(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Helium One Global Ltd - Tanzania-focused helium miner - Inks environmental impact assessment certificate for planned drilling at Rukwa project, Tanzania. Helium One now has "all necessary permits in place to commence exploration drilling in early June". AIM-listed production and development-focused investment firm Scirocco Energy PLC notes Helium One announcement.
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Atalaya Mining PLC - Cyprus-based copper producer - First quarter revenue rises 59% to EUR97.4 million from EUR61.2 million a year earlier. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation surge to EUR47.4 million from EUR9.3 million.
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Uru Metals Ltd - exploration and development firm - Notes recent share price movement, stock rose 21% on Wednesday, but says it has no explanation for surge. Stock falls 18% on Thursday.
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Checkit PLC - Cambridge-based workflow management software provider - Says total revenue rises 15% to GBP4.3 million in three months to April 30, from GBP3.7 million a year earlier. Checkit Connect and Checkit Connect US both post revenue growth. "The board remains confident in the outlook for the business," company adds.
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Empresaria Group PLC - Crawley, West Sussex-based specialist staffing - Hails "strong start" to 2021 and expects first half and full year adjusted pretax profit to top 2021. Adjusted pretax profit in 2020 came in at GBP5.2 million and GBP2.4 million in first half alone. "While there remain some ongoing challenges and risks from Covid-19, visibility of the remainder of the year is improving," company adds.
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TT Electronics PLC - Woking, England-based electronic resistor manufacturing company - Says in four months ended April, revenue rises 7% annually on organic basis, building on promising first two months of financial year. "As the market recovers, we have seen strong growth across healthcare, automation and electrification markets as demand for products that enable a cleaner, smarter and healthier environment continues," company says. Expects adjusted operating profit at top end of GBP33.6 million to GBP35.4 million range. Notes that just shy of 23% of shareholders vote against remuneration report at annual general meeting. Motion passes, however. "Following the AGM, the remuneration committee will continue to engage with our major shareholders to fully understand their concerns," company adds.
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Impact Healthcare REIT PLC - real estate investment trust focused on healthcare properties - Says net asset value per share rises 0.8% quarter-on-quarter to 110.48 pence per share from 109.58p. Declares 1.6025p first quarter payout, in line with annual 6.41p target, up 1.9% from 2020's 6.29p. Property portfolio value up 2.0% quarter-on-quarter to GBP427.0 million and collected 100% of rent.
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Guild Esports PLC - e-sports business headquartered in London - Launches second apparel range, six months after debut line. "Since then, the Guild brand's worldwide recognition has grown strongly, in part driven by victories in major Fortnite and Rocket League tournaments as well as a surge in Guild's owned audience of followers on social media from approximately 10,000 to 450,000, including a network audience of over 13 million across Guild's pro players and content creators," company says. "Prices for the new collection will range from GBP8 to GBP55 at retail."
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Gaming Realms PLC - London-based mobile games developer - Extends Slingo gaming agreement with Scientific Games. Signs four-year licensing deal with the gaming firm. "This marks an extension to the Company's existing agreement with Scientific Games, in which Scientific Games has been provided exclusive rights to create and produce SLINGO-branded lottery instant scratch games, terminal generated and draw-based games," Gaming Realms says.
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OnTheMarket PLC - property listing portal based in Aldershot, Hampshire - Signs commercial pact with property data firm Sprift Technologies Ltd. Deal means OnTheMarket can provide agents with "free market appraisal guides". "Providing enhanced data and market intelligence for agents is a priority for OnTheMarket and we're very pleased to partner with Sprift to offer our agents 'best in class', free and easily generated data-rich Market Appraisal Guides. Working with the Sprift team closely over the past few months, we've been consistently impressed by their approach and ambition," Chief Executive Officer Jason Tebb says.
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Canadian General Investments Ltd - closed-end equity fund - Enters into a prime brokerage services agreement with a Canadian chartered bank. Margin borrowing of USD100 million under this new facility has been used to extinguish the USD100 million borrowed under a one-year secured non-revolving term credit facility that was scheduled to mature on Wednesday. Proceeds will continue to be used on an ongoing basis as part of Canadian General Investments's overall leverage strategy.
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Best of the Best PLC - car and lifestyle competition company - Confirms that revenue and pretax profit delivered in the year to April 30 are expected to be in line with market expectations.
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Caledonia Mining Corp PLC - Saint Helier, Jersey-based mining company - Reports gross revenue of USD25.7 million for the three months to the end of March compared to USD23.6 million a year ago. Higher revenue reflects a higher realised gold price offset by lower sales due to lower production, which totalled 13,197 ounces of gold in the quarter, down from 14,233 ounces a year ago. Caledonia says output hurt by underground flooding and lower grades. Dividend paid in the quarter of 11 cents per share, a 47% increase year-on-year.
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Luceco PLC - LED lighting products supplier - Says strong trading momentum has continued in 2021, with robust demand in all major sales channels. Luceco now expects revenue of GBP105 million and adjusted operating profit of GBP18 million for the first half of 2021. A year ago, the company reported revenue of GBP71.6 million for the half year and adjusted operating profit of GBP9.0 million. "New business wins, superior channel access and the agility of our vertically integrated manufacturing model have allowed us to gain share in an improving market," says Chief Executive John Hornby.
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Eurocell PLC - Alfreton, England-based UPVC products provider - Says, following the good start it made in the first two months of the year, trading continued to improve through March and April. Group like-for-like sales for the four months to April 30 were up 20% compared to 2019 and up 26% compared to 2020. As a result, Eurocell now expects pretax profit for 2021 to be ahead of current market expectations.
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DX Group PLC - Slough, England-based mail, courier and logistics company - Says trading performance since March has been stronger than expected. Thus, DX says it will significantly exceed existing market expectations for adjusted pretax profit in the current financial year, with an associated improvement in operating cash flows. While trading at DX Express has been in line with management expectations, revenue growth at DX Freight is now expected to be around GBP10 million higher than previously anticipated. This has been driven by significantly increased volumes, both from existing customers and through new customer wins. The company also proposes to accelerate its plans to expand DX's delivery network by targeting the opening of 12 new depots over the next two years.
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Goldstone Resources Ltd - Jersey-based resource development company - Says mining and ore stacking at the Homase mine within its Akrokeri-Homase gold project in Ghana has commenced with the first mined ore having been successfully stacked onto the heap leach pad. The first two cells of the heap leach pad have been commissioned, enabling stacking to commence at a rate of 100 tonnes per hour, which is currently ramping up to a target of 200 tonnes per hour. Goldstone says 80,000 tonnes of ore have been stockpiled, equating to around one month of mine production at full 3,000 tonne per day heap leach capacity. Piping is expected to be completed within the next two weeks followed by irrigation.
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Alumasc Group PLC - Kettering, England-based supplier of building and engineering products - Says momentum has continued following a record first half year performance that saw double digit revenue growth and also a double digit return on sales. All of Alumasc businesses have been successful in winning market share and have been further supported by encouraging export sales. "Together with the benefit of the structural efficiency improvements made by the Group in recent years and the continuing progress on the Levolux turnaround plan, the group is well positioned to benefit from the significant opportunities within our markets, both short and longer term," says Chief Executive Paul Hooper.
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Kazera Global PLC - investment company focused on opportunities in the resources and energy sectors - Says proposed investment of EUR9.1 million at 2.7p per share appears to remain on track. This investment in Kazera represents part of a package of broader investments in Namibia being made by the prospective investor. The expectation was that the funds would be received imminently following the completion of the banking due diligence.
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Conduit Holdings Ltd - Bermuda-based insurance company - Reports strong first three months of 2021 trading with strong broker and client support. Estimated ultimate premiums written of USD199.1 million versus USD160.0 million announced in January 14 trading statement. "The market continues to develop very much in line with our expectations and we remain confident that we will deliver on our plan," the company says in its statement Thursday.
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Angus Energy PLC - oil & gas development company focused on UK - Says the loan facility has now been signed between Angus and Saltfleetby Energy Ltd, as borrower and guarantor respectively, and Mercuria Energy Trading Ltd and Aleph Saltfleetby Ltd, as the co-lenders. This facility will provide funds for continued progress on the detailed engineering design for the rehabilitation of Saltfleetby in England to drill the third production well before reconnecting the two existing gas wells. Concurrently, Angus Energy says it is progressing its potential geothermal projects in the South West, while evaluating other acquisitions and renewable opportunities with its new funding partners and investors.
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Argo Blockchain PLC - cryptocurrency mining company - Completes the acquisition of the two data centres in Quebec, Canada. The acquisition is part of the company's strategy to increase control over the mining facilities in which its machines are hosted, with a view to providing the company with long term stability. The data centres have a combined total of 20 megawatts of power capacity and currently house a significant proportion of Argo's cryptocurrency mining equipment. No financial details were disclosed by Argo said the consideration for the acquisition was mainly non-cash consisting of the assumption of existing bank obligations related to these facilities and the application of a previously paid deposit.
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Caspian Sunrise PLC - Central Asian oil & gas exploration and production company - Issues 3.0 million shares at a price of 2.35p per share in satisfaction of an existing debt. Following the admission, the company will have 2.09 billion shares overall.
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Valeura Energy Inc - Calgary, Canada-based upstream oil & gas company - Reports petroleum and natural gas revenue of USD2.0 million for the three months to the end of March, down from USD2.8 million a year ago. Net loss form operations in the quarter widens to USD1.1 million from USD192,000. This is after production of crude oil & natural gas falls to 684 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 716 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the first quarter of 2020.
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Nanoco Group PLC - Manchester, England-based heavy-metal-free quantum dots manufacturer - Signs agreement for a development project with an European electronics customer. The project began in May 2020 and was the first piece of work to be performed under the long-term quantum dot material supply agreement. The project extension moves the phase 1 development work to the next stage. Nanoco says it will continue working on a range of materials for a number of potential applications. The extension increases expectation for revenue in 2021 by 40% with the balance of the project revenue to be earned in the first quarter of 2022.
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SEEEN PLC - social media and technology platform provider - Launches a new product, Dialog-To-Clip, for sale to video creators on Adobe's app store. In order to further focus the company on sales, it has made a strategic advisory appointment of William Jennings as a senior business development executive to accelerate its Go-To-Market plan.
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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com and Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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