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(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Henry Boot PLC - Sheffield-based property development business - Wins contract from Rotherham Council to conduct the GBP36 million redevelopment of the Rotherham Markets and the city's library. The project involves a "major refurbishment" of the indoor and outdoor markets, and will include the creation of a new food hall and new workspaces, Henry Boot says. Chief Executive Officer Tim Roberts comments: "The fact that we have won this project is testament to the strength of our construction business and its track record of high-quality delivery... This latest contract means that we have now secured over 60% of our order book for 2024 and continue to work hard to grow our pipeline in our target markets."
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MicroSalt PLC - London-based manufacturer of low-sodium natural salt - Says the US Patent & Trademark Office has granted and will issue the company its 'low sodium salt composition' patent on May 28. The patent concerns MicroSalt's claim to its low-sodium form of salt, which the company says "adheres better to foods than a traditional salt that is not adhered to a carrier particle". MicroSalt also has counterpart patent applications relating to its products pending in countries including China, Chile, Australia, Brazil, Europe, Canada, Japan, Russia, Mexico, India and Hong Kong. CEO Rick Guiney says: "We believe the grant of patent 11,992,034 is an important milestone for the company as it further strengthens our IP position in the global low sodium market."
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Sovereign Metals Ltd - Perth, Australia-headquartered focused on its Kasiya rutile project in Malawi - Says downstream testwork of graphite from its flagship Kasiya project showed "excellent yields" of spherical graphite at extremely high levels of purity. The samples taken from Kasiya will undergo coating and electrochemical testing in the coming weeks, Sovereign says, which will then provide a baseline for offtake discussions. Managing Director Frank Eagar says: "These results clearly demonstrate that Kasiya has the potential to disrupt the China dominated graphite supply chain as a long term, secure source of high quality graphite ex-China. We believe Kasiya graphite will have industry low operating costs and is also one of the largest graphite resources globally holding a significant advantage over its graphite peers. We are very pleased to achieve these outstanding results at this stage of the program and will continue fast tracking our graphite product development and qualification campaign."
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i3 Energy PLC - oil and gas company with assets in Canada and the UK North Sea - Says average production for the first quarter ended March 31 is 19,410 barrels of oil equivalent per day, down from 22,773 barrels a year prior. Average realised prices are CAD33.42 per barrel for the period, GBP19.39, down from CAD39.31. The first quarter pretax loss of USD4.9 million, swinging from a USD15.4 million profit the year before. First quarter revenue drops 25% to USD39.8 million from USD52.8 million, while adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation sink 72% to USD8.7 million from USD31.2 million. The realised price data was given in Canadian dollar, but the fuller financial results in US dollars.
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Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd - gold development company primarily focused on South Korea - Says it has commenced the work required for the submission of a mining project feasibility declaration for a mine at its Lobo high-grade gold target, located within its Batangas project in the Philippines. The declaration of mining project feasibility, alongside an environmental compliance certificate, are the two main outstanding compliance permissions for the project, Bluebird says. Local contractors have been appointed to complete the necessary workstreams and studies.
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4Global PLC - London-based data and technology firm - Says revenue in the year ended March 31 is up 14% from the previous year to around GBP6.4 million from GBP5.6 million. Adjusted Ebitda is expected to exceed market expectations, rising 30% to around GBP1.6 million from GBP1.2 million. The company expects to publish its full results for the year in July. CEO Eloy Mazon says: "Supported by a strong pipeline of new products, we are confident FY24/25 will be characterised by further operational progress and both revenue and margin growth."
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By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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