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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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Victoria PLC - flooring company - Says trading continues to be solid, with consumers continuing to invest in their homes and commercial demand for flooring returning. Year-to-date, revenue is 70% ahead of the same period last year and more than 50% ahead of the same period in 2019. This is despite the extended and on-going lockdowns in Australia, that have hurt sales in that division, which makes up 15% of Victoria's revenue. The company says it continues to be involved in active negotiations on several high quality, value-creating acquisition opportunities, and has the capital in place to execute on them.
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Renew Holdings PLC - engineering services provider - Continues to deliver a strong trading performance in its current financial year that ends on September 30, driven by ongoing demand for its critical asset maintenance and renewals services, and continued operational progress across its diversified Engineering Services end markets. Renew now expects its full year results to be materially ahead of current market expectations with adjusted operating profit expected to be no less than GBP50 million versus a current consensus forecast of GBP45.8 million. The company says order book remains strong, underpinned by its long-term framework positions while net debt and cash generation are in line with expectations.
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Starwood European Real Estate Finance Ltd - investment firm - Says, despite pandemic-related disruption, the portfolio continues to perform in line with expectations. Net asset value as at June 30 stands at GBP423.7 million, down from GBP230.1 million the year before. "Given the extremely robust performance of the portfolio through even the most hostile of market tests and the ongoing uncertainty around many traditional forms of dividend income, it is our belief that the company's current share price discount to NAV represents compelling risk adjusted value," says Chair Stephen Smith.
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Weiss Korea Opportunity Fund Ltd - investment firm - Reports NAV per share as at June 30 of GBP2.8038, up from GBP2.4887 posted the year prior. The fund's share price at the end of June stands at GBP2.73, representing a 2.6% discount to NAV. During the six months to the end of June, the company purchases 600,000 of its own shares at a consideration of GBP1.7 million.
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Star Phoenix Group Ltd - investment firm - Says its current cash resources are USD1.4 million, sufficient until the end of the first quarter of 2022. Star Phoenix notes it is seeking new hydrogen projects and divestment of rig and equipment assets in Trinidad, with four offers of purchases of two production / workover rigs and other oilfield equipment have been received recently. The company notes a lease agreement for the equipment, including two fully equipped mud circulating tanks and one MCC unit have already been executed at a rental fee of USD570 per day.
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Voyager Life PLC - health and wellness company - Secures two new stores following the successful opening in St Andrews, Scotland. Adds that offers also have been accepted on new stores in Dundee and Edinburgh. The company notes considerable progress made over the summer, with Voyager's products now stocked in over 70 third-party retail stores in Scotland and England. "Our diversified business model, extended retail reach and growing product range has given us a platform for sustained growth," says Chief Executive Nick Tulloch.
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Abingdon Health PLC - developer and manufacturer of rapid tests - Reports the launch, initially for research use only, of a score-card product available alongside the AbC-19 rapid test, which provides a semi-quantitative result to indicate the strength of antibody response and possible immunity. The use of the score-card accessory alongside AbC-19TM LFD will allow scientific communities to help further understand the presence and strength of IgG neutralising antibodies following infection and/or vaccination.
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Poolbeg Pharma PLC - pharmaceutical company - Says the US Patent & Trademarks Office examiner reviewing the patent application around POLB 001 has indicated that the majority of the claims, including the main claim are allowable. The main claim relates to the use of p38 MAP kinase inhibitors as a class of compounds, including POLB 001, for the treatment of severe influenza through modulation of the immune response. Poolbeg anticipates receiving a formal patent grant in due course.
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Cap-XX Ltd - manufacturer of ultra-thin prismatic and cylindrical supercapacitors - Says Spire Healthcare Group PLC - provider of respiratory remote patient monitoring - selects the CAP-XX supercap to provide the peak power needed to deliver respiratory and pulse rate monitoring for pulmonary patients in the company's new Health Tag garment-adhered sensor.
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Open Orphan PLC - pharmaceutical services clinical research company - Notes Barvarian Nordic AS reporting positive results received from a human challenge study testing its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine candidate, MVA-BN RSV. hVIVO, a subsidiary of Open Orphan, conducted the phase 2 double-blinded, placebo controlled trial using its RSV human challenge study model. "We are delighted to see the positive results emerge from this RSV human challenge study with Bavarian Nordic for its RSV vaccine candidate, which was run by hVIVO. This study illustrates the Company's diverse offering across the infectious disease market," says Open Orphan Executive Chair Cathal Friel.
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Seed Innovations Ltd - investor with focus on medical cannabis - Notes an announcement by its portfolio company, Little Green Pharma Ltd, in which Seed holds 7.3 million shares, representing 3.1% of issued share capital. Little Green Pharma completed its first product shipment of its own branded cannabis flower medicines to the Australian market from its newly acquired Danish facility. Little Green Pharma expects to import two further flower shipments of cannabis flower medicines from its Danish facility by end October.
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Science Group PLC - Cambridge, England-based consulting services firm - Raises GBP18.5 million through the placing of 4.1 million new shares with existing and new institutional investors at a price of 450 pence per placing share. Net proceeds to be used to fund the company's recent purchases of shares in TP Group PLC and strengthen Science Group's balance sheet for future mergers & acquisitions.
Notes Executive Chair Martyn Ratcliffe sells 2.0 million shares at placing price. After this transaction, Ratcliffe will have an interest in 20% of the enlarged share capital of the Science Group. The company was not a party to the sale and will not receive any proceeds from the Ratcliffe's transaction.
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Kropz PLC - phosphate explorer and developer - Confirms that it has made its quarterly draw down requests under the equity facilities with its major shareholder ARC Fund. The company has two equity facilities, with the first being for USD40 million and the second for up to USD5 million. The sixth draw down under the first facility is for USD3 million which will be settled by the issue of 38.2 million new shares at the issue price of 6.75p per share to ARC on September 10. This is the final drawdown on this facility and it is now fully drawn. In addition, Kropz has made the third draw down request of USD400,000 under the second facility. This draw down will be settled by the issue of 7.0 million new shares at 4.20p per share to ARC, also on September 10. The proceeds drawn down from the facilities will be applied to the continuing workstreams on the Elandsfontein and Hinda projects.
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Maestrano Group PLC - software company - Says Network Rail has approved technology from its subsidiary Cordel for use in clearance gauging across the UK rail network. Cordel's technology will help Network Rail automate and speedup the critical task of ensuring trains safely fit through infrastructure such as platforms and tunnels. No financial details of the deal were disclosed.
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Kazera Global PLC - investment company - Enters into an off-take agreement for the sale of all tantalum produced by its mine in Tantalite Valley, Namibia. Kazera says three-year contract, through to the end of 2024 signed with Jiujiang Jinxin Nonferrous Metals Co Ltd, with a test sample assay already approved by the customer and airfreighted to China for factory testing.
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SolGold PLC - miner focused on Ecuador - Plans to rationalise its exploration portfolio to focus resources on its highest priority targets. SolGold intends to relinquish 10 of the 72 concessions held within its four 100% owned subsidiaries in Ecuador largely due to lower assessed geological prospectivity compared to its other project areas. These concessions cover 37,000 hectares in total.
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Metal Tiger PLC - investor in natural resources - Says its investee Sandfire Resources Ltd reported a standout intersection from 439 metres down-hole of 45 metres at 2.2% copper 1.2 kilometre south-west of the recently upgraded A4 mineral resource. Metal Tiger holds 2% uncapped net smelter royalty over circa 8,000 square kilometres of Sandfire's licence holdings in the Kalahari copper belt including PL190/2008, which hosts the A4 deposit. Metal Tiger also has a capped USD2 million 2% net smelter royalty over production from the T3 Motheo mine. Metal Tiger says drilling is continuing, with two rigs testing the true width of the mineralisation and the potential for extensions below MO-A4-207D and a third rig expected to arrive at A4 in mid-September.
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Pure Gold Mining Inc - Vancouver, Canada-based miner - Reports production milestones achieved at PureGold mine in Red Lake, Ontario. The company completes installation of all six CIP interstage screens and a trommel screen on the SAG mill in August, leading to a new single day record of 1,037 tonnes of ore on August 31, 30% higher than the current design capacity of 800 tonnes per day. The company says it poured 5,535 ounces of gold during the month of August, a new monthly record. "These summer months have been a turning point operationally for the PureGold Mine and we look forward to delivering on the promise of high grades, strong margins, and world-class exploration potential this year and in years to come," says President & CEO Darin Labrenz.
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Seraphim Space Investment Trust PLC - investment firm - Says Arqit Ltd, a quantum encryption technology firm, has completed its proposed merger with Centricus Acquisition Corp, a special purpose acquisition company. The combined company has been renamed Arqit Quantum Inc.
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Augmentum Fintech PLC - fintech sector-focused investor - Makes a USD10 million investment into Stockholm based consumer credit refinancing company AnyFin. "Their focus on improving the financial well-being of consumers through innovative digital products is a mission that resonated strongly with us. We look forward to working with them as they achieve their vision over the coming years which includes a wider product offering and growth across Europe," says Augmentum Fintech CEO Tim Levene.
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Albion Venture Capital Trust PLC - investment firm - Reports net asset value as at June 30 of GBP73.4 million or 73.81p per share, an increase of 0.9% since March 31. After accounting for the first dividend for the year to the end of March 2022 of 1.83p per share and the special dividend of 15.00p per share paid on July 30, the NAV is 56.98p per share. During the period from April 1 to June 30, the company did not buy back any shares.
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Marwyn Value Investors Ltd - investment firm - Expects to secure a cash payment after Praesepe PLC - to which it sold Le Chameau Group PLC in 2012 - won the dispute with HMRC on the principle of fiscal neutrality. The basis of the dispute was that some similar forms of gambling were treated differently for VAT purposes. On June 30, the first-tier tribunal ruled in favour of Praesepe PLC and HMRC confirmed that it will not appeal that decision. In addition, Marwyn Value Investors says it plans to distribute cash to investors received from the Praesepe VAT reclaims and investee Zegona Communications PLC in relation to proposed GBP335 million return to investors after sale of Euskaltel.
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By Evelina Grecenko; evelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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