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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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Aptitude Software Group PLC - financial management software firm - Trades in line with the board's expectations in 2020. Annual recurring revenue grew by 11% on a constant currency basis in the year to GBP31.2 million from GBP28.1 million in 2019, driven by both new customer wins and the expansion of existing customer relationships. The company's balance sheet remains strong with no bank loans and benefitting from cash as at the end of 2020 of GBP44.8 million versus GBP33.0 million at the end of 2019. Aptitude Software says it enters the current financial year with improved revenue visibility due to the sales successes achieved in the final quarter of 2020. Overall, the company looks forward to the year ahead with confidence and now anticipates a 2021 financial performance above current market expectations.
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Kape Technologies PLC - digital security and privacy software firm - Trades strongly throughout 2020, substantially growing its customer footprint and building its profile across the consumer privacy and security markets. Revenue for 2020 is expected to be USD122.2 million compared to USD66.1 million in 2019, up 85% and at the upper end of management's forecasted range. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization is expected to be ahead of management's expectations at USD39.0 million versus USD14.6 million in 2019. In addition, adjusted Ebitda margin is expected to increase significantly to 31.9% from 22.0% year-on-year.
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Audioboom Group PLC - podcast company - Expects 2020 revenue of USD26.8 million, up 20% on 2019's USD22.3 million. Adjusted Ebitda loss of USD1.8 million represents an improvement of 36% on 2019 loss of USD2.9 million. Brand advertiser count of 311 as at the end of 2020, up 11% from 280 at 2019 end. Total available premium advertising impressions for the 12 months to the end of 2020 up 2% to 1.67 billion from 1.64 billion year-on-year, despite more conservative measurement basis being applied in 2020 following the implementation of the IAB V2 measurement standard. This outperformance against the growth in the wider industry was "especially impressive", Audioboom said, given the challenges posed by Covid-19, particularly in the second quarter of the year. The companycontinues to be "excited" about the opportunities for the Audioboom business and is confident that this momentum will continue into 2021.
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Iofina PLC - produces iodine - Says 2020 production of 609.9 metric tonnes of crystalline iodine is higher than 602.7 metric tonnes produced a year earlier. The company now operates five iodine production plants in western Oklahoma. The company says exploration efforts for future iodine production opportunities continued and are ongoing.
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Crossword Cybersecurity PLC - technology commercialisation company - Says overall revenue during the year is expected to show an increase of 25% to GBP1.6 million. "We expect the revenue growth rate to more than double in 2021," said Chief Executive Tom Ilube. Within that, revenue from product and consulting revenue are anticipated to have expanded by 39%, reflecting the company's shift from software development services to its core of product and consulting revenue. Cash balances as at the end of 2020 were GBP958,000.
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Eleco PLC - construction software firm - Expects to report revenue similar to 2019, which stood in excess of GBP25 million, whilst pretax profit is expected to be at least 10% ahead of the prior year. The company says it finished the year strongly with total revenue in the second half improving 6% on the first half of 2020 and being some 2% ahead of the equivalent period in 2019. This is despite training and other face-to-face service revenue continuing to be affected by Covid-19 restrictions. Cash generation remained "strong", resulting in a further increased net cash to GBP6.1 million as at the end of 2020, compared to GBP1.1 million at the end of 2019.
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Trans-Siberian Gold PLC - gold producer in Russia - Reports record gold dore production for the three months to the end of 2020 of 15,217 ounces, up 32% quarter-on-quarter from 11,570 ounces produced in the three months to the end of September 2020. Average realised gold price of USD1,873 per ounce was recorded in the final quarter of 2020 versus USD1,899 per ounce in the third quarter of 2020. Gold revenue increased by 39% quarter-on-quarter to USD29.7 million from USD21.4 million. For entire 2020, gold production was 45,066 ounces, a 3.6% increase from 43,479 ounces produced in 2019. The company reported record annual revenue at USD81 million, up by 29% from USD63.1 million in 2019. Trans-Siberian also records an increase in estimated average realised gold price in 2020 of 29% year-on-year to USD1,808 per ounce from USD1,399 per ounce.
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ASA International Group PLC - microfinance institution - Says liquidity continues to remain high with USD101 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across the company as at the end of 2020. The pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled USD225 million. The number of clients continued to gradually increase reaching 2.4 million. The company says it has secured USD14 million of new loans from local and international lenders in December 2020. Collection efficiency across the company increased in December in all countries with the exception of the Philippines and Uganda, which was partly caused by Christmas celebrations during the last two weeks of December and unrest in Uganda ahead of the scheduled presidential elections. With the business environment continuing to improve in most countries, disbursements of fresh loans continued to increase, ASA noted.
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Corero Network Security PLC - cyber defense solutions provider - Continues to build on its record first half of 2020 performance with increased momentum in order intake and revenue growth in the second half of 2020. As a result, the company said it now expects to report 2020 revenue ahead of market expectations, with order intake also reaching record levels. This strong performance has been driven by the continued success of Corero's differentiated, real-time, high-performance, automatic SmartWall distributed denial of service defense solutions. Order intake for 2020 is expected to be USD20.91 million versus USD13.0 million in 2019, an increase of 61%. Revenue for 2020 is expected to have increased by 73% to USD16.8 million from USD9.7 million in 2020. Annualised recurring revenue increased in the year to USD9.8 million as at January 1, driven by growth in distributed denial of service protection-as-a-service and software subscription orders. Corero says it added 42 new customers in 2020 compared to 18 new customers added in 2019, of which, 17 were acquired through Corero's strategic partnership with Juniper Networks. It is anticipated that Ebitda for 2020 will be in line with existing market expectations.
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Telit Communications PLC - communications company - Expects revenue to be USD343.0 million versus USD382.8 million excluding automotive a year ago, a decline of 10%, which shows considerable resilience in the face of the significant impact Covid-19 has had on the company's global markets. The company says Internet-of-Things cloud and connectivity revenue have continued to grow and is expected to be up by 6.1% to USD43.5 million from USD41 million in 2019, driven by the continued strong performance of both the connectivity and platforms businesses, supporting the company's primary strategic focus on industrial IoT services. Telit says it has taken "decisive and timely" mitigating measures to limit the impact of the pandemic on its adjusted Ebitda, which is expected to be in the range of USD38 million to USD41 million versus USD38.2 million in 2019, including two months Ebitda contribution from automotive business. Telit's profit in cash is expected to be in line with the board's expectations.
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TruFin PLC - fintech and banking businesses - Says revenue for 2020 is expected to be significantly ahead of market expectations at GBP14.6 million versus GBP7.3 million in 2019. This has predominantly been driven by strong performance from the console division of Playstack Ltd which, despite the further national lockdowns, has been supported by robust performance across the rest of the company. As a result, the adjusted pretax loss is also expected to be ahead of market expectations at no more than GBP8.4 million versus GBP9.3 million loss a year ago.
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Impact Healthcare REIT PLC - real estate investment trust - Says tenants' occupancy levels were stable across the portfolio during the final quarter of 2020, but are below their usual levels. Managers at the company's homes report good levels of enquiries, however, new admissions are not expected to rise substantially until current lockdown restrictions on visitors to homes are eased and care home vaccinations have been completed. As at January 15, residents at 60% of the homes owned by the company had received the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination, it says, with residents at a further 15% of the homes owned by the company scheduled to be vaccinated in the week beginning January 18. It is anticipated that the remaining 25% of the company's homes will receive vaccinations before the government's target of the end of January for completion of the rollout of the first dose of the vaccine within UK care homes.
Impact Healthcare says it received 100% of its contracted rent for 2020 and confirms receipt of 100% of the rent due on January 1 for quarterly and monthly rent payments payable in advance.
The company says it has now completed the acquisition of three individual homes to be managed by two of its existing tenants, and a portfolio of three homes to be managed by a new tenant for the company. Collectively these transactions will deploy GBP21.3 million of initial capital, plus transaction costs, and a further GBP2.8 million of capital expenditure to enhance the properties, and to extend one of them.
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Town Centre Securities PLC - property investment, development and car park operator - Says collected and deferred rent receipts for the current quarter to March 31 stand at 86% of the total due. Collection levels for the latest quarter are consistent with previous quarters' levels at this stage. Town Centre Securities says it expects the 76% collection levels for the latest quarter to December 31 to rise as it has seen improvement in each successive quarter previously. "We continue to experience a consistent and reassuring level of rent collection, despite the ongoing level of disruption as a result of Covid-19," says Chair & Chief Executive Edward Ziff. "Once restrictions lift, particularly following the disposals made at the start of this financial year, the business is in a strong position to continue its programme of reset and reinvigoration."
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Time Finance PLC - finance provider - Reports revenue for the six months to the end of November 2020 of GBP11.7 million compared to GBP15.6 million a year ago. Pretax profit was GBP1.4 million versus GBP3.0 million year-on-year. Time Finance says the results reflect increasing demand for finance, month-on-month, from UK small and medium sized enterprises and consumers as the company continues to deal with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company says its ability to continue to generate profit during the period highlights the strength of its multi-product offering of Asset Finance, Vehicle Finance, Loans and Invoice Finance.
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Watkin Jones PLC - residential rent manager - Reports revenue decline of 5.5% in the year to the end of September 2020 to GBP354.1 million from GBP374.8 million a year prior, primarily as a result of forward sales of developments being deferred due to Covid-19 uncertainty. Pretax profit fell by 47% to GBP25.3 million from GBP47.9 million year-on-year. The company reduced its dividend per share by 12% to 7.35 pence from 8.35p paid a year earlier. "We have had a good start to financial 2021 with new forward sales and our developments progressing well. The current escalation of the pandemic and latest lockdown brings with it further operational challenges," noted Chief Executive Richard Simpson. "Overall, I am confident about our business and its prospects, which are supported by strong sector dynamics and investor demand."
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By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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