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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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Novacyt SA - clinical diagnostics company - Posts pretax profit in 2020 of GBP165.2 million, swinging from a loss of GBP3.4 million in 2019. Revenue surges to GBP277.2 million from GBP11.5 million thanks to the launch of Covid-19 testing products. "As the Covid-19 testing market has continued to evolve in 2021, we have continued to strengthen our core capabilities and apply our bioinformatics and design expertise to expand our product offering. We therefore expect to see Novacyt continue to play a major role in Covid-19 testing and, specifically, we expect to see strong revenue growth in private testing as markets and international travel re-opens," says company. Does not mention the payment of a dividend, same as last year. Says sales in the five months to end May more-than-double to GBP88.4 million from GBP40.8 million a year before. Expects strong growth in private testing in the fourth quarter of this year.
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James Cropper PLC - paper products manufacturer based in Cumbria - Posts pretax profit of GBP1.7 million for the year ended March 27, falling sharply from GBP5.5 million. Revenue dips 25% to GBP78.8 million from GBP104.7 million. Does not declare a full-year dividend compared to 2.5 pence per share a year prior. "Looking forwards, the potential we have across multiple products and markets is huge, as is the potential for us to do better within. The challenge now is to ensure that we understand how we realise this and what is missing along the way. Crucially, we are able to recommence capital investments put on hold last year," says company.
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MS International PLC - defence equipment manufacturer based in Doncaster, England - Swings to pretax profit for the year ended April 30 of GBP1.6 million from GBP3.3 million loss a year prior. Revenue up 0.5% to GBP61.5 million from GBP61.2 million. Declares full-year dividend of 8.25p per share, more than doubled from 3.50p a year prior. Eyes further opportunities in US defence market as "home market with the UK MoD remains, disappointingly subdued".
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TomCo Energy PLC - oil project development in US focused on using new technology to unlock unconventional hydrocarbon resources - Reports widened pretax loss in first half ended March 31 of GBP777,000 from GBP376,000 a year prior. Does not generate revenue in the first half, unchanged from a year ago. Administrative expenses rise 96% to GBP738,000 from GBP377,000. Says it will continue to focus on the Greenfield Energy LLC joint venture with Valkor LLC. "Its initial purpose is the development of a plant utilising technology licensed or assigned to it by third parties for Valkor to recover oil from oil sands in Utah, which is considered strategic to the group's activities," says company. Both TomCo and Valkor hold 50% ownership interests in Greenfield.
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Triple Point Income VCT PLC - renewable energy investor - Posts net asset value per C share at March 31 of 83.30p, down from 84.87p a year prior; D shares down to 59.59p from 62.46p; E shares down to 94.59p from 101.69p. Ups C share dividend for the year ended March 31 to 73.50p from 70.00p; D share dividend up to 70.00p from 65.00p; E share dividend up to 11.50p from 5.00p. "Our hydro portfolio has continued to perform robustly. By contrast the write down of our gas fired energy centre company, although not specifically related to the pandemic, and the uncertainty surrounding our vertical growing company, show the potential divergence in our portfolio," says company.
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Trifast PLC - Uckfield, England-based industrial fastenings firm - Sees pretax profit more than double for the year ended March 31 to GBP7.9 million from GBP3.0 million a year before. Revenue dips 6.0% to GBP188.2 million from GBP200.2 million. Cost of sales falls 4.8% to GBP138.2 million from GBP145.1 million. Declares dividend of 1.60p per share, up 33% from 1.20p. "The foundations are largely in place and Trifast stands on the cusp of an extended period of strong growth - both through continued organic growth and with an increasing focus on value-enhancing acquisitions. We aspire to be a much bigger company and are approaching matters with that in mind," says company.
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Staffline Group PLC - Nottingham, England-based recruitment and training - Posts pretax loss for 2020 of GBP52.7 million, widening from GBP44.0 million a year prior. Revenue dips 12% to GBP927.6 million from GBP1.06 billion. Says as a condition of refinancing its debt facility, dividends are permitted to be paid from July 1, 2022. Says trading in the first quarter of this year was "encouraging" with operating profit ahead of expectations. "This, coupled with the group's successful equity and debt refinancing in June 2021, that was supported by both new and existing investors, underpins our optimism for the second half of the current financial year and we remain on track to meet current market expectations for the full year," says company.
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Gear4Music PLC - York-based online musical instruments and music equipment retailer - Reports pretax profit for the year ended March 31 of GBP14.6 million, rising sharply from GBP3.1 million a year prior. Revenue jumps 31% to GBP157.5 million from GBP120.3 million. "We had an exceptional period of trading during FY21, particularly during the initial Covid-19 lockdown in Q1. The number of potential customers in our market significantly increased, as traditional high street retailers were unable to operate as normal and people sought activities in which to participate whilst spending more time at home," says company. Does not declare a dividend, but will "review this position on an annual basis". "The board remains confident that our customer proposition, operational infrastructure, strengthened balance sheet and access to capital will enable the group to achieve its business objectives, namely accelerating market share gains and delivering operational efficiencies, during the current financial year and beyond," says company.
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By Greg Roxburgh; gregroxburgh@alliancenews.com
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