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(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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IG Design Group PLC - Eversholt, England-based greeting cards company - Says like-for-like revenue in four months to July 31 up 25% year-on-year and up 10% on pro-forma basis from two years earlier. IG Design notes "challenging cost headwinds", particularly related to freight. "Nevertheless, as a result of the strong sales momentum and work across the group to mitigate the impact of the cost pressures earnings to date have been in line with expectations," IG Design says. Says orderbook up on prior year and annual sales outlook is ahead of market expectations.
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Ilika PLC - Hampshire-based solid state battery firm - Says contractor completes construction of cleanroom at Stereax manufacturing facility. Stereax is a type of miniature solid-state batteries designed for industrial wireless sensors. Product sales from site tipped to commence in first quarter of 2022. "Progress on site has been very gratifying to see over the summer and, despite significant global disruption to supply chains, the Ilika team, our vendors and suppliers have worked very hard to deliver our planned project implementation schedule," Chief Executive Graeme Purdy says.
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Alien Metals Ltd - miner with projects in Mexico, Australia and Greenland - Preparing for phase three drilling at Hancock iron ore project in Australia. Alien receives assay results from second phase of drilling. "The Phase 3 programme is designed to target the delineation of a maiden resource estimate at the Western Ridges prospect," Alien says. "The Phase 2 programme has clearly defined significant widths of direct shipping ore from surface at the Sirius Extension prospect and the Western Ridges prospect."
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Anglo Asian Mining PLC - gold, copper and silver producer in Azerbaijan - Updates on exploration work during first half of 2021. Says "comprehensive" work at Gedabek contract area continues. "Substantial drilling and other exploration work was carried out," company says. "No geological field work was carried out at Ordubad during the period due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, however the company conducted desktop geological studies and historical drill core relogging." Both Gedabek and Ordubad are located in Azerbaijan.
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Bacanora Lithium PLC - developer of Sonora lithium project in Mexico - Updates on litigation with estate of Colin Orr-Ewing, Bacanora's founder and former chair, becoming a non-executive shortly before his death in August 2016. The claim relates to royalties from its Sonora asset going to Orr-Ewing's estate. Bacanora says an Alberta court ruled in favour of the estate. "The company intends to appeal this judgement on a point of law and will provide further updates as required. The company maintains that the royalty is invalid on the grounds of misrepresentation and a lack of consideration and intends to exhaust all legal avenues on behalf of all its shareholders to ensure that the Alberta courts adjudicate fully on the merits of the case, rather than restricting their review to a technical time limitation defence," Bacanora adds.
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Afarak Group PLC - speciality alloys supplier with mines and plants in South Africa, Turkey and Germany - Says claim brought against it by South African bank Absa Group Ltd has been settled in District Court of Helsinki. Last September, Afarak said Absa was seeking ZAR75.0 million, about GBP3.6 million. Claim relates to corporate guarantee given by company on behalf of Afarak Mogale, which entered into business rescue in summer 2020 and had not been allowed to repay debts.
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Kefi Gold & Copper PLC - gold exploration and development company with projects in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia - Says phase four of Hawiah 2021 drilling programme nears completion. An updated resource estimate from the copper, gold, zinc and silver project in Saudi Arabia is expected in fourth quarter of 2021. "Project work streams on track to achieve Kefi's target of Hawiah commencing development in 2023," company adds.
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Manx Financial Group PLC - Isle of Man-based financial services firm - Receives lending accreditation for more UK government backed financing facilities. Says Conister Finance & Leasing Ltd arm is accredited by state-owned British Business Bank for UK's Recovery Loan Scheme. The programme provides loans to company's hit by Covid-19 and is available until end of 2021. "The scheme provides the lender with a government-backed guarantee against 80% of the outstanding balance of the facility, whereas the borrower always remains 100% liable for the debt," Manx Financial notes.
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Regional REIT Ltd - real estate investment trust focused on UK offices outside London - Sells GBP45.0 million of industrial property assets located in Bromborough, Erith, Nottingham, Scunthorpe, Telford, Winsford and Wisbech. "It is anticipated that the proceeds from the disposal will be promptly recycled into the group's strong pipeline of higher yielding regional office investments to further diversify the portfolio by geography and income stream and to take advantage of what the manager sees as highly attractive valuations in this market segment for assets with significant capital growth potential," company says.
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essensys PLC - London-based software and cloud services for flexible workspace industry - Says performance in financial year that ended July 31 was in line with expectations. Says revenue was in line with market expectations at GBP22.0 million, but down from GBP22.5 million the year before. Revenue increased 2% to at constant currency to GBP22.9 million. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation estimated "to be in line with consensus market expectations".
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Frenkel Topping Group PLC - Manchester, England-based investment advice company - Announces 50-50 joint-venture alongside law firm Pattinson Brewer, in the personal injury and clinical negligence sectors. The duo to work under trading name Pattinson & Brewer Financial Services.
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Benchmark Holdings PLC - Sheffield, England-based aquaculture genetics, health and nutrition company - Revenue in third quarter ended June 30 rises 17% annually to GBP28.3 million. Adjusted Ebitda more than doubles to GBP4.4 million from GBP2.1 million. Pretax loss narrows to GBP2.7 million from GBP6.2 million. "The group is trading in line with market expectations for the full year with good revenue visibility for the remainder of the year," Benchmark says.
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Fusion Antibodies PLC - Belfast-based therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications research organisation - Enters into commercial collaboration agreement with drug discovery products firm Eurofins Discovery. Fusion will provide pre-clinical antibody development services to Eurofins. "The collaboration is not expected to have a material impact on the company's earnings in the current financial year, however, the directors of Fusion consider that it demonstrates a commitment by both parties to provide world-class scientific expertise, next-generation technology, and guidance to accelerate the delivery of the best possible antibody against a broad range of targets and therapeutic areas into the clinic for both parties," Fusion says.
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N4 Pharma PLC - Derbyshire-based pharmaceutical company developing Nuvec for cancer treatments and vaccines - Says two material transfer agreement projects for Nuvec, one with a major global firm and another with a UK-based pharmaceutical company, are progressing well. "In each case the company has been able to successfully load and well disperse Nuvec with the proprietary products at different doses. This will allow the testing of a wide range of options with the MTA partners and each company is now undertaking its own tests with Nuvec and their respective products," N4 Pharma says.
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Sativa Wellness Group Inc - Vancouver, British Columbia-based 'seed-to-consumer' cannabidiol products - Signs deal with German partners Lexamed GmbH for distribution agreement of Goodbody products in Germany. "The existing Goodbody range will be offered through a number of channels in Germany and the companies will also work together to develop new products for the European market in conjunction with Sativa Wellness's polish extraction and manufacturing facility," Sativa says. The duo currently operate a joint venture named Sativa GmbH. Sativa Wellness will transfer ownership of the JV to Lexamed. Sativa GmbH will then be renamed as Lexalife. "Lexalife will act as the distribution partner in Germany for Goodbody Botanicals Ltd, Sativa's CBD production and distribution subsidiary," Sativa Wellness explains.
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nanosynth Group PLC - digital monitoring and safeguarding systems manufacturer formerly known as Remote Monitored Systems - Says terms agreed with Lemu Group to return mask manufacturing machine used by Pharm 2 Farm Ltd, nanosynth's main unit. Lemu will repay P2F EUR180,000 in two tranches once machine has returned to Valencia. Nanosynth says remaining EUR66,000 paid to Lumi will be repaid upon re-sale of mask manufacturing machine. Executive Chair Antony Legge says: "The decision to return the machine to Lemu reflects the difficulties faced by the team in commissioning a new machine for the innovative P2F masks. In the board's opinion, the agreement to recover almost 75% of the paid cost of the machine, excluding the EUR66,000 contingent payment, is a fair deal, and we are grateful for all the efforts by Lemu in recent months to try and resolve the issues."
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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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