(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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3i Infrastructure PLC - FTSE 250-listed infrastructure investment company - Agrees to invest about USD512 million to acquire a 100% stake in Global Cloud Xchange. "GCX provides high-bandwidth connectivity to a range of blue-chip customers including hyperscalers, telecommunications operators, new media providers and enterprises. Its 66,000km of cables span 46 countries from North America to Asia, with a particularly strong position on the Europe-Asia and Intra-Asia routes," 3i explains.
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B&M European Value Retail SA - FTSE 100-listed Luxembourg-headquartered retailer - Prices GBP250 million seven-year backed senior secured notes due 2028 at 4.00%. Intends to use money raised from the notes for general corporate purposes and to pay fees and expenses incurred in connection with the offering. Moody's assigned a Ba2 rating to the notes.
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Tatton Asset Management PLC - Wilmslow-based fund manager - Ends first half with record assets under management, sitting at GBP10.8 billion. As of November 12, AuM now about GBP11.2 billion. Revenue in six months to September 30 increases 26% to GBP13.8 million from GBP11.0 million. Pretax profit grows to GBP4.8 million from GBP3.1 million. Declares interim dividend of 4.0 pence, up from 3.5p year before. Chief Executive Paul Hogarth says: "During the Period, Tatton exceeded the milestone of GBP10 billion AuM from pure organic growth while also expanding our distribution footprint by entering into new long term strategic partnerships and we were thrilled to have reached £10.8 billion at the end of September 2021. Paradigm also delivered a record level of mortgage completions of £6.6 billion in the six month Period. Trading momentum has continued since the last market update and post Period end and, as a result, we now anticipate that trading for the current financial year will be ahead of the Board's previous expectations."
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Kingswood Holdings Ltd - London-based wealth manager - Agrees to acquire the business assets of Smythe & Walter, a financial planning business based in Faversham, Kent. Says GBP420,000 will be paid immediately and up to GBP420,000 paid on deferred basis over 2 years. Notes Kingswood assets under administration now over GBP6.4 billion, with GBP4.7 billion from UK clients. Kingswood UK Chief Executive David Lawrence says: "Smythe & Walter are a growing firm and this acquisition enhances our existing footprint in the South East. I am delighted to welcome Lee Smythe and his team to Kingswood. This is our third acquisition of 2021 and we continue to have a strong pipeline of high-quality UK opportunities under negotiation, five of which are in the exclusive due diligence stage."
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First Property Group PLC - London-based property fund manager and investor - Extends fund manager role for UK Pension Property Portfolio LP by five years to January 13, 2027. To extend fund, company agrees to buy out two partners in UK PPP for GBP36.8 million. First Chief Executive Ben Habib says: "I am delighted by the outcome of our discussions with the limited partners in these two funds and their restructuring. Investors in both these funds should benefit from a high rate of income return on their investments and, hopefully, capital gains in due course as markets recover from lockdowns."
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Mobeus Income & Growth 4 VCT PLC - venture capital trusts managed by Gresham House PLC - Net asset value per share ends September 30 at 103.57 pence each, down from 104.76p six months earlier. Notes NAV drop comes from 5.0p interim dividend.
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Mirriad Advertising PLC - London-based in-content advertising technology - Signs new initiative with Crown Media Family Networks, a US-based media production company owned and operated by Hallmark Cards Inc. Company says: "The ongoing agreement - which now includes access to Hallmark Channel's highly successful Countdown to Christmas programme, a pop culture phenomenon and beloved holiday tradition for millions of viewers in America - will present brands and advertisers with the exciting opportunity to leverage Mirriad's in-content solution to better engage with audiences in the run-up to this year's festive season."
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Supply@Me Capital PLC - London-based inventory monetisation services provider - Gets notice for conversion of GBP158,333 of loan notes from Mercator Capital Management Fund LP. Will convert notes into 77.6 million shares.
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Mirada PLC - London-based broadcasting technology firm - Signs strategic collaboration with US-based Shift 2 Stream Inc. "Shift 2 Stream empowers rural, regional, small and mid-size internet service providers and cable operators to deliver cost-effective application-based TV services to their residential and business subscribers," company explains. Part of agreement will see Shift 2 Stream become an official reseller of Mirada's products and services through the integration of Mirada's Iris technology into its new Opt2Me solution.
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Cornerstone FS PLC - Newry, Northern Ireland-based cloud-based provider of payments - Offers "short" extension to timing of drawdown for GBP100,000 loan from Robert Lee. Drawdown will now be November 26, extended from November 15. "The company's strategy as stated in its admission document is on track and the anticipated drawdown of the loan from Lee was part of that process. The breach of this particular loan facility will not have a material impact on the execution of that strategy," company says.
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Golden Rock Global PLC - special purpose acquisition company eyeing buy in fintech sector - Signs non-legally binding heads of terms with the shareholders of Bolt Global Ltd to buy firm. "Although the consideration payable by the company to the shareholders of Bolt Global has not yet been determined, it is anticipated that it will be satisfied entirely by the issue of new GRG shares. The company also announces that it intends to carry out a contemporaneous fundraising to raise further working capital for the enlarged group," company says. Bolt Global is a blockchain-based media and decentralised finance ecosystem.
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Blue Prism Group PLC - Warrington-based robotic process automation firm - SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc confirms making 1,200.00 pence preliminary approach for company. SS&C offer is 6.7% higher than Vista Funds offer of 1,125.00p that was agreed in September. Blue Prism is providing SS&C Technologies with due diligence but says there can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made by SS&C. SS&C Chair & Chief Executive Bill Stone says Blue Prism "complements" own business. Vista Funds acceptances for own offer at 21.0%, which is down from 22.3% on October 27 after Lead Edge Capital Management LLC disposed of 1.3 million shares.
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OptiBiotix Health PLC - York, England-based life sciences company - Creates new Indian subsidiary, OptiBiotix Health India Ltd. "The formation of OHI allows significant opportunities for additional revenue growth through sales of the group's products in India," company says. Adds: "In March 2021, OptiBiotix announced the appointment of Taru Jain to focus on business development and growing sales in the strategically important Indian and Asian markets. The formation of OHI builds on that presence."
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Camellia PLC - Linton, England-based agricultural production firm - Buys remaining 20% stake in Bardsley England for GBP1.7 million from Bardsley Ltd. As part of the deal, Bardsley England has sold an existing loan with a face value of about GBP1.1 million to Bardsley Ltd resulting in net cash outflow from Camellia of about GBP600,000.
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Fulcrum Utility Services Ltd - Sheffield-based utility infrastructure and services - Notes the recent share price movement and turbulence in the energy market. Says good progress in the first half of the year, with trading in line with management expectations. Revenue in six months to September 30 up 47% to GBP28.6 million from GBP19.5 million. Order book up 44% to GBP80.9 million from GBP56.1 million at March 31. "The board is pleased to report that its multi-utility contracting operations across the housing, Industrial & Commercial, including EV connections, and utility ownership and maintenance sectors have, to date, been unaffected by the current energy crisis. The board is confident that, currently, the Group's smart metering business model, order book and delivery pipeline is robust and resilient to the turbulence being felt in the energy market," company says.
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President Energy PLC - oil & gas company focussed on Latin America - Confirms reduction of capital in the company by way of cancellation of the company's share premium account. "This is a necessary precursor to the contemplated distribution by way of dividend in specie of the majority of shares held by the Company in Atome Energy PLC in conjunction with the spin out of Atome and the application to AIM of the London Stock Exchange for admittance of the shares of Atome to trading," company explains.
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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com
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