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(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Landore Resources Ltd - Guernsey-based exploration company focused on precious and base metal projects in Canada - Reports a narrowed pretax loss in 2022 as its explorations costs reduce against the year prior. Pretax loss in 2022 totals GBP1.9 million, narrowing from GBP4.0 million the year prior. Exploration costs reduce to GBP2.2 million from GBP2.9 million year-on-year. Says that during the year, the company's focus was entirely on its Junior Lake property. In 2023, the company plans to focus on advancing its BAM gold project towards a 2 million ounce resource estimate. Landore announces that Chief Executive Bill Humphries and Chair Charles Wilkinson will not stand for re-election at the company's forthcoming annual general meeting as they will be retiring. Huw Salter will become chair following the AGM. Process for finding a new CEO is "well advanced", company notes.
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PYX Resources Ltd - Indonesia-focused zicron producer - Reports total production in the first quarter of 2023 is 2,500 tonnes, up from 2,000 tonnes the year prior. Of this, zicron production totalled 1,900 tonnes and titanium dioxide minerals totalled 600 tonnes. Sales in the quarter fall to 1,300 tonnes from 1,800 tonnes the year prior. Value per tonne also drops, falling to USD2,031 from USD2,554. Chair & Chief Executive Oliver Hasler says: "In an improving zircon market, we are forecasting strong production and sales growth within our operations against a backdrop of improving global demand and pricing. All these factors give us great confidence for the remainder of the year ahead."
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Datalex PLC - Dublin-based software provider for airlines - Says it was impacted by Covid restrictions on its Chinese customers through 2022, resulting in a 8% decrease in revenue to USD23.5 million. Notes that since restrictions were lifted in China, it is seeing an increase in demand, with March transaction volumes reaching 42% of 2019 figures. Swings to an adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation loss of USD5.3 million from a profit of USD2.4 million the year prior. Chief Executive Sean Corkery says: "Thankfully, we are confident that this turbulent period is now firmly behind us and are encouraged by a material increase in demand we have observed in China and across our global customer base in the first three months of this year. Separately, company says it has signed a new five-year contract with LATAM airline, an airline based in Latin America.
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Troy Income & Growth Trust PLC - Edinburgh-based investment trust managed by Troy Asset Management - Reports a net asset value per share of 72.05 pence at March 31, up 5.2% from 68.48p at September 30. In the six months ended March 31, reports a total NAV per share return of 8.9%. This compares to a total NAV per share return of 12.3% from the FTSE All-Share Index. "Recent performance has fallen short of this target, with the portfolio lagging the wider market return. Calendar year 2022 in particular was a challenging period, with the rapid rise in interest rates and inflation leading to significant polarisation within equity markets," the company says.
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Curtis Banks Group PLC - Bristol-based pension provider - Swings to a pretax loss in 2022, despite a rise in revenue. Posts a pretax loss of GBP3.7 million compared to a profit of GBP9.3 million the year prior. Notes its profit in the year was impacted by a GBP11.5 million goodwill impairment charge relating to Dunstan Thomas segment. Revenue climbs to GBP68.1 million from GBP63.3 million as a result of a "favourable improvement" in the interest rate environment. Expects revenue and profit margins to continue to improve in 2023 as interest on deposit balances benefit from a higher yield curve, alongside improvement in its FinTech segment. Chair David Barral says: "These are resilient results that demonstrate the strength of Curtis Banks' business model against a volatile market backdrop. The group increased the size of its core SIPP book, added new adviser relationships and recorded good growth in revenue and underlying profitability. The modest growth in the core Full and Mid SIPP business was supported by a pleasing reduction in customer attrition, reflecting the measures taken to improve service levels across the business. In addition, the group benefitted from the tailwind of interest income, which nearly doubled to GBP15.1 million, and our fixed-fee, inflation-linked pricing model, which continued to protect the business from macroeconomic pressures."
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Cardiff Property PLC - Surrey, England-based property investor and developer - Reports a pretax profit of GBP653,000 in the six months ended March 31, down from GBP1.1 million the year prior. Net asset per share, meanwhile, rises to 28.00 pence at March 31 from 26.30p at the same time a year prior. Chair Richard Wollenberg says: "Activity in the Thames Valley property market improved in the first quarter of this year following historically low levels at the end of 2022...The office rental market remains slow despite employees returning to the workplace, albeit with flexible working hours. The office investment market in certain areas of the Thames Valley has seen interest from overseas investors but again the number of completed transactions is low."
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Amte Power PLC - Oxfordshire, England-based lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells developer and manufacturer - Announces it has become the first European business to receive UN38.3 transportation testing certification for a sodium-ion cell. "The accreditation for its Ultra Safe sodium-ion product marks another important step forward in AMTE Power's commercialisation plans, allowing it to access global markets. UN38.3 certification has been adopted by regulators and competent authorities around the world as an essential standard for the safe transportation of cells," the company says.
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Future Metals NL - West Perth-based exploration company focus on its Panton PGM project in Australia - Provides an update on the upcoming drilling programme at the Panton North project in which it is farming into a 70% joint venture interest. Says electromagnetics data indicates significant area of anomalism over the untested embayment feature, known as BC1. Further, rock chip sampling at BC1 has identified anomalous nickel sulphide mineralisation on the margin of the electromagnetics anomaly, and multiple occurrences of mineralised ultramafic rock throughout the BC1 area. Managing Director Jardee Kininmonth says: "Our ground investigations have now all but confirmed that BC1 is a true basal contact position for the highly mineralised Panton Complex, and all indications suggest that it has the potential to be a rich Ni-Cu sulphide hosting environment."
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Zoo Digital Group PLC - Sheffield-based provider of cloud software-based subtitling, dubbing, and media localization services - Acquires a 30% stake in dubbing and localisation company AM Group for EUR825,000. Says investment marks its continued expansion into the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. Says AM Group will act as a primary hub for its operations in Spain and Portugal. In 2022, AM Group generated a pretax profit of EUR352,000.
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Argo Blockchain PLC - London-based cryptocurrency miner - Mines 144 Bitcoin or Bitcoin equivalent during April, around 4.8 Bitcoin equivalent per day. This represents a decrease of 8% from March. Says this was primarily as a result of an increase in the average network difficulty during April. At April 30, company holds 83 Bitcoin or Bitcoin equivalent.
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Arrow Exploration Corp - Colombia-focussed oil explorer - Spuds the Carrizales Norte-1 well on the Tapir Block in the Llanos basin of Colombia. The well will be drilled to a measured depth of 9,205 feet. It is targeting a large, three-way fault-bonded structure with multiple high-quality reservoir objective, it says. Chief Executive Marshall Abbot says: "The success of this well could result in additional production, additional reserves and a new core area for Arrow. Should CN-1 prove to be commercially successful, the rig will immediately move to drill CN-2, which is expected to spud in early-June."
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By Heather Rydings, Alliance News senior economics reporter
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