Last Orders: What you might have missed on the ASX today

Small cap companies have crept higher today, outpacing their larger rivals.

The Small Ordinaries index of 100 small-cap companies closed up 0.3 per cent to 2,979.2 on Thursday, while the ASX 200 was up 0.2 per cent to 6,547.2.

The Emerging Companies microcap index was down 0.4 per cent to 1,810.2.

After the market closed, aged care provider Regis Healthcare (ASX:REG) announced that Washington H. Soul Pattinson and Co (ASX:SOL) had submitted an indicative non-binding takeover offer of $1.85 per share.

Regis shares closed Thursday down 2.3 per cent to $1.475.

The aged care sector has been under pressure with a royal commission and the pandemic.

Soul Pattinson $SOL bidding for Regis Healthcare $REG….may be why all three #agedcare stocks were running despite #RC update in play. #insiders must know #AusGov to hand out a lot to save badly managed industry like #banks. #markets #investors #asx #auspol #trading #investing

— Aus Equity Flash (@EquityAus) November 19, 2020

Announcements

– Telix Pharmaceuticals (ASX:TLX) gained 1.1 per cent to $2.83 after the radioactive imaging and therapeutics company announced it had received a €545,000 ($893,000) payment from the Walloon regional government in Belgium, where its European headquarters are located. It’s part of a €1.32 million innovation grant from the government to support preclinical R&D.

– Buddy Technologies (ASX:BUD) rose 3.9 per cent to 5.3c after the Adelaide-based smart spaces company announced that Target stores in the United States would stock its range of smart lights over the holidays. Over 5,000 major big-box retail stores will have its LIFX products on the shelf in 2021, Buddy said.

– Dynamic Drill and Blast (ASX:DDB) gained 20.9 per cent to 66.5c after announcing it had been awarded two resource service contracts in Western Australia, at a gold mine and a iron ore mine.

– Bionomics (ASX:BNO) gained 8.3 per cent to 13c after the South Australian biotech company announced it had licensed its oncology drug candidate BNC101 to Carina Biotech for use in CAR-T therapy. Under the agreement, Carina will fund all research and development for the drug and pay Bionomics up to $118 million, plus royalties, if it is successful. Bionomics will retain BNC101, a humanized monoclonal antibody, for all other therapies other than CAR-T.

– Simble Solutions (ASX:SIS) rose 2.9 per cent to 3.5c after the smart energy software-as-a-service company announced it had launched an upgraded version of its SimbleHome energy-monitoring app that integrates buy now, pay later technology from Splitit (ASX:SPT)