(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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Gattaca PLC - Fareham, Hampshire-based engineering and technology recruitment firm - Posts pretax profit for the six months ended December 31 of GBP106,000, falling from GBP1.4 million a year prior. Revenue decreases 31% to GBP206.5 million from GBP297.6 million the year before. Does not declare interim dividend, unchanged from the year before. Says "whilst the pace of the recovery remains uncertain, we are seeing more encouraging signs in the market and improving activity rates".
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Condor Gold PLC - gold exploration and development in Nicaragua - Posts pretax loss of GBP1.3 million in 2020, narrows from GBP1.5 million a year prior, thanks to a GBP439,228 gain on a disposal. "It has been a transformational year for the company with the permitting of 2 additional open pits, and a significant de-risking of the Project with the acquisition of land and advancement of engineering studies," says Condor. Says the key objective for 2021 is to continue to advance La India project in Nicaragua to production.
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KCR Residential REIT PLC - residential-focused real estate investment trust - Posts pretax loss for six months ended December 31 of GBP859,476, narrowing from GBP2.5 million a year prior. Revenue increases 8.9% to GBP465,030 from GBP427,057 a year before. Says portfolio level occupancy remains high, above 95%, rental values have improved and capital values remain firm. Says it is possible that, in the short term, further friction in the economy following the Brexit agreement and the ongoing travel restrictions will have a negative impact on the economy and the demand for short-let accommodation.
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Catena Group PLC - venture capital firm - Posts pretax loss from continuing operations for 2020 of GBP491,631, widening from GBP188,150 a year prior. Revenue falls to GBP883,133 from GBP1.7 million the year before. "As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the closure of schools for much of the year, trading has been severely impacted at the group's school sport coaching subsidiary, Sport in Schools Ltd. This has had an adverse impact on profitability and cash flow," says Catena. Says the business is well positioned to recover as schools have re-opened and restrictions continue to be lifted. Says it is at an advanced stage in the acquisition of Insight Capital Partners Ltd, the data science and machine learning solutions company. Does not recommend a dividend.
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DP Poland PLC - Domino's Pizza franchisor in Poland - Says trading performance is in line with management expectations for 2020. Says system sales are up 7% in 2020 to PLN87.1 million, about GBP15.9 million, from PLN81.4 million a year prior.
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Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC - UK-based plastic technologies provider - Posts pretax loss in 2020 of GBP437,000, narrowing from GBP697,000 a year prior. Revenue increases to GBP9.8 million from GBP8.2 million. Pays no dividend in 2020, unchanged from 2019. Says the commercial team is extremely busy and due to strong interest in our technologies, they are focusing on a number of major markets, where sales visibility, potentially high sales volumes, and short-term delivery prospects are strong.
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Mercantile Investment Trust PLC - investment trust focused on UK medium and smaller sized firms - Posts net asset value per share at January 31 of 251.0 pence, down 9.0% from 275.8p a year before. Says its revenue account has been severely impacted by the consequences of Covid-19 as many portfolio companies either cut or cancelled their dividends. Revenue per share in the year ended January 31 decreased to 4.10p, from 7.64p in 2020. Does not declare a final dividend, leaving annual payout at 6.7p per share, representing an increase of1.5% year-on-year. "Whilst we are disappointed to have delivered negative returns to investors over the review period, the company's long-term performance record is compelling," says Mercantile. Notes uncertainty posed by Covid-19 going forward.
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Bigblu Broadband PLC - Bicester, England-based broadband services provider - Swings to pretax loss in year ended November 30, 2020 of GBP4.6 million from a profit of GBP153,000 a year prior. Revenue increases to GBP27.1 million from GBP26.8 million. Interest payable and finance costs increases to GBP7.0 million from GBP2.6 million. Does not declare a dividend, unchanged from the year prior. "We remain extremely excited by the potential of the Continuing Operations and we remain very focussed on ensuring that we generate further value for shareholders from our valuable assets," says Bigblu .
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Mineral & Financial Investments Ltd - Cayman Islands-based investment company specialising in junior mining companies - Posts net asset value per share at December 31 of 16.1 pence, up 5.9% from 15.2p a year prior. Net asset value increases to GBP5.7 million from GBP5.4 million the year before. Pretax profit for the six months to December 31 falls to GBP218,000 from GBP247,000. Says NAV growth was negatively affected by a "corrective phase in precious metal prices and continued strength of the GBP versus the USD in the period".
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By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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