(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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ITM Power PLC - Sheffield-based hydrogen power equipment maker - Says revenue in first quarter ended July 31 rises to GBP1.2 million from GBP300,000 a year earlier. Loss from operations widens to GBP6.3 million from GBP5.6 million. In addition, company proposes placing to raise GBP250 million. Price per share to be determined at close of bookbuild process. ITM plans raise in order to capitalise on growth opportunities. ITM adds: "The group is seeing a significant acceleration in demand for large scale green hydrogen projects in support of national hydrogen strategies, with the tender opportunity pipeline and contracted backlog reaching 1,011MW and 310MW respectively as of 30 September 2021. In order to capitalise on its market leadership the group intends to use the net proceeds of the capital raise principally to enable an acceleration of the group's technology capabilities and to expand its manufacturing capacity to 5GWs by 2024. The group will also deploy such net proceeds along with its existing cash balance to continue investment in organisational development as it scales towards global manufacturing."
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Marshall Motor Holdings PLC - Cambridge-based automotive retailer - Announces deal to acquire Motorline Holdings Ltd for GBP64.5 million. Also separately agrees deal to acquire a related GBP2.9 million freehold property and has option to buy two other freeholds at GBP24.9 million. "Motorline is a leading multi-franchise dealer group headquartered in Canterbury and operating across Kent, West Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, Bristol, South Wales and the West Midlands. It represents ten brands through 48 operating franchises including Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, Nissan, Peugeot, and Maserati. In addition, it operates four Volkswagen Group Trade Parts Specialist businesses and five used car centres," Marshall says. Motorline generated GBP695.2 million revenue in 2020.
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Yooma Wellness Inc - Toronto, Canada-based CBD and cannabis-related wellness products maker - Buys N8 Essentials LLC, a manufacturer and seller of of wellness goods. US-based N8's products incorporate CBD. Deal values N8 at USD850,000.
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Anglo Pacific Group PLC - London-based natural resources royalty investor - Exits thermal coal by entering pact to sell 1% gross revenue royalty over the Narrabri mine to Whitehaven Coal Ltd, for up to USD36 million. Fixed payments total USD21.6 million and contingent payments could generate further USD14 million. "This transaction significantly improves the Group's carbon footprint with a remaining portfolio of assets now increasingly weighted towards cobalt, vanadium, copper and nickel - commodities which will be essential to decarbonise energy generation in the years ahead," company says.
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Genel Energy PLC - London-based oil company - Says Tawke output in third quarter of 2021 averages 105,179 barrels of oil per day, down from 110,304 bopd in second quarter.
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Ariana Resources PLC - exploration firm with interests in Europe - Says environmental impact assessment report for Tavsan gold and silver mine in Turkey approved. Ariana has just under a 34% stake in Tavsan. "Discussions regarding debt financing of the required construction capital are being advanced with potential lenders," Ariana adds.
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Kenmare Resources PLC - lithium and zircon producer in Mozambique - Heavy mineral concentrate output in third quarter rises 60% yearly to 413,400 tonnes from 258,000 tonnes. Ilmenite production up 87% to 314,400 tonnes and primary zircon output improves 44% to 15,700 tonnes. Rutile production up 69% to 2,700 tonnes.
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Tertiary Minerals PLC - mineral exploration and development in the US state of Nevada and in northern Europe - Says second phase of trenching at Pyramid silver and gold project, Nevada, extends existing discovery. "Silver and gold mineralisation has now been shown to extend over a strike extent of at least 530 metres," Tertiary says.
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Corcel PLC - natural resources explorer and developer focused on battery metals - Notes press speculation on Tring Road and Avonmouth gas-fired peaker plants and confirms in talks with "number of parties" for financing package to potentially partially sell interest in plants.
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Echo Energy PLC - Latin American-focused upstream oil & gas company - Completes first programme of sixteen proposed well interventions and workovers at Santa Cruz Sur asset. Aim is to bring back non-producing reserves into production. Echo explains: "The first intervention has now been successfully completed on a well in the Chorillos block. For the operation, a surface hydraulic pumping unit was used to induce flow and over a 100-hour period, the well delivered a cumulative 305 barrels of high-quality oil as part of this intervention and flow induction process, a rate equivalent to 76 bopd."
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Diurnal Group PLC - Cardiff, Wales-based pharmaceutical company focused on hormonal diseases - Signs distribution pact with ExCEEd Orphan, a services provider for treatment of rare diseases. Distribution deal is in relation to Diurnal's Alkindi and Efmody in central and eastern European countries. Diurnal adds: "Under the terms of the agreement, ExCEEd Orphan will receive the exclusive rights to distribute and market Alkindi and Efmody in the CEE countries including; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czechia, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Based on the company's estimates and market research conducted by ExCEEd Orphan, there are estimated to be in total around 9,500 patients in the CEE region suffering from paediatric adrenal insufficiency and adult congenital adrenal hyperplasia." Diurnal says the agreement extends commercial footprint to "over two-thirds of the European Economic Area population".
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Poolbeg Pharma PLC - London-based clinical stage infectious disease pharmaceutical company - Eyes expanding patents for PredictViral platform, which estimates disease severity and contagiousness in people recently infected with a respiratory virus. Poolbeg says: "Expanding on existing PredictViral IP, these latest patent applications have been submitted in the UK and aims to protect a method of predicting whether an individual exposed to a respiratory virus (such as influenza, RSV, hRV) will have a higher severity of disease and / or be more likely to be contagious. The Company will continue to focus on expanding its IP portfolio as required." Company adds patent applications filed by Open Orphan PLC's hVIVO on Poolbeg's behalf.
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Directa Plus PLC - London-based supplier of graphene-based products - Says Italian subsidiary qualifies for additional EUR500,000 loan under Italy's Covid-19 Recovery Plan. A sum of EUR700,000 from the scheme was received in August.
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Sabien Technology Group PLC - Watford-based boiler efficiency products - In exploratory talks with Proton Technologies Canada Inc to examine possible co-operation between duo, in relation to "potential synergies between their respective technologies and projects". "Specifically, Sabien is keen to understand the potential for its waste-to-fuel process being deployed in conjunction with Proton's hydrogen production technology," Sabien says. Ahead of more detailed talks, Sabien enters into subscription pact with Proton. Will invest GBP100,000 into Proton, taking just shy of a 0.1% stake in company. Adds: "The board believes that the investment represents a strong opportunity to gain economic access to an exciting emerging marketplace."
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Invinity Energy Systems PLC - Jersey-based manufacturer of vanadium flow batteries - Says 1.7 megawatt hour first phase of Energy Superhub Oxford project's flow battery now installed. "Comprising nine Invinity VS3 flow batteries, this first battery cluster has enough capacity to serve the daily electricity needs of over 200 UK households," Invinity says, adding it is an "important milestone".
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Eqtec PLC - Cork, Ireland-based gasification company focused on turning waste into sustainable energy - Invests additional USD2.8 million in North Fork waste-to-energy project in California, upping stake to 49%. Also provides USD4.5 million convertible loan facility to fund the development of project
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essensys PLC - London-based software and cloud services for flexible workspace industry - Renews pact with Industrious, its largest customer. "The new global framework agreement consolidates all existing business between essensys and Industrious and establishes the framework for essensys to support Industrious's global expansion plans," company says. essensys serves 111 Industrious locations, mainly in US though it has also supported its UK arm.
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Ideagen PLC - Nottingham, England-based information management software - Signs deal to sell trade and principal assets of Pentana Compliance business unit. Says proceeds to amount to USD21.3 million.
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Zoo Digital Group PLC - London-based provider of cloud-based localisation and digital distribution services - Launches mastering services division designed to assist content creators to deliver net day air on streaming platforms. "The mastering services division provides an additional revenue source for the Company and further enhances Zoo's position as a provider of end-to-end localisation and media services to the global media and entertainment industry. Mastering is the process of finishing or finalising a programme after post-production to synchronise the video and audio tracks, conform to technical requirements of the target platforms, and perform compression and encoding of the audio-visual materials," Zoo says.
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Sportech PLC - London-based betting technology company - Says 137.1 million shares, just under 73% of capital, validly tendered by shareholders under tender offer. After scale back, 88.8 million will be purchased by company under tender offer, meaning GBP35.5 million returned to shareholders.
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National World PLC - UK newspaper industry investor that acquired JPIMedia Publishing in May - Agrees deal for "far-reaching IT overhaul" for JPIMedia's entire IT infrastructure and content creation to move to Google Cloud. "The savings made through the programme will help the company grow its digital content across its portfolio and provide improved subscription models to customers seeking hyper-local news in their areas through the use of enhanced digital technology infrastructure and innovation," National World says.
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RPS Group PLC - London-based professional services firm - Says working on urban mobility focused projects in North America, including with Texas Department of Transportation's State Highway 99 project. In Australia, company was engaged by Australian Rail Track Corp to help with two design and construction contracts, as well as transition into project delivery.
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ThinkSmart Ltd - Australian digital payments platform - Plans to return AUD5.6 million, about GBP3.3 million, to shareholders. Says will come through return of share capital as well as an unfranked dividend of AUD0.84 per share.
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Marlowe PLC - London-based safety and regulatory compliance services and software - Seals acquisition of Hydro-X Group Ltd. In addition, company increases finance facility with HSBC Bank PLC and National Westminster Bank PLC. Total facilities increased to GBP130 million from GBP90 million and will provide extra firepower to pursue M&A strategy.
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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com
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