Evoke Plc Share News (EVOK)

(Alliance News) - The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers among London Main Market small-caps on Friday.

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SMALL-CAP - WINNERS

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McBride PLC, up 17% at 119.00 pence, 12-month range 67.40p-145.00p. It plans to reinstate annual dividends in response to strong trading. The private label products maker for the domestic household and professional cleaning and hygiene markets estimates that adjusted operating profit in the six months that ended December 31 was up 8% from a year prior, on a constant currency basis. Full year adjusted operating profit is expected to be in line with internal expectations, the company adds. As a result of this and the strong trading performance, McBride said it intends to re-instate annual dividends in the current financial year.

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Evoke PLC, up 9.2% at 75.00 pence, 12-month range 49.18p-297.60p. The owner of the William Hill, 888 and Mr Green betting brands expects profit to beat market expectations after bookie-friendly sports results during the fourth quarter. Revenue grows 12% to 13% in the three months ended December 31 from a year prior, or by 13% to 14% in constant currency. Revenue is driven by online growth of 16% to 17%, or 18% to 19% in constant currency, with continued improvement across core markets, and supported by operator friendly sports results. As a result, revenue growth in the second half is expected to be 8%, towards the higher end of the 5% to 9% guidance range. Evoke expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to be at the high end of guidance of GBP300 million to GBP310 million for the full year, and well ahead of market expectations.

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SMALL-CAP - LOSERS

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Worsley Investors Ltd, down 15% at 25.04p, 12-month range 23.00p-32.00p. UCI Italia, which occupies Worsley's Italian multiplex cinema complex, located in Curno near Bergamo, says it will vacate the property on January 30. The development follows a dispute between the company over terms of the lease agreement. Worsley noted in December that UCI wanted to "re-cast materially the terms of the cinema lease in its favour". "The parties' positions on this matter are entirely divergent, with UCI asserting that it has the right to vacate the premises in January 2025, ceasing payment of the rent. The group's position, as confirmed by its Italian legal advisers, is that UCI has no legal basis to proceed in this manner," Worsley adds. Worsley invests in "undervalued securities". UCI offered "no credible basis for a settlement", Worsley alleges. "Shortly before Christmas, the parties reached provisional agreement on a level of rental payment under which, without prejudice to the legal dispute, UCI could in 2025 operate the multiplex on a profitable day-to-day basis. The group then proposed to UCI an arrangement, incorporating such rental terms, by which UCI could remain in situ until at least 30 September 2025. The arrangement would have delivered material benefits for both parties," it adds. But UCI responded by saying it "it was not prepared to enter such into an arrangement" unless Worsley accepted its withdrawal from the lease without compensation. "The group's directors have therefore concluded that negotiations with UCI are now at an end. The group is carefully considering all available alternatives in order to assess how best to ensure that the value of the group's investment in the cinema is preserved," the London listing says. UCI is owned by Odeon, which is itself part of AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc.

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By Eric Cunha, Alliance News news editor

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