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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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Next Fifteen Communications Group PLC - London-based marketing company - Swings to pretax loss of GBP1.3 million for year ended January 31 from a profit of GBP5.6 million a year prior. Revenue increases to GBP323.7 million from GBP300.7 million. Staff costs increase to GBP189.5 million from GBP171.2 million. Announces reinstatement of the dividend policy with a final dividend proposed for the year of 7 pence per share, up from 2.5p a year before. Says it has made a strong start to the new financial year and is currently trading ahead of management expectations.
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Corero Network Security PLC - cyber defence solutions provider - Posts pretax loss in 2020 of USD4.0 million, narrowing from USD6.6 million a year prior. Revenue surges to USD16.9 million from USD9.7 million. "The 74% increase in sales that we achieved in the year was underpinned by record order intake and increasing traction through our key strategic partnerships. Pleasingly, we also continue to generate increased levels of recurring revenues, providing us with good visibility for the group's future earnings," says Chief Executive Lionel Chmilewsky. "The strong sales traction over the last 12 months, combined with the group's attractive customer offering and recurring revenue generation provide us with renewed optimism and vigour as we navigate 2021 and beyond," says Corero.
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Northbridge Industrial Services PLC - Burton on Trent, England-based industrial services and rental company - Swings to pretax loss in 2020 of GBP7.4 million from GBP315,000 profit in 2019. Revenue rises to GBP34.0 million from GBP33.6 million. Cost of sales increase to GBP19.3 million from GBP17.8 million. Exceptional costs come in at GBP7.8 million, having not featured a year before. "We entered 2021 with a strong order book for our core Crestchic products and optimism for continued improvement in our trading performance in both Crestchic and Tasman. Alongside this, we are continuing to manage costs efficiently, optimise working capital, and focus our capital expenditure on areas of strategic significance to our ambitions for growth. All of this should deliver a strong performance in 2021 and build the foundations for long-term growth," says Northbridge.
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Trident Royalties PLC - UK-based mining royalty and streaming company - Swings to pretax profit in 2020 of USD1.7 million from USD689,000 loss a year prior, after "successful evolution from a cash shell to diversified mining royalty company". Reports maiden revenue of USD1.7 million. Does not recommend the payment of a dividend for the year. "Precious metals continue to deliver high returns for investors; the gold price was certainly one of the winners in 2020 and despite a retrace in early 2021, we are comfortable in our exposure to quality gold assets and may look to expand our portfolio of gold royalties in the future," says Trident.
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SourceBio International PLC - Nottingham-based laboratory services provider - Swings to pretax profit in 2020 of GBP2.8 million from GBP9.1 million loss a year prior. Revenue soars to GBP50.7 million from GBP21.2 million. Does not mention a dividend. "The group has been through a transformational year in 2020 and starts the new year with a strong cash balance, no borrowings, and a business that is rapidly growing whilst generating substantial earnings and cash. Trading in the early months of 2021 has been solid and in line with the board's expectation," says SourceBio.
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XP Power Ltd - Singapore-based maker of power controllers, which convert power from the electricity grid into the form needed by industrial equipment - Says trading in the first quarter of 2021 has been in line with expectations. Says order intake up 7% year-on-year, to GBP73.7 million, on a constant currency basis and 1% ahead as reported. "This performance was driven by the continued strength in the Semiconductor Manufacturing Equipment sector and a recovery in the Industrial Technology sector. As expected, Healthcare orders decreased compared to the prior year, due to the exceptional Covid-19 related orders received in Q1 2020 not repeating," says XP Power. Revenue was up 23% year-on-year on a constant currency basis, and 16% ahead as reported, to GBP57.1 million.
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Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust PLC - investment trust - Reports net asset value per share of 1,132.23 pence at February 28, up from 992.14p at August 31 in 2020. Says the biggest contributor to performance was Scottish Oriental's large exposure to Indian companies. "It is too early to make a forecast of the distribution for the current financial year. The company has never sought to pay high dividends instead focusing on finding growing companies, which tend to have lower yields. We expect that any reduced dividend should be compensated for by higher capital growth from the company's investments," says Scottish Oriental. Says expectations are for strong growth in corporate earnings in 2021.
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North American Income Trust PLC - Investor predominantly focused on S&P 500 equities - Posts net asset value per share at January 31 of 262.48 pence, down from 288.91p a year prior. Increases 2021 dividend to 10.0p per share from 9.50p. Says most of its equity holdings continued their established record of dividend growth in the financial year. "The Democratic Party now holds the presidency and slim majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the short term, we believe that this electoral outcome opens the door to further fiscal policy support and a more coordinated US government approach aimed at combating the Covid-19 crisis," says North American Income Trust.
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Mattioli Woods PLC - wealth manager based in Leicester - Announces acquisition of financial advising firm Pole Arnold Financial Management Ltd for an initial consideration of GBP4.0 million and potential further consideration of up to GBP3.0 million dependent on the attainment of specified performance targets in the two years after completion.
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PRS REIT PLC - real estate investment trust focusing on new-build family homes for the private rental market - Collects 99% of rent due in third quarter ended March 31, down from 100% a year prior. Completes 3,590 homes in quarter, up from 1,947 a year prior. Says demand for rental homes has remained high.
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Reconstruction Capital II Ltd - closed-end investment fund - Says net asset value per share at December 31 was EUR0.1586.
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Coro Energy PLC - South East Asian energy company - Structuring of local Philippines project holding company commenced. Says work to progress the flagship 100 megwatt wind and 100MW solar projects in the Visayas region of the Philippines has started. Announces the start of a comprehensive data gathering campaign at the 100MW onshore Philippine wind project. "These activities have been commenced with a view to positioning the company to have both projects construction ready by mid-2022 and, subject to availability of project financing, maiden revenues achieved some 12 months later," says Coro.
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Quiz PLC - Glasgow-based fashion retailer - Expects revenue of GBP39.7 million for year ended March 31, down 66% from GBP118.0 million a year prior. Says revenues were impacted by prolonged periods of stores and concessions closures, "as well as the material detrimental impact on demand for Quiz's trademark occasionwear as social events and activities were curtailed".
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Challenger Acquisitions Ltd - previously observation wheels, now "focused on securing a new project" - Reports dissolution of EGM held on Monday. The meeting was to consider resolutions to authorise the issue of shares and convertible loan notes in connection with the proposed acquisition of Cindrigo Energy Ltd, announced early March, and to change the name of the Company on completion of the acquisition to Cindrigo Holdings Ltd.
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Griffin Mining Ltd - operator of the Caijiaying zinc-gold mine in China - Processes 200,205 ore tonnes in first quarter of 2021, up from 122,523 tonnes a year prior. Produces 3,504 ounces of gold, up from 1,181 ounces a year before; produces 63,607 ounces of silver, up from 41,669 ounces the year prior.
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Cambium Global Timberland Ltd - plantation forest owner - Pays loan facility agreement with largest shareholder Peter Gyllenhammar AB for GBP1.8 million, including interest. Loan was used to remove outstanding mortgages over the group's 3R Tocantins property without depleting existing cash balances.
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BiON PLC - Kuala Lumpur-based renewable solutions services - Expects revenue for 2020 of MYR100 million, or around GBP17.6 million, after strong momentum from the first half has carried over into the second. "In particular, the growth has been driven by the expansion of the company's EPCC activities in Indonesia in the second half of the year, where BiON completed a number of projects under eco-infrastructure initiatives," says BiON.
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Revolution Bars Group PLC - bars operator based in Ashton-under-Lyne, England - Posts pretax loss for 26 weeks to December 26 of GBP17.7 million, widening from GBP1.6 million a year prior. Revenue falls to GBP21.6 million from GBP81.2 million. Believes, subject to a return to normal trading conditions, that the group is well positioned to operate "more efficiently and, longer term, achieve a higher net margin". There was no dividend paid or declared in the prior period in relation to the year.
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Billington Holdings PLC - steel and engineering firm - Posts pretax profit for 2020 of GBP1.7 million, falling from GBP5.9 million a year before. Revenue falls to GBP65.9 million from GBP104.9 million. Dividend payments resumed with a dividend of 4.25 pence a share proposed. "After a strong year for the Group in 2019, as for everyone, 2020 was dominated by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic," says Mark Smith, chief executive officer. "The current environment continues to be dominated by the global Covid-19 pandemic, but we have seen a recovery in activity levels in the later part of 2020 and into 2021, and whilst pricing pressures remain in the market we are, however, anticipating improved results in 2021," says Billington.
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Central Asia Metals PLC - owns Kounrad SX-EW copper project in central Kazakhstan and Sasa zinc-lead mine in North Macedonia - First quarter copper production down to 2,880 tonnes from 3,201 a year prior. Zinc production down to 5,742t from 6,127t, while lead slips to 7,016t from 7,607t. "We are pleased with our production achievements during these cold winter months but were disappointed to record a lost time injury at Sasa at the end of March 2021, having previously achieved 786 days without an incident," says company.
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Intelligent Ultrasound Group PLC - Cardiff, Wales-based artificial intelligence ultrasound software firm - Announces CE approval of ScanNav Anatomy Peripheral Nerve Block. "We're delighted to have received CE mark approval for our second AI product. Building on the success of ScanNav Assist, our first obstetric AI software that is integrated into GE Healthcare's recently launched SWIFT ultrasound machine, ScanNav Anatomy PNB will launch into the anaesthesiology ultrasound market and continues the Group's expansion into AI-based real-time clinical ultrasound image analysis. We are particularly pleased that many of the independent clinicians who used ScanNav PNB during product testing think that it would benefit them in their everyday clinical practice," says Chief Executive Stuart Gall.
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Steppe Cement Ltd - Kazakhstan-focused construction materials firm - Sells 265,556 tonnes of cement in first quarter, up from 235,896 tonnes a year prior. Says the Kazakh cement market in the first quarter increased by 12% over the corresponding quarter last year.
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IronRidge Resources Ltd - African-focused minerals exploration company - Reports multiple high-grade lithium pegmatite drill intersections at new targets adjacent to the Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana. "We are very pleased with the ongoing results received, which have confirmed high-grades and mineralisation continuity over 400m of strike, with true mineralised pegmatite widths up to 25m which remains open at depth and along strike to the east," says IronRidge.
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Oilex Ltd - Australian oil & gas exploration and production company - Gets nod from Indian government for the sale of its Participating Interest in the Bhandut PSC for USD290,000. "While completion of this transaction has taken longer than anticipated, primarily due to the impact of Covid-19, a positive outcome has now been achieved. This sale provides Oilex with additional current and future cash which will be applied to the existing Cambay and East Irish Sea projects," says Oilex.
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By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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