (GPS).

08:56 EDT Kindred Healthcare trading halted, news dissemination

08:45 EDT MySize opens registration for MySizeID for online retailers - MySize announced it has opened registration for online retailers utilizing third party e-commerce platforms that wish to integrate MySizeID into their online stores.

08:39 EDT Fortress Biotech says FDA grants Cyprium's CUTX-101 fast track designation - Fortress Biotech announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted Fast Track Designation to Cyprium Therapeutics' Copper Histidinate, also referred to as CUTX-101, for patients diagnosed with classic Menkes disease who have not demonstrated significant clinical progression. As a subsidiary of Fortress, Cyprium is developing CUTX-101 for Menkes disease under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health. The CRADA was established in March 2017. Stephen G. Kaler, M.D., Senior Investigator and Head, Section on Translational Neuroscience and former NICHD Clinical Director, leads the Menkes disease research program at NICHD and serves as principal investigator of the CUTX-101 Phase 3 clinical trial. The FDA's Fast Track program facilitates the development of drugs intended to treat serious conditions and that have the potential to address unmet medical needs. A drug program with Fast Track status is afforded greater access to the FDA for the purpose of expediting the drug's development, review and potential approval. In addition, the Fast Track program allows for eligibility for Accelerated Approval and Priority Review, if relevant criteria are met, as well as for Rolling Review, which means that a drug company can submit completed sections of its New Drug Application for review by the FDA, rather than waiting until every section of the NDA is completed before the application is submitted for review.

08:36 EDT Finjan Holdings, Trend Micro enter into confidential patent license agreement - Finjan Holdings and Trend Micro Incorporated announced that they had entered into an on-going license arrangement. Under this arrangement, both companies will benefit in a number of ways. Trend Micro gains access to Finjan's broad cybersecurity patent portfolio, and Finjan will strengthen its leadership in embedded cybersecurity technologies and intellectual property through the transfer of select security-related patent assets from Trend Micro. Each party also gains more limited access to the other's patent portfolio for a certain number of years. The effective date of the agreements is June 29, 2018 and terms of the agreements are confidential.

08:34 EDT Yield10 Bioscience begins field testing of novel yield trait gene C3003 - Yield10 Bioscience announced that its 2018 field test program has begun based on the recent completion of planting at study sites in Canada and the United States. During the program, Yield10 is evaluating the novel yield trait gene C3003 in Camelina and canola, and bulking up seed in soybean at sites in Canada. In previous field tests, C3003 has shown promising improvements in oilseed yield. Yield10 is also evaluating for the first time the genome-edited trait C3008 in Camelina in the United States. Following completion of these field tests, the Company expects to harvest plants in the third quarter and to report results of the study in the fourth quarter of 2018.

08:33 EDT MabVax Therapeutics won't submit plan to regain compliance with Nasdaq standards - MabVax Therapeutics Holdings announced that the company's board of directors voted on June 29, 2018 not to submit a plan to the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market to regain compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) regarding filing its Form 10-Q with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the period ended March 31, 2018.

08:33 EDT Randa announces offer to acquire Perry Ellis for $28 per share - Randa Accessories, a men's accessories company, announced that it has made a non-binding proposal to acquire 100% of the outstanding common shares of Perry Ellis International, at a price of $28.00 per share. The proposal was made following the previously announced merger agreement between Perry Ellis and a newly formed entity controlled by its founder and director, George Feldenkreis, and represents $0.50 per share more than the consideration offered in that insider transaction. Jeffrey Spiegel, the CEO of Randa Accessories, said "Randa believes we are the right acquiror of Perry Ellis and that our compelling proposal provides shareholders with a superior alternative to the previously agreed insider transaction. We are excited by the opportunity to grow our portfolio of brands through the addition of globally recognizable names, such as Perry Ellis and Original Penguin. With our long, successful history as a licensee for, among others, Levi's, Dickies, Tommy Hilfiger, Chaps, Columbia Sportswear and Timberland, we believe we can continue and grow the relationships with Perry Ellis' inbound licensors for the benefit of all stakeholders in those relationships."

08:31 EDT SSLJ.com enters service agreement with Technovative Group - SSLJ.com Limited has entered into a service agreement with Technovative Group, a company engaged in delivering artificial intelligence, blockchain and big data analytics to leading enterprises in the Greater China Region, Southeast Asian Region and beyond. Together the two companies will develop the Lojoy iCare platform to support SSLJ's Internet of Things appliances in a race to become the first to create a true smart home environment centered on the innovative use of leading technologies.

08:28 EDT MaxLinear names Steven Litchfield CFO, CCSO - MaxLinear (MXL) announced that Steven Litchfield has been appointed as its CFO and CCSO. Litchfield most recently served as executive VP and CSO of Microsemi Corporation (MSCC). Litchfield served in that position from 2009 until the closing of its acquisition.

08:18 EDT Home BancShares announces acquisition of loan portfolio - Home BancShares (HOMB) announced the acquisition of Shore Premier Finance, a division of Union Bank & Trust of Richmond, Virginia, the bank subsidiary of Union Bankshares Corporation (UBSH), effective as of the end of the day on June 30, 2018. Under the terms of the agreement, Union received proceeds from the transaction consisting of approximately $374.5M in cash, subject to certain post-closing adjustments, and 1,250,000 shares of Home common stock. Shore Premier Finance currently provides direct consumer financing to United States Coast Guard registered high-end sail and power boats. Additionally, SPF provides inventory floor plan lines of credit to marine dealers, primarily those selling USCG documented vessels. As of the closing of the acquisition, SPF had approximately $384.2M in total assets, including $383.4 million in total loans. This portfolio of loans will now be housed in a division of Centennial known as Shore Premier Finance. The Shore Premier Finance division of Centennial will be responsible for servicing the acquired loan portfolio and originating new loan production. In connection with this acquisition and the creation of the Shore Premier Finance division of Centennial, Centennial has notified the Arkansas State Bank Department of its plans to establish a new loan production office in Chesapeake, Virginia. The loan production office is anticipated to open in July 2018, pending confirmation of no objection. Once the loan production office has been established, the Shore Premier Finance division of Centennial will continue its vision to build out a national lending platform focusing on commercial and consumer marine loans.

08:15 EDT Nasdaq announces 151 new listings in 1H18 - Nasdaq announced that it welcomed a total of 151 new listings in the first six months of 2018 - including 93 initial public offerings, raising a total of approximately $15B in the U.S. market. With a 69% win rate, Nasdaq has extended its IPO leadership to 18 consecutive quarters in the U.S. Companies from a diverse range of industries and countries have successfully executed their IPOs on Nasdaq this year. Driven by the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors, healthcare listings momentum continued to build, as Nasdaq saw 39 healthcare IPOs that raised $3.4B in the first half of the year. Following its strong 2017 for exchange transfers, Nasdaq welcomed a total of 6 switches in the first half of 2018 from the New York Stock Exchange, with a combined market value of approximately $34.3B. The total market value of all companies joining Nasdaq from NYSE since 2005 has exceeded $1.2T.

08:10 EDT MiMedx says CEO, COO resign following audit committee investigation

08:08 EDT MiMedx withdraws all prior financial guidance, cooperating with SEC, DOJ - As previously announced, the Audit Committee of the company's Board of Directors concluded that the company's previously issued financial statements relating to each of the fiscal years ended December 31, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, each of the interim periods within such years and each of the interim periods ended March 31, June 30 and September 30, 2017 should be restated. As a result, all communications and financial information with respect to the fourth quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 should no longer be relied upon, and the company has withdrawn all prior financial guidance issued for 2018. Also as previously announced, the company received a subpoena last year from the SEC. The company continues to provide documents in response to the subpoena. In parallel with the SEC's investigation, the U.S. Department of Justice is also reviewing these matters. MiMedx continues to cooperate with these regulatory agencies.The company does not intend to provide additional updates on the investigations until they are concluded or the company determines that further disclosures are appropriate or necessary.

08:07 EDT MiMedx says David Coles appointed interim CEO - The Board of Directors of MiMedx Group announced that Parker H. "Pete" Petit has resigned from his roles as the company's Chairman of the Board and CEO but currently remains a director on the Board. MiMedx also announced that William C. "Bill" Taylor has resigned as President and COO and as a member of the MiMedx Board. These resignations, which follow the recent departures of the company's CFO and Corporate Controller and Treasurer, are based on the Board of Directors' business judgment regarding the company's leadership and direction, and arise, in part, from information the Audit Committee has identified through its previously announced independent investigation. This investigation is ongoing and there may be other actions taken based, at least in part, on information from the investigation. The MiMedx Board of Directors has named Charles R. Evans, previously the lead independent director, as Chairman of the Board, effective immediately. The Board has also appointed David Coles to serve as MiMedx's interim CEO. The Board of Directors has commenced a search to identify and evaluate internal and external candidates to serve as permanent CEO. The Board has taken a number of actions to promote accountability and strengthen oversight, and is supporting Company management in the development and implementation of measures to improve MiMedx's accounting, corporate compliance and internal control practices. These initiatives include: As noted in the Company's June 7, 2018, press release, the MiMedx Board of Directors established an Ethics and Compliance Committee, which is comprised of independent directors Luis A. Aguilar and Neil S. Yeston, M.D. The Company is also conducting a formal search for a permanent Chief Financial Officer and to fill the newly established executive positions of Chief Accounting Officer and Internal Auditor. MiMedx has retained a leading, operationally focused finance and accounting consultancy firm to provide interim leadership for the Chief Accounting Officer, Corporate Controller and other financial roles. The Company has begun to review Sarbanes-Oxley and other internal control policies and procedures, and has started the planning process to prepare restated prior-year financial statements.

08:06 EDT DDR Corp announces completion of Retail Value spin-off - DDR Corp. (DDR) announced that it has completed the previously announced spin-off of Retail Value (RVI), which is now an independent, publicly traded company that will begin regular-way trading today on the New York Stock Exchange , or NYSE. RVI has a portfolio of 48 assets that includes 36 continental U.S. assets and all 12 of DDR's previously owned Puerto Rico assets. DDR shareholders received one RVI common share for every ten common shares of DDR held at the close of business on the record date of June 26. Fractional shares of RVI were not distributed, and instead DDR common shareholders will receive cash in lieu of any fractional shares that they would otherwise have been entitled to receive in the distribution.

08:05 EDT MiMedx Chairman and CEO Parker 'Pete' Petit resigns, but remains director

08:04 EDT Wave Life Sciences receives positive opinion for ODD for WVE-210201 - Wave Life Sciences announced that the European Medicines Agency Committee for Orphan Medical Products issued a positive opinion recommending WVE-210201 for designation as an orphan medicinal product for the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. To be considered for Orphan Drug Designation in the EU, companies must provide data that demonstrate the plausibility for use of the investigational therapy in the treatment of the disease and establish that the drug has the potential to provide relevant advantages or a major contribution to patient care over existing therapies. The positive opinion issued by COMP is anticipated to be adopted by the European Commission at the end of July 2018. Orphan Drug Designation by the EC provides regulatory and financial incentives for companies to develop and market therapies that treat a life-threatening or chronically debilitating condition affecting no more than five in 10,000 persons in the European Union, and where no satisfactory treatment is available. Among the incentives available to medicines designated as orphan drugs by the EC are ten-year market exclusivity in the EU after product approval, eligibility for conditional marketing authorization, protocol assistance from the EMA at reduced fees during the product development phase and direct access to centralized marketing authorization in the EU. WVE-210201 is currently being studied in an ongoing global, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1 clinical trial designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability and plasma concentrations of single ascending doses of WVE-210201 administered intravenously in DMD patients with gene mutations amenable to exon 51 skipping. The trial is expected to enroll up to 40 patients, including ambulatory and non-ambulatory patients, between the ages of 5 and 18 years. Safety data from the trial are expected in the third quarter of 2018.

08:04 EDT Retail Value completes spin-off from DDR Corp. - Retail Value (RVI) announced that it has completed its previously announced spin-off from DDR Corp. (DDR) and is now an independent, publicly traded company that will begin regular-way trading today on the New York Stock Exchange, or NYSE. RVI has a portfolio of 48 assets that includes 36 continental U.S. assets and all 12 of DDR's previously owned Puerto Rico assets. DDR shareholders received one RVI common share for every ten common shares of DDR held at the close of business on the record date of June 26. Fractional shares of RVI were not distributed, and instead DDR common shareholders will receive cash in lieu of any fractional shares that they would otherwise have been entitled to receive in the distribution.

08:02 EDT Zogenix names Ashish Sagrolikar CCO - Zogenix (ZGNX) announced that Ashish Sagrolikar has joined the Company as Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer. Mr. Sagrolikar has over 25 years of global pharmaceutical sales, marketing and operations experience. Prior to joining Zogenix, he spent the last 16 years leading commercial strategies for rare disease and specialty pharmaceutical products, most recently at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

07:56 EDT MiMedx trading halted, news pending

07:45 EDT BrainStorm announces second U.S. manufacturing site for NurOwn production - BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics announced that it has contracted with the Connell and O'Reilly Families Cell Manipulation Core Facility at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute as a second U.S. manufacturing site to supply NurOwn for the company's ongoing randomized, double-blind, multi-dose Phase 3 clinical trial in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis as well as other potential indications. BrainStorm is also pleased to update that CMC activities at City of Hope and enrollment in all six U.S. clinical sites are "proceeding well." The first meeting of the Phase 3 Data and Safety Monitoring Board is expected by the end of August 2018 and Brainstorm will provide an update thereafter. "We are pleased to announce a second partnership with Dana-Farber for the manufacturing of NurOwn...Its strong capabilities in this area and proven track record in the manufacture of NurOwn in the phase 2 trial, make it an ideal partner as we advance our Phase 3 trial to completion," said Chaim Lebovits, president and CEO of BrainStorm.

07:39 EDT Conatus says emricasan improves survival, portal hypertension in mouse model - Conatus Pharmaceuticals announced the publication of results from preclinical studies of its pan-caspase inhibitor emricasan, demonstrating improvements in portal hypertension and survival in two bile duct ligation mouse models of induced secondary biliary cirrhosis. In the first of the two current mouse studies, designed to evaluate treatment effect, emricasan decreased fibrosis, reduced portal hypertension and improved survival in mice with cirrhosis induced by bile duct ligation. The reductions in portal hypertension exceeded amounts that could be explained by the decreased fibrosis alone, indicating potential treatment effects both inside and outside the liver. In the second study, designed to investigate mechanism of action, emricasan reduced liver damage, liver cell death and fibrosis in mice, and these changes were associated with a decrease in circulating microparticles. These microparticles, which are released from damaged cells, have been linked in previous studies to a cascade of detrimental effects in the liver, including inflammation, collagen production, restriction of blood flow through the liver, and restriction of blood flow in and out of liver cells responsible for toxin processing and removal and essential protein production. Previous studies also have shown that circulating microparticles above a threshold level can trigger increased blood flow toward the liver to compensate for the restricted blood flow through the liver, which exacerbates portal hypertension. In the current study, microparticles from placebo mice, but not from emricasan-treated mice, activated endothelial cells ex vivo. Endothelial cells lining the blood vessels inside the liver are the gateway between the blood stream and the toxin processing and protein synthesizing cells in the liver, and their activation directly restricts that exchange and thereby reduces liver function. Through these multiple mechanisms, emricasan's suppression of microparticles could be a contributing factor both inside and outside the liver in reducing portal hypertension.

07:36 EDT Innophos Holdings announces three-year PPA supply agreement with Nutrien - Innophos Holdings announced that it has entered into a three-year purified phosphoric acid, or PPA, supply agreement with Nutrien. The new contract replaces the existing long-term supply agreement set to expire in July. Under the terms of the agreement, which will go into effect as of July 30, Nutrien will continue to supply Innophos with PPA, a raw material in the manufacture of the company's phosphate product portfolio. The third-party supply agreement supplements the company's internal PPA production and ensures security of supply, enabling Innophos to continue to serve its customers with products.

07:32 EDT Rollins acquires Aardwolf Pestkare; terms not disclosed - Rollins announced that it has purchased the stock of Aardwolf Pestkare (Singapore) Pte Ltd. The acquisition closed today and is Rollins' first company-owned operation in Singapore.

07:31 EDT Endo begins shipment of authorized generic version of Colcrys in the U.S. - Endo International (ENDP) that one of its operating companies, Par Pharmaceutical, has begun shipping an authorized generic version of Takeda Pharmaceutical's (TKPYY) Colcrys 0.6 mg tablets. Endo's subsidiary, Endo Ventures Limited, entered into an exclusive U.S. supply and distribution agreement with Takeda Pharmaceuticals U.S.A., allowing Par to launch and distribute an authorized generic of the product.

07:23 EDT Avista files annual adjustments to decrease rates in Idaho - Avista has made its annual fixed cost adjustment filings with the Idaho Public Utilities Commission that if approved, are designed to decrease overall electric revenues by $7.4M or 2.9% effective Oct. 1, 2018 and decrease overall natural gas revenues by $2.7M or 4.5% effective Nov. 1, 2018. The rate adjustments are driven primarily by a higher level of customer usage in 2017 due in part to a colder than normal winter. The FCA mechanisms do not apply to Avista's Electric Extra Large General and Street Lighting Service Schedules, nor to its Natural Gas Interruptible and Transportation Service Schedules. These annual filings are required, have no impact on the company's earnings and are not related to the proposed acquisition of Avista by Hydro One. If approved, residential electric customers in Idaho using an average of 910 kilowatt hours per month would see their monthly bills decrease from $88.49 to $84.33, a decrease of $4.16 per month, or approximately 4.7 percent. The proposed electric rate changes would be effective Oct. 1, 2018. If approved, residential natural gas customers in Idaho using an average of 63 therms per month would see their monthly bills decrease from $48.31 to $46.28, a decrease of $2.03 per month, or approximately 4.2 percent. The proposed natural gas rate changes would be effective Nov. 1, 2018.

07:12 EDT Mueller Industries says it is in final stage of ATCO Rubber Products acquisition - Mueller Industries announced that it is in the final stage of completing the acquisition of ATCO Rubber Products. ATCO manufactures and distributes insulated HVAC flexible duct systems.

07:10 EDT Karyopharm reports inducement grants under NASDAQ listing rule - Karyopharm Therapeutics announced that the Compensation Committee of Karyopharm's Board of Directors granted stock options to purchase an aggregate of 146,500 shares of Karyopharm's common stock to twenty newly-hired employees, with a grant date of June 29, 2018. The stock options were granted as inducements material to the new employees entering into employment with Karyopharm in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). Each of the stock options has an exercise price of $16.99 per share, the closing price of Karyopharm's common stock on June 29, 2018. Each stock option vests over four years, with 25% of the original number of shares underlying the stock option vesting on the one-year anniversary of the applicable employee's employment commencement date and an additional 1/48th of the remaining shares vesting monthly thereafter, subject to the employee's continued service as an employee of, or other service provider to, Karyopharm through the applicable vesting dates. In addition, each stock option will be immediately exercisable in full if, on or prior to the first anniversary of the consummation of a "change in control event," the employee's employment is terminated for "good reason" by the employee or terminated without "cause" by Karyopharm.

07:08 EDT Level Brands to receive 50% of revenue from kiWW-Legacy Education agreement - Level Brand announced its revenue share agreement with kathy ireland Worldwide, or kiWW, related to its joint marketing agreement with Legacy Education Alliance. Under the terms of the joint marketing agreement between kiWW and Legacy Education Alliance, announced in June, Kathy Ireland will act as brand ambassador promoting Legacy Education Alliance's suite of real estate and financial markets education products and services in alignment with Ireland's message of entrepreneurship and social responsibility. For its role in introducing the parties and other services to be rendered, Level Brands will receive 50% of all revenue kiWW generates from its joint marketing agreement with Legacy Education.

07:06 EDT Rexford Industrial provides update on recent ATM activity - Rexford Industrial Realty announced that, under its "At the Market" stock offering program, the company issued an aggregate of 10,174,245 shares of common stock during the quarter ending June 30, 2018. The shares were issued at a weighted average offering price of $31.17 per share, receiving gross proceeds of approximately $317.1M and net proceeds of approximately $312.4M. The company used the net proceeds of the ATM to fund acquisitions, repay indebtedness and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.

07:05 EDT Preferred Apartment announces acquistion of grocery-anchored shopping center - Preferred Apartmentq announced its acquisition on June 29, 2018 of Conway Plaza, a 117,705 square foot shopping center located in Orlando, Florida, and anchored by a 37,888 square foot Publix grocery store. Conway Plaza is strategically located at the busy intersection of Conway Road and Curry Ford Road, which has a high volume of traffic count of over 66,000 CPD. The Company financed the acquisition utilizing a non-recourse first mortgage loan from The Prudential Insurance Company of America. The first mortgage loan is approximately $9.8M, bears interest at fixed rate of 4.45% per annum and has a term of 10 years. There are no loan guaranties provided by PAC or its operating partnership.

07:04 EDT Compugen: FDA removes clinical hold on IND application for COM701

07:03 EDT Compugen announces FDA clearance of IND application for COM701 - Compugen announced that the U.S. FDA has removed the clinical hold on its investigational new drug application for COM701, a first-in-class immuno-oncology therapeutic antibody targeting PVRIG in patients with advanced solid tumors, and informed the company it may initiate the clinical study. "Today is a significant milestone for Compugen, having received clearance from the FDA to advance our lead immuno-oncology program into the clinic. COM701 is a first-in-class drug opportunity that was developed by Compugen from discovery of the drug target by computer prediction through preclinical development, to IND clearance," stated Anat Cohen-Dayag, PhD, President and CEO of Compugen. "We believe the COM701 preclinical data suggest that targeting PVRIG may effectively stimulate an anti-tumor immune response in certain cancers such as breast, endometrial, ovarian and lung, and specifically in patient populations that are unresponsive to current checkpoint inhibitors." "We worked closely with the FDA in connection with this IND application and are eager to evaluate COM701 in a clinical setting," said Henry Adewoye, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Compugen. "We received positive feedback from leading clinical investigators in the field of immuno-oncology who share our excitement for the potential role of the PVRIG pathway in immuno-oncology and our overall clinical program and strategy. We look forward to collaborating with them on this trial." Under this IND, the company intends to initiate a first-in-human Phase 1 study in patients with advanced solid tumors and for whom standard of care therapies are currently ineffective. The clinical trial is designed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary efficacy of COM701 as monotherapy and in combination with a PD-1 inhibitor. The Phase 1 trial is planned to be conducted at multiple centers in the United States and site initiation activities are currently underway.

07:01 EDT Rexford Industrial acquires industrial property for $22.5M - Rexford Industrial Realty announced the acquisition of a single-tenant industrial property for $22.5M. The acquisition was funded using available cash on hand. The company acquired 12154 Montague Street located in Pacoima within the LA - San Fernando Valley submarket through an off-market transaction for $22.5M, or $183 per square foot. The 100% leased divisible building contains 122,868 square feet on 4.89 acres of land. At the expiration of the below-market lease, the company intends either to renew the current tenant at a market rent, to re-tenant with another single tenant or to demise into four spaces allowing for further rental growth.

06:58 EDT Staffing 360 Solutions amends invoice financing facility with HSBC - Staffing 360 Solutions (STAF) announced that it has amended its invoice financing facility with HSBC (HSBC) to allow for further acquisitions in the United Kingdom. Facility limit has increased from $15.5M to $27M with advance rates against eligible invoices of 90%. The arrangement will be subject to the usual cross company guarantees between the UK legal entities and customary financial reporting and monitoring. The term bebt loan of $2.1M is repayable over a three-year period.

06:56 EDT Macau reports June casino revenue up 12.5% to 22.49B patacas - Macau's gaming bureau reported June gross revenue from games of fortune in the region rose 12.5% year over year to 22.49B patacas. Publicly traded companies in the Macau gaming space include Las Vegas Sands (LVS), MGM Resorts (MGM), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) and Melco Resorts (MLCO).

06:52 EDT Kite Realty Group forms joint venture with TH Real Estate - Kite Realty Group announced that it has formed a joint venture to acquire high-quality retail properties with a fund managed by TH Real Estate. KRG contributed three properties valued at $99.8M to the joint venture in exchange for a 20% ownership interest and $89M in net proceeds. KRG will serve as the operating member responsible for day-to-day management of the properties and will receive property management and leasing fees. KRG used the net proceeds received from the transaction to pay down its revolving line of credit. The joint venture obtained a 10-year $51.9M fixed-rate loan on the properties at an interest rate of 4.09%. The initial properties in the venture have a combined 418,000 square feet of gross leasable area and consist of Livingston Shopping Center in New Jersey, Plaza Volente in Texas and Tamiami Crossing in Florida.

06:48 EDT Athenex announces $100M strategic investment by Perceptive Advisors - Athenex announced that it has entered into the following agreements: Establishment of a joint venture with Xiangxue Life Sciences, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guangzhou Xiangxue Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, for the research, development and commercialization of T-cell receptor-engineered T cells, a cancer immunotherapy technology, based on the novel approach on high-affinity TCR developed by Xiangxue Life Sciences; In-licensing of worldwide rights to a pegylated genetically modified human arginase from Avalon PolyTom Limited, a subsidiary of Avalon Biomedical Management Limited; and a strategic investment of $100M from Perceptive Advisors, an institution dedicated to supporting the most promising technologies in healthcare. Xiangxue Life Sciences is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Xiangxue Pharmaceutical, a long term partner of Athenex for the development of KX-02 for glioblastoma multiforme in China. Xiangxue Life Sciences is a Chinese biopharmaceutical company focused on TCR-based therapies for cancer and has developed a new generation TCR-T, named HATac, which consists of the expression of high binding affinity soluble T-cell receptors on the engineered T-cells to target HLA-antigenic peptide complex on certain types of cancer cells. Early clinical studies in China demonstrated a good safety profile in patients. Axis Therapeutics Limited, a new joint venture to be established and owned initially as 55% by Athenex and 45% by Xiangxue Life Sciences, has in-licensed the worldwide rights of all the intellectual properties and know-how of the TCR-T immunotherapy technology from Xiangxue Life Sciences, subject to certain closing conditions and approvals. Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement and shareholders agreement, Athenex will issue $5M worth of Athenex common stock to Xiangxue Life Sciences as an upfront payment and Athenex will contribute $30M in cash to the joint venture. Axis Therapeutics will also pay various clinical and regulatory milestones of up to $100M to Xiangxue Life Sciences. Xiangxue Life Sciences will retain the mainland China rights to the technology and there will be royalties on net income payable to Axis Therapeutics upon successful commercialization in mainland China. Additional new TCR-T technologies developed by Axis will also be partnered with Xiangxue Pharmaceutical in the future for the mainland China rights. Perceptive Advisors, an investment manager with a deep history in supporting biotechnology companies, will provide a combination of equity and debt financing to support Athenex's operations and continued development, including pipeline expansion initiatives. Perceptive Advisors will invest US$100 million in Athenex, comprised of US$50 million in equity and US$50 million in debt.

06:43 EDT Iron Mountain opens new facilities in Montana - Iron Mountain Incorporated announced the opening of two new information management facilities in Montana, located in Missoula and Helena. The facilities are the company's first in the state and represent a commitment to delivering the full suite of Iron Mountain's solutions portfolio to the greater Montana business community. They join Iron Mountain's worldwide network of more than 1400+ facilities providing solutions for records storage, data management, data centers, secure shredding and document imaging. The Missoula facility, located at 4545 Majestic Drive, is an 8,000 square foot building with 39,000 cubic feet of storage and information management capacity, providing access to solutions for records management, document and asset imaging, and data management. The Helena facility, which offers 85,000 cubic feet of storage and services for records management, data management and secure shredding, is a 27,900 square foot building located at 1700 National Ave.

06:40 EDT Alibaba launches EMEA Ecosystem Partner Program - Alibaba Cloud, the cloud computing arm of Alibaba (BABA), launched the EMEA Ecosystem Partner Program, an initiative to further strengthen the collaboration between Alibaba Cloud's customers and partners in Europe, Middle East and Africa, or EMEA. The program will focus on four key areas: the development of digital transformation in targeted vertical industries, supporting talent development, advancing technology innovation and enhancing marketplaces. Industry players such as Intel (INTC), Accenture (ACN), Hashicorp, Ecritel, Altran, Micropole and Linkbynet are among the initial participants in the EMEA Ecosystem Partner Program. In addition, Station F has incorporated the program in their perks for their 1,000 start-ups. The collective mission is to create an inclusive ecosystem that can benefit all those involved, particularly the customers in the EMEA region.

06:38 EDT Goldman Sachs to review bookbuilding after Healthscope block transaction - The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has accepted a court enforceable undertaking from Goldman Sachs Australia Pty Ltd to improve controls relating to bookbuild messaging in certain equity capital market transactions lead managed by GS Australia. A bookbuild is the process of generating, recording and capturing demand from potential investors for a capital raising transaction. Following an investigation into a block trade transaction undertaken by GS Australia in relation to shares in Healthscope Limited on 23 November 2015, ASIC had concerns about certain representations made by GS Australia to potential investors about the minimum fixed demand. GS Australia has implemented changes to its controls and processes including to require: legal or compliance approval of all bookbuild messages to be provided to potential investors in certain equity capital market transactions; and compliance attendance at any sales calls at the launch of certain equity capital market transactions to provide oversight of messaging to potential investors. GS Australia will also make a community benefit payment of $500,000.

06:33 EDT Seabourn signs LOI with new partnership between shipbuilders - Seabourn announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent for the construction of two new ultra-luxury expedition ships with a new partnership between shipbuilders T.Mariotti and Damen, who will collaborate on the construction of the vessels under a common name MARIOTTI DAMEN Cruise. The new ships will be a brand new innovative design, created specifically for the ultra-luxury expedition traveler, and will include many features that have made Seabourn ships so successful as well as a host of unique features designed to enhance the expedition experience. The first delivery is expected in June 2021 and the second ship is anticipated in May 2022.The 170 meter, 23,000 gross ton vessels will add new capacity for Seabourn in Antarctica, the Arctic, and other exotic destinations around the world while meeting PC6 Polar Class standards. Each will feature 132 luxurious oceanfront veranda suites, which will be home for up to 264 guests. Seabourn will announce design and service details for the new ships beginning later this year. Specific details about itineraries and booking availability will be released in early 2019. The first ship is currently planned to sail in the Arctic in late summer 2021, with a full winter season in Antarctica to follow.

06:30 EDT Air T says Glass Lewis reccommends Insignia shareholders vote for Item 6 - Air T (AIRT) commented on the recommendation by leading independent proxy advisory firm Glass Lewis that shareholders vote FOR "Item #6, Approval of Voting Rights" put forth by Air T at the upcoming shareholder meeting of Insignia Systems (ISIG) on Friday, July 20, 2018 at 9:00 a.m. CT. Air T, Inc. plus funds affiliated with Air T, Inc. together own approximately 32% of the Insignia's outstanding shares. Air T Chairman and CEO, Nick Swenson, commented, "We are pleased to have received the independent support of Glass Lewis who recommends shareholders vote FOR 'Item #6, Approval of Voting Rights.' We have been an investor in Insignia since 2014 and applaud the leadership of CEO Kristine Glancy along with the recent steps taken at Insignia to revitalize the direction and expertise of its board to better support value creation strategies on which we can all agree. We remain confident in Insignia's potential to be a powerful business and to generate free cash flow." In particular, Glass Lewis noted that: Glass Lewis generally believes that the economic stake of each shareholder should match their voting power, and common shareholders should therefore be allowed one vote per share...We believe shareholders should be encouraged by the board's willingness to enter into a cooperation agreement with Mr. Swenson and the Air T Group...The parties have agreed on a path forward to accommodate Air T's substantial investment and involvement in the Company's affairs. As such, we believe shareholders may reasonably support this proposal..We urge you to vote using the BLUE CARD sent to you by Air T, Inc. and to vote FOR the Approval of Voting Rights Proposal.

06:23 EDT Sanofi to open global R&D operations hub in Chengdu, China - Sanofi is launching a Global R&D Operations Hub with a specialized focus on digitalization and big data analysis in Chengdu, Sichuan province, China. The new R&D operations hub confirms China as the third pillar of Sanofi Global Clinical Sciences and Operations, joining facilities in France and the United States. With an investment of EUR66M, the Hub will support the clinical research and development of Sanofi's innovative drugs by focusing on the management of global multi-center clinical trials data and files. Bringing together global data and analysis, the Hub will accelerate the availability of trial results, from Phase I to Phase IV. The Hub will take advantage of local talents to further strengthen Sanofi's digital capabilities. The Chengdu Hub will target diseases that affect millions of people across our therapeutic areas: diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, vaccines, oncology, immunology and inflammation, rare diseases, multiple sclerosis and neurology. It will leverage global cutting-edge biological technology for polypeptides, gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies and multi-specific antibodies. The Hub plans to recruit 300 local pharmaceutical research and development professionals by 2020.

06:21 EDT Dell Technologies concludes strategic review - Dell Technologies (DVMT) announced that it has reached an agreement with its Special Committee of independent directors to exchange the outstanding Class V tracking stock for Class C common stock of Dell Technologies or an optional cash election. Dell Technologies Class C common stock will become publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Dell Technologies will propose to exchange each share of Dell Technologies Class V tracking stock for 1.3665 shares of Dell Technologies Class C common stock, or at the holder's election, $109 in cash, subject to the aggregate amount of cash consideration not exceeding $9B. All of the shares of Class V tracking stock of holders who do not opt to receive cash will be converted into Class C common stock, and the Class V tracking stock will be eliminated.The offer of $109 in cash consideration per share represents a 29% premium to the Class V share closing price prior to announcement and gives holders of Class C common stock the opportunity to participate in Dell Technologies' future value creation. Following the close, current Class V stockholders will own 20.8%-31.0% of Dell Technologies, depending on cash election amounts. Based on an implied value of $109 per share, Dell Technologies, excluding the Class V common stock, had a pre-transaction equity value of $48.4 billion and a pro forma fully diluted equity value of $61.1 - 70.1 billion. VMware's board of directors, on the recommendation of a special committee of its directors, has voted to declare an $11 billion cash dividend pro rata to all VMware stockholders contingent on satisfaction of the other conditions to the completion of the transaction. Dell Technologies' share of such dividend will be approximately $9 billion. Dell Technologies intends to use the dividend proceeds to finance the cash consideration paid to Class V stockholders, with remaining cash proceeds, if any, being used to fund future share repurchases or debt pay-down. Dell Technologies is experiencing strong positive momentum across its businesses after a period of strong revenue growth, earnings, cash flow and accelerated debt pay-down. In the most recent quarter, the company generated revenue of $21.4 billion, a 19% increase year-over-year, net loss decreased 55% to $0.5 billion and the company generated $2.4 billion of adjusted EBITDA, a 33% increase year-over-year. Over the trailing twelve-month period Dell Technologies generated $82.4 billion of revenue with a net loss of $2.3 billion and cash flow from operations of $7.7 billion. Over the same period, Dell generated $83.5 billion of non-GAAP revenue, $4.8 billion of non-GAAP net income and $9.7 billion of adjusted EBITDA. Dell Technologies has maintained a disciplined pace of deleveraging, having paid down $13 billion of gross debt since its merger with EMC in September 2016. A special committee of independent members of VMware's board of directors recommended that the VMware board declare the contingent cash dividend to support the transaction. Dell Technologies believes the elimination of the Class V tracking stock and simplification of the VMware ownership structure is beneficial to VMware Class A public stockholders. VMware Class A public stockholders will also participate pro rata in the significant return of capital. VMware will remain an independent publicly traded company. VMware has benefited from substantial synergies as part of the Dell Technologies family. VMware generated approximately $400 million in growth synergies in FY18 related to its affiliation with Dell Technologies, and in FY19 is on track to achieve $700 million faster than initially expected

06:20 EDT TOP Ships announces financing for newbuilding vessel, five-year time charter - TOP Ships announced that it entered into a sale and leaseback agreement and a 5 year time charter with Cargill International SA on June 29, 2018, a leading vessel operator and freight-trading business in the bulk shipping sector, for its newbuilding vessel Hull No 8242 currently under construction at Hyundai Mipo Dockyard Co., South Korea. Consummation of the deal is expected to take place on the vessel's delivery date currently planned for January 2019. Following the sale, the Company will bareboat charter back the vessel and immediately put it on a 5 year time charter with Cargill Ocean Transportation. As part of this transaction, the company has continuous options to buy back the vessel during the whole five year sale and leaseback period at the end of which it has to buy it back. The gross proceeds from the sale amount is $32.4M, which is the total amount that remains to be paid for the specific vessel. The revenue backlog expected to be generated by the time charter fixture is about $27.6M.

06:16 EDT VMware says board extends authorization of existing stock repurchase program - VMware's board of directors has extended authorization of the company's existing stock repurchase program, with approximately $876M remaining, through August 31, 2019.

06:13 EDT Orange SA, Additiv collaborate on cloud-based digital wealth management - Orange and Additiv have teamed up to offer digital wealth management as-a-service products to financial institutions. The cloud-based offerings will automate wealth management and address the growing demand for digital financial services from clients and the urgency to reduce operating costs by many financial institutions. Additiv's wealth management products are now offered on a software-as-a-service, or SaaS, platform. This means that the SaaS products can be plugged into financial institutions' existing systems. Wealth management as-a-service products are based on Additiv's fourth generation modular Digital Finance Suite, designed for the digitalization of new and existing business segments. The SaaS product offering contains solutions, such as robo advisors, client and advisory dashboards and portfolio management solutions.

06:08 EDT Autoliv completes spin-off of Veoneer - Autoliv (ALV) announced the completion of the spin-off of its electronics segment, Veoneer (VNE). With the completion of the spin-off, Veoneer will begin regular way trading on the New York Stock Exchange and will begin trading on Nasdaq Stockholm as an independent company. Prior to the spin-off and as previously announced, Autoliv made cash contributions to Veoneer so that Veoneer has total cash liquidity of approximately $1B. Autoliv funded the contribution through a mixture of new external funding and existing cash.

06:06 EDT Veoneer begins trading on NYSE - The spin-off from Autoliv (ALV) has been completed and Veoneer (VNE) is now an independent, publicly traded company, with listings on NYSE and Nasdaq Stockholm. Regular trading in Veoneer has started. Veoneer is a technology company, focused on active safety, ADAS, autonomous driving and automotive safety electronics. In 2017, the company, as the Electronics business segment of Autoliv, had a turnover of $2.3B. Veoneer currently has around 7,600 associates out of which roughly half are in RD&E. Veoneer's customers are nearly all the top automotive manufacturers in the world. The Autoliv board previously approved a pro rata distribution of all the stock of Veoneer to Autoliv stockholders in a 1 to 1 ratio.

06:02 EDT LYNPARZA approved in Japan for BRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer - AstraZeneca (AZN) and Merck (MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, announced that Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency has approved LYNPARZA tablets for use in patients with unresectable or recurrent BRCA-mutated, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative breast cancer who have received prior chemotherapy. Patients are selected for therapy based on an approved companion diagnostic. The approval is based on data from the randomized, open-label, Phase 3 OlympiAD trial, which tested LYNPARZA versus chemotherapy. Patients were selected for therapy based upon a confirmed BRCA mutation. In the trial, LYNPARZA significantly prolonged progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy, reducing the risk of disease progression or death by 42 percent. Median PFS was 7.0 months with LYNPARZA versus 4.2 months with chemotherapy. LYNPARZA was generally well tolerated, with the majority of adverse events reported as mild to moderate with a lower rate of Grade greater than or equal to3 AEs compared with chemotherapy. The most common AEs were nausea, anemia and fatigue. LYNPARZA is also approved in Japan as maintenance treatment for women with platinum-sensitive relapsed ovarian cancer, regardless of BRCA mutation status. In Japan, the co-promotion of LYNPARZA by both companies began on July 1, 2018.

05:51 EDT TechnipFMC awarded subsea contract for Total Zinia 2 field - TechnipFMC has been awarded a contract by Total E&P Angola for the Zinia Phase 2 field development, located offshore Angola at a water depth between 800 and 1,000 meters. The contract covers the Engineering, Procurement and Construction of subsea equipment including 9 subsea tree units as well as wellheads, subsea control systems, connection systems and associated equipment. This contract also covers support services, performed by TechnipFMC in Angola, for the assembly, test, mobilization and installation.

05:48 EDT Insulet assumes direct operations of Omnipod system in Europe - Insulet Corporation announced as of July 1, it has assumed direct commercial operations in Europe to provide sales, distribution, customer support and product services for its Omnipod System. Insulet has established a dedicated Customer Care team, committed to providing best-in-class support to its large European customer base.

05:20 EDT Adamis enters distribution agreement with Novartis unit Sandoz - Adamis Pharmaceuticals (ADMP) announced last night that it has entered into an exclusive distribution and commercialization agreement with Sandoz, a division of Novartis (NVS), to commercialize Symjepi or the emergency treatment of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Symjepi is epinephrine and competes against Mylan's (MYL) EpiPen. Under the terms of the agreement, Sandoz will obtain the United States commercial rights to Symjepi in exchange for an upfront fee and potential performance-based milestones payments. Additionally, Adamis and Sandoz will equally share net profits, as defined in the agreement, generated from sales of Symjepi in the U.S. As part of the agreement, Sandoz will have commercial rights to the FDA-approved Symjepi Injection 0.3mg product, as well as the Symjepi Injection 0.15mg product if approved by the FDA. Under the agreement, Adamis will retain the right to commercialize both products in territories outside of the U.S., but has granted Sandoz the first right of negotiation for such territories. Adamis may also continue to develop the Symject injection platform for additional product candidates including the previously announced naloxone product candidate being developed to treat opioid overdose. Dr. Dennis J. Carlo, President and CEO of Adamis, stated, "We are very excited about our collaboration with Sandoz. They are among the top pharmaceutical companies in the world and we believe they have the commercial presence and proven track record to maximize the value of Symjepi. We believe the financial terms of this agreement have the potential to bring meaningful recurring revenue to Adamis and we look forward to growing, and possibly expanding, this partnership with Sandoz based on the future success of Symjepi in the market."