Business briefs: Kingsmills Hotel | Valiant Petroleum | Braveheart

KINGSMILLS Hotel in Inverness has agreed a £9.4 million refinancing package with Barclays in what is thought to be the first deal under the government’s recently announced National Loan Guarantee Scheme.

The low-cost scheme will provide a £250,000 boost to Kingsmills cash flow and help its plans to expand. The deal involves a £9.1m term loan and £0.3m overdraft facility.

Valiant secures rig for Handcross field

OIL explorer Valiant Petroleum yesterday said it had secured a deep-water rig to drill its Handcross prospect, west of the Shetland Islands.

Chief executive Peter Buchanan described the prospect as one of the “most exciting” in Valiant’s portfolio. Gross prospective resources are estimated by the company to be around 180 million barrels of oil equivalent. Shares in the group closed up 7p at 549p.

Share issue at Braveheart brings in £336k

Braveheart Investment Group yesterday announced it raised £336,000 from new and existing investors. The investment manager issued over two million shares at 15p each – about 10.4 per cent of issued share capital.

Adam Norris invested close to £100,000 through Horatio Investments, maintaining his companies’ 30 per cent stake. Dundee publisher DC Thomson also put in £124,500, increasing its share to 10 per cent, up from 6.8 per cent.

Chief executive Geoffrey Thomson said shareholders “recognised the added value” of the firm following deals last month including the £380,000 acquisition of Neon Capital Partners. Shares in the firm rose 4.3 per cent to 12p.