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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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Halfords Group PLC - car parts and bicycle retailer - Raises guidance after robust interim performance. For the six months to October 1, revenue rises to GBP694.8 million from GBP638.9 million last year and pretax profit jumps to GBP64.3 million from GBP55.4 million. Halfords also reinstates dividend, declaring interim payout of 3 pence. Chief Executive Graham Stapleton says: "We are delighted to have delivered a strong H1 performance, driven by market share gains in Motoring products, Garages and our mobile services business, which now account for more than two thirds of our revenue. We also continued to see a significant contribution from areas of strategic focus, with revenue from Group Services, Online and B2B, all growing by more than 75% on a two-year basis. In cycling, demand levels remain good, and we are pleased with the current availability of kids bikes and e-bikes as we head into the Christmas trading period. We have carried good sales momentum into H2 across our business, supported by the easing of supply chain disruption." Halfords raises financial 2022 underlying pretax profit guidance to GBP80 million to GBP90 million, up from previous guidance of above GBP75 million.
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XPS Pensions Group PLC - London-based pensions consultancy - Selected by BT Group PLC to support its in-house pensions team and advise on actuarial and investment matters and the ongoing evolution of BT's pensions strategy. XPS Pensions provides no financial details for BT pensions contract. The former state telecommunications monopoly has the UK's largest company pension scheme. BT has defined benefit and defined contribution retirement benefit plans, including the BT Pension Scheme, one of the UK's largest occupational pension schemes with 280,000 members and assets of over GBP50 billion. XPS Partner Wayne Segers says: "We are thrilled to be able to offer BT a strategic solution that effectively sees XPS become part of the BT in-house team...We believe that this structure may become the new normal way of working with in house teams that look after large pension schemes."
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Tirupati Graphite PLC - graphite mining and processing company - Notes new acquisition, Suni Resources SA, granted mining licence for Balama Central graphite project for production of 50,000 tonnes per annum of graphite concentrate. Tirupati Chief Executive Shishir Poddar says: "The granting of the mining licence for the Balama Central graphite project is great news, which further enhances the value proposition of the acquisition for Tirupati. Both the Montepuez and Balama Central projects now hold granted mining licenses which, on completion of the acquisition, advances Tirupati on its journey to becoming a material supplier to the high growth EV and battery markets and playing a part in the global energy transition."
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Bowleven PLC - Africa-focused oil and gas exploration firm - Warns that costs to develop its offshore Cameroon Etinde project could be higher than expected. Bowleven says its joint venture partners have concluded that the project provided a rate of return on investment that was too low for the given level of risk. In addition, Bowleven annual loss for year to June 30, narrows to USD2.0 million from USD2.6 million. Chief Executive Eli Chahin says: "With the expected timing of our first gas condensate production, we uphold a strong economic case for our asset with capital returns anticipated by the board to be favourable. Our focus for 2022 is to reach an agreement within the JV partnership and our wider stakeholders on the optimum development concept for Etinde and reach FID during the year."
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Emmerson PLC - Khemisset potash project in northern Morocco - The project developer secures investment of up to USD46.8 million for Khemisset potash project development in Morocco. The primary investor is Global Sustainable Minerals Ltd, a Singapore-based investment vehicle backed by a "significant" south-east Asian investor, it adds. Investment will be made in two tranches, first is immediate cash investment of USD6.8 million and subscription for up to USD40 million convertible loan notes with a conversion price of 8.2 pence per share. Loan notes will be granted with issue of 82.5 million new shares. Initial investment allows Emmerson to accelerate pre-construction activities at Khemisset.
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FIH Group PLC - Falkland Island passenger ferry company and London art storage firm - Improves to pretax profit of GBP363,000 in six months to September 30 from GBP247,000 loss year before. Revenue in first half grows to GBP17.3 million from GBP14.4 million. Says passenger numbers rising again for Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Co as people return to offices, and following cost savings from a 25% reduction in headcount last year, PHFC is expected to continue its recovery. Reinstates interim dividend, pays 1.0 pence to shareholders. Chief Executive John Foster says: "We have three good businesses and when conditions permitted, the group quickly returned to profitability. Our financial position is strong and customer activity is heading back towards pre-pandemic levels. We are also benefitting from the actions taken last year to reduce our cost base, whilst continuing to invest in areas where we see opportunities. We expect the progress demonstrated in the group's first half results to continue as we move into the traditionally stronger second half."
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Zoo Digital Group PLC - Sheffield, England-based provider of cloud software - Pretax loss in six months to September 30 widens to GBP1.5 million from GBP710,000 loss year before. Revenue in first half surges to GBP26.9 million from GBP16.4 million. Chief Executive Stuart Green says: "Structural tailwinds and our end-to-end services powered by our proprietary systems have fuelled very strong revenue growth while back catalogue work surged as streaming globalises. More recently new production work returned and reached pre-pandemic levels in August." Says strong order book across all service lines offers good visibility for second half. Company adds: "The board will continue to invest in expanding capacity to support an increase in market share in H2 and into FY23, which is expected to generate increased profitability in future periods."
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BATM Advanced Communications Ltd - data and telecommunication products provider - Wins cyber security contract worth USD3.5 million from "long-standing defence department customer" and expects to receive the full value in 2022. Will provide hardware and software as part of its network cyber security solution.
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Zenova Group PLC - Brentwood, England-based fire safety and thermal insulation products provider - Wins "major" contract for the supply of its products in Australia. The three-year contract, which commences on January 1, 2022, is with Spark Global Australia Pty Ltd in Victoria, Australia, a newly formed subsidiary of a major Australian construction company, which has committed to minimum purchase of GBP2 million per year.
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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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