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(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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Alpha FX Group PLC - London-based foreign exchange risk management and international payments - Says trading in the five months to date has been "very positive" across all aspects of the business. On track to exceed current expectations for full year. "Our Institutional and Alpha Platform Solutions divisions in the UK, along with our overseas offices in Canada and Amsterdam have all delivered excellent year-on-year growth. Our more established Corporate division has also demonstrated strong growth, as well as being the talent incubator for future leaders to launch Alpha into new markets," says company.
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Ethernity Networks Ltd - Israel-based networking and security solutions provider - Receives USD2 million in orders from Tarana Wireless. Order includes USD740,000 for 2021, up 50% over previous expectations. Says despite the challenge of the worldwide component shortage, the company has secured supplies of required components for the remainder of the year.
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Panther Metals PLC - company focused on mineral exploration in Canada and Australia - Is "pleased" with results of the auger drilling programme over part of its majority owned Merolia gold project in Western Australia. Discovers "significant" gold anomaly over 5 kilometres long and 2.5km wide. Says there are also several other more subtle gold anomalies. "The company is now evaluating the opportunities to progress this project towards an reverse circulation drilling programme to test these anomalies and several other gold prospects in the area," company said.
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Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd - Bermuda-based firm focused on non-life legacy insurance and program management - Announces the completion of the novation of four loss portfolio transfer agreements managed by Armour Risk Management Ltd. Two of the agreements have been novated to R&Q Re Bermuda Ltd and two to R&Q's wholly owned Lloyds' Run-off Syndicate 1110. Says the four portfolios consisted of over GBP75 million of reserves relating to insurance and reinsurance employer's liability and public liability risks mainly emanating from the UK and Ireland. "The novation includes multiple portfolios across various classes of business, platforms and jurisdictions showing the ability of R&Q to utilise its extensive group structure to provide a range of finality solutions," says company.
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Symphony International Holdings Ltd - Hong Kong-based investor - Net asset value per share at March 31 was USD0.7915, up from USD0.7384 at Decmber 31. Says this was predominantly due to a 27% increase in the share price of Minor International PLC and an increase in the value of unlisted investments by 3.3%. "Our investee companies continue to operate while taking all necessary safety precautions to keep staff and business partners as safe as possible. There are downside risks in the coming months and we are hopeful that a more prolonged recovery will begin to take shape again towards the end of the year," says company.
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Bonhill Group PLC - London-based business-to-business media - Expects first half to end June revenue expected to be lower than last year's GBP7.7 million. Says revenue is still in line with the board's expectations, however. "We have seen an encouraging start to the year despite the ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating the continued resilience of our business following the swift and decisive action taken last year. Our performance in the absence of live events in the first half is testament to our new digital-first strategy and we continue to evolve to meet the needs of the market," says Non-Executive Chair Neil Sachdev.
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Coro Energy PLC - South East Asian energy company - Enters conditional sale & purchase agreement with Dubai Energy Partners Inc to dispose of Italian portfolio for EUR300,000. DEPI is incorporated in the United States of America and is focused on the acquisition of producing, and shut-in, oil and gas fields. "We are pleased to agree a sale of our non-core Italian assets to DEPI, who are ideally placed to take the portfolio forward. The disposal allows us to prioritise our time and resources on our low carbon and renewable energy strategy in South East Asia, which continues to gain momentum. We look forward to updating shareholders in due course," says CEO Mark Hood.
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Deltex Medical Group PLC - medical devices manufacturer based in Chichester - Says activity levels in the UK and the USA continue to face headwinds as we are still limited to the extent that we can get our clinical educators into hospitals. Says there are encouraging signs that around the world the volume of elective surgical procedures, which represent our core market, is climbing. Says the International business is showing signs of increased activity levels as some of our distributors are beginning to increase the volume of orders significantly as compared to the prior year. Adds that Natalie Wettler, currently group financial controller, is being promoted to group finance director.
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Brave Bison Group PLC - London-based social media and marketing - Says adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first four months of year was over GBP250,00 "despite this traditionally being the weakest period of the year". "The group continues to see a strong pipeline of clients beginning to release additional budget. As a result, the board is optimistic as to the Group's prospects and is confident that Brave Bison is positioned to meet or exceed current full year market expectations," says company.
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Cora Gold Ltd - West Africa-focused gold explorer - Enters joint venture agreement for Farani permit in southern Mali. Says agreement "increases Cora's landholding in a highly prospective area where active exploration is underway". Does not mention partner. Says operations in Mali around continuing as normal with no impact to the safety and security of its employees following militarial removal of appointed interim president and prime minister.
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Adams PLC - investor focused on special situation investment opportunities - Commits to subscribe for 2.5 million shares at 20p each, for a total of GBP500,000, in cash shell Motif Bio PLC, which is to be renamed BiVictriX Therapeutics PLC following its acquisition. BiVictriX is a UK-based antibody-drug conjugate discovery and development company.
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Amino Technologies PLC - Cambridge, England-based media technology - Acquires Nordija, a Danish streaming and Pay TV platform specialist, for a total of EUR5.3 million. Says Nordija will be integrated into the Group's 24i business. "This will enhance and scale the Group's end-to-end video streaming portfolio. Nordija brings high quality customers to the Group including: Telenor Sweden, TET (formerly Lattelecom), Swisscom Broadcast, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, WAOO, Boingo Wireless, and SETAR in the Caribbean," says company.
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Strix Group PLC - AIM-listed manufacturer and supplier of water temperature management components - Says strong order book gives confidence of second quarter "and beyond". Says improved performance in the second half of 2020 has continued so far through the first half of 2021 and now anticipate delivering revenue growth of around 30% for the group during 2021, having recorded GBP95.3 million in 2020.
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Marlowe PLC - London-based business-critical services and software company - Acquires Musketeer Services Ltd, a provider of water hygiene, treatment and compliance services, for an enterprise value of GBP3.75 million. Says acquisition provides attractive synergies with WCS Group, Marlowe's water & air hygiene platform.
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ValiRx PLC - Nuneaton, England-based clinical stage drug development company - Terminates agreement with Kalos Therapeutics. Says it has concluded its agreement in relation to the evaluation of the KTH222 peptide as a drug candidate announced on in November last year for treating patients with ovarian cancer. In November, company entered into an agreement with Kalos whereby ValiRx would perform a range of preclinical evaluation experiments to determine whether to enter a full licensing agreement for the therapeutic candidate. "The agreement with Kalos is a good example of our new strategy to perform a considered yet straightforward assessment of best-fit between scientific programmes and the company. By identifying early in this process that KTH222 is not a good strategic fit for our pipeline, we have been able to return the asset to the originators and continue our efforts to seek new science to bring into the company," says ValiRx CEO Suzy Dilly.
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Invinity Energy Systems PLC - Jersey-based battery manufacturer - Expects revenue for 2020 of GBP400,000, doubled from GBP200,000 a year prior. Gross loss widens to GBP800,000 from GBP50,000. "Invinity's achievements in 2020 were focused on building solid foundations for future growth - merging two companies, integrating teams, establishing commercial traction and raising capital to grow the business. 2021 is the year in which Invinity will start to demonstrate its product and project capabilities in earnest. Through the delivery of the large projects that are currently underway, the company will demonstrate, at scale, the numerous competitive advantages that vanadium flow batteries enjoy over other mature battery technologies," company says.
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Tritax EuroBox PLC - investor in continental European logistics real estate assets - Announces pricing of EUR500 million of senior unsecured green bonds maturing on June 2, 2026. Says the 2026 Notes were significantly oversubscribed, having generated substantial institutional demand following a series of fixed income investor meetings. Says notes are rated BBB- (Stable) by Fitch Ratings.
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Globalworth Real Estate Investments Ltd - office investor in Central and Eastern Europe - Says the independent committee continues to believe that the CPI Property Group SA and Aroundtown SA offer, which was EUR7.00 per Globalworth share, "significantly undervalues Globalworth". Globalworth sahres closed down at EUR7.16 each in London on Thursday.
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Downing Renewables & Infrastructure Trust PLC - investor in solar parks, wind farms and hydroelectric plants - Inks exclusivity agreement with AB Edsbyns Elverk, a local Swedish multi-utility, to buy Edsbyns Elverk's subsidiary Elektra Nat AB and a portfolio of three hydropower plants for around GBP25.5 million. Elektra is a local regulated electricity distribution company in Edsbyn, central Sweden.
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Toople PLC - Letchworth Garden City, England-based telecom services for small and medium enterprises - Announces three new contract wins in three different sectors. The first will be to provide telecoms services to a new joint venture between J Sainsbury PLC and restaurant chain Carluccio's. The second will be to provide full cloud telephony and data connectivity over a five year period for " a local city council in the east of England". The third will see the company supply all mobile sim cards and telephones for a "leading UK property company". Does not mention the value of the contracts.
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Danakali Ltd - Colluli potash project developer in Eritrea - Says that extensive test work has confirmed "significant" economic, construction, operational and environmental optimisations at the water intake treatment area using filtered sea water at the Colluli project. "Using filtered seawater as an unlimited input in our production process is not only a world first, but also a long-term game changer. This will reduce capex, opex and sustaining capex over a very long time and have a massively positive environmental impact onshore and in the Red Sea for the 200 years life of mine," says Chair Seamus Cornelius.
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Sensyne Health PLC - Oxford, England-based clinical technology using artificial intelligence - Expects revenue of at least GBP9.0 million for the year ended April 30, up from GBP2.1 million a year prior. Says revenue growth driven by contracts with life sciences companies. "The company anticipates this revenue growth to be driven by life sciences in the near term, taking a flexible approach to the overall mix and to perform in line with its expectations for FY2022 total revenue," says company.
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Fair Oaks Income Ltd - senior secured loans investor - Says its Fair Oaks Income Fund II LP has entered into binding contracts to acquire EUR27.2 million notional of equity notes in Allegro CLO XIII, a new CLO backed by a portfolio of US broadly-syndicated secured loans. The manager of this CLO's portfolio is AXA Investment Managers Inc. Says the potential total return for this investment, as estimated by the general partner of Master Fund II is between 15% and 17% per annum.
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Appreciate Group PLC - Liverpool-based multi-retailer - Enters into partnership with PayPoint PLC, which offers system for paying bills in UK. Says the partnership will see Appreciate's Love2Shop e-gift cards offered to consumers via PayPoint's network of 28,000 retailer partner stores across the United Kingdom". "This is an exciting opportunity for Appreciate Group as the partnership provides our first physical distribution network for Love2Shop e-gift cards. Overnight, it provides us with a network of 28,000 stores that reach into the heart of communities throughout the UK," says CEO Ian O'Doherty.
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Apollon Formularies PLC - medical cannabis company based in Jamaica - Says medical cannabis dispensary and treatment centre in Jamaica open. Says facility in Negril, Jamaica receives Covid-19 health & safety protocols certification. "We are very proud of our Jamaican team for successfully passing all requirements leading to this Certification. Since receiving this government required certification, Apollon Jamaica is again seeing patients at our pre-COVID levels. The health and safety of our patients are our primary concern, especially for those who are very ill and suffering. Having TPDCo Certification allows us to receive medical tourist patients and better enable all patients to have access to needed medical cannabis treatments," says CEO Stephen Barnhill.
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Boku Inc - San Francisco, California-headquartered mobile payments platform - Says subsidiary Fortumo launches carrier billing payments with EasyPark, a parking technology company, for parking in Switzerland. "Over 8 million people can now easily pay for their parking via the EasyPark parking-app, all over Switzerland, by charging the fee to their phone bill. The payment method is supported for all subscribers of local mobile operators Swisscom, Sunrise & Salt," says Boku.
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Ince Group PLC - London-based law and professional services firm - Bolsteres its Maritime division with two new additions: Daniel Crockford and Alex Penberthy. Crockford specialises in contentious shipping and marine insurance and has an unrivalled reputation in the yacht and superyacht industry, while Penberthy is an "expert" in marine litigation with strong experience in cross jurisdictional claims and personal injury. "Our global shipping offering continues to go from strength to strength. This new team hire forms part of our strategy to strengthen our Bristol office by aligning our services with London and international. I'm delighted to welcome Daniel, Alex and their team on board," says CEO Adrian Biles.
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TruSpine Technologies PLC - medical device company - Announces that its cornerstone Cervi-LOK device has completed Round II testing. "We have concluded that Cervi-LOK offers other advantages previously not considered, including as a rescue technique for failed lateral mass screws, or as a topping off procedure for deformity constructs. Both surgeons universally agreed that the convenience and low risk nature of the system make it a very attractive alternative to the current screw technologies. This evidence is very advantageous to us as we progress towards FDA application and clearances," says CEO Ian Roberts.
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Burford Capital Ltd - London-based litigation finance - Announces subsidiary Burford Capital Holdings UK Ltd has invited holders of Burford Capital's GBP90.0 million 6.50% bonds due 2022 to tender their bonds for purchase in cash. "The purpose of the Offer is to utilise a portion of the group's available cash balances to purchase bonds prior to their maturity as part of the proactive management of the group's debt capital structure. The offer will also provide liquidity to those holders whose Bonds are accepted in the offer," says company.
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BMO Private Equity Trust PLC - UK-based investor in unlisted companies, launched in 1999 - Post net asset value per share at March 31 of 480.67, down marginally over the quarter. "The Covid-19 pandemic is by no means over with very few countries sufficiently well vaccinated yet to be able to have assumed normality. That said the recent lockdowns have been characterised by a far smaller reduction in economic activity than was the case a year ago. Many companies have found ways of operating fairly successfully despite the constraints that Covid-19 places on business travel and the ability of many to attend work," says company.
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By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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