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(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Lords Group Trading PLC - distributor of building, plumbing, heating and DIY goods - Revenue in six months to June 30 rises 44% to GBP179.0 million from GBP124.0 million. Swings to pretax profit of GBP4.5 million from GBP311,000 loss a year earlier. Proposes maiden interim dividend of 0.63 pence per share. Lords floated in July, raising GBP52.0 million, GBP30 million of which went to the company and GBP22.0 million to selling shareholders. Shares fetched 95p in the IPO and are currently trading at 137.00p.
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Safestay PLC - London-based company which operates city centre hostels across Europe - Safestay's revenue in six months to June 30 falls 70% year-on-year to GBP1.0 million from GBP3.4 million. However, it swings to pretax profit of GBP3.6 million from GBP4.7 million loss a year earlier. Administrative expenses fall 44% to GBP3.4 million from GBP6.1 million. It also posts a GBP7.1 million profit from asset disposals. Earlier in September, company said it will review its strategic options including a possible sale. Has a market capitalisation of GBP14.8 million.
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Likewise Group PLC - Birmingham-based domestic and commercial floor coverings distributor - Says revenue in first half ended June 30 rises 52% year-on-year to GBP28.0 million from GBP18.4 million. Swings to GBP300,000 pretax profit, from GBP2.4 million loss. Plans to declare maiden dividend in 2022, in respect to year ending December 2021. Likewise raised GBP10 million in its AIM initial public offering in August at 25 pence per share.
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Andrews Sykes Group PLC - Wolverhampton-based heating and cooling rental company - Revenue in first six months of 2021 up 6.6% to GBP35.7 million from GBP33.5 million a year earlier. Pretax profit climbs 4.5% to GBP7.6 million from GBP7.2 million. Interim dividend maintained at 11.90p per share. "Management remains optimistic that the business will continue to improve as the economy recovers fully but are mindful that we live in uncertain times and circumstances can change very quickly," Andrew Sykes adds.
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Brand Architekts Group PLC - Teddington, south west London-based personal care and beauty products - Revenue in year ended June 30 falls 2.3% to GBP15.9 million from GBP16.3 million. Brand's pretax loss slims to GBP1.9 million from GBP4.3 million. Sales costs are 27% lower at GBP9.5 million from GBP13.1 million. Chief Executive Quentin Higham says: "We remain conscious of the challenges faced by traditional retail and whilst we continue to build our own e-commerce platform it will take time and investment before this channel is material. Given the above we are taking a cautious view for the year in prospect but remain confident in our strategy and future growth prospects." Its retail partners include Waitrose, Wm Morrison Supermarkets PLC, Tesco PLC, Carrefour SA and Walmart Inc.
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Animalcare Group PLC - York-based veterinary sales and marketing - Revenue in six months ended June 30 rises 13% to GBP39.1 million from GBP34.5 million a year earlier. Pretax profit inches up 3.7% to GBP791,000 from GBP763,000. Animalcare maintains interim payout at 2.0p per share. Company adds: "Our strong financial platform and confident outlook enable us to pursue value creating business development opportunities that have the potential to generate earnings and margins growth through commercial agreements, increase our geographic scale and reach and build and strengthen our pipeline."
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SourceBio International PLC - Nottingham, England-based provider of laboratory services - Revenue in the six months to June 30 surges to GBP37.3 million from GBP10.6 million as demand for its services has been boosted "by travel related Covid-19 testing". Swings to pretax profit of GBP9.8 million from GBP4.2 million loss. Executive Chair Jay LeCoque adds: "We have been delighted to see increased PCR testing throughput materialising in the third quarter of 2021." However, LeCoque adds that recent relaxing of travel testing requirements will have "impact on revenues for the year". The chair adds: "However, we are well positioned to accelerate the rollout of lateral flow technology following the signing of two commercial deals, with Excalibur Healthcare and Everything Genetic, which is expected to mitigate some of the reduction in PCR testing." Search for M&A targets is progressing and SourceBio expects a "very busy fourth quarter of 2021 and financial year 2022".
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North American Income Trust PLC - invests predominantly in S&P500 equities - Net asset value per share at July 31, end of first half, rises 16% to 305.6 pence from 262.5p at the end of January. The investment firm lifts its interim dividend by 5.6% to 3.80p per share from 3.60p. Net asset value total return for period was 20%, beating S&P 500 Index (in sterling terms) and Russell 1000 Value Index (in sterling terms) which return 18%. Holdings include AbbVie Inc, Cisco Systems Inc and Philip Morris International Inc.
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Ferro-Alloy Resources Ltd - vanadium miner with operations in Kazakhstan - Says revenue in six months to June 30 improves 37% annually to USD1.5 million from USD1.1 million. Pretax loss narrows to USD1.1 million from USD1.7 million a year prior. Ferro-Alloy says vanadium prices have improved, with vanadium pentoxide rising 63% to USD8.5 per pound on June 30 from USD5.2 per pound in January. "Revenues during H2 2021 are expected to increase not only by the expected ramp-up of throughput but also by the sales of the new products, ferro-molybdenum, vanadium pentoxide, nickel concentrate and possibly ferro-vanadium," company adds.
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Chariot Ltd - Africa-focused transitional energy company - Chariot posts no revenue in six months ended June 30, unchanged annually. Pretax loss during period slims markedly to USD2.0 million from USD68.8 million a year earlier. In prior year, Chariot posted USD66.7 million worth of impairments. Looking ahead, Chariot expects to kick off appraisal drilling at Anchois, offshore Morocco in December.
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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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