(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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Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd - Hong Kong-based property and retailing conglomerate - Attributable loss in six months to June 30 USD117 million, down sharply from USD775 million loss seen year before. Gross revenue, including joint ventures, rises 17% to USD52.49 billion from USD44.94 billion. Declares interim dividend of 44 US cents, unchanged on year before. Executive Chair Ben Keswick says: "There was some improvement in the group's performance and profitability in the first half compared with the same period last year, but Covid-19 continued to have an impact in most sectors and markets. Conditions are expected to remain challenging for the second half of the year, particularly due to the worsening Covid-19 situation in Southeast Asia, making it difficult to predict full-year performance."
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GB Group PLC - Chester, England-based identity verification, location intelligence and fraud prevention company - Makes "good" start to new financial year, started in April. "The structural growth opportunities for each of GBG's three business units of Identity, Location and Fraud continue to be supported by consumer activity shifting online," company says. Adds: "The success we had last financial year, against the backdrop of Covid, along with a strong first quarter this year provides us with confidence for the year ahead. We look forward to providing a further update to shareholders on our trading performance at the time of our pre-close trading statement in October 2021."
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Forterra PLC - Northampton, England-headquartered building products manufacturer - Improves to pretax profit in six months to June 30 of GBP27.1 million versus GBP23.3 million loss a year before. Revenue surges 47% year on year to GBP180.3 million from GBP122.4 million. Proposes interim dividend of 3.2 pence after holding back payment last year. Chief Executive Stephen Harrison says: "We saw a strong recovery over 2020 in the first half, which exceeded our expectations. This performance, primarily in Bricks & Blocks, was underpinned by robust demand across both the new build and RM&I markets. Overall, group revenue increased 47% over 2020 and, notably, revenue in Bricks & Blocks was slightly ahead of 2019 levels." Expects 2021 results modestly ahead of previous internal expectations.
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Mortgage Advice Bureau Holdings PLC - Derby-based mortgage intermediary - Expects first half revenue about GBP91 million, which would represent 43% year on year growth. Revenue rise in six months to June 30 driven by the combination of a 28% increase in the average number of mainstream advisers to 1,584 over the two-year period and a 17% increase in revenue per mainstream adviser. "Current trading is in line with the Board's expectations for the 2021 financial year. Based on the current pace of growth and momentum in the business, derived from maturing and new growth drivers, the group is well-positioned to exceed the board's expectations for 2022 and beyond," company says.
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Equiniti Group PLC - London-based financial administration outsourcer - Improves to pretax profit in six months to June 30 of GBP6.8 million from GBP700,000 loss a year before. Revenue drops 12% to GBP214.0 million from GBP243.0 million. Administrative costs drops to GBP186.1 million from GBP201.5 million. Chief Executive Paul Lynam says: "The group's overall performance for the first half of 2021 was mixed. EQ US has delivered a good underlying performance as has EQ Boardroom, the latter winning 18 IPO mandates in the period, a new record. Less positively, the sustained lockdown restrictions significantly impacted business volumes in EQ Digital, and EQ Paymaster suffered from a lack of project work. The UK Bank and US Fed rates have remained at historic lows which have continued to weigh heavily on our earnings."
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Marlowe PLC - London-based safety services and software provider - Acquires Barbour Environment, Health & Safety, a health, safety, environmental and compliance intelligence software platform, from Informa PLC for a net cash consideration of GBP32 million. In 2020, Barbour EHS generated revenues of GBP5.4 million. "The acquisition is a major development in Marlowe's digital strategy to become the market leader in compliance software. Positioned alongside Marlowe's existing health & safety capabilities, the Marlowe board believes that the addition of Barbour EHS allows the group to offer its clients a broad spectrum of consulting, software, assurance and intelligence addressing their health, safety and environmental needs," company adds.
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Volex PLC - Basingstoke, England-based provider of manufacturing services - Notes levels of customer demand seen in the second half of financial 2021 has continued into the first quarter of financial 2022. "Performance in Consumer Electricals remains very strong and Electric Vehicle revenues continue to grow, reflecting our leading position in this sector," company says. Adds: "Overall, whilst still early in the year, the positive trends in the first quarter lead the Board to expect to deliver full year underlying operating profit slightly ahead of current market expectations."
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Randall & Quilter Investment Holdings Ltd - Bermuda-based firm focused on non-life legacy insurance and program management - Gross written premiums in first half of 2021 hit USD445 million, up sharply from USD247 million year before. Fee income more than doubles to USD25.2 million from USD10.7 million, as programs rise to 60 from 36. Chair William Spiegel says: "We are pleased to report continued strong momentum and growth in our Program Management business, having achieved profitability for the first time in 2020. We look forward to presenting a more detailed update at our interim results in September."
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Devro PLC - sausage casings maker - Says revenue in the six months to June 30 rises slightly to GBP119.9 million from GBP119.0 million. Pretax profit rises 36% annually to GBP18.4 million from GBP13.5 million. The Chryston, Scotland-based firm lifts its interim payout to 2.8 pence per share from 2.7p. Chief Executive Rutger Helbing says: "Devro's constant currency revenue growth has accelerated and has driven significant profit growth in the first half, demonstrating the successful execution of the strategy, and we enter the second half with good momentum across the business, and confidence in our future prospects. In the shorter term, for the second half we expect the strong underlying performance to continue, however reflecting the uncertainties relating to Covid-19 pandemic and foreign exchange headwinds, the board's full year expectations are unchanged."
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Lookers PLC - Altrincham, Cheshire-based motor retail and aftersales service provider - Raises its annual underlying pretax profit outlook to GBP50 million, following a GBP36.1 million loss in 2020. In the six months to June 30, Lookers said like-for-like new units sales were up 45%, used units up 38% and aftersales revenue up 34%. Will review dividend position in 2022. Chief Executive Mark Raban says: "The business has delivered an outstanding performance in the first half of the year, despite the multiple difficulties presented by the pandemic. There remains some uncertainty and challenges for the second half, but given the current momentum in the business, coupled with our focus on operational excellence and continuous development of our omni-channel customer experience, the board is confident of delivering a strong result for the year."
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Foxtons Group PLC - London-based estate agent - Improves to pretax profit in six months to June 30 of GBP3.3 million versus GBP4.3 million loss a year before. Revenue surges to GBP66.9 million from GBP40.4 million. Proposes interim dividend of 0.18 pence after withholding payout a year before. Chief Executive Nic Budden says: "I am delighted to be reporting a strong first half performance which has seen growth across all our business areas and allows us to re-instate the dividend and further our share buyback programme." Proposes GBP3 million buyback. "The combination of political stability and easing restrictions has seen positive momentum return in the market and we are delighted that thousands of customers chose Foxtons to sell or let their property. This enabled us to grow revenues and market share in both sales and lettings, further strengthened by the acquisition of D&G, demonstrating the attractiveness of our customer proposition," Budden adds.
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IOG PLC - gas production in UK southern North Sea - Signs gas sales agreement with Gazprom Marketing & Trading Ltd. This follows a competitive offtake process involving more than 10 bidders over recent months. The agreement relates to IOG's equity production for the first two years from the Elgood and Southwark fields, part of the company's Phase 1 development, and the Nailsworth and Elland fields that form part of its Phase 2 development, with a mutual extension option. Gas will be sold on a day-ahead daily nomination basis at a price linked to the National Balancing Point.
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Creightons PLC - manufacturer of personal care, beauty and fragrance products - Acquires entire share capital of Emma Hardie Ltd including the Emma Hardie skincare brand for GBP6.4 million, made up of GBP5 million in cash and issue of 1.6 million new shares at 84.78 pence each. Closed at 94.70p each on Thursday. "The acquisition represents an important development for Creightons with the addition of a premium skincare brand with an established consumer base. The addition of a premium skincare brand strengthens our brand portfolio and offering by taking the business into a higher end group of retailers and digital platforms," company says.
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Applied Graphene Materials PLC - graphene materials maker with headquarters in Redcar, Cleveland - Starts trading on OTCQX Best Market, in the US. "Trading on OTCQX Best Market is an important step for AGM. In addition to the company's AIM listing, it provides the company with exposure to a wider audience of potential investors by easing cross-border trading for US investors," company expalins. Chief Executive Adrian Potts adds: "I am delighted that AGM has satisfied the criteria to trade on the OTCQX Best Market, the highest tier of the OTC Markets Group. By trading on OTCQX Best, we look forward to providing greater access to our shares to institutional and retail investors in the USA, an important commercial region for AGM, where we continue to develop a growing number of opportunities with innovative local and global customers."
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Bradda Head Holdings Ltd - British Virgin Islands-based lithium explorer with assets in Nevada and Arizona - Completes claim-staking programme doubling the size of its western Arizona landholdings. The prospective ground is adjacent to its existing land package where a JORC-compliant resource of 185,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent has already been established. Chief Executive Charles FitzRoy says: "We are delighted with the addition of these new assets to our portfolio, which not only add some highly prospective acreage adjacent to our existing portfolio, but also gives Bradda Head the largest landholding position on the Burro Creek-Wikieup lithium district, for what was a small cash consideration."
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Keras Resources PLC - mine development in Togo, West Africa and US state of Utah - Starts 2021 mining season at the high-grade organic phosphate mine, Diamond Creek in Utah, US, owned by the company's 51% subsidiary, Falcon Isle Holdings LLC. "Mining is now underway and will continue through to October 2021 with 10,000 run of mine tons to be produced this year. This increased tonnage from 2020 is as per the company's forecast increase for the year and the material will be processed and sold throughout the annual campaign," company says.
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Egdon Resources PLC - UK-based exploration and production company - Notes proppant squeeze operation on the Ashover Grit reservoir interval in the Wressle-1 well at Wressle oil field development located in North Lincolnshire, has been completed safely and successfully. A total of 146 cubic metres of gelled fluid with 17.3 tonnes of ceramic proppant were injected into the Ashover Grit formation in line with the authorised programme. The injection operations lasted a total of only 1 hour and 30 minutes over a two-day period. The Wressle well will now be subject to a coiled tubing operation to fully clean out the production tubing prior to bringing the well back into production through the site's permanent production facilities. Union Jack Oil PLC holds 40% stake in Wressle and Europa Oil & Gas PLC holds 30% stake.
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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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