Stockwinners Market Radar for April 06, 2021 - Earnings, Upgrades downgrades, option trades, Best Stock Advisory Service

19:52 EDT FibroGen says FDA AdCom to review Roxadustat NDA scheduled for July 15 - FibroGen announced that the FDA has informed the company late today it has tentatively scheduled a Cardiovascular and Renal Drug Advisory Committee, or CRDAC, on July 15, 2021 to review the New Drug Application for roxadustat for the treatment of anemia of chronic kidney disease in both dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis-dependent patients. The NDA submission was supported by positive results from a global Phase 3 program encompassing more than 8,000 patients. Roxadustat is approved and launched in China and Japan for the treatment of anemia of CKD in patients on dialysis and not on dialysis.

19:18 EDT Applied Materials aims to grow revenue by over 55%, EPS by over 100% - The company states: "At its 2021 Investor Meeting held today, Applied Materials unveiled plans to grow the company's revenue, earnings and free cash flow by enabling customers to accelerate improvements in chip power, performance, area, cost and time to market. Applied also announced plans to generate 70% of future services and parts revenue through subscription-like long-term agreements. Applied outlined five major inflections that are fueling secular growth and the need for innovation as the company drives its longer-term strategy. At a macro level, the digital transformation of the global economy is accelerating. In computing, AI workloads are fueling the need for new architectures based on entirely new types of silicon. Within chipmaking, traditional Moore's Law 2D scaling is slowing, creating the need for a "new playbook" for PPACt that enables continued chip- and system-level improvements. Another inflection is the need to grow the industry in a more sustainable and equitable manner. Finally, customers are seeking not just better products, but also better outcomes, resulting in a business model shift to solutions delivered via subscription models. In the base case assumptions of its 2024 financial model, Applied plans to grow revenue by over 55% and non-GAAP EPS by more than 100% as compared to fiscal 2020. It plans to increase Semiconductor Systems revenue by over 60%. The company announced a commitment to return between 80% and 100% of free cash flow to shareholders. Applied plans to grow its services business by over 45% as it increasingly moves beyond transactional parts and maintenance to comprehensive services delivered via subscription to give customers better outcomes from lab to fab. Key to the growth strategy is expanding the use of digital services and remote capabilities that use sensors, analytics and AI. In its Display business, Applied expects to benefit from the next wave of OLED growth as the technology becomes more pervasive in smartphones, notebook PCs, tablets and TVs. Applied plans to increase annual operating margin in its Display business to around $600 million dollars on average over the four years ending 2024."

17:56 EDT GAP Airports reports March traffic down 4.6% - Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico announced preliminary terminal passenger traffic figures for the month of March, compared to traffic figures for March 2020. For March 2021, the total number of terminal passengers at GAP's 12 Mexican airports increased by 1.2%, compared to the same period of the previous year. Domestic passenger traffic increased by 10.6%, while international passenger traffic decreased by 15.3%. The total number of terminal passengers at GAP's 14 airports decreased by 4.6%.

17:28 EDT Enova International Chairman Fisher sells almost $1M in company shares - Enova International Chairman David Fisher disclosed in a filing that he had sold 27,951 shares of company stock at $35.78 per share on April 5, for a total transaction amount of $999,947.

17:22 EDT Envista will replace InterDigital in the S&P 400 at open on 4/12 - Envista Holdings Corp. (NVST) will replace InterDigital (IDCC) in the S&P MidCap 400, and InterDigital will replace SEACOR Holdings (CKH) in the S&P SmallCap 600 effective prior to the opening of trading on Monday, April 12. American Industrial Partners is acquiring SEACOR Holdings in a deal expected to be completed soon pending final closing conditions.

17:06 EDT Southside Bancshares to open commercial loan office in Houston - Southside Bancshares has announced the opening of a new location at 1800 Post Oak Blvd., Ste. 300. The office is scheduled to open on April 12, 2021, and will primarily serve the commercial loan market in the Houston area.

16:53 EDT Fox Corp. says sued Flutter to 'enforce its rights' to acquire FanDuel stake - Fox Corporation (FOXA, FOX) issued the following response to media reports regarding its legal dispute with Flutter Entertainment (PDYPY): "Fox Corporation has filed suit against Flutter to enforce its rights to acquire an 18.6% ownership interest in FanDuel Group-an American sports betting brand-for the same price that Flutter paid for that interest in December 2020. The suit was filed as an arbitration before JAMS in New York, NY by consent of the parties."

16:39 EDT Genworth terminates merger agreement with Oceanwide - The company states: "Genworth Financial announced that it has exercised its right to terminate its merger agreement with China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co., Ltd. as of April 6, 2021. Terminating the agreement allows Genworth to pursue its revised strategic plan without restrictions and without uncertainty regarding its ultimate ownership, which might impact the Company's ability to successfully execute the plan. The company's revised strategic plan includes a potential partial initial public offering of its U.S. MI business. China Oceanwide and Genworth also will continue to explore potential opportunities to bring long-term care insurance and other similar products to the Chinese insurance market in the future."

16:33 EDT Outset Medical drops 6% to $54.50 after 5M share offering of common stock

16:32 EDT Rollins names Thomas Tesh as new Chief Information Officer - The company states: "Rollins announced that after 12 years of service, Chief Information Officer Lee W. Crump has retired. In preparation for Crump's retirement, the company has spent the last six months working to ensure a seamless transition to Thomas D. Tesh, our new Chief Information Officer. Tesh served as the Vice President of Information Technology for Rollins from 2012 to 2020, responsible for Application Development, Business Intelligence, Mobility, Program Management, IT Training and Communications, Support Desk, Desktop Support, Telecom, and IT Continuous Improvement."

16:24 EDT Ancora calls Blucora's letter to stockholders 'misleading' - Ancora Holdings, which which collectively with the other participants in its solicitation beneficially owns approximately 3.4% of the outstanding common stock of Blucora, issued a response to the recent attempts to "smear" nominee Frederick D. DiSanto. "Ancora is disappointed that Blucora's Board of Directors has decided to continue spending stockholders' resources on a highly-personalized, low-road campaign to smear Mr. DiSanto," Ancora said. "In this morning's letter, Blucora once again attacked Mr. DiSanto's character, distorted his attempts to avert a contest and used innuendo to imply he is not attuned to the modern boardroom environment. We categorically reject Blucora's depiction of Mr. DiSanto, who has a three-decade track record defined by collegiality, ethics and openness. We hope investors recognize that a high-functioning and well-governed Board would not be resorting to character assassination as a means of mitigating change. As previously noted, we urge stockholders to focus on the actions, decisions and financial results that the Board of Directors has presided over. Do not allow Blucora to use distractions and diversions to deflect attention away from what matters in this contest: the incumbents' boardroom decisions and professional records. Each of our nominees, including Mr. DiSanto, look forward to putting this election contest behind them and working in a collaborative manner with the remaining incumbents. Stockholders have our nominees' pledge that they will not allow the acrimony of this campaign to impact them. Our slate will build bridges in the Blucora boardroom, much like they have done throughout their careers."

16:19 EDT ChannelAdvisor names Kathy Twiddy as new General Counsel - ChannelAdvisor announced that Diana Allen, who has served as Vice President and General Counsel since 2014, will transition to become a Senior Advisor effective June 1, 2021. Kathy Twiddy has been appointed as Vice President and General Counsel effective June 1, 2021.

16:13 EDT Maxeon Solar plans to expand engagement in U.S. solar power market - Maxeon Solar Technologies announced plans to increase its focus on selling its Performance line shingled module technology in the U.S., facilitated by the deployment of up to 3.6 GW of new shingled module assembly capacity in two phases. The expansion is contingent upon the Company obtaining debt or equity financing to purchase the equipment, after which initial sales are expected to start in the Q1 of 2022. Maxeon plans to implement its new Performance line capacity in two phases. In phase one, Maxeon plans to use existing facilities to quickly ramp 1.8 GW of new capacity. Large-format G12 mono-PERC solar cells are planned to be manufactured in the Company's manufacturing site in Malaysia, and module assembly is planned to be performed at Maxeon's facility in Mexicali, Mexico. In parallel, Maxeon will conduct a comprehensive process to select an optimal site for a U.S. based module assembly facility with a capacity of up to an additional 1.8 GW. Depending on site conditions and market demand, this second phase is expected to begin operation in 2023.

16:09 EDT Everi Holdings chairman Miles Kilburn to retire, CEO Michael Rumbolz to succeed - Everi Holdings announced that Miles Kilburn, chairman of the board of Everi, has informed the company he will retire from the board of directors and will not stand for reelection at the company's 2021 annual meeting of stockholders, which will be held on May 19, Kilburn's last day of service on the board. The board has appointed Everi CEO, Michael Rumbolz, to become chairman upon Kilburn's retirement. The board also named Ronald Congemi, a member of the board for the last eight years, as lead independent director, effective immediately.

16:07 EDT FibroGen gives clarification on some prior disclosures on roxadustat program - FibroGen provided clarification of certain prior disclosures of U.S. primary cardiovascular safety analyses from the roxadustat Phase 3 program for the treatment of anemia of chronic kidney disease, CKD. "As members of senior management were preparing for the upcoming FDA Advisory Committee meeting, we became aware that the primary cardiovascular safety analyses included post-hoc changes to the stratification factors," said Enrique Conterno, Chief Executive Officer, FibroGen. "While all of the analyses set forth below, including the differences in the stratification factors, were included in the NDA, we promptly decided to clarify this issue with the FDA and communicate with the scientific and investment communities." Mr. Conterno continued, "It is important to emphasize that this does not impact our conclusion regarding the comparability, with respect to cardiovascular safety, of roxadustat to epoetin-alfa in dialysis-dependent , DD,patients and to placebo in non-dialysis dependent, NDD, patients. We continue to have confidence in roxadustat's benefit risk profile." FibroGen continues to prepare for the FDA Advisory Committee meeting and will work closely with the FDA to bring this important new treatment to patients living with anemia of CKD. There is no change in the underlying roxadustat data, or to the efficacy analyses from the Phase 3 program. The Company has begun a comprehensive internal review to ensure such issues do not occur in the future.

16:07 EDT MoneyGram appoints Hilary Jackson as COO - MoneyGram International (MGI) announced the appointment of Hilary Jackson as its new COO reporting to Alex Holmes, Chairman and CEO. The appointment is effective April 26. Jackson joins MoneyGram from Selene Holdings where she served as COO. Prior to joining Selene, Jackson held multiple executive roles at Capital One, including Head of Technology for Top of House Products within Capital One's Financial Services division, and Head of Home Loans Servicing. Hilary also spent 12 years at Bank of America (BAC), where she provided executive leadership in the mortgage lines of business. Within mortgage servicing, she led risk assessment and analytics, horizontal business controls, business transformation, strategic implementation, program management, and loss mitigation operations. She also held executive leadership roles within the mortgage originations and sales organizations.

16:06 EDT Chegg hires Lauren Glotzer as Chief Strategy Officer - Chegg announced that Lauren Glotzer, former Executive Vice President of Television Strategy & Operations at Sony Pictures Entertainment has joined Chegg's C-Suite as the new Chief Strategy Officer, effective April 12th, 2021. In her most recent role of Executive Vice President, Television Strategy & Operations at SPE, Glotzer oversaw growth strategies spanning television production and media networks. She also led acquisitions in children's animated television production, as well as faith & family subscription video on demand. Earlier in her tenure, Glotzer led the SPE Corporate Development team, charged with identifying and evaluating investment opportunities in the rapidly changing media landscape.

16:04 EDT Smart Global jumps 5% above $51 per share after Q2 earnings beat, Q3 guidance

15:44 EDT AST SpaceMobile to begin trading on Nasdaq as 'ASTS' - AST SpaceMobile, which calls itself "the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones," announced that it completed its business combination with New Providence Acquisition Corp. (NPA). New Providence's stockholders approved the business combination on April 1, the company noted. AST SpaceMobile received $462M in gross proceeds from the transaction, consisting of New Providence's approximately $232M cash in trust and approximately $230M from a PIPE investment, including investments from Rakuten, Vodafone, American Tower, UBS O'Connor. The company had no debt on the balance sheet at closing, AST stated. Beginning on April 7, AST SpaceMobile's Class A common stock and warrants will start trading on Nasdaq under the ticker symbols "ASTS" and "ASTSW", respectively.

14:29 EDT Omnicom announces multi-year agreement with Allianz - Omnicom Group announced it has signed a multi-year agreement with Allianz, a financial services provider, for creative development and production services. "Through this master framework agreement, Omnicom will produce work for Allianz on a global and local level, offering creative solutions to activate the global brand strategy for the more than 70 countries Allianz operates in," the company said. "The agreement with Omnicom comes after an intense pitch process involving a number of industry competitors and several months of deliberation. Omnicom will kick off its creative solutions for Allianz in the second quarter of 2021," Omnicom added.

14:02 EDT UnitedHealth announces contract to serve Hawaii's Medicaid beneficiaries - The state of Hawaii has selected UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Hawaii to administer its QUEST Integration Medicaid program statewide, which includes the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Lanai, Maui, Molokai, and Oahu, effective July 1, 2021, the company announced. The five-and-a-half-year base contract includes the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Children's Health Insurance Program, Aged, Blind, and Disabled, and Long-Term Services and Supports programs, said UnitedHealthcare. UnitedHealthcare currently serves approximately 114,000 people in commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans in Hawaii. This includes coverage for more than 17,000 low-income beneficiaries who are enrolled in a Dual Special Needs plan, the company noted.

13:30 EDT Cushman & Wakefield secures $62M construction loan for multifamily community - Cushman & Wakefield announced the firm has arranged the $62M construction financing for Bungalows on Cotton Lane, a new 336-unit, single-story, built-to-rent community situated on 35 acres in Glendale, Arizona. The loan was provided to Cavan Companies, the developer, and was originated by ACRES Capital. "Bungalows on Cotton Lane will provide a wonderful Class A horizontal rental opportunity for residents of Glendale and Phoenix Metro market seeking a modern stand-alone home with all the amenity perks found in a more luxury multifamily environment, along with maintenance-free living," said Korer, Senior Director. "The community is a unique and flexible housing product that meets the demand of new rental market trends - boasting higher rent and higher retention."

13:04 EDT Dave Portnoy tweets regarding decline in Penn National shares - Dave Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports and owner of "a ton of Penn Stock," said via a Tweet: "Wait $penn is dropping cause I have a sex tape? Are you kidding me. Ps - It's a federal crime to watch or post it." Penn National has an investment in Barstool Sports and is the operator of the Barstool Sportsbook app. Reference Link

12:47 EDT ScION Tech Growth II trading halted, volatility trading pause

12:21 EDT Conagra Brands names Chaly Jo Moyen as CSO - Conagra Brands (CAG) announced the appointment of Chaly Jo Moyen as Chief Strategy Officer and President, Foodservice & International, effective Monday, April 12. As Conagra's Chief Strategy Officer, a newly-created leadership position with the company, Moyen will play a central role creating, executing and sustaining the organization's strategic initiatives. In addition, she will be responsible for Conagra's International business segment, bringing the company's brands to consumers outside of the U.S., as well as its Foodservice division to distribute its products to restaurants, retailers, commercial customers and other foodservice suppliers. Moyen joins Conagra following more than 15 years at the Coca-Cola Company (KO), where most recently she served as Senior Vice President of Strategy, Decision Science and Insights for Coca-Cola North America.

12:03 EDT Beacon Roofing appoints Binit Sanghvi as head of investor relations - Beacon (BECN) announced that Binit Sanghvi has been appointed its Head of Investor Relations. Sanghvi most recently headed investor relations for Builders FirstSource (BLDR)/.

12:00 EDT Greenbrier falls -7.3% - Greenbrier is down -7.3%, or -$3.52 to $44.73.

12:00 EDT MV Oil Trust rises 13.9% - MV Oil Trust is up 13.9%, or 62c to $5.08.

12:00 EDT Romeo Power rises 28.8% - Romeo Power is up 28.8%, or $2.31 to $10.33.

11:43 EDT Broadscale Acquisition Corporation trading halted, volatility trading pause

11:08 EDT Intel teams with Leidos, Fortanix to accelerate clinical trials - Leidos (LDOS) and Fortanix are using Intel (INTC) Software Guard Extension to help streamline and accelerate the clinical drug trial process. Leidos provides information technology services for a variety of industries, including life sciences. Intel SGX and the Fortanix Confidential Computing Manager provide the foundation for creating a distributed network of trusted computing environments. This enables Leidos to deliver services that facilitate the real-time sharing of critical data while meeting the stringent patient and industry compliance regulations. Leidos utilizes Intel SGX to create a centralized research portal where enclaves capture, encrypt and analyze data. Secure enclaves at RWD endpoints receive queries, verify policy approvals, gather data and return requests to the centralized portal. Using the Fortanix Self-Defending Key Management Service as a centralized key management system, with cryptographic keys also being protected within Intel SGX enclaves, requested clinical data is tokenized and remains encrypted at rest, in transit and in use.

11:01 EDT Intel launches 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors code-named Ice Lake - Intel announced the launch of its new 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, code-named "Ice Lake," the foundation of Intel's data center platform, "enabling customers to capitalize on some of the most significant business opportunities today by leveraging the power of AI." Intel said the "new 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors deliver a significant performance increase compared with the prior generation, with an average 46% improvement on popular data center workloads. The processors also add new and enhanced platform capabilities including Intel SGX for built-in security, and Intel Crypto Acceleration and Intel DL Boost for AI acceleration. These new capabilities, combined with Intel's broad portfolio of Intel(R) Select Solutions and Intel Market Ready Solutions, enable customers to accelerate deployments across cloud, AI, enterprise, HPC, networking, security and edge applications."

10:35 EDT Quidel, ICS to collaborate on multiplex molecular diagnostic instruments - Integrated Computer Solutions, announced its collaboration with the Quidel Corporation. Quidel enlisted ICS' multidisciplinary team to be the application developer of the next-generation, fully integrated molecular diagnostic system for its Savanna(R) platform. The low-cost, point-of-care testing platform allows for easy rapid results for disease states and conditions such as COVID-19, MRSA and HIV. The Savanna project started with UX design leading to an intuitive CLIA-waived touchscreen interface and an extensible processing architecture. It also includes software applications and powerful, forward-looking cybersecurity for its fleet in the field. With Savanna, Quidel will deploy a future-proof in-vitro diagnostics platform that's flexible, scalable, configurable and secure. In its collaboration with ICS, Quidel convenes best-practices from usability, cybersecurity, cloud and user management on an embedded touch-screen platform.

10:34 EDT Madison Square Garden, Clorox enter multi-year marketing partnershipp - Madison Square Garden Sports (MSGS) & Madison Square Garden Entertainment announced a multi-year marketing partnership with The Clorox Company (CLX), naming one of the global leaders in public health and disinfection the Official Cleaning & Disinfection Products Partner of the Knicks, Rangers and Madison Square Garden Arena. As part of the marketing partnership, Clorox will receive significant brand integration including courtside and baseline LED signage at Knicks games and dasherboard signage at Rangers games. Through this collaboration, Clorox will provide disinfecting products, including Clorox(R) Total 360 System electrostatic sprayers, as Madison Square Garden continues to provide the cleanest and safest environment for its guests.

10:29 EDT Lazard Growth Acquisition Corporation I trading halted, volatility trading pause

10:05 EDT Dynatronics enters purchase, sale agreement for former Tennessee site - Dynatronics Corporation announced the company entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Maple Leaf Realco II, LLC for the sale of the company's former manufacturing facility in Tennessee. The Agreement is for the sale of a 3.4 acre site with a 54,000 sq. ft. building consisting of manufacturing and office space in Ooltewah, Tennessee for a purchase price of $1.75M. Completion of the sale is anticipated before the company's fiscal year end on June 30, 2021. Net proceeds for the sale are estimated to be approximately $1.63M. As previously announced, the company closed its operations in Tennessee in the second quarter of fiscal year 2021 as part of consolidation and cost reduction initiatives. Products manufactured by the company in Tennessee were moved to its New Jersey and Minnesota locations. These actions resulted in reduced costs, improved operating profitability, and scalability for growth.

10:01 EDT BAE Systems awarded contract from U.S. Air Force worth up to $600M - BAE Systems has received an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract from the U.S. Air Force with a value of up to $600M to supply the international fleet of F-16 aircraft with support equipment. The 10-year contract includes training, engineering support, specialized test equipment, and more than 1,200 support equipment items to ensure the availability of the F-16 fleet, one of the most versatile multi-role fighter jets.

10:00 EDT SOS Limited falls -7.8% - SOS Limited is down -7.8%, or -38c to $4.41.

10:00 EDT TimkenSteel rises 8.8% - TimkenSteel is up 8.8%, or $1.02 to $12.51.

10:00 EDT MV Oil Trust rises 18.5% - MV Oil Trust is up 18.5%, or 82c to $5.28.

09:58 EDT Paychex sees FY22 adjusted operating margin approximately 37%

09:55 EDT Celularity granted orphan status for malignant glioma treatment - The FDA granted Celularity orphan status for taniraleucel, its treatment of malignant glioma. GX Acquisition (GXDX) is merging with Celularity in a deal that is expected to be completed in Q2. The shares of the combined company will be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "CELU." Reference Link

09:47 EDT SOS Limited falls -5.9% - SOS Limited is down -5.9%, or -28c to $4.50.

09:47 EDT Par Pacific rises 6.4% - Par Pacific is up 6.4%, or 95c to $15.75.

09:47 EDT MV Oil Trust rises 13.2% - MV Oil Trust is up 13.2%, or 59c to $5.05.

09:36 EDT Boyle Capital rejects Graham Holdings proposal to acquire Leaf Group - Boyle Capital released a letter to the board of directors rejecting the proposed $8.50 per share acquisition offer and outlining growth opportunities for Leaf to capitalize on. The letter said: "As you know, Boyle Capital Opportunity Fund has been a stockholder of Leaf Group (LEAF) for some time. We believe the proposed Graham Holdings (GHC) offer of $8.50 per Leaf Group share ($323M total value) materially undervalues the Company, and are at a loss for how the Leaf Board could have unanimously approved such an offer... Given the aforementioned, we request the Board provide a tangible basis for how they arrived at, and approved, the acquisition of all outstanding Leaf shares for $8.50. If Graham Holdings (or anyone) wishes to acquire the rapidly growing and highly strategic assets of Leaf Group, shareholders need to be compensated for giving up the Company's strong near-term and long-term prospects, else we would prefer Leaf to remain a standalone company. A failure to change its recommendation in such circumstances would be inconsistent with the Board's fiduciary obligations to the stockholders of Leaf under Delaware law. We are highly confident that enough shareholders agree with our position that the current offer will not garner the votes for approval."

09:27 EDT Fat Brands announces master franchise deal for France - FAT Brands announces a master franchise deal for France that greatly expands its plan to bring Fatburger to the country for the first time. In partnership with BGH Investments, SARL, the deal includes plans for the development of 40 new co-branded Fatburger and Buffalo's Express locations throughout France. This comes on the heels of the recently announced multi-unit development deal to open two new Fatburger locations in Paris within the next eighteen months.

09:21 EDT Blink Charging sponsor University of Cincinnati's first all-electric racing team - Blink Charging announced its sponsorship of the Bearcat Electric Vehicle racing team, which is the first all-electric formula racecar team out of the University of Cincinnati and falls under the university's AIC category. The University racing team is comprised of about 40 students, a majority of whom are engineering students. These students boast impressive experiences with electric vehicles. Seven current and former students have been interns at Tesla Motors, and ten team members have participated in the SpaceX/Hyperloop competition representing the University of Cincinnati. As the BEV team gears up for the Formula SAE design competition in Michigan in May of this year, they are entering the critical and exciting assembly and testing phase of their first electric formula car. The goal of the team is to emphasize sustainable innovation at the University of Cincinnati.

09:17 EDT Hoth Therapeutics engages Worldwide for Phase 2a HT-001 clinical trial - Hoth Therapeutics announced that it has engaged Worldwide Clinical Trials, a full-service Contract Research Organization, for its upcoming Phase 2a dose ranging clinical trial of HT-001 for treatment of cutaneous toxicities associated with EGFR inhibitor therapy for cancer patients. Hoth's Phase 2a dose ranging clinical trial will investigate the efficacy and safety of varying dose strengths of HT-001 in comparison to placebo for treatment of cutaneous disorders (skin, nails, and scalp) associated with EGFR inhibitor therapy. The study will be conducted in cancer patients receiving EGFR inhibitors, inclusive of both small molecule and biologic drug classes.

09:17 EDT Ampio announces results of a pre-clinical study on Ampion - Ampio Pharmaceuticals announced the results of a pre-clinical study demonstrating that Ampion inhibits an important pro-inflammatory pathway in the types of immune cells implicated in COVID-19 and Lupus Nephritis. The aim of the investigation was to evaluate the ability of Ampion to suppress TLR7 signaling and, thereby, reduce the pro-inflammatory chemokine, CXCL10. Toll-like receptors, or TLR, are one of the primary mechanisms by which innate immune cells detect and acutely respond to microbial infection. Dysregulation of these signaling pathways has been implicated in the pathology of a variety of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. TLR7 normally serves to detect viral single-stranded RNA, like SARS-Cov-2, but it is also linked to cytokine storm development and acute kidney injury in sepsis and lupus. Previous in vitro laboratory investigations have demonstrated that Ampion inhibits activity of pro-inflammatory transcription factors and pro-inflammatory cytokine release in a variety of immune cells.

09:15 EDT DSS's Impact Biosciences receives notice of allowance for Equivir patent - Document Security Systems announced its wholly owned subsidiary Impact BioMedical received notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a method of limiting the occurrence of, reducing the risk or severity of, or treating Ebola and Rhinovirus using its proprietary Equivir compound. This allowance is in addition to Equivir's previously issued U.S. patent in influenza. Equivir is designed to work by impeding virulence while also blocking multiple methods used by viruses to infect and replicate in host cells, following deployment in a manner similar to a vitamin. Equivir is a novel blend of FDA Generally Recognized as Safe eligible polyphenols which have demonstrated antiviral effects with potential applications as medications or health supplements. The rhinovirus is the most common viral infectious agent in humans and is the predominant cause of the common cold. Equivir has demonstrated potential effectiveness in in-vitro studies inhibiting viral infections and SARS COV2.

09:14 EDT AeroVironment gets $11M in Puma 3 AE orders from NATO support, procurement - AeroVironment announced its receipt of four firm-fixed-price orders totaling $11,527,074 from the NATO Support and Procurement Agency, NSPA, for Puma 3 AE tactical UAS and initial spares packages. The orders are part of a three-year base contract received from NSPA in January 2020. The contract includes an option for two additional years of logistics support for Raven, Wasp and Puma tactical UAS. The total potential value of the multi-year contract is $80M, encompassing the procurement and sustainment of AeroVironment tactical UAS employed by the defense forces of several NATO countries. AeroVironment received the orders in October and December 2020, with delivery anticipated by June 2021.

09:10 EDT IWX Motor Freight selects Orbcomm's cold chain telematics solution - ORBCOMM announced that it has been selected by IWX Motor Freight to provide its industry-leading cold chain telematics solutions to track, monitor and control their refrigerated trailers. The global leader in refrigerated telematics, ORBCOMM's comprehensive solutions provide wireless connectivity through its dual-mode hardware and a single, unified Cloud-based analytics platform for optimal fleet management.

09:08 EDT SurveyMonkey debuts rebrand of GetFeedback website - SurveyMonkey revealed the newly rebranded GetFeedback website. Designed with the specific needs of CX leaders in mind, GetFeedback is an agile CX solution that delivers the ease, speed, and efficiency previously unavailable in the market from other service-heavy providers. The rebrand, featuring a new logo, typeface, and brand colors, is a culmination of SurveyMonkey's 2019 acquisition and integration of customer feedback solutions Usabilla and GetFeedback into a unified, agile CX platform that more fully brings the brand into the SurveyMonkey family. The unified platform enables organizations to get a multi-channel view of their customers' experience across the entire digital journey and to better deliver a seamless experience that fosters customer loyalty and growth. GetFeedback can be deployed in days, not months, and quickly enables CX professionals to deliver great experiences without waiting on technical resources or hiring a team of highly-paid consultants. The platform combines multi-channel feedback data with operational data from Salesforce to surface relevant insights in a single intuitive interface and automatically trigger follow-up actions across internal teams. It is purpose-built for the Salesforce ecosystem and is the top-rated customer feedback solution on the AppExchange.

09:07 EDT Shenandoah now sees closing of Shentel Wireless sale in early Q3 - In a regulatory filing last night, Shenandoah Telecommunications (SHEN) stated that in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, the company disclosed that it expects to incur approximately $35.9M of certain one-time expenses during 2021, including severance costs, that would be triggered by the consummation of the pending sale of its wireless assets and certain liabilities to T-Mobile US (TMUS), which are presented as discontinued operations. On April 5, the company announced that it is implementing a workforce reduction that is expected to result in the termination of approximately 340 employees, or 30% of the company's workforce. Approximately 90% of the reductions are employees who support wireless operations and who will not automatically transfer to T-Mobile as part of the pending Shentel Wireless sale. Most of the employees impacted by the workforce reduction will exit the company in 2021 following the closing of the pending Shentel Wireless sale and any required transition services. The closing of the Shentel Wireless sale is now expected to occur in early third quarter 2021, subject to execution of the definitive asset purchase agreement, customary closing conditions and required regulatory approvals. Also, in connection with this workforce reduction, the company will incur certain termination expenses, to be settled in cash, with approximately $1.7M related to continuing operations and approximately $4.5M related to discontinued operations. The company expects to incur a majority of these costs during the third quarter of 2021. The workforce reduction is expected to decrease the company's annualized run-rate operating expenses for continuing operations by approximately $4M.

09:06 EDT Philips receives 510(k) clearance for SmartCT application software - Royal Philips announced U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510 (k) clearance for its Philips SmartCT application software. SmartCT is a key component of Philips Image Guided Therapy System - Azurion - providing interventionalists with CT-like 3D images to support diagnosis, therapy planning, treatment and follow-up for interventional radiology procedures. Bringing intuitive touchscreen control of advanced 3D image acquisition, visualization, vessel/organ segmentation, and quantitative measurements to the table-side, within the interventional lab's sterile zone, SmartCT helps enhance clinical confidence, smooths workflows, and increases productivity. It includes software applications for angiography, neurology, soft-tissue imaging, and guidewire/catheter navigation, supporting a wide range of procedures such as the treatment of aneurysms, vascular diseases and liver tumors.

09:05 EDT Tetra Tech gets $49M USACE environmental services contract - Tetra Tech announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Louisville District awarded the Company a $49M, multiple-award, architecture and engineering services contract to support facilities throughout the United States. Under this five-year contract, Tetra Tech will provide environmental services for the protection and restoration of the natural environment, including designs, studies, surveys, and application of sustainable and innovative technologies. Tetra Tech's scientists and engineers will leverage high-end technology and advanced analytics to address priority issues such as emerging contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS. "USACE has been a valued client for more than 40 years," said Dan Batrack, Tetra Tech Chairman and CEO. "We look forward to continuing to use our Leading with Science approach to support USACE's environmental management initiatives."

09:04 EDT eHealth plans to double the number of in-house Medicare sales agents - eHealth announced that it is accelerating its talent acquisition campaign in preparation for the Medicare Annual Election Period in the fall of 2021. The company intends to more than double the number of in-house Medicare sales agents over last year's figure to better support beneficiaries shopping for and enrolling in Medicare Advantage plans, Medicare Supplement plans, and Medicare Part D prescription drug plans. Many of the new sales agents to be hired by the company will work remotely from around the country while significant numbers will be focused near eHealth's four Sales Centers located in Salt Lake City, Utah; Gold River, California, Austin, Texas; and Indianapolis, Indiana.

09:02 EDT Abbott's XIENCE stent receives CE Mark in Europe for shorter duration of DAPT - Abbott announced its XIENCE stent has received CE Mark in Europe for shorter duration of dual anti-platelet therapy - as short as 28 days, the shortest indication available in the world - for patients with high bleeding risk. The approval follows recent results from two studies that demonstrated both one-month or three-month DAPT followed by aspirin monotherapy is safe in HBR patients and is intended to improve patient outcomes and provide physicians more options to treat their patients. XIENCE is the most widely used stent worldwide and is the only stent to have evidence and data for both one-month and three-months DAPT followed by two different types of blood-thinning medication in HBR patients.

08:56 EDT Vista Equity Partners completes acquisition of Pluralsight - Pluralsight announced that Vista Equity Partners has successfully completed its acquisition of Pluralsight for $22.50 per share. With the completion of the acquisition, Pluralsight's stock ceased trading and the company is no longer listed on any public market.

08:48 EDT iSun acquires intellectual property of Oakwood Construction Services for $2.7M - iSun announced that it has acquired all of the intellectual property of Oakwood Construction Services and its affiliates , OCS, a utility-scale solar EPC company, for a total consideration of $2.7M, with $1.0M due immediately and the remaining $1.7M contingent upon the achievement of certain milestones. "Acquiring the intellectual property from OCS supports iSun's ongoing growth strategy as we continue to expand our geographic reach and enhance our large-project execution capabilities," said Jeffrey Peck, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of iSun. "By entering into the growing large-scale utility solar EPC and build-transfer markets, we are building on iSun's already strong position in commercial and industrial solar markets and making iSun one the largest pure-play solar EPC contractors in the United States. Investment in utility-scale solar assets in the United States is positioned for continued growth through at least 2030. With $69B of unconstructed projects already under executed power purchase agreements, the addition of OCS positions us well to benefit from this growing market."

08:46 EDT Riot Blockchain appoints Megan Brooks as COO - Riot Blockchain announced the appointment of Megan Brooks as COO, Phil McPherson as Vice President, Capital Markets and Ryan Werner as Vice President, Finance. These appointments are being made to support the substantial progress Riot is making on its strategic initiatives. Megan Brooks, previously Riot's VP of Finance, promoted to COO to continue managing Riot's mining operations, which have grown significantly under her purview; Ryan Werner joins as VP Finance to further expand the depth of Riot's finance department; Phil McPherson joins Riot as VP, Capital Markets to focus on Riot's investor relations and capital markets presence. Ms. Brooks joined Riot in 2018 and has most recently presided over and managed the Company's operations, including hardware procurement, site evaluation and project management. As COO she will oversee Riot's operations, including mining, IT/Cybersecurity, SoX control design/implementation, and initiatives related to future expansion. Mr. Werner joined Riot Blockchain in March 2021, after spending the past eight years as Senior Director of Real Estate & Transactions Accounting at UDR Inc. Mr. McPherson joined Riot Blockchain in March 2021, after spending the past eight years as CFO of Citadel Exploration Inc.

08:43 EDT Air Industries gets purchase orders $6M plus for F-18 landing gear components - Air Industries Group announced it has received purchase orders totaling in excess of $6M to manufacture major landing gear components for the F-18 fighter aircraft.

08:42 EDT Global Water Resources promotes Steven Brill to VP, IT operations and security - Global Water Resources has promoted Steven Brill to the new position of vice president of IT Operations and Security. Brill previously served as the company's director of IT Operations and Security. The company made this promotion to better align the company's management structure to address IT initiatives and prepare for future growth. Brill will continue to lead a talented team of professionals that deliver various company integrated systems, including SCADA/controls programming, compliance, cloud, network, systems/storage and database, while implementing processes to control costs, refresh technology and expand capacity. Brill will also oversee and implement numerous security tools, infrastructure enhancements and updating policies.

08:41 EDT Quanta's Medolife Rx receives purchase order of Immunapen - Medolife Rx announced that the Company has received a significant purchase order for its nutraceutical product Immunapen, a consumer-facing product designed to increase the quality of life of users through enhancing their immune system. The order looks to propel the revenue generation side of the business, where the company sells nutraceutical and wellness products in high-impact areas such as pain management, sleep aid and immune system support. The purchase order for 1,400 Immunapen Originals came from a pharmaceutical wholesaler based in the Republic of Armenia who will distribute the products throughout the region. This is the first purchase order from the wholesaler and the Company hopes that it will be the beginning of a strong relationship. The Company also has developed Immunapen Anti-Anxiety, Immunapen Sleep, and Immunapen Energy & Focus.

08:39 EDT Precision BioSciences announces initiation of public search for new CEO - Precision BioSciences announced a CEO transition plan and the initiation of a public search for a new CEO. Matt Kane, Co-Founder and CEO, is expected to continue in his current leadership capacity and as a board member until his successor has been identified. Mr. Kane will also serve as an advisor for a period of time after the next CEO is hired ensuring a smooth transition. During the transition period, Mr. Kane will continue to lead operational activities and the Precision BioSciences Board of Directors will continue to provide strategic guidance and oversight to the company. The management team and the board are committed to these near-term priorities: deliberately advancing the CAR T programs including the stealth cell technology, ensuring directed research efforts against the Eli Lilly designated gene targets, achieving further validation of the in vivo gene editing programs, securing an exit for the Elo Life Systems business, and exploring other development opportunities.

08:38 EDT Entera Bio human growth hormone study results to be presented - Entera Bio announced the company will deliver a poster presentation titled "Pharmacokinetics of an Oral Human Growth Hormone Formulation in Rats and Mice" at the 31st Annual European Pharma Congress in London on April 28-29. Prescription human growth hormone, or hGH, a widely used therapeutic molecule, is currently only administered via subcutaneous injection for the treatment of growth hormone deficiency as well as other indications. Therapeutic hGH was a $3.7B market in 2020 and is expected to grow to $8.5B by 2027. Also known as somatotropin, therapeutic hGH is different from oral over-the-counter supplements which claim to increase the body's own production of hGH. In a preclinical study, Entera's hGH formulation was administered orally to mice and rats. Plasma samples analyzed showed substantial gastrointestinal absorption of the oral hGH formulation and significant systemic exposure to the drug.

08:36 EDT Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern receive support for network project - Canadian Pacific Railway (CP) and Kansas City Southern (KSU) announced that 45 customers, ports, transloads and other stakeholders have filed statements with the Surface Transportation Board, or STB, bringing the total to more than 300 supporting the planned creation of the first U.S.-Mexico-Canada rail network. The additional support comes from stakeholders large and small across the supply chain, including SSAB, Domtar, Farmers Cooperative of Hanska, Port of New Orleans, and E.J.R. Reload. CP is seeking approval from the STB for the combination, which also remains subject to the approvals of CP and KCS shareholders and other customary closing conditions. The STB review is expected to be completed by the middle of 2022.

08:35 EDT Evoke Pharma receives notice of allowance from USPTO for Gimoti - Evoke Pharma announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a Notice of Allowance to Evoke for U.S. Application No. 16/181,841 for Gimoti nasal spray. When granted, the patent will cover methods of use for nasal delivery of metoclopramide for the treatment of gastroparesis. The patent, entitled "Nasal Formulations of Metoclopramide," carries a patent term to at least 2029. Gimoti is Evoke's nasal spray product for the relief of symptoms in acute and recurrent diabetic gastroparesis. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the New Drug Application for Gimoti in June 2020. This new patent covers Gimoti for gastroparesis and will be listable in FDA's Orange Book. "We are pleased with this additional USPTO determination that Gimoti is innovative and novel. We believe Gimoti provides an important option for treating diabetic gastroparesis patients with nasal delivery, especially as the disease can cause patients to experience delayed digestion of oral medications," commented Dave Gonyer, President and CEO. "The issuance of this Notice of Allowance strengthens the intellectual property protection for Gimoti and will provide another Orange Book-listable patent and a significant addition to our intellectual property estate and overall marketing strategy for Gimoti."

08:34 EDT XpresSpa signs contract for XpresCheck COVID-19 facility at San Fransico Airport - XpresSpa Group (XSPA) announced that it has signed a contract to open a new COVID-19 testing facility in the San Francisco International Airport. This location is expected to open in mid-April. XpresCheck will be building a pop-up facility, pre-security, near the baggage claim area on the Arrivals level at Terminal 3. It will host nine separate testing rooms with an anticipated capacity to administer over 500 tests per day. COVID-19 testing options will include the Rapid Molecular COVID-19 Test and the Polymerase Chain Reaction Test. Doug Satzman, XpresSpa CEO, stated, "We are thrilled to be leveraging our existing relationship with United Airlines (UAL) to bring a new XpresCheck testing facility to the San Francisco International Airport. We are pleased to continue to support United's efforts to provide their customers with testing options to meet their destination entry requirements with our easy rapid molecular testing protocol and convenient on-site testing facilities. We believe providing this additional layer of safety will be helpful to passengers and airline employees as demand for travel continues to accelerate throughout 2021."

08:33 EDT Cryoport acquires Critical Transport Solutions Australia for $5M - Cryoport announced it has acquired Critical Transport Solutions Australia, or CTSA, a market leader in providing premium healthcare logistics management services, specializing in time- and temperature-critical solutions for the medical and pharmaceutical industries based in Australia, for approximately $5M. CTSA will be a part of Cryoport's CRYOPDP business unit and will continue to be run by the current management team. Acquiring CTSA's distribution capabilities in Australia is expected to improve Cryoport's position to gain market share in APAC as the number of clinical trials taking place in the region continues to increase. The CTSA acquisition follows the opening of Cryoport Systems and CRYOPDP's first jointly operated global logistics center in Osaka, Japan, in the Q4 of FY20 and forms part of the Company's ongoing expansion strategy in APAC.

08:32 EDT SWK Holdings confirms receipt of non-binding proposal from Carlson Capital - SWK Holdings confirmed that on April 5, a Special Committee of the company's Board of Directors received a non-binding proposal from a fund managed by Carlson Capital, L.P. to acquire the company's loan and royalty assets for an aggregate purchase price of $193M in cash, subject to customary adjustments for changes in the asset portfolio through closing. Carlson's proposal also contemplates a special dividend of substantially all of the proceeds of the Proposed Acquisition to be paid to the company's stockholders following the consummation of the Proposed Acquisition. The Special Committee consists of non-executive, independent directors and the Special Committee has engaged financial and legal advisors to assist in its review of Carlson's proposal and its consideration of other strategic alternatives potentially available to the company. The Special Committee, in consultation with its advisors, will carefully review and consider Carlson's proposal and pursue the course of action that it believes is in the best interests of the company's stockholders.

08:24 EDT Kohl's opens new e-commerce fulfillment center in Ohio - Kohl's announced the opening of its sixth e-commerce fulfillment center in Etna, Ohio to support the company's continued online demand and digital sales acceleration. The 1.2M square-foot facility is Kohl's largest fulfillment center and will be dedicated to processing, filling and shipping Kohls.com orders. The facility leverages automation and technology. Construction of the facility began in 2019, was temporarily paused in 2020 due to the pandemic, and resumed in 2021. With the opening of the new e-commerce fulfillment center, Kohl's will bring more than 400 new jobs to the Columbus-area over the next few months and plans to add thousands of seasonal positions in the back half of the year to support increased digital demand during peak seasons.

08:23 EDT Bombardier confirms VistaJet as customer for 10 Challenger 350 aircraft - Bombardier is pleased to confirm that worldwide fleet operator VistaJet is the customer for a previously disclosed firm order for 10 Challenger 350 business jets. Bombardier announced the sale involving its best-selling Challenger platform on December 23. It was one of the largest biggest jet orders of 2020. VistaJet, a longtime Bombardier customer, has also taken delivery of its first two Global 7500 business jets. The flagship Global 7500 business jet elevates the passenger experience with the smoothest ride and a true four-zone cabin designed to be a home and office in the skies. Bombardier recently celebrated the milestone 50th delivery of this unparalleled aircraft, which has the longest range among business jets.

08:20 EDT Porch Group completes acquisition of Homeowners of America, $100M deal - Porch Group successfully completed its previously announced acquisition of Homeowners of America, making Porch one of the largest Insurance Technology companies. HOA is a Managing General Agent and insurance carrier hybrid with high margins and a capital efficient reinsurance strategy which limits retained risk. Porch acquired HOA for approximately $100M, subject to customary purchase price adjustments, of which approximately $21.7M is payable in Porch common stock. With the acquisition, Porch seeks to create efficient growth with reduced customer acquisition cost through the homebuyers accessed through its vertical software platform, proprietary property data collection and HOA's current licensure in 31 states. Porch plans to expand HOA's Insurtech footprint nationwide through its own insurance offering and HOA's existing independent agent distribution channels. For the full year 2021, the company expects over $270M of pro forma gross written premium between HOA and Porch's existing insurance agency.

08:19 EDT Galectin Therapeutics launches NAVIGATEnash.com - Galectin Therapeutics announced the launch of NAVIGATEnash.com, its dedicated trial website. The new website intends to educate patients and physicians about liver cirrhosis resulting from non-alcoholic steatohepatitis as well as support NAVIGATE, the Company's innovative, seamless adaptive Phase 2b/3 study in NASH cirrhosis. There is currently no treatment to stop the progression and more serious complications of NASH cirrhosis. The NAVIGATE Study is offering patients and their families an opportunity to contribute to the development of the first potential therapy targeted specifically at NASH cirrhosis and designed to improve clinical outcomes.

08:17 EDT Sodexo to provide nutrition, environmental services for Miami Jewish Health - Sodexo announced a partnership with Miami Jewish Health, a 26-acre senior living community in the heart of South Florida. Through this partnership, which is set for five years, Sodexo will maintain Miami Jewish Health's dedication to caring with empathy, while elevating senior dining, optimizing environmental services, and ensuring resident comfort with full housekeeping services.

08:16 EDT Motus GI Holdings submits 510(k) application to FDA for Pure-Vu System - Motus GI Holdings announced it has submitted a 510(k) application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for a version of the Pure-Vu System that is compatible with gastroscopes used during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures to remove blood, blood clots and debris in order to provide a clear field-of-view for the endoscopist. The device is designed to integrate with therapeutic gastroscopes to enable safe and rapid cleansing during the procedure, while preserving established procedural workflow and techniques.

08:14 EDT State of Oklahoma selects Zscaler to secure remote access - Zscaler announced that the State of Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services selected and implemented Zscaler Internet Access and Zscaler Private Access products, part of the Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange platform, to simplify the IT operations, quickly scale remote access for all employees anywhere they reside, and protect government data and applications from cybersecurity threats.

08:12 EDT Virtu Financial announces appointments of Co-Chief People Officers - Virtu Financial announced the appointments of Mary Mooney and Raya White to Virtu's senior management team, in the newly created roles of Co-Chief People Officers. In their new roles, "Mooney and White will develop and enhance Virtu's people-first culture through employee development, mentorship, diversity and inclusion, and leadership programs, to help employees identify and cultivate their unique skills and optimize their impact to drive Virtu's continued success," the company said.

08:10 EDT TOP Ships announces delivery of Suezmax M/T Eco West Coast - TOP Ships announced that it took delivery of the very high specification, scrubber fitted, 157,000 dwt newbuilding Suezmax vessel M/T Eco West Coast constructed at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard in South Korea. The vessel commenced its previously announced time charter employment with a major oil trader for three years with two yearly extensions at the charterer's option. The revenue backlog expected to be generated by this fixture, assuming all options are exercised, is about $63.3M. For 2021 alone, this charter is expected to contribute $9.3M in revenue. Evangelos Pistiolis, the President and CEO of the company, said, "The M/T Eco West Coast, is the first of 5 crude oil vessel carriers of our newbuilding program. One more Suezmax is expected to be delivered during May 2021 and 2 VLCCs and 1 Suezmax are expected to be delivered during the first quarter of 2022. In line with our strategy, all vessels are of very high specification, fitted with scrubbers, constructed at Hyundai Shipyards in South Korea and are contracted to commence profitable time charter employment contracts, mainly to major oil traders, upon their delivery from the shipyard. The two suezmax vessels delivered in 2021 alone have an expected revenue backlog, assuming all options are exercised, of about $126.6M and are expected to contribute $17.1M in 2021 revenue.

08:08 EDT Blucora urges stockholders to vote for all the company's director candidates - Blucora mailed a letter to stockholders concerning the Company's upcoming 2021 annual meeting of stockholders, scheduled to be held on April 21, 2021. Blucora's Board of Directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote "FOR" ALL of Blucora's highly qualified director candidates on the BLUE proxy card. The letter read in part, "As a board, we believe Blucora's two tax-focused businesses both have significant growth and value creation opportunities. And, we believe that having them together in one company affords us unique opportunities...In the middle of 2019, our Board determined that the management team was not executing the optimal strategy to drive value in these businesses. We acted decisively: over the course of several months, we planned for, and implemented, a change in leadership, replacing both the CEO and CFO. Since January 2020, we have supported our new CEO, Chris Walters, as he rebuilt the Company's senior management team....Throughout the leadership transition and our Board's refreshment process, and even as we refined the Company's operating strategies, our Board has actively reviewed the Company's configuration to help ensure that the path we are pursuing maximizes value for all stockholders. With the assistance of two leading investment banks over the last year, we have examined whether continuing to operate in our current configuration or selling one or both of our businesses would create more value for stockholders. We continue to analyze and evaluate these important options as the businesses improve and market conditions change. One of our stockholders, Ancora Catalyst Institutional, LP, has demanded that we immediately sell TaxAct. We do not believe now is the right time to do so. We have done significant analysis to reach this conclusion and believe that potential buyers are unlikely to give us full credit for the enhancements to our product and platform that are underway, nor for the rebound in financial performance we expect to experience in a more normal tax season. Ancora disagrees with this position and has nominated four directors for election to our Board. We are confident in the work we have done in consultation with two independent investment banks. Among other things, we know that any rushed sale of one of our businesses could leave Blucora a subscale company with limited trading liquidity for stockholders and increased cost of capital for the Company. Nonetheless, we remain open to any avenue that would maximize value for stockholders and will continue to evaluate options against the progress of our current strategy.:

08:08 EDT Charles River, Valence Discovery partner to give clients access to Valence's AI - Charles River Laboratories International and Valence Discovery announced the formation of a strategic partnership to provide clients access to Valence's artificial intelligence platform for molecular property prediction, generative chemistry, and multiparameter optimization. Building on research done by Valence's founding team at Mila, the world's largest deep learning research institute, the Valence platform enables the design of small molecule drug candidates in novel regions of chemical space, followed by rapid optimization against project-specific potency, selectivity, safety, and pharmacology criteria. Valence has pioneered the application of few-shot learning in drug design, allowing the company to unlock prediction tasks for which only small amounts of training data are available, overcoming a critical limitation of existing machine learning technologies in drug discovery.By combining best-in-class machine learning technologies with Charles River's end-to-end capabilities, the alliance has the potential to significantly accelerate discovery efforts from hit design through lead optimization. Through the collaboration, Charles River clients will have the option to access Valence's platform to support their drug discovery efforts. When taking advantage of this option, clients can expect increased diversity in chemical matter being investigated, in combination with more rapid optimization against complex, project-specific design criteria, ultimately reducing timelines and improving success rates for drug discovery projects.

08:05 EDT GSI Technology, Space Micro awarded NASA phase 1 contract - GSI Technology announced that, along with prime contractor partner Space Micro, it has been awarded a Phase 1 contract by NASA to develop an optimal real-time data sorting inference processing unit board for Earth observation missions that require higher processing power. As sensors quickly advance, they produce large quantities of data that reveal a critical downside for space-based platforms. They require large amounts of mission data and calibration data to be downlinked, and their data products cannot be conveyed in near real-time. High-performance processors, such as the GSI and Space Micro IPU, are resolving these issues. The GSI and Space Micro IPU plugs into the main communication bus and offers enhanced parallel processing power, much like a supercomputer cluster. The main system can reconfigure the IPU device to scale up and down, specifying a specific state depending on the needs of the current task. For added performance and redundancy, multiple processors can be included on the same board, with the capability to stack multiple units together.

08:04 EDT Topps to become public through Mudrick Capital Acquisition combination - The Topps Company and Mudrick Capital Acquisition Corporation II, a publicly-traded special purpose acquisition company, today announced a definitive agreement for a business combination that will result in Topps becoming a public company. Upon closing of the transaction, which is expected in late second or early third quarter, the combined company will be named Topps and remain listed on NASDAQ under the new ticker symbol "TOPP." Topps is capitalizing on the accelerated interest in its multi-channel Sports & Entertainment business from growing enthusiasm around its innovative sports and entertainment collectibles, as well as growth from investments in its e-commerce platform, topps.com. The Company has put a premium on growth through innovation with existing and new licenses, international expansion, curated experiential events, and innovative artist-inspired collectibles. Topps has further reimagined the collectibles universe through its transition to the digital marketplace, addressing the contemporary, more tech-savvy consumer demands for convenience, immediacy, value, social engagement, and interactive experiences within the changing retail landscape by leveraging its innovation and community. Topps is also capitalizing on its growing technological capabilities to advance its Gift Cards offering with a focus on further penetrating the fast-growing digital gift card channel. In Confections, the Company is fueling excitement and demand for its well-known novelty branded products through innovative new product launches and brand extensions, significantly increased e-commerce activity, and international expansion. Michael D. Eisner, former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Disney and Chairman of The Topps Company, will become Chairman of the combined company's board of directors. Also expected to join the combined company's board of directors are: Jill Ellis, coach of the U.S. Women's 2013 and 2019 FIFA World Cup champions; Maria Seferian, general counsel of Hillspire LLC; Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks and co-founder of Avenue Capital Group; and Andy Redman, president of The Tornante Company. The combined company will continue to be led by Michael Brandstaedter, President and Chief Executive Officer of Topps. The transaction is anticipated to generate gross proceeds of up to approximately $571 million of cash, assuming no redemptions by the public stockholders of MUDS. This additional capital will be used to purchase shares from existing Topps shareholder Madison Dearborn Partners, which intends to sell the majority of its ownership position, and to fund transaction related fees and expenses. This includes a private placement of $250 million of common stock in MUDS, including participation from funds and accounts managed by GAMCO Investors and Wells Capital Management and including up to $100 million from Mudrick Capital. The pro forma implied equity value of the combined company is $1.163 billion at the $10.15 per share PIPE price, assuming no redemptions by the public stockholders of MUDS. The transaction implies a pro forma enterprise value for The Topps Company of approximately $1.3 billion, or 12.5x 2021 projected adjusted EBITDA with estimated net debt of less than $150 million. The boards of directors of Topps and MUDS have unanimously approved the transaction. The transaction, which will require the approval of MUDS stockholders, is subject to other customary closing conditions, including the receipt of certain regulatory approvals and a minimum cash condition and is expected to close in the late second or early third quarter of 2021.

08:03 EDT Color China signs agreement with School of Digital Arts & Media - Color Star Technology announced the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement between its wholly-owned subsidiary, Color China Entertainment and School of Digital Arts & Media, or SDAM, of Shandong University of Art & Design, or SUAD). SUAD is an influential design and art academy in China and one of the entities that participates in the national project which focuses on integration and development bridging industry and education in China. Through its interactive entertainment platform Color Star APP, Color China expects to introduce educational resources from SDAM, including knowledge sharing and exchanges in professional fields of digital media art, new media art, radio and television editing, film and television photography and production, theater film and television art design, animation, and photography. The parties also expect to have diversified and in-depth collaboration in other related content services.

07:51 EDT Evaxion Biotech announces 2021 expected milestones - Expected milestones in 2021: Phase 1/2a data on EVX-01 in metastatic melanoma - Q2 2021; Phase 1/2a data on EVX-02 in adjuvant melanoma - Q2 2021; Regulatory filing for clinical trial of EVX-03 in multiple cancers - H2 2021.

07:46 EDT Nordic American Tankers expects increase in rate for ships - The company said, "On 24th of March 2021, one of the largest ships in the world blocked the Suez Canal. The ship was blocking the canal until Monday, March 29, about a week after the closure. Already Thursday, March 25, we commented on the blocking of the Suez Canal. Thereafter, when the canal was opened, tanker rates fell back, although slightly less than the original increase. The immediate strong increase in tanker rates due to this short blockage of the Suez Canal, is an illustration of a market nearing a boiling point. Long before the Suez Canal was closed, we saw a strong increase in rates for our Suezmax tankers which can load one million barrels. The strategic position of our company has been substantially improved over the last two years. We have 24 ships trading on short term contracts, whilst one ship is on a longer term contract. There is a strong drive in the market, indicating an improvement in the time to come. We have recently seen this improvement, having concluded contracts giving rates between USD 15,000 a day up to USD 25,000 a day. In the weeks rather than months ahead, we expect an increase in rates for our ships. This development has already started."

07:43 EDT Olema Oncology appoints Yi Larson to board of directors - Olema Pharmaceuticals (OLMA) announced the appointment of Yi Larson to the company's board of directors, and the transition of longstanding Olema director Frank McCormick, Ph.D., to chair of Olema's Scientific Advisory Board. Larson most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Turning Point Therapeutics (TPTX), where she oversaw a period of tremendous growth. Effective May 1, 2021, she will become Chief Financial Officer of LianBio, a private biotech company focusing on precision and innovative therapeutics with operations in the United States and China.

07:40 EDT Provident Financial, GAP announce corporate partnership - GAP, the Golf Association of Philadelphia, announced today a corporate partnership with Provident Bank. Provident Bank, which has a more than a 180-year history of commitment to customers, employees and communities, will become the Official Bank of GAP and the presenting sponsor of the Joseph Patterson Memorial Cup. The Patterson Cup is the second oldest championship in GAP at 119 years old. It serves as the Association's stroke-play championship. The Patterson Cup is set for Aug. 4-5 at Manufacturers' Golf & Country Club in Ft. Washington, Pa. In addition, as a corporate partner, Provident Bank will receive several marketing and promotional assets, as well as access to VIP hospitality experiences. "We are excited to partner with GAP. This is a terrific opportunity for Provident to form an alliance with a highly-respected organization that has a long-standing tradition of service to eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and northern Delaware," said Anthony Labozzetta, President and COO, Provident Bank. "Our organizations' shared values and commitment to excellence make GAP an ideal partner," he added.

07:37 EDT Brink's acquires PAI, provider of ATM services in U.S., for $213M - The Brink's announced its acquisition of PAI for $213M. On a current full-year basis, PAI is expected to generate revenue of approximately $320M and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $30M. Given the acquisition's closing date of April 1, PAI is expected to add approximately $240M of revenue and $22Mof adjusted EBITDA to the company's 2021 results and is expected to be accretive this year. Based in its new headquarters in Dallas, Texas, PAI employs 225 people across three major U.S. locations and another 12 field locations. The acquisition was financed using available cash and the company's existing credit facility. A primary goal of Brink's Strategy 2.3 is to offer ATM solutions integrated with other Brink's solutions to provide complete, end-to-end cash management. PAI provides Brink's with a platform of proprietary ATM services and more than 100,000 ATM service locations in the U.S., accelerating its execution of Strategy 2.3 initiatives in North America. In Europe, Brink's has entered into agreements to take full ownership and provide managed services to financial institutions for more than 11,000 ATMs. With PAI's capabilities, Brink's will offer a more complete and technology-rich range of bundled ATM services to U.S. retailers, banks and credit unions through multi-year service contracts that generate recurring revenue streams.

07:36 EDT BWX Technologies gets $690M extension for environmental work at Portsmouth - BWX Technologies announced a contract extension, valued at up to $690M including options, from the U.S. Department of Energy DOE for environmental management work at Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant. The agreement took effect on March 29, and includes a one-year extension with two additional six-month options. Cleanup work at the site has been conducted by joint venture Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth since the contract was awarded in 2010. FBP is responsible for decontamination and decommissioning of the Portsmouth site. Te scope of the project includes deactivation, demolition and disposal of selected site facilities, process equipment, related process buildings and other ancillary facilities. It also includes continued environmental remediation, uranium stewardship and community outreach programs. "BWXT is very pleased that the DOE has extended another contract for the important work at Portsmouth in partnership with Fluor," said Ken Camplin, president of BWXT's Nuclear Services Group. "We believe that BWXT's footprint at seven sites supporting the DOE's Environmental Management mission demonstrates the breadth and depth of our company's waste management, environmental remediation and site cleanup capabilities."

07:35 EDT Norwegian Cruise Line proposes restart of cruising from U.S. ports on July 4 - In parallel, the Company submitted a proposal to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on April 5, 2021, outlining its plan to restart cruising from U.S. ports starting July 4 and requesting the CDC lift the Conditional Sail Order.

07:33 EDT Norwegian Cruise announces two-pronged plan for return to cruising - Norwegian Cruise Line announces a two-pronged plan for its long-awaited return to cruising this summer. The Company unveils its phased cruise resumption for voyages embarking outside of the U.S. with sailings originating in Jamaica, Dominican Republic and Greece beginning in July 2021 with Norwegian Joy, Jade and Gem. In parallel, the Company submitted a proposal to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( on April 5, 2021, outlining its plan to restart cruising from U.S. ports starting July 4 and requesting the CDC lift the Conditional Sail Order. To provide a uniquely safe and healthy vacation experience, all initial voyages will operate with fully vaccinated guests and crew in addition to the Company's robust, multi-layered SailSAFE health and safety program, which includes universal COVID-19 testing prior to embarkation. The Company also announces the formation of the SailSAFE Global Health and Wellness Council, the Company's expert public health council, chaired by former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Dr. Scott Gottlieb, which will complement the work of the Healthy Sail Panel. "We are excited to unveil our initial plans for the resumption of cruise voyages embarking outside of the U.S. with sailings to the Caribbean and Europe. In addition, we continue to plan for a resumption of cruising from U.S. ports and await further discussion with the CDC regarding our proposal for a July 4 restart to participate in America's national opening. As we prepare for our return to cruising, the health and safety of our guests, crew and communities we visit is our first priority, as demonstrated by the establishment of our robust, multi-layered SailSAFE health and safety program and our Company's SailSAFE Global Health and Wellness Council," said Frank Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. "Safe and highly effective vaccines are a gamechanger and to create the safest environment possible, we will require all guests and crew to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccine requirements will be combined with multiple additional layers of protection against COVID-19 introduction, including universal testing, and we will continue to evaluate and modify protocols over time as the science dictates. The return to cruising has been much-anticipated by our loyal guests, valued travel partners, the destinations we visit and our team members across the globe. We look forward to once again delivering best in class vacation experiences and also restarting our cruise ecosystem, bringing much needed economic benefit back to our homeports and the destinations we visit that have been significantly impacted by the halt in cruising."

07:16 EDT Corteva appoints Dave Anderson as CFO - Corteva announced that it has appointed Dave Anderson as its new Executive Vice President & CFO, effective April 12. A highly experienced finance executive, Anderson has a track record of providing financial leadership in complex, global companies to support value creation. In this role, he succeeds Gregory R. Friedman who is retiring from Corteva, as previously announced. Throughout his career, Anderson has focused on establishing finance functions that enable ongoing investment in growth initiatives while driving returns and value creation for shareholders. He spent more than a decade as CFO of Honeywell, through 2014. Since then, he has held the CFO role at other market-leading companies, with a focus on establishing strong finance functions, cost structures, capital allocation programs, and solid foundations for growth.

07:11 EDT Hudbay announces PEA results for Mason Copper Project - Hudbay Minerals announced the results of its preliminary economic assessment of its 100%-owned Mason copper project located in Nevada, United States. The Mason project is a large greenfield copper deposit located in the historic Yerington District of Nevada and is one of the largest undeveloped copper porphyry deposits in North America. Mason's measured and indicated mineral resource estimates are approximately twice the size of Hudbay's Constancia and Rosemont deposits. Hudbay views the Mason project as a long-term option for future development and a strong component of its pipeline of long-term growth opportunities in mining friendly jurisdictions. Please refer to Figure 1 for a map showing the location of the Mason project. In 2017, Hudbay made a $2 million toe-hold equity investment in Mason Resources Corp., the entity that owned the Mason project at that time. In October 2018, Hudbay entered into an agreement to acquire the remaining 86% of the issued and outstanding common shares of Mason Resources Corp. that it didn't already own for approximately $15 million. The acquisition of Mason was completed by way of a plan of arrangement in December 2018. Since acquiring Mason, Hudbay has consolidated a prospective package of patented and unpatented mining claims contiguous to the Mason project in two private transactions in 2019 and 2020, including a property called Mason Valley, as shown in Figure 2. In March 2021, Hudbay announced an updated measured and indicated resource estimate of 2.2 billion tonnes at 0.29% copper at Mason, based on a revised resource model and an updated mine plan constructed by Hudbay personnel using the same methods applied at Constancia. The company has also advanced a number of technical studies to support the completion of its 2021 PEA.

07:09 EDT Red White & Bloom Brands purchases cultivation pods for Florida - Red White & Bloom Brands announced plans to increase cultivation capacity upon closing of the previously announced definitive agreement to enter the Florida cannabis market. RWB has secured 30 double wide fully enclosed cultivation pods that collectively provide approximately 19,000 square feet of operating space, with 14,400 square feet of canopy. Each unit is specifically designed and outfitted for premium cannabis cultivation. These units, once online, shall be able to produce in excess of 7000lbs of flower annually, as well as thousands of pounds of trim with an estimated value in excess of $40M annually. The Company will be taking delivery of the units in Florida for deployment at the Sanderson Property, which forms part of the Florida acquisition agreement and includes the sale of the property in Sanderson, with over 15 acres of land and a 113,546 SF facility for cultivation and processing. The pods will allow the Company to immediately operationalize additional cultivation capacity, as it drives to expedite the opening of additional medical marijuana dispensary locations and implements home delivery shortly after closing of the transaction. It is anticipated, as per the Company's previous press releases, that subject to regulatory approval, this transaction will close in Q2 2021.

07:08 EDT Medipharm Labs ships cannabis oil from Australia to Germany - MediPharm Labs announced it has exported its first shipment of cannabis oil products, approved by the Australian TGA, to Germany. As a result, patients in Germany are now able to access GMP-certified quality medical cannabis through MediPharm Labs German distribution partners. Only companies that have received Good Manufacturing Practices certification are permitted to export cannabis products into the German market. MediPharm Labs expects white label product shipments to its German customers to continue throughout 2021 and beyond. Upon full launch, MediPharm will work on innovating their offering for the German market and expand supply to other European countries where regulations allow.

07:07 EDT Recro Pharma reports inducement grants for new staff - Recro Pharma announced the expansion of its team through the addition of new employees primarily in the areas of analytical development, business development, sales and marketing to support our continued growth and customer diversification efforts. In connection with the hiring of these personnel, the compensation committee of Recro's board of directors approved inducement stock option grants to purchase an aggregate of 98,843 shares of Recro's common stock. The equity awards were granted pursuant to the NASDAQ inducement grant exception as a component of each individual's employment compensation and were granted as an inducement material to his or her acceptance of employment with Recro in accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4). The option awards were granted on March 31, 2021 and will have an exercise price equal to the closing price of Recro's common stock on March 31, 2021. The options have a ten-year term and vest in equal monthly installments over four years. The equity awards are subject to each individual's continued service with Recro through the applicable vesting dates.

07:07 EDT Oxford Biomedica signs development, supply agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim - Oxford Biomedica announced that it has signed a new three year Development & Supply Agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim for the manufacture and supply of various types of viral vectors. Under the terms of the DSA, Oxford Biomedica intends to manufacture GMP batches for Boehringer Ingelheim to support the development of viral vectors. The DSA also allows for the Group to manufacture and supply viral vector products in the future.

07:05 EDT Landos Biopharma announces FDA clearance of IND application for Omilancor - Landos Biopharma announced that the Food and Drug Administration has cleared the company's Investigational New Drug application for omilancor, a novel, orally administered, gut-restricted LANCL2 agonist, in development for the treatment of Eosinophilic Esophagitis, or EoE. With up to 160,000 patients in the United States, EoE is an orphan disease without a current FDA-approved therapeutic. Landos expects to initiate patient dosing in the first half of 2022. This trial is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1b study designed to evaluate the safety and pharmacokinetics of omilancor in patients with active Eosinophilic Esophagitis. A total of 36 patients will be randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to receive either omilancor 500 mg twice daily, omilancor 1000 mg once daily, or placebo for 12 weeks. Each of the treatment arms will include 12 subjects. The safety primary endpoint will measure the frequency and severity of adverse events as well as changes in clinical chemistry and hematology from baseline. The secondary endpoint is pharmacokinetic analysis of omilancor plasma levels at various time intervals post-dosing in addition to evaluating the mean concentration of omilancor in esophageal biopsy tissue after 12 weeks of dosing.

07:05 EDT Scienjoy announces strategic alliance with Snipp Interactive - Scienjoy Holding announced that, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Scienjoy it has entered into a strategic alliance via a Master Services Agreement with Snipp Interactive, a global provider of digital marketing promotions, rebates, and loyalty solutions. Through the Alliance, both parties will explore different ways of incorporating Snipp's Customer Acquisition, Retention and Engagement, or CARE, platform into Scienjoy's suite of mobile applications. The initial cooperative exploration between both parties are expected to focus on the following two areas: First, Scienjoy will combine its in-app currency solution with Snipp's loyalty and rewards engine to develop a new loyalty and rewards system. Second, both parties will work together to enable broadcasters to mint their own non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, on Scienjoy's platform and allow users to utilize the points they have accumulated through the new loyalty and rewards system to bid on and purchase NFT "momentos" from their favorite broadcasters.

07:04 EDT Overland ADCT BioPharma appoints Eric Koo as CEO - Overland ADCT BioPharma, a joint venture created by Overland Pharmaceuticals and ADC Therapeutics announced the appointment of Eric Koo, BSc, MBA, as Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Koo brings more than 25 years of pharmaceutical industry and business management experience to Overland ADCT BioPharma with a proven track record of executing successful drug approvals and launches across Asia. "Overland ADCT BioPharma has a tremendous opportunity to bridge the clinical gap between the U.S., Europe and Asia through the expanded reach of innovative cancer medicines like antibody drug conjugates," said Eric Koo, BSc, MBA. "It is an honor to assume the role of Chief Executive Officer and I look forward to working closely with both teams at Overland Pharmaceuticals and ADC Therapeutics to develop and commercialize the pipeline in greater China and Singapore." Mr. Koo most recently served as Vice President, Head of Oncology Business Unit at Takeda China focusing on multiple myelo

07:03 EDT Verano Holdings shares approved to trade on OTC Markets - Verano Holdings announced that the OTC Markets Group has approved the trading of the Company's subordinate voting shares under the ticker symbol "VRNOF," effective immediately. The Company also announced that it has applied to upgrade its shares to the OTCQX International Premier.

07:02 EDT Signet Jewelers acquires Rocksbox, terms not disclosed - Signet Jewelers announced it has acquired Rocksbox, a jewelry rental subscription platform, giving it a significant foothold in a growing online service that speaks to next-generation jewelry customers. The acquisition is driven by Signet's "Inspiring Brilliance" strategy and is intended to accelerate growth in the services category.

06:52 EDT ANI Pharmaceuticals acquires Sandoz NDAs - ANI Pharmaceuticals announced that it has acquired the new drug applications for OXISTAT Lotion, VEREGEN Ointment, and Pandel Cream and the abbreviated new drug application for ApexiCon E Cream from Sandoz. Pandel Cream will be transitioned later upon receiving the requisite approvals. Collectively, these products generated net revenues of $13.2M in 2020. The acquisition was funded through borrowings under the Company's pre-existing revolver credit facility. In conjunction with the acquisition, ANI and Sandoz have entered into a multi-year manufacturing and supply agreement for OXISTAT Lotion, Pandel Cream and ApexiCon E Cream. ANI intends to transfer the manufacture and packaging of these three products to its own manufacturing sites in the future.

06:48 EDT Lindsay expects coronavirus-related delays in road construction activity - "Solid agricultural market fundamentals set the stage for improved irrigation equipment demand for the balance of the year. Significantly higher raw material and freight costs, along with supply chain constraints, continue to present challenges but our teams have been effective in working through these issues," said Wood, CEO. "In our infrastructure business, while our sales pipeline remains robust, we expect continued coronavirus-related delays in road construction activity and projects." Wood continued, "Our financial position remains strong, providing support for our innovation growth strategy across our businesses that address global megatrends and provide solutions that improve customer profitability and assist in their sustainability efforts."

06:36 EDT Denison Mines announces execution of agreements with English River First Nation - Denison Mines announced that it has entered into a participation and funding agreement and letter of intent, or LOI, with the English River First Nation, or ERFN, in connection with the advancement of the proposed in-situ recovery, or ISR, uranium mining operation at Denison's 90% owned Wheeler River Uranium Project, which is located in the eastern portion of the Athabasca Basin region, in northern Saskatchewan. Additionally, Denison and ERFN have also entered into an exploration The agreements provide ERFN with economic opportunities and other benefits, while establishing a foundation for future collaboration in an authentic, cooperative, and respectful way - designed to cultivate a long-term partnership in support of the company's activities, including the advancement of the company's Wheeler River Project, which is currently advancing through a Federal and Provincial Environmental Assessment, or EA, process. The participation agreement and LOI outline a framework and applicable funding arrangements to facilitate ERFN's participation and engagement in the EA process for the Wheeler River Project. The LOI also outlines a desire to co-develop a future shared prosperity agreement with respect to the Wheeler River Project, which is intended to reflect a shared vision of how new uranium mining operations in the Athabasca Basin region can prioritize sustainability while also offering new and creative ways to generate wealth and prosperity for all parties involved in the advancement of the project. The exploration agreement establishes a framework for a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship between Denison and ERFN whereby Denison's exploration and evaluation activities are consented to by ERFN and Denison agrees to support ERFN's interests in relation to community development and benefits, environmental protection and monitoring, as well as sustainable and predictable consultation and engagement processes.

06:08 EDT Uranium Energy secures additional 705,000 pounds of U.S. warehoused uranium - Uranium Energy reported that it has now secured an additional 705,000 pounds of U.S. warehoused uranium, with delivery dates out to December 2022. Including the previously announced contracts to acquire 1,400,000 pounds of uranium concentrates, UEC has now entered into additional purchase contracts for a total of 2,105,000 pounds of U3O8 at a volume weighted average price of approximately $30 per pound.

06:07 EDT Dynavax announces Valneva reported results from VLA2001 trial using its CpG 1018 - Dynavax announced that Valneva SE reported initial results for Part A of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial of Valneva's inactivated COVID-19 vaccine candidate, VLA2001, using Dynavax's CpG 1018 adjuvant in 153 healthy adults aged 18 to 55 years. Based on these results, Valneva plans to commence a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial by the end of April, subject to regulatory approval. In their press release, Valneva reported that VLA2001 was generally safe and well tolerated across all dose groups tested and was highly immunogenic with a seroconversion rate for S-protein binding IgG antibodies of 100% in the high dose group. The IgG antibody response was highly correlated with neutralization titers in a micro-neutralization assay. The geometric mean titer of neutralizing antibodies measured two weeks after completion of the two-dose schedule in this group was at or above levels for a panel of convalescent sera. Valneva plans to initiate a pivotal, comparative immunogenicity Phase 3 clinical trial with the high dose formulation by the end of April. Other trials, including booster trials, involving antigen sparing doses will also be evaluated.

06:05 EDT Aurora Mobile announces partnership with iHerb - Aurora Mobile announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with iHerb, a leading e-commerce store for world-renowned brands of health and natural products. Aurora Mobile will help iHerb explore new growth in digital commerce, facilitate smart operation analytics and jointly promote AI-powered cross-border e-commerce to new heights.

06:04 EDT Biodesix issued two patents from USPTO related to immunotherapy and testing - Biodesix announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, or USPTO, has issued two patents that will enhance its ability to develop blood-based immunotherapy and pipeline testing strategies. These developments further improve Biodesix's ability to offer rapid, accurate assessment of patients, which guide physician treatment strategies for their cancer patients. U.S. Patent 10,950,348, titled, "Predictive Test for Patient Benefit from Antibody Drug Blocking Ligand Activation of the T-Cell Programmed Cell Death 1 Checkpoint Protein and Classifier Development Methods," covers a test that classifies patients based on their responses, or failures to respond, to immunotherapies. This diagnostic methodology is designed to stratify patients with lung cancer based on their likelihood to respond to immunotherapies.

06:01 EDT Cyberoptics awarded $1.2M order for its MX3000 memory module inspection systems - CyberOptics announced that it recently received an order valued at $1.2M for its MX3000 memory module inspection systems, powered by Multi-Reflection Suppression, or MRS, sensors. These final vision inspection, or FVI, systems are expected to be recognized as revenue in the second half of 2021.

05:18 EDT Digital Realty opens third data center in Singapore - Digital Realty announced the official opening of its third data center in Singapore. The multi-story, 50-megawatt facility, known as Digital Loyang II or SIN12, is Digital Realty's largest data center in the country and will bring the company's total committed investment to date in Singapore to over $1B. This expansion will enable local and multinational enterprises to deploy infrastructure and scale their digital business. In addition, the new facility will introduce next-generation colocation services for regional customers in Singapore and will further expand PlatformDIGITAL, the company's global data center platform.

05:13 EDT Credit Suisse CEO of Investment Bank, Chief Risk Officer stepping down - Credit Suisse announced that Brian Chin, CEO of the Investment Bank and Lara Warner, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer will step down from their roles. The bank said, "Following the significant US-based hedge fund matter, Brian Chin, CEO of the Investment Bank is stepping down from his role on the Executive Board, effective April 30, 2021. Lara Warner, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, is stepping down from her role on the Executive Board, effective April 6. Both of them will leave the bank." As of May 1, Christian Meissner is appointed CEO of the Investment Bank and member of the Executive Board. Joachim Oechslin is appointed ad interim Chief Risk Officer and member of the Executive Board on an ad-interim basis, effective April 6. Thomas Grotzer is appointed ad interim Global Head of Compliance, effective April 6.

05:10 EDT Credit Suisse expects Q1 CET1 ratio to be at least 12% - Credit Suisse said, "In terms of our capital position, while this is also still subject to our usual end-period finalization and review processes, we would currently expect the 1Q 2021 CET1 ratio to be at least 12%. With regard to leverage, we expect our 1Q 2021 Tier 1 leverage ratio to be at least 5.4% and our 1Q 2021 CET1 leverage ratio to be at least 3.7%. Following the completion of share buybacks in 1Q 2021, we have suspended the share buyback program and we do not intend to resume share purchases before we have regained our target capital ratios and restored our dividend. As of the end of 1Q21, our liquidity position remains strong with HQLA balances expected to exceed USD 200 billion and the Group liquidity coverage ratio expected to exceed 200%."

05:04 EDT Credit Suisse cuts dividend to CHF 0.10 after U.S. hedge fund loss - Credit Suisse announced that as a result of recent significant developments in connection with the U.S.-based hedge fund and the Credit Suisse Asset Management managed supply chain finance funds, its board announces adjusted proposals for the 2021 annual general meeting. This includes the withdrawal of its proposal on discharge of the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Board. Particularly following the significant U.S.-based hedge fund matter, the board is amending its proposal on the distribution of dividends and withdrawing its proposals on variable compensation of the Executive Board. Brian Chin, CEO of the Investment Bank and Lara Warner, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer will step down from their roles. The board proposes to distribute a reduced ordinary total dividend of CHF 0.10 gross per registered share, half from retained earnings and half out of the capital contribution reserves.