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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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Scottish Investment Trust PLC - Edinburgh-based trust investing in companies with long-term upside potential - Net asset value per share total return for half-year to April 30 is 7.1%, beating comparison index, the sterling total return of the MSCI All Country World Index, which falls 3.5% over same period. "It is pleasing to report on this strong relative performance against the current market backdrop in a very challenging environment," company says. NAV per share 926.5p at April-end vs 886.3p end of October.
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Bushveld Minerals Ltd - South Africa focused-vanadium producer - Revenue for 2021 rises to USD106.9 million from USD90.0 million in 2020, with pretax loss widening to USD46.8 million from USD37.7 million. Finance costs rise to USD12.2 million from USD5.7 million and firm books USD4.4 million loss from joint venture. Looking ahead, says it is on track to meet 2022 production guidance of between 4,200 mtV and 4,400 mtV. "We anticipate an encouraging 12 months ahead as we are on track to meet our Group production and cash cost guidance at the operations. This is supported by the commissioning of Kiln 3 at Vanchem which was completed in June 2022, and we anticipate to achieve a production run rate of 2,600 mtV p.a during the last quarter of 2022," firm says.
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GRIT Investment Trust PLC - invests in small and mid-capitalisation natural resources and mining companies - Reports net pretax gain of GBP97,000 for 2021, swinging from loss of GBP494,000 the year before. "The new management believes that the natural resources sectors represent sound value for money reflecting in many cases low PERs and high yields. Value for money is very much the maxim in how we shall base our investment policy with marketability being an important consideration," company says.
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African Pioneer PLC - exploration company with projects in Namibia, Botswana and Zambia - Total income for 2021 rises to GBP769,681 from GBP56,865 in 2020. Swings to pretax profit of GBP395,693 from loss of GBP90,156. "Inflationary times are always positive for commodity prices and as such we can expect that current metal prices will be resilient and will possibly increase over the coming years," firm notes.
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IDE Group Holdings PLC - Edinburgh-based network, cloud and IT managed services - Now expects to publish 2021 results towards the end of July. The results are expected to show trading Ebitda of GBP3.0 million, but this could "potentially increase" as a result of various potential non-trading audit adjustments. Adds that trading in 2022 has been resilient, with revenue and Ebitda for first five months GBP6 million and GBP600,000 respectively. "Management is expecting a stronger second half of the year, with a pipeline or orders with higher margins. As such, the board remains comfortable with market expectations for the current financial year," it says.
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Deepverge PLC - Dublin-based environmental and life science group - Says Modern Water secures orders in the second quarter in excess of GBP3 million in china and South Asia fro delivery in current financial year. "Significant sales of water monitoring and membrane water recovery have been secured with Tier 1 partners. This includes a new vertical in the technology sector, specifically microchip fabrication manufacturers, opening up a very large new vertical worldwide market for the Modern Water division," it says.
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Bezant Resources PLC - copper-gold project developer - Pretax loss steady at GBP1.1 million in 2021 versus GBP1.0 million in 2020. While operating loss narrows, firm books GBP110,000 impairment of assets. "In light of technical and regulatory issues related to the Kalengwa project the company has with the agreement of its partners agreed to pause work on this project pending resolution of these issues and accordingly has decided with effect from 31 December 2021 to make a full provision against its investment in the Kalengwa project," it explains.
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Eight Capital Partners PLC - London-based investment company focused on technology, media, telecoms and financial services businesses - Revenue for 2021 comes in at GBP772,000 and pretax loss at GBP98,000. Calls year "watershed" one, in which it had change in status to operating group from being investing company. "It successfully transitioned into a financial service operating group, completing a number of complementary corporate and financial transactions, strengthening both the company's operational capabilities and putting in place actions to radically strengthen its balance sheet," it says. Makes good start to new financial year.
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Serabi Gold PLC - London-based Brazil-focused gold miner - Revenue for three months to March 31 USD12.9 million, down from USD15.8 million a year before. Ebitda falls to USD2.1 million from USD4.8 million. Says fall in earnings reflects revenue reduction following lower-than-forecast production levels. Average gold price received rises to USD1,844 per ounce from USD1,763.
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Wishbone Gold PLC - Gibraltar-based precious metals trading and exploration company with assets in Australia - Reports no revenue for 2021, after sales of USD1.1 million in 2020. Pretax loss widens to USD1.2 million from USD638,381. Firm says it continues its strategy of exploration on its properties in Australia. "After Covid related issues in Australia throughout all of the fiscal year 2021, I am very pleased to report that we are now drilling our main exploration targets at Red Setter in Western Australia and our Wishbone tenements in Queensland," company says.
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China Nonferrous Gold Ltd - Cayman Islands-based mineral exploration and development company - Revenue for 2021 USD72.0 million from USD64.5 million the year before, with pretax loss narrowing to USD235,000 from USD5.5 million. "Following the first successful normal production in 2019, the company has progressed well in several important aspects, with the Pakrut gold mine entering formal production and achieving full operational capacity in 2020," firm says. Continuing to enhance production capacity while also looking at improving improving the smelting process by reducing production costs, increasing recovery rates and improving competitiveness. "While we have taken big strides in the production and operation of the Pakrut gold mine and achieved much, there are still challenges to overcome and targets to meet, all of which I am confident to accomplish in the coming months," firm says.
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ECR Minerals PLC - gold explorer with assets in Australia - Pretax loss for half-year to March widens to GBP552,202 from GBP403,079 as administrative expenses rise. Total assets GBP7.7 million at March-end, up from GBP6.5 million a year ago. "The increase in total assets has occurred largely due to the increase in exploration assets following the capitalisation of exploration expenditure during the period as a result of the current aggressive drilling programme," it explains.
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Scirocco Energy PLC - Leeds, England-based oil & gas investment company - Swings to pretax profit of GBP362,000 in 2021 from loss of GBP3.3 million in 2020. Firm boosted by GBP2.2 million gain from sale of investment. "The group has made significant steps through the course of 2021 and into the first half of 2022 to re-position itself as a renewables business focused on delivering green energy solutions alongside generating revenue and returns for our shareholders," says Non-Exec Chair Alastair Ferguson. Says with sale of Ruvuma moving ahead following vote in favour at Wednesday's meeting, resources are freed up for new investments in its target space.
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New Century AIM VCT - venture capital trust - Net asset value per share 97.99 pence at end of February, down from 102.96p a year before. Says board aware there is "deep dissatisfaction" from a majority of shareholders at "disappointing long term performance" of the fund. Says recently requested investment manager refrain from buying and to realise investments to enable the payment of a large initial interim dividend. Several sales have since taken place while maintaining VCT qualifying status. Has raised enough to pay 9.0p dividend.
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Chelverton UK Dividend Trust PLC - invests in mid to small-cap UK companies - Net asset value per share 198.47p at end of April, down from 227.07p a year before. Says past 12 months "challenging". "With a highly UK centric portfolio, only invested in smaller UK AIM traded and Listed companies, in a 'risk-off' environment the shares tend to fall rather more than constituents of the FTSE 100, notwithstanding the fact that the underlying trading performance of the companies is very satisfactory. However, history, and indeed empirical studies, have shown a recovery will take place, in time, leading to longer term outperformance," firm says. Pays total dividend of 11.0p in respect of year, up from 10.0p the year before.
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Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC - London-based cryptocurrency researcher and investor - Revenue for 2021 falls to EUR9,000 from EUR12,000 in 2020. Pretax loss widens to EUR5.4 million from EUR1.2 million. This is due to increase in administrative expenses. "The business re-positioning completed in 2021 has not been easy but pushed the company back into a growth trajectory. The first results of this new strategy are already promising, although they represent only a fraction of what QBT hopes and intends to achieve going forward," it says.
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All Star Minerals PLC - Aquis-listed mining investing company - Pretax loss for 2021 GBP287,782, widened from GBP213,771 in 2020. This is due to increase in administrative expenses. Total assets end period at GBP164,627, up from GBP84,700 a year before. "A complete shift in our business strategy has meant we are now focused on the exciting battery metal space in Africa, and with a reorganised management team and board, we are more than well equipped with the experience and expertise to bring these promising green metal assets up the value curve," says Chief Executive Jason Brewer.
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Lekoil Ltd - Cayman-incorporated oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Nigeria and West Africa - Pretax loss for 2021 USD237.2 million, widened from USD20.7 million in 2020. Books USD232.4 million impairment of intercompany receivables. "The company faced considerable challenges in 2021, largely bought about by the actions of Lekoil Nigeria, but the Board was committed to running the company in an ethical, efficient and cost-effective manner. The company continues to focus on recovering as much value as possible for shareholders from the assets of the company," firm says, adding that financial position is "fragile" amid litigation by Lekoil Nigeria and Lekan Akinyanmi's refusal to repay the CEO loan. Akinyanmi was formerly CEO of Lekoil.
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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com
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