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(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Castillo Copper Ltd - copper exploration company with projects in Australia and Zambia - Pretax loss was AUD1.2 million in the six months ended December 31, widened significantly from AUD652,672 a year prior. This was primarily due to impairment charges of AUD518,361 relating to exploration expenditure. Revenue was AUD22,850 for the period, up from AUD3,452 in the comparative period in 2022.
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Artemis Resources Ltd - gold, copper and lithium-focused exploration company with projects in Western Australia - Says its pretax loss was AUD1.8 million in the six months to December 31, narrowed from AUD17.2 million a year prior. The group's results did not suffer from impairment expenses in the period, unlike the previous first-half in which these reached AUD12.5 million. Net fair value loss on financial instruments also dropped to AUD540,000 from AUD3.1 million. As at December 31, the company had AUD4.9 million worth of total assets, down from AUD5.6 million at the end of 2022.
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Neometals Ltd - West Perth, Australia-based battery materials producer - Pretax loss was AUD21.3 million in the six months to December 31, up from AUD13.7 million a year prior. AUD3.2 million of this owed to fair value adjustments of non-listed investments, with a further AUD3.2 million stemming from impairment expenses on investment in associate, neither of which factored into its previous first-half results. Loss per share widened to AUD3.73 from AUD2.34. As at December 31, the company had AUD22.2 million worth of assets, down from AUD27.2 million at June 30.
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Frontier IP Group PLC - Edinburgh-based intellectual property commercialisation specialist - In the six months to December 31, Frontier delivered GBP1.4 million in pretax profit, swung from a loss of GBP469,000 in the final six months of 2022. Basic earnings per share rose to 2.67 pence from 0.49 pence over the same comparative period. Services revenue was unchanged at GBP203,000. Frontier also says that it achieved "significant commercial and technical progress across the portfolio", despite challenging economic conditions. Chief Executive Officer Neil Crabb comments: "I was delighted to see us return to profitability during the first half of the year. The improved performance comes in the teeth of the cold gales created by the prevailing market, economic and geopolitical conditions, and reflects the solid progress made across the portfolio during the period and beyond. Alusid, CamGraPhIC, Fieldwork Robotics, Nandi Proteins, Pulsiv and The Vaccine Group are among the companies picking up pace as they stride towards commercial viability and futures replete with success."
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Vaalco Energy Inc - Houston-based energy company - Delivers USD150.1 million in pretax profit in 2023, up from USD123.4 million in 2022. Vaalco says it also generated record adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortisation and exploration of USD280.4 million, up from USD186.6 million a year prior. Vaalco paid out a total of 25 cents per share in dividends for 2023, almost doubled from 13 cents in 2022. Basic earnings per share were 56 cents per share, down from 74 cents. Looking ahead to 2024, the company says it is planning a capital budget of USD70 million to USD90 million, and is targeting returning over USD25 million of free cash flow to shareholders.
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GCP Asset Backed Income Fund Ltd - Jersey-based investment company - Is proposing a wind-down of a company and a realisation of its assets, as well as a potential sale of its entire issued capital. Shareholders will vote on the company's future at the May 15 annual general meeting, and GCP says that it is recommending they vote "for discontinuation of the company in its present form". The company believes this is the most prudent way of delivering value to shareholders. GCP Chair Alex Ohlsson says: "The board thanks shareholders for the constructive feedback provided as part of the shareholder engagement process. The extensive feedback has been invaluable in informing the board's decision-making process and in formulating proposals for an orderly wind-down of the company."
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International Personal Finance PLC - Leeds-based financial services company - Says pretax profit was up 8.4% to GBP83.9 million in 2023 from GBP77.4 million in 2022, ahead of the company's previous expectations. Total revenue reached GBP767.8 million, up from GBP645.5 million in 2022. IPF has proposed a final dividend of 7.2p per share, up from 6.5p in 2022, bringing its full-year dividend to 10.3p from 9.2p per share. Basic arnings per share fell to 21.5 pence from 25.6 pence. Costs for the year were GBP227.2 million compared to GBP203.9 million a year prior. Chief Executive Officer Gerard Ryan says: "All of our businesses delivered good growth, with the exception of Poland where we anticipated a shrinkage as we adapt to new regulation and the rollout of our credit card product. We are now serving more than 130,000 customers with this exciting new offering and we continue to adapt and change our Polish business to customer needs and ongoing changes in regulation."
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MAC Alpha Ltd - acquisition vehicle backed by Marwyn Value Investors Ltd focused on small caps - Pretax loss narrows to GBP137,174 in the six months to December 31 from GBP170,297 in the previous first half. At year-end, the company's cash balance was GBP391,116, down from GBP554,446. Losses per share narrowed to 10.55 pence from 24.33 pence. Says it has engaged with several potential management teams over the year, and that "desktop due diligence has been conducted on sectoral opportunities in which the prospective management teams have extensive experience."
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Bowleven PLC - Edinburgh-based Africa-focused oil and gas company - Announces a proposed conditional underwritten open offer to raise proceeds of around GBP1.6 million, through the issue of shares at a price of 0.1p each. Bowleven says the proceeds will improve its working capital position, and help to fund a portion of the costs associated with the Etinde Permit joint venture, offshore Cameroon, in which the company holds a 25% stake, with the remainder split evenly between The PJSC Lukoil Oil Company and NewAge Ltd.
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By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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