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(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by UK companies on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Watkin Jones PLC - residential property developer - Experiencing significant disruption to operations with all non-essential work on construction sites paused. Withdraws financial guidance. Decides against declaring dividend for first half to March-end to conserve cash. Has a net cash balance of GBP36 million plus GBP60 million loan facility. First half revenue and earnings to be in line with expectations.
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Helical PLC - property investor - Earnings for financial 2020 to be relatively unaffected by the current crisis. Considering whether to declare final dividend for year to March 31. Agrees to rent concessions with the March quarter rent being paid monthly rather than quarterly. Passing rent for the March quarter GBP6.7 million. Cash of GBP64 million plus further GBP65 million available under loan facility.
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Norish PLC - warehousing company - Directors agree 20% pay cut for three months to protect cash position. Previously, the company cancelled final dividend of 1.9 Euro cents per share for 2019.
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Camellia PLC - diversified agriculture, banking and engineering group - Agricultural operations have been working close to normal with the exception of India. Engineering businesses are also operating at close to normal. ACS&T unit's refrigerated transport business seeing reduced volumes. Jing Tea performance severely impacted by the downturn in tourism and retail. Decides to suspend dividend payment until Covid-19 clarity. To declare special and interim dividend when situation improves. Cash liquidity of GBP86.7 million. Delays 2019 results.
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RA International Group PLC - construction and facilities management services - Lockdown and social distancing in primary operating region, Africa, impacting operations. Well capitalised and has adequate liquidity to meet near and medium-term financial obligations. Implementing contingency plan based on World Health Organisation recommendations. Seeing reduction in construction project work due to social distancing measures. Expects material impact on annual financial results.
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Mercantile Ports & Logistics Ltd - Indian port developer - Ceases activity at Karanj site located in the Indian state of Maharashtra due to government-advised lockdown in the country. Sufficient cash resources to see through the current virus crisis.
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SQN Asset Finance Income Fund Ltd - equipment leasing and asset finance - Delays release of results for the first half to 2019-end. Incorporating valuation of six Anaerobic Digestion plants into results taking time due to virus situation. Expects to publish results no later than Friday.
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Frontier IP Group PLC - intellectual property investment - Investee Exscientia developing compounds that could become viable drugs for treating Covid-19 in a joint initiative with Diamond Light Source and Calibr, a division of Scripps Research. Frontier IP owns 3.3% stake In Exscientia.
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Zoetic International PLC - oil & gas and cannabidiol - Evaluating sale of certain assets from its oil & gas division to reduce liabilities and generate cash. Fall in oil prices putting pressure on all East Denver project, which will curtail production until oil prices recover. Anticipates lower revenue in cannabidiol business, particularly in its US. Implementing initiatives to generate cash and applying for loans under the US Covid-19 aid arrangements.
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Craven House Capital PLC- investor - Sees material impact on investment portfolio due to virus pandemic. Valuations of Craven House Angola Lda and Qeton Ltd to be materially impacted due to steep drop in oil prices. IIU Inc investment held by Craven House Capital North America LLC saw an almost total collapse in its revenue. Valuation of DLC investment valuation of DLC has decreased by USD1.6 million to USD2.3 million. Sees no material impact on valuation of e-commerce businesses acquired in March.
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Alumasc Group PLC - building and engineering products - Temporarily closes Burton Latimer and Halstead sites to save cash. Gatic covers, Rainclear and Building Envelope businesses remain open and operating as normal. Employees at closed locations furloughed under the UK government's Covid-19 Job Retention Scheme.
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Argentex Group PLC - forex services - Predicts 30% year-on-year rise in revenue for the year to March 31 to GBP29 million with forex turnover exceeding GBP12 billion. Sees no change to bad debt levels. Management continues to monitor client profiles, activity and macro-economic conditions.
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Westminster Group PLC - security services - Virus to inevitably impact revenue from Sierra Leone airport contract. Product sales seeing record enquiry levels, particularly for fever screening and associated equipment. Secures over USD2.1 million of online product orders so far in first quarter, of which USD1.7 million were in March and over USD1.2 million in last two weeks. Container screening business in Tema Port, Ghana, unaffected by restrictions. Business profitable overall with 30% year-on-year rise in first quarter revenue to over GBP4 million.
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Air Partner PLC - aviation services - Makes strong start to financial 2021 with GBP2.4 million underlying pretax profit in first two months. April order book encouraging, with the increase in freight activity witnessed in March continuing. Cash at March-end of GBP6.5 million plus access to GBP14.5 million debt. Expects trading to slow due to aviation restrictions. Implementing cost cutting measures include 20% pay cut for directors.
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Greatland Gold PLC - precious metals explorer - Delays exploration activities in the Paterson region, excluding Havieron project, of Australia. Drilling activity at Havieron is continuing as planned with eight rigs currently operational. In strong financial position and remains well financed to conduct all planned activities during 2020.
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Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy - clinical stage biopharmaceutical - Regulatory approval for global trial for community-acquired pneumonia program that includes intravenous interferon beta-1a as a new treatment arm. Trial will recruit patients with community-acquired pneumonia, including Covid-19 patients.
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Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd - South America and Africa focused explorer - Undertaking strict cost cutting programme due to fall in oil prices including 40% pay cuts for board and management. Cash and cash equivalents of USD18.8 million at March-end and zero debt.
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Fulcrum Utility Services Ltd - infrastructure services - Postpones delivery of all non-essential utility connection and infrastructure works. Delivering emergency utility service provision and a new fast-tracked service to sites providing critical services to combat Covid-19. Trading in the year ended March 31 broadly in line with expectations. Prioritising conservation of cash reserves. Decides against paying dividend for financial 2020 and will not implement a share buy-back.
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LPA Group PLC - LED lighting - Reducing production capacity to match lower demand, cutting costs to conserve cash and utilising government initiatives. Orders received exceeded sales during the first half, so the order book has continued to grow and remains at record levels.
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Touchstar PLC - mobile computing solutions - First quarter trading broadly on budget with growth from continuing businesses up 40% year-on-year. Planning for prolonged uncertainty. Unable to provide clarity on trading outlook. Seeing reduction in new business enquiries and anticipating the rate of decline to rise. Still planning to announce 2019 results in April.
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Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC - energy storage fund - All operational assets continuing to function and delivering a continuous source of revenue. Suspending work on sites under construction. Reaffirms annual dividend target of 7.0 pence per share.
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Christie Group PLC - advisory and financial services - Does not expect to make a profit for current year due to virus pandemic. Majority of UK staff placed upon grant aided furlough. Own resources, together with expected government backed support, sufficient to meet cash requirements.
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Renalytix AI PLC - artificial intelligence in vitro diagnostics for kidney disease developer - Gets Medicare provider number for the Salt Lake City Utah clinical laboratory. Now qualified as a provider and can bill for services provided to patients with Medicare and Medicaid health insurance coverage in the US.
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By Tapan Panchal; tapanpanchal@alliancenews.com
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