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(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Fonix Mobile PLC - London-based mobile payments and messaging provider - Reports strong earnings growth and expansion into international markets since its admission to trading on the AIM in October 2020. Total payment volume of mobile payments grew by 10% in the financial year to June 30 to GBP233.4 million from GBP211.7 million the year prior. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the period grew by 14% to GBP8.8 million. "We've laid some solid foundations for international expansion this year and we expect international markets to start making a significant contribution to growth in the coming years," says Chief Executive Rob Weisz.
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MySale Group PLC - New South Wales, Australia-based online marketplace platform - Says total revenue decreased by 4% in the financial year to June 30 to AUD125.6 million, about GBP67.4 million, in line with management expectations. Gross profit increased, meanwhile, to AUD46.3 million from AUD43.9 million year-on-year, mid continued reduction in cost base to AUD42.1 million from AUD47.8 million. "Given the uncertainty associated with the pandemic, we remain cautious about FY22, however, the progress made over the last year gives us confidence in our ability to build a substantially larger business and deliver our ambition to be the leading ANZ off-price fashion, beauty and homewares marketplace platform," says Chief Executive Carl Jackson.
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Global Resources Investment Trust PLC - investment firm - As at the end of 2020 the company had net liabilities equivalent to 2.14 pence per share, a deterioration from the 0.96p per share at which the company's net assets stood at the end of 2019. The company has secured equity funding of a minimum of GBP500,000, conditional only on the lifting of the suspension in trading of its shares. The publication of 2020 annual report should enable this.
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Octopus AIM VCT 2 PLC - investment firm - Reports net asset value per share as at May 31 of 99.2p compared to 68.7p the year before. The company swings to pretax profit of GBP24.7 million versus GBP2.0 million loss the year before. The trust keeps its dividend unchanged at 2.1p per share, but declares a special payout of 1.7p for the six months to the end of May, with no such distribution the year earlier.
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AEW UK REIT PLC - London-based real estate investment trust - Declares dividend of 2.00p per share for the three months ended June 30, in line with the targeted annual dividend of 8.00p per share. Reports NAV of GBP169.69 million or 107.11 pence per share as at June 30, up from GBP157.08 million or 99.15 pence per share on March 31. AEW UK says, for the rental quarter commencing on June 24, about 88% of rent has been collected or is expected to be received under monthly payment plans prior to quarter end. The remainder of rents owed will continue to be pursued.
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Brunner Investment Trust PLC - London-based investment firm - Increases dividend for the six months to the end of May to 9.40p from 9.34p paid the year before. The company reports net asset value per share as at May 31 of 1,087.1p versus 975.5p the year prior. NAV total return for the half-year was 11%, ahead of benchmark's 9.9%.
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Speedy Hire PLC - Newton-le-Willows, England-based tools and equipment hire firm - Says market conditions have remained favourable in the period since the year-end and it is trading in line with expectations. Speedy has continued to win new customers and take market share. UK and Ireland core hire revenue for June is 3% ahead of the prior year. "We have a strong balance sheet and our renewed banking facility gives the group substantial headroom to support future growth," says Chief Executive Russell Down. The company's GBP180 million asset based finance facility has been renewed for three years, through to July 2024. In addition, uncommitted options exist for a further two one-year extensions until July 2026. The additional uncommitted accordion of GBP220 million remains in place through to July 2024.
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Tristel PLC - Snailwell, England-based manufacturer of infection prevention and contamination control products - Reports positive signs of recovery in out-patient departments and continued growth in surface disinfectant product sales. Tristel says demand for the device-based products accelerated as hospital out-patient departments gradually returned to pre-pandemic levels of activity. Surface disinfectant product sales have continued to grow. The company expects sales of GBP31 million in the financial year to June 30, broadly in line with GBP31.7 million posted for financial 2020, and pretax profit of GBP5.5 million, down from GBP7.1 million the year ago. "Since spring 2020 our ordinarily stable and predictable business has been disrupted by both Brexit and the pandemic," explains Chief Executive Paul Swinney.
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Centaur Media PLC - London-based business information, events and marketing provider - Posts revenue growth of 22% to GBP18.3 million for the six months to June 30. Centaur Media declares dividend of 0.5 pence a share versus none paid the year before. Pretax loss, meanwhile, narrows to GBP500,000 from GBP2.9 million year-on-year. Going forward, the company says it is trading in line with expectations for the second half of 2021 which historically has a greater weighting of revenue and profit than the first half and it remains confident in the successful delivery of Centaur's revenue and Ebitda margin objectives.
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Paypont PLC - Welwyn Garden City, England-based in-store payment services provider - Reports a good start to the year, with a continuation of the trends seen in the second half of the last financial year. Net revenue from continuing operations increased by 21% year-on-year to GBP28.1 million in the three months to June 30, with positive early contributions from the Handepay/Merchant Rentals and RSM 2000 acquisitions.
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DWF Group PLC - Manchester, England-based legal business - Says its performance in the financial year to April 30 reflects a more focussed delivery of the strategy, greater operating discipline, a significant adjusted profit improvement and a robust balance sheet. Revenue rises by 12% year-on-year to GBP400.9 million while pretax loss narrows to GBP30.6 million from GBP48.8 million. Looking ahead, DWF says the first two months of trading for the 2022 financial year have been strong, showing continued organic net revenue growth and gross margin development.
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Loungers PLC - Bristol, England-based cafe, bar and restaurants operator - Reports revenue decline of 53% in the 52 weeks to April 18 to GBP78.4 million, resulting in pretax loss of GBP14.7 million versus GBP14.8 million the year prior. The company, however, reports significant market outperformance since full re-opening on May 17, with net like-for-like sales growth of 24% in the nine weeks from May 17 to July 18 versus the same period in 2019. Seven new sites opened to date in the current financial year. "The last few weeks have been very challenging operationally, and as we head into the summer holidays, the operating environment will continue to be difficult as we face interruption due to positive Covid cases and self-isolation and a very tight labour market in a number of locations," notes Chief Executive Nick Collins.
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Gresham Technologies PLC - London-based real-time transaction control and enterprise data software firm - Revenue rises 14% in the six months to the end of June to GBP14.5 million, but it swings to pretax loss of GBP837,000 from GBP503,000 profit the year prior. This is due to an increase in administrative costs to GBP11.9 million from GBP10.0 million year-on-year. Going forward, the company says it is on track to achieve full year market expectations.
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Union Jack Oil PLC - Bath, England-based production, development, exploration and investment firm - and Reabold Resources PLC - London-based investor in natural resources - Report progress on the ongoing testing of the West Newton B-1Z well, located in the Southern Permian Basin, onshore UK. Union Jack Oil holds about 17% economic interest in PEDL183, while Reabold has about 17% direct stake and holds 59% shareholding in Rathlin, which, in turn, has a about 67% interest in PEDL183. The companies say well testing operations began on June 7, with an initial focus on the lower portion of the Kirkham Abbey. Gas analyses exhibit a strong similarity to analyses obtained from the West Newton A site wells. Liquids recovered to surface are currently undergoing analysis. Operations continuing on the clean-up of the lower portion of the Kirkham Abbey and further flow testing of the Kirkham Abbey formation.
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Power Metal Resources PLC - London-based exploration & development firm - Reports progress made at the Kalahari Key Mineral Exploration Pty Ltd Molopo Farms Complex project, which is prospective for magmatic intrusion-hosted massive and disseminated nickel-copper sulphide and platinum-group element mineralisation in Botswana. Power Metal currently has a 40% direct interest in project as well as an 18% shareholding in Kalahari Key, for a combined effective economic interest of almost 51%. "Recently completed proof-of-concept drilling by Kalahari Key, including three widely spaced diamond drillholes targeting large-scale conductive electromagnetic geophysics anomalies, has identified in hole K1-6 the highest nickel grades to date within the Molopo Farms Complex. Significantly, thin section analysis of select drill intercepts has identified primary magmatic sulphide mineralisation including pentlandite and chalcopyrite. With several targets to be followed up, the work plan is still being finalised and the priorities set," says Chair Christian Schaffalitzky.
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Condor Gold PLC - Godalming, England-based exploration company - Reports assay results from a further twelve diamond core drill holes located between and along strike of the La India starter pits in Nicaragua. The company is encouraged by higher than expected grades in three of the drill holes, particularly as two high grade, wide intercepts are between the two starter pits in an area previously interpreted as having lower grade gold mineralisation. These results will be incorporated into a revised feasibility-level mine plan and are expected to have a positive impact on the project's economics.
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Mosman Oil & Gas Ltd - New South Wales, Australia-based exploration company - Completes the airborne gravity and gradiometry data acquisition over permit EP-145 located in the Amadeus Basin in Central Australia. Mosman has contracted Geognostics Australia Pty Ltd to interpret the geophysical data who will integrate it into the regional basin model, which is estimated to take eight weeks and cost AUD82,000.
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Cadence Minerals PLC - London-based investment firm - Notes update from Macarthur Minerals on the progress of the current feasibility study for Lake Giles iron project. The company's lead consultant, Engenium now Stantec, are advancing metallurgical process test work, process flow sheet development and key non-process infrastructure engineering design work for the feasibility study, which is on track for delivery this year.
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Alba Mineral Resources PLC - London-based exploration company - Buys the minority interests in the Amitsoq graphite & Melville Bay iron ore projects in Greenland. Consequently, Alba now owns 100% of both projects. These acquisitions are a precursor to the spin-out of Alba's Greenland projects into a new AIM-quoted company.
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Petra Diamonds Ltd - Jersey-headquartered miner - Says production in the year to the end of June totals 3.2 million carats, down from 3.6 million carats the year prior, with increased year-on-year performance at Cullinan offset by lower production at Finsch and Koffiefontein, while Williamson remained on care and maintenance. Revenue for the year was up 38% to USD406.9 million driven by sales from exceptional stones. For financial 2022, production guidance of 3.3 to 3.6 million carats is expected.
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Metal Tiger PLC - Winchester, England-based investment firm - Notes Sandfire's 34% increase in contained copper at satellite A4 copper-silver deposit at Motheo, South Africa. Metal Tiger is currently interested in 6.1 million Sandfire shares representing 3.4% stake. Metal Tiger has a 2% uncapped net smelter royalty over 8,000 square kilometres of Sandfire's licence holdings in the Kalahari copper belt including PL190/2008, which hosts the A4 deposit. "This puts us in a very strong position to deliver on our expansion plans at the Motheo copper mine, with the updated mineral resource to form the basis of feasibility studies for the proposed 5.2 million tonnes per annum expansion case scenario," says Karl Simich, Sandfire's managing director & CEO.
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PureTech Health PLC - Massachusetts, US-based biotechnology company - Says its founded entity, Vedanta Biosciences, completes a UDS68 million series D financing. Vedanta plans to use the proceeds to advance its pipeline of defined bacterial consortia, including progressing VE303 into a phase 3 clinical trial in patients at high risk for recurrent clostridioides difficile infection, initiating a phase 2 clinical trial of VE202 in mild to moderate ulcerative colitis and continuing to advance programs in additional indications.
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Agronomics Ltd - Isle of Man-based alternative proteins company - Says its portfolio company Shiok Meats Pte Ltd raised a bridge funding round from South Korean strategic investors Woowa Brothers Asia Holdings and CJ CheilJedang Corp, as well as Vietnamese seafood exporter Vinh Hoan Corp. Agronomics holds 2,465 series A preferred shares in Shiok Meats, representing a 1.6% stake.
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Gama Aviation PLC - Farnborough, England-based aviation services company - Receives USD15.2 million in cash from Wheels Up Partners Holdings LLC, representing the full prepayment amount due to the company. This follows the sale of Gama Aviation's US Air associate Gama Aviation LLC to Wheels Up. The consideration for the sale was USD33 million, of which USD13 million was paid in cash at closing of the transaction. The remaining USD20 million issued as a promissory note by Wheels Up also at closing of the transaction. The note was to be settled in cash, with interest, in eight equal six-month instalments over the following four years. The USD15.2 million cash received will be used to settle the residual corporation tax liabilities associated with the transaction, to support the ongoing organic investment needs of the company, and to supplement the company's working capital reserves.
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Custodian REIT PLC - Leicester, England-based real estate investment trust - Sells a 5,242 square feet vacant children's day nursery in Basingstoke for GBP648,000. The company intends to use the proceeds from the disposal to fund acquisitions better aligned to its stated investment strategy.
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Starwood European Real Estate Finance Ltd - Guernsey-based investment company - Closes a three year GBP13.5 million floating rate loan secured by a freehold, consisting of a 38,000 square foot, fully let office and a 145-key hotel located in the central business district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The company expects to earn an "attractive risk-adjusted" return. At March 31, the invested loan portfolio unlevered annualised total return was 6.7% and dividend yield was 6.5%.
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Anexo Group PLC - Liverpool, England-based credit hire and legal services provider - Says discussions with DBAY Advisors Ltd continue, and therefore it has requested an extension to the deadline by which DBAY is required either to announce a firm intention to make an offer for Anexo or to announce that it does not intend to make an offer. Such announcement must now be made by not later than on August 18. The move follows an approach from DBAY on June 23 regarding a possible cash offer for Anexo.
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St Modwen Properties PLC - Birmingham, England-based property investment and development business - Says majority of its shareholders voted in favour of the company's takeover by Brighton Bidco Ltd. Therefore, the company says it expects its shares to be delisted from the London Stock Exchange on August 9.
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By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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