(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Headlam Group PLC - Birmingham-based floor coverings - Says July 2021 has traded in-line with July 2019 prior to firm entering traditionally busy summer period for refurbishment activity within the commercial sector. Now expects full-year performance "materially" ahead of current market expectations. Anticipates 2021 underlying pretax profit no less than GBP35.0 million. "Additionally, as a consequence of the trading performance above, strong balance sheet, and confidence in the prospects for the business, the board will now expedite the resumption of normalised levels of dividend payments," it says. A return to a full dividend payment based on earnings will occur at the time of its half-year results when the interim payout is declared.
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Mothercare PLC - Hemel Hempstead, England-based retailer to parents and young children - Revenue for year to March 27 falls to GBP85.8 million from GBP164.7 million the year before. Pretax loss widens to GBP21.4 million from GBP7.7 million. As well as fall in revenue, wider loss also due to finance costs surging to GBP19.2 million from GBP5.2 million. "Year-on-year finance costs have increased due to the compounding interest on the convertible shareholder loans," it explains. Expects 2022 to be "year of further progress". It says: "We still anticipate that the steady state operation of our existing retail franchise operations, in more normal circumstances, should exceed annual operating profits of GBP15 million in future years, underwritten by the planned further reduction in overheads. For the first 13 weeks of the financial year to March 2022 our total retail sales were GBP94 million, generating an adjusted Ebitda of approximately GBP2.5 million."
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Impellam Group PLC - recruitment company - Revenue for half-year to July 2 rises 6.3% to GBP1.09 billion, and swings to pretax profit of GBP5.7 million from GBP24.4 million loss a year ago. Says recovery in first half of 2021 has been strong. "We see increasing positivity in our customer demands for our managed service and talent solutions across our markets which we are well placed to meet," it says.
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Vertu Motors PLC - automotive retailer - Reports strong gross margin retention due to "exceptional" UK used car market conditions. Now expects adjusted pretax profit for six months to eng of August to be no less than GBP40 million. It adds: "At this stage, despite the exceptional performance during the first half of the year, the board retains a cautious outlook but nevertheless now anticipates that the group's adjusted profit before tax for the current financial year ending 28 February 2022 will be in the range of GBP40m - GBP45m (previously GBP28m - GBP32m)."
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GCP Student Living PLC - investor in private student accommodation in and around London - Reports EPRA net tangible assets of 195.05 per share as at June 30, up substantially from 179.07p at end of March. "As announced on 16 July 2021, the key movement in the company's NTA was the uplift in the 30 June 2021 valuation of the company's portfolio to GBP1.14 billion," it says. Following recommended offer for firm by Gemini Jersey JV LP, has decided to suspend quarterly dividend until further notice.
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River & Mercantile Group PLC - London-based asset manager - Fee earnings assets under management up 7.7% in year to June 30 at GBP47.6 billion. Gross sales were GBP4.3 billion and net flows were GBP1.4 billion. Says business has performed strongly and is responding well to investments made. Looks to new financial year with "high degree" of confidence.
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Ground Rents Income Fund PLC - real estate investment trust - Net asset value 104.5p at end of March, down from 105.7p at September-end. "Whilst the wider economy and traditional real estate sectors have demonstrated volatility as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the value of the company's underlying portfolio has remained stable within a functioning investment market. Importantly, our ground rent income collection rates are comparable with our pre-pandemic levels," it says. However, performance in period continued to be hit by "complex and long running" litigation at Beetham Tower in Manchester.
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SRT Marine Systems PLC - provider of maritime surveillance, monitoring and management systems - Revenue for financial year ended March 31 drops to GBP8.3 million from GBP18.9 million the year before, though pretax loss narrows to GBP5.9 million from GBP6.9 million. Impairment charge of GBP3.9 million taken for 2020 financial year does not repeat in 2021. Chief executive calls results "very disappointing". "I hope and expect us to return to our expected growth path, starting this year. We have made best use of the forced delay by materially improving our products, in-country relationships and market position. The demand for maritime domain awareness solutions from both boat owners and government agencies is strong and growing and underpins our business," says CEO Simon Tucker.
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TOC Property Backed Lending Trust PLC - closed-end investment company providing finance to the residential and commercial property sector - Net asset value per share rises to 84.68p at May-end from 83.93p at end of November. NAV total return 2.1%. "Measures introduced by the government, most notably the stamp duty holiday, together with an increase in household discretionary cash and a lack of supply saw the residential housing market accelerate to new highs and forecasts expect these increases to be consolidated over the remainder of the year and into 2022," it notes.
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Oberon Investments Group PLC - boutique wealth management and corporate broking - Revenue for year to March 31 comes in at GBP3.8 million compared with GBP1.4 million for 17 months to March 31, 2020. Pretax loss GBP894,178 compared to GBP1.8 million. Reports "very strong start" to new financial year, with record first quarter revenue and maiden earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation profit. "The results for last year, and in particular the start we have made to the current financial year, continue to exceed our own high expectations. The Oberon platform, with its complementary revenue streams and teams of talented professionals, keeps delivering outstanding returns for our clients," says Chief Executive Simon McGivern.
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Proteome Sciences PLC - drug development services provider - Revenue for six months to June-end GBP2.0 million, up from GBP1.9 million a year ago. Pretax loss slims to GBP408,000 from GBP484,000. "As expected, the Covid-19 pandemic still affected many industries including ours in H1 2021 where a number of orders were not fully completed and reflected in revenue. With the good progress of international vaccination rates there is the prospect that the situation will further improve in H2 2021," says Chief Executive Mariola Soehngen.
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Seplat Energy PLC - Nigerian energy company - Revenue for first six months of 2021 rises 32% to USD308.8 million and swings to operating profit of USD109.4 million from loss of USD112.9 million. Working interest production in period 50,785 barrels oil equivalent per day, down 0.8%. For 2021, expects to produce average of 48,000 to 55,000 barrels per day. "Seplat continues to deliver a robust performance despite the ongoing pandemic. Our second-quarter volumes were significantly higher that the first three months and we remain confident of a good outcome to the year as we drive improvements across our operations," says Chief Executive Roger Brown.
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Minoan Group PLC - developer of a holiday resort in Greece - Pretax loss for six months to end of April GBP788,000, slimmed from GBP901,000 a year ago. Reports no revenue for either period. Says made significant progress in period and continued to advance the Itanos Gaia hotel and resort development in Crete. "We have reviewed and reaffirmed, and had reviewed by external experts, the enduring attraction of this project in a changing tourism world, not just in the Mediterranean but internationally. We are confident in the position of the Project at the top end of the market," it says.
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By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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