(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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International Personal Finance PLC - Leeds, England-based company which offers small, unsecured cash loans - Revenue for 2021 falls to GBP548.7 million from GBP661.3 million in 2020, though firm swings to pretax profit of GBP67.7 million from loss of GBP40.7 million. This is due to impairment charge reducing to GBP56.2 million from GBP250.1 million in 2020. Declares final dividend of 5.8 pence, bringing full-year total to 8.0p versus nothing in 2020. Credit issued amounts to GBP982.1 million in 2021, up from GBP772.2 million in 2020. "Looking ahead, we intend to meet increasing customer demand and accelerate customer receivables growth by further investing in our technology, and product and channel development so consumers can access our credit offerings in a way that suits them, whether that be through our customer representative service or digitally," says Chief Executive Gerard Ryan. Shares end 10% higher in London.
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Seraphine Group PLC - London-based maternity and nursing wear maker and retailer - Expects full-year revenue "marginally" below market forecasts and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation "significantly" below expectations at around GBP4.5 million. Reports strong sales growth in 17 weeks to January 30, up 45% at constant exchange rates with growth in North America at 69%. However, says February to date has been a soft month. March is expected to be better, with the traditionally stronger month expected to see e-commerce demand recover. "Looking to FY23, we expect sales growth of 25-30% and Ebitda margins to start to rebuild," company says. Stock tumbles 67% in London on Wednesday.
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Haydale Graphene Industries PLC - Ammanford, Wales-based graphene technology company - Reports revenue of GBP1.2 million for six months to end of December, dipping from GBP1.3 million a year before. This, combined with increase in administrative expenses and higher cost of sales, results in pretax loss widening to GBP2.5 million from GBP1.9 million. Says revenue in period was impacted by GBP640,000 of accelerated purchases from its largest SIC customer in the prior period. "Our progress on many of the functionalisation based nano projects continues to develop well, and our planned delivery of the new HT1400 will not only give us additional capacity, but will also allow cost-effective material processing on a large scale that is critical for our ongoing commercial development in the major growth side of our business," says Chief Executive Keith Broadbent.
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Netcall PLC - Bedford-based customer engagement software provider - Revenue for six months to December 31 grows 10% to GBP14.7 million from GBP13.4 million. Pretax profit grows to GBP1.1 million from GBP963,000 year-on-year. Reports continued strong trading with main contribution from Cloud services, which sees sales grow 21% to GBP4.9 million. "We are pleased with the strong performance in the first half of the year delivering double digit organic growth and profitability combined with an accelerated growth rate of our annualised contract value, pointing to continued positive momentum," says Chief Executive Henrik Bang. Firm says second half has started well and trading "comfortably in line with expectations".
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CAP-XX Ltd - New South Wales, Australia-headquartered manufacturer of ultra-thin prismatic and cylindrical supercapacitors - Revenue from sale of goods and services for half-year to December 31 rises to AUD2.4 million - around GBP1.3 million - from AUD2.1 million. However, pretax loss widens to AUD1.7 million from AUD1.2 million as general & administrative expenses grow to AUD1.5 million from AUD944,949. Says half-year characterised by "continued strong sales demand", and notes order book at the end of December was more than 40% higher than at the same time last year. "We expect to be Ebitda positive in the next financial year and turn cashflow positive during the second half of the same financial year. Further, as the sales pipeline is currently in excess of USD50 million, there is also the possibility of bringing these milestones forward should we secure large orders," company says. Separately on Wednesday says it has signed a sourcing agreement with Continental Automotive GmbH to provide CAP-XX DMT220 prismatic supercaps for one of Continental's key automotive programs.
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Irish Residential Property REIT PLC - Dublin-based real estate investment company - Net asset value per share stands at 166.5 cents at end of December, up 3.9% from 160.3 cents a year before. Net rental income for 2021 rises 5.4% to EUR63.0 million from EUR59.8 million in 2020, while EPRA earnings fall to EUR31.6 million from EUR34.0 million. EPRA earnings before non-recurring costs rise 1.9% to EUR37.0 million. Proposes dividend of 3.08 cents for year, down from 3.22 cents the year before, though interim dividend was higher at 2.91 cents versus 2.75 cents.
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Seraphim Space Investment Trust PLC - London-based investor in space technology - Net asset value per share at December 31 stands at 104.7 pence, up from 98.0p over the period since IPO in July. Since launch, firm says it has invested "at pace" with 12 transactions completed during the period. At end of December, held investments in 21 spacetech firms with an aggregate value of GBP182.8 million. "The board is very pleased with the progress made to date. Our investment manager is actively pursuing an extensive pipeline of investment opportunities, taking a discerning approach to progressing those opportunities that offer the best risk adjusted returns for our shareholders, with quality of the investment thesis paramount," says Chair Will Whitehorn.
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Clinigen Group PLC - Burton On Trent, Staffordshire-based pharmaceutical services - Revenue for 2021 rises 17% to GBP283.9 million from GBP241.9 million though pretax profit drops to GBP10.1 million from GBP23.5 million. Says this drop "due to the costs associated with the proposed acquisition as well as increased depreciation, amortisation and finance costs." Funds managed by private equity firm Triton Investment Management Ltd in January offered 925 pence per share in cash, valuing Clinigen at GBP1.3 billion. Clinigen shareholders backed the takeover earlier in February. Clinigen reiterates full-year guidance and says it is "excited" for next chapter as private company.
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Athelney Trust PLC - invests in UK-quoted firms, including smaller companies - Net asset value per share stands at 310.3p at end of December, up from 255.3p at end of 2020. This increase of 22% over the year compares favourably to 15% increase in FTSE 250 and 14% rise in FTSE 100. Firm's NAV total return over year was 25%. Recommends final dividend of 7.5p, bringing total payout for year to 9.5p, up from 9.4p the year before.
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Seeing Machines Ltd - Canberra-based driver monitoring technology - Expects to report revenue of AUD21.7 million for first half ended December 31, up from AUD18.1 million a year before. Total connected Guardian units at December-end was 36,933, securing forward annualised recurring revenue including royalties of AUD18.8 million. "We are extremely confident of more progress in the second half of the financial year and I'm looking forward to more expansion, into more geographical markets, to maximise our growth aspirations and return value to our shareholders as we deliver against market expectations," says Chief Executive Paul McGlone.
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OPG Power Ventures PLC - private sector power projects in India - Reports total generation of 1.55 billion units for nine months to December 31, up from 1.47 billion a year before. Plant load factor for period at Chennai was 57%, versus 54% year-on-year. Average tariff for period was INR5.53 per kilowatt hour, up from INR5.52.
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Tracsis PLC - Leeds-based traffic data and transportation services company - Says revenue for six months to January 31 expected to have increase to GBP29 million from GBP22.2 million a year before, which includes a "strong post-Covid lockdown recovery" of activities in the Events and Traffic Data business units. Ebitda expected to have risen around 10% from GBP5.4 million a year before, and says cash balances remain strong at GBP25 million. Full-year expectations are unchanged, firm says.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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