Public Policy Share News (PPHC)

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of earnings of London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Frontier Developments PLC - Cambridge-based video games developer and publisher - For the financial year that ended May 31, reports pretax loss of GBP26.5 million, swung from a profit of GBP944,000 a year prior. Revenue falls to GBP104.6 million from GBP114.0 million. Research and development expenses increase 47% to GBP67.9 million from GBP46.2 million. Looking ahead, says financial 2024 started solidly, but notes worse than expected sales for Formula 1-focused video game F1 Manager 2023. Frontier expects revenue to grow 3.3% to GBP108 million in financial 2024, in line with market expectations. Further, it anticipates an adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of GBP9 million, widened by 96% from GBP4.6 million in financial 2023. "The big new game release for [financial] 2024 is still to come, with Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin scheduled for release in November 2023. Our marketing campaign for launch kicked off strongly with our presence at Gamescom at the end of August," the company says.

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Henderson High Income Trust PLC - Pure income trust investing in dividend-paying UK companies - Net asset value per share as at June 30 is at 164.54 pence, virtually unchanged from 164.45p a year prior. Dividends paid or payable for the first half of 2023 are 5.15p per share, up from 5.05p a year ago. NAV total return in the first half of 2023 is 3.0%, outperforming its benchmark, which returns 1.9%. Its benchmark is a composite of 80% of the FTSE All-Share Index and 20% of the ICE BofA Sterling Non-Gilts Index rebalanced annually. Says investors are focused on how much further interest rates will increase, amid high inflation. Notes that UK inflation might take longer to abate, citing a "very tight labour market in the UK". Looking ahead, says UK companies "still appear to be relatively attractively valued in a global context".

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Made Tech Group PLC - London-based provider of digital, data and technology services to the UK public sector - Pretax loss in the financial year that ended on May 31 widens to GBP1.5 million from GBP288,000 a year ago. Revenue grows 37% to GBP40.2 million from GBP29.3 million. However, cost of sales increase 43% to GBP25.8 million from GBP18.0 million, as administrative expenses are 50% higher at GBP12.9 million compared to GBP8.6 million. Expects revenue in financial 2024 to be in line with financial 2023, citing near term political and macro economic challenges.

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Poolbeg Pharma PLC - London-based infectious disease focused biopharmaceutical company - In the six months to June 30, pretax loss widens to GBP1.8 million from GBP1.7 million a year ago. Posts no revenue, unchanged. Looking ahead, says continues to progressing its pipeline of products as it aims to become a one-stop-shop for pharma and biotech companies that seek programmes to in-license. Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Skillington says firm is positioned "to generate strong returns for shareholders over the coming years".

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Public Policy Holding Co Inc - Washington DC-based government and public relations firm - In the first half of 2023, swings to pretax profit of USD291,999 from loss of USD2.2 million a year ago. Revenue grows 27% to USD65.7 million from USD51.7 million. Declares interim dividend of USD0.0460 per share, up 2.2% from USD0.0450 a year prior. Looking ahead, targets organic revenue growth between 5% and 10% in the medium-term, and incremental growth from future mergers and acquisitions. Chief Executive Officer Stewart Hall says: "Our lobbying operations continue to be market leading in the US, consistently at the top of the Lobbying Disclosure Act rankings, while demand for our specialist public affairs advisory work continues to increase".

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RTW Biotech Opportunities Ltd - New York-based investment firm focused on the life sciences sector - Net asset value as at June 30 grows 34% to USD1.68 from USD1.25 a year prior. NAV total return of 9.3% outperforms benchmark Russell 2000 Biotech, which returns 5.3%. Looking ahead, Roderick Wong, managing partner and chief investment officer of RTW Investments LP, the company's manager, says: "With the second longest and deepest bear market for the biotech sector now behind us, this is an exciting time to invest in highly attractive opportunities across our private, core public and other public portfolios. We look ahead to the remainder of 2023 with confidence as we look to add both public and private companies to our portfolio of transformative assets with high growth potential across the biopharma and med-tech sectors. We look forward to updating shareholders with our continued progress throughout the remainder of the year".

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By Tom Budszus, Alliance News reporter

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