Keller PLC (LON:KLR) was a strong mid cap gainer in late afternoon trading, up 6.9% to 1,025p as the ground engineering specialist announced that it is in talks to buy US-based geotechnical contracting company Moretrench, and also said US tax changes will benefit its future after tax earnings.
The FTSE 250 listed firm said the enlarged group will represent "by far the most capable geotechnical solutions provider on the east coast".
In an additional statement, Keller said that the changes to US taxes will benefit its future after tax earnings thanks to the reduction in the corporate income tax rate to 21% from 35%, partly offset by a net adverse impact from other changes.
It expects that the group's 2017 earnings will benefit from a one-off non-cash credit to the group income statement as a result of the revaluation of US deferred tax liabilities, and based on the net liabilities at the end of 2016, said this credit is expected to be around US$10mln.
The top FTSE gainer was Premier Oil PLC (LON:PMO, up 7.4% at 85.15p boosted again by the strong crude price, as well as an upgrade in rating by Investec Securities yesterday.
Among the blue chips, British Gas owner Centrica PLC (LON:CNA) was biggest gainer, up 4.6% at 146.075p, while fellow energy provider United Utilities PLC (LON:UU.) added 2% at 816p as Credit Suisse became less negative on the sector.
The Swiss bank upgraded its rating for Centrica to 'outperform' from 'neutral' and for United Utilities to 'neutral' from 'underperform' citing valuation grounds.
Credit Suisse noted that the sector is down about 35% versus European peers over the last 18 months and thinks the worst case is priced in for UK domestic energy suppliers.
Struggling for lift-off on Friday is blood-flow-monitoring technology firm Deltex Medical Group PLC (LON:DEMG).
The company blamed "procurement process headwinds" as full-year sales of its oesophageal Doppler monitor probes fell to ?5.9mln from ?6.3mln a year earlier.
The UK - which until last year was comfortably Deltex's largest market - continues to prove a tough nut to crack as NHS budgets come under increasing pressure.
International sales also fell due to order delays, although there was a small bright spot in the shape of the US which saw revenues grow on the back of major account wins. Shares dived 42.1% to 1.1p.
A handful of junior oilers were also in the red after a decision made by the UK planning inspectorate put the future of the Wressle oil project in doubt.
Having discovered oil in a 2014 well, the partners had wanted to quickly develop the relatively small field to establish an oil production operation that would have yielded a combined rate of around 500 barrels of oil per day from a number of intervals.
The inspector has rejected two appeals submitted by project operator Egdon Resources PLC (LON:EDR), which opposed two planning refusals by North Lincolnshire County Council's Planning Committee.
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) PLC (LON:EOG) (down 12.3% to 5p) and Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) (down 20% to 0.12p) both have stakes in the project and lost ground on Friday morning.
As did Egdon, which saw 17.6% wiped from its value to sit at 6.7p.
Top gainer in London's early deals was oiler Regal Petroleum PLC (LON:RPT), whose shares gushed over 96% higher after it updated on operations in Ukraine.
Production in the country amounted to 2,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day at the end of 2017, it said, which was a vast improvement on the 2016 exit rate at 1,700 boepd.
The company has also begun work on a project to investigate a potential workover and reactivation of a production well, under a recent agreement with partially state-owned firm NJSC Ukrnafta which owns the well.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian tax authorities have now returned the vast majority of documents that were taken in searches last year, and a suspension of electronic VAT registration at one of the company's subsidiaries has now been rectified, while Ukraine's new tax legislation is "encouraging and supportive" to independent oil and gas producers, it told investors.
Elsewhere, blockchain focused Kryptonite 1 PLC (LON:KR1) was a notable gainer as it said it had invested in two cryptocurrency projects.
It revealed a US$248,783 investment in the Simple Token project (OST), which is a project administered by OpenST Ltd. This was a public token sale and raised just under US$22mln.
The OST token is designed to power digital communities, allowing them to easily launch digital currencies on open Ethereum sidechains and turn any business into an ecosystem.
The company also invested US$100,000 for a total of 859,569 PROPS tokens. The sale for the Props project has just concluded via the Coinlist platform and raised a total of US$24mln.
"Given the recent surge of interest in the cryptocurrencies space, it's great to be able to support two projects that are helping to make the decentralised world more accessible to existing businesses and end-consumers.
"We were invited to support both projects due to our growing reputation and our presence at major global blockchain events. This is a great sign for the year ahead," said George McDonaugh, chief executive of Kryptonite1.
Kibo Mining PLC (LON:KIBO) told investors that it remains optimistic the memorandum of understanding (MOU) entered into for the Mbeya Coal to Power Project will be completed. It follows meetings during December in Tanzania, with the Ministry of Energy and the Tanzania Electric Supply Company.
Mporium Group PLC (LON:MPM) announced a commercial agreement for its IMPACT technology with leading media investment management company GroupM UK. The latter is the leading investment management company for giant WPP's media agencies including Mindshare and MediaCom and is responsible for more than US$108bn in annual media investment.
Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) PLC (LON:EOG) and Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) were among the joint venture partners negatively impacted as the future of the Wressle oil project remains in doubt following a decision by the UK planning inspectorate.
Shares in Metal Tiger PLC (LON:MTR) advanced in London in early deals as it updated on its Botswana copper joint venture, saying the highest grade to date had been hit at the T3 project. Its partner MOD Resources (ASX:MOD), which has 70% of the project, revealed one hole in the final batch of assays had hit 18 metres (m) at 4.3% copper and 94 g/t (grams per ton) silver from 146m.
Premier African Minerals Ltd (LON:PREM) is in talks over financing options for its RHA tungsten mine following December's output as it also updated on its plan to list the Zulu lithium project in London. The miner said that while throughput last month exceeded the target of 6,000 tonnes in feed, the ore processed was largely from on-strike development at a diluted grade insufficient to achieve planned profitable production.
Atlantis Resources PLC (LON:ARL), which is transforming into a diversified renewable energy company, is set to sell its 50% stake in its Canadian joint venture to partner DP Energy. The cash deal will allow Atlantis to focus on other opportunities in the UK, Europe and Asia, it said.
Cabot Energy PLC (LON:CAB) has revealed provisional results from the 10-32 sidetrack well in the Rainbow area, in Canada, where an oil flow rate of 344 barrels of oil per day has now been measured.
Life sciences group Abzena PLC (LON:ABZA) has moved into its new 30,000 square feet head office in Cambridge.
ReNeuron (LON:RENE) plans a share consolidation, which it hopes will improve the marketability and liquidity of the stock along with trading activity. The stem cell specialist said it wants to reduce its equity base by a factor of 100, which, based on Thursday's close of 1.825p, would push the price to 182.5p.
SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (LON:SBTX), a life science company focused on skin health, announced the appointment of Northland Capital Partners as the company's joint corporate broker, alongside Turner Pope Investments, with immediate effect.
Motif Bio PLC (LON:MFTB) (NASDAQ:MTFB), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company specialising in developing novel antibiotics, announced today that it will participate in the Cantor Antibiotics Summit on January 17, 2018 at the Omni Berkshire Hotel in New York.