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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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Barkby Group PLC - investment firm - Says it is now benefitting from the easing of Covid-19 restrictions and expects to return to profitability for the current financial year. Barkby expect revenue for the 12-months to June 30 to be GBP15.3 million, up from GBP12.0 million the year prior. Loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is seen at GBP1.6 million, before Cambridge Sleep Science startup costs of GBP900,000, narrowed from loss of GBP1.7 million the year ago.
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Beeks Financial Cloud Group PLC - cloud and connectivity provider - Reports the launch of Proximity Cloud, the private cloud environment for financial markets. In addition, the company reports good levels of trading in the six months to June 30, notwithstanding the ongoing impact of Covid-19, and expects to announce results in line with market expectations, delivering growth in both revenue and underlying Ebitda on the prior year.
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Fletcher King PLC - investment advice company - Confirms that it expects overall losses for the second half of its financial year that ended on April 30 to be broadly similar to the first half. Fletcher King says it has started the new financial year with a more optimistic outlook. Clients are engaging more positively in investment activity and the company is hopeful of securing a pick-up in transaction fee income. The company remains well-supported by a strong balance sheet with no debt.
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Stanley Gibbons Group PLC - retailer of collectable postage stamps - Reports turnover from continuing operations of GBP10.8 million for the year to March 31, down from GBP13.2 million posted the year earlier. The company notes that sales over the last year continue to be driven by the longer term plan to rebalance stock to fit better with our customers' requirements. Pretax loss widens to GBP4.1 million from GBP2.5 million year-on-year. Going forward, the company says the collectibles business has continued to be strong over the last year and it has seen many "dormant" clients resuming their collecting interests together with new customers who are making contact.
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RM Infrastructure Income PLC - investment trust - Reports strong momentum in net asset value as pandemic-related valuations have recovered as the outlook becomes clearer. as at June 30, NAV per share was 95.25 pence, up from 91.16p the year earlier. Share price at the end of June was 90.00p, representing a 5.5% discount to NAV. "We have made excellent progress with our new investment focus, which our new company name now reflects, with further social and environmental infrastructure investments expected during the year," says Chair Norman Crighton.
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Witan Investment Trust PLC - investment firm - Says its NAV total return for the first half of 2021 was 12.4%, 1% ahead of composite global benchmark. NAV per share improved to 262.3p from 236.0p as at the end of December 2020. Share price on June 30 was 241.5p, with shares trading at at average discount of 7% to NAV over the period. A second interim quarterly dividend of 1.36p per share will be paid in September. Total dividends paid in respect of the half year are 2.72p per share, up form 2.68p paid a year earlier.
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Mosman Oil & Gas Ltd - New South Wales, Australia-based exploration & production firm - Net production attributable to Mosman for the six months to June 30 was 12,143 barrels of oil equivalent, which was an increase of 21% on the six months to the end of 2020. With this progress, combined with higher sales prices, the acquisition of Nadsoilco and an additional interest in Falcon, the future production is now more robust and Mosman is looking forward to a significantly improved production profile going forward.
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Maven Income & Growth VCT 5 PLC - investment firm - Reports NAV per share as at May 31 of 38.54p, up from 34.84p posted the year before. The company declares an increased interim dividend of 0.60p per share. During the six months to the end of May, the trust bought back 1.2 million shares at a total cost of GBP465,000. Maven VCT 5 says the near term strategic objective remains focused on further growth through the addition of a diverse range of growth companies that are capable of generating sustained improvements in shareholder value.
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Diverse Income Trust PLC - investment firm - Reports NAV per share as at May 31 of 118.31p, up from 88.82p posted the year before. Over the year to May 31, the increase in the company’s NAV was 33%. This compares with the FTSE All-Share Index that increased 19%. The share price total return was 48%, boosted by the share price re-rating from a discount to a premium to NAV. The company says share price at the end of May stands at 119.00p, representing a 0.6% premium to NAV. The company declares annual payout of 3.75p per share, up 1.4% year-on-year.
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Dekel Agri-Vision PLC - agro-industrial company focused on West Africa - Reports 3,047 tonnes of crude palm oil sold in July, 68% higher than a year ago as stock on hand post the high season was sold into a buoyant local crude palm oil market. Local crude palm oil prices continued to increase to a 2021 monthly high of EUR949 in July, an 89% increase year-on-year. Elsewhere, the company says construction has continued to advance, and commissioning of the cashew project will start in September.
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Adriatic Metals PLC - precious and base metals explorer - Says exploration drilling continues at Rupice project in Serbia, with high grade mineralisation identified in hole BR-02-21. "Rupice mineralisation appears to extend further northwest than we'd expected, so in case of continuing extensions to the northwest, we have made an application to extend our concession area boundary further in this direction. The ongoing focus of the 2021 program is to continue systematically exploring around Rupice, with further step-out and in-fill drilling planned," says Managing Director & Chief Executive Paul Cronin.
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ECR Minerals PLC - London-based exploration and development company - Reports initial results from its first drilling campaign at Cherry Tree at the Bailieston project in central Victoria, Australia. "As the data continues to arrive, our senior geologists are working hard to ascertain structural geological interpretations. It is widely accepted that culminations in folded strata cut by shears and faults are favoured locations for deposition of fold-hinged gold deposits, and with the cross-striking faults at this anticline filled with quartz-gold-bearing fluids in Holes BCTDD001, BCTDD002 and BCTDD003, there is encouraging early evidence. We are keen to see what the next raft of data will reveal so we can determine our next exploration steps," says CEO Craig Brown.
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Botswana Diamonds PLC - exploration and project development company - Says four high-quality diamonds and abundant kimberlitic indicators were recovered from drill samples at the recently discovered River kimberlite extension at Thorny River in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. A further percussion drilling programme to assess the area between the River and River Extension will begin within a month.
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Global Petroleum Ltd - Australian exploration company - Says the Ministry of Mines & Energy in Namibia has agreed to Global's proposal to enter into the next licence PEL0094 sub-period to September 2022. Under the terms of the petroleum agreement for PEL0094 signed in September 2018, the 4 year initial exploration period was split into 2 sub-periods of 2 years each, with the first sub-period ending in September 2020, subsequently extended to September 2021, with a reduced work programme. The work commitment for the upcoming phase of the licence is to acquire and process 2,000 square kilometres of 3D seismic data.
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Castillo Copper Ltd - Australia-based base metal exploring company - Says all logistics are now in place for drilling to commence at the prime Arya prospect in September. In addition, Castillo's geophysicist consultant has re-interpreted historical aero-electromagnetic and electromagnetic data, which shows the 130m-thick EGO1 anomaly is shallower than initially estimated and verifies the Arya prospect is a major target in Mt Isa's copper-belt of Queensland, Australia.
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Prospex Energy PLC - Hertfordshire, England-based gas and electricity investor - agrees to buy a further 20% working interest in the Podere Gallina licence in the Po Valley region of Italy from United Oil & Gas PLC. Prospex will acquire 100% of UOG Italia Srl which has a 20% working interest in the Podere Gallina licence which contains the Selva gas field which is predicted to come onto production by the second quarter of 2022. Upon completion, Prospex will own a 37% working interest in the Podere Gallina licence. The transaction is conditional upon Prospex sourcing the financing for the consideration of EUR2.2 million less an amount of EUR108,235 which has already been paid to United Oil & Gas as a deposit.
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Gowin New Energy Group Ltd - lighting products retailer - Enters into a loan agreement with Chief Executive Chen Chih-Lung, pursuant to which he has made available a loan of GBP30,000 to the company. Under the terms of the agreement, the interest rate is 2% per annum and the loan is repayable by the company in twelve months, extendable by mutual consent. The purpose of the loan is to provide short term liquidity to allow the company to satisfy its payment obligations.
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Mercia Asset Management PLC - asset manager - Says the British Business Bank has accredited Mercia to deliver its Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund debt mandate under the new recovery loan scheme, which provides financial support to businesses across the UK as they recover and grow following the coronavirus pandemic.
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Sanderson Design Group PLC - wallpaper and fabrics manufacturer - Signs a licensing agreement in the US for its Morris & Co brand with Williams Sonoma, a kitchenware firm. "This is the Group's first major licensing agreement in the US and we look forward to working with Williams Sonoma to ensure the product range's success," says CEO Lisa Montague.
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BP Marsh & Partners PLC - London-based investor - Confirms that Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting Ltd, an independent underwriting agency headquartered in Toronto, Canada, has, as of July 30, repaid in full the original loan facility provided by BP Marsh at investment. The company invested in Stewart Specialty in January 2017, taking a 30% equity stake for a nominal value of GBP19 and providing a loan facility of GBP490,000.
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Literacy Capital PLC - London-based investment firm - Says Butternut Box, a business providing dog food on a subscription, has finalised a funding round to raise further equity to support the continued growth of the business.
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OptiBiotix Health PLC - life sciences company - Says its subsidiary ProBiotix Health Ltd has extended the territories of its original agreement with Seed Health Inc for the production, promotion, marketing and commercialisation of products containing LPLDL. The agreement extends the territories from the US, to include the countries within Europe, Oceania and Asia - excluding India - for the supply of LPLDL in SeedTM's DS-01 product.
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Sensyne Health PLC - healthcare technology company - Signs an agreement with Oxford University to conduct a multi-omics drug discovery research project in asthma. The three-year project will focus on identifying novel drug targets for patients with severe forms of asthma that do not respond to the current standard of care and where pre-existing treatments such as corticosteroids and biologics are less effective.
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Dukemount Capital PLC - investment firm - Looking to raise money for the gas peaking projects first announced via its joint venture with HSKB in March. The projects will require funding of GBP6.3 million and the terms that have been offered since the recent general meeting have been significantly better than those previously offered. The company is still committed to delivering these projects into the construction phase and also demonstrating that there is a route to progressing further projects into this portfolio from the HSKB pipeline. ""Since the conclusive result of the General Meeting in July, we have been approached by a number of institutions offering alternative and more competative funding options and we are in advanced stages of talks with two of them," says Executive Chair Geoffrey Dart.
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Vast Resources PLC - mining and resource development company - Reports progress on refurbishment works undertaken at Baita Plai mine both on the underground infrastructure, and on the processing plant. Vast reports replacement of 1,200 metres of main hoisting cable across three shafts and replacement of man travelling cages in shaft 2. In addition, the company says it has conducted an internal ventilation investigation of air flow in the mine.
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Tritax EuroBox PLC - investor in logistics assets - Says conditional contracts have been entered into to acquire land and provide forward funding for the development of a new highly specified and sustainable logistics warehouse facility in Settimo Torinese near Turin, Northern Italy, for a total consideration of EUR24.39 million. The construction of the facility is expected to complete in 2022.
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Red Rock Resources PLC - mining company - Says 2,000 metres reverse circulation drill programme begins at central KKM prospect in Kenya. The company says hole depths planned to be between 60 metres and 220 metres. The object of the programme is to improve the confidence and classification of future MREs at the MGP through infill drilling, and by targeted step-out drilling to potentially increase the size of the mineral resource.
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By Evelina Grecenko; eelinagrecenko@alliancenews.com
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