TRADING UPDATES: Lords, Personal revenue up; Block Energy drills well

Tue, 26th Jul 2022 15:17

(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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Ergomed PLC - Guildford, England-based service provider to the biopharmaceutical industry - Records total revenue of GBP69.9 million in the first half of 2022, up 25% from GBP56.0 million a year before. Order book stands at GBP284.5 million on June 30, up 19% year-on-year from GBP239.7 million. Cash balance as at June 30 totals GBP12.0 million down from GBP24.6 million on the same date a year before. Expects revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for 2022 to be in line with current market expectations.

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Personal Group Holdings PLC - employee benefits - Reports "positive" trading for the first half of 2022. Achieves revenue and adjusted Ebitda growth in line with expectations. Sees good momentum across its largest two divisions - Affordable Insurance and Benefits Platform. Completes the acquisition of Quintige Consulting Group Ltd at the end of the period. Says it is "confident" about its future. "Personal Group is, I believe, well positioned within a growing market with an increasingly relevant offering. We are now putting the impact of previous pandemic lockdowns firmly behind us and with the current momentum and increasing scale of the business, we are on course to deliver revenue and Ebitda growth for the full year, in line with expectations," Chief Executive Deborah Frost says.

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Kooth PLC - London-based digital mental health platform - Says it has a strong pipeline of contracts that it expects to be signed in the second half of 2022. Net cash as at June 30 stands at GBP8.3 million, down from GBP7.1m on the same date a year before. Expects full-year results within market expectations. Believes that the ongoing transition within UK public healthcare from Clinical Commissioning Groups to Integrated Care Systems provides an opportunity for the group to deepen further its relationships in this sector.

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NewRiver REIT PLC - real estate investment trust - Records strong rent collection of 96% in the first quarter ended June 30. Says occupancy increased to 97% from 96% as at March 31. Cash position improves to GBP93 million as at June 30 from GBP88 million as at March 31. "First quarter trading is in-line with our expectations and is underpinned by resilient operational metrics. We continue to make progress on our work out disposals, and we are seeing high occupancy, strong cash collection and consistent leasing outperformance despite the more challenging economic backdrop," Chief Executive Allan Lockhart comments.

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Lords Group Trading PLC - London-based distributor of building, plumbing, heating and DIY goods - Reports revenue growth of 20% in the first half of 2022 to GBP214.7 million from GBP179.0 million a year before. Expects adjusted Ebitda to grow 33% to GBP14.0 million from GBP10.5 million a year before. Says positive trading momentum has continued in the second half of 2022.

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Rockhopper Exploration PLC - Salisbury, England-based oil & gas exploration and production company - Receives all regulatory consents from the Falkland Islands Government and the UK Secretary of State for a transaction between the company, Harbour Energy PLC, and Navitas Petroleum LP. Says that the Falkland Islands Government agreed to grant a two-year licence extension to all the licences held by Rockhopper in the North Falkland Basin, as part of the transaction. The licences will run until November 1, 2024.

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Firering Strategic Minerals PLC - operator of Atex dual lithium-tantalum project in Ivory Coast - Plans to deliver "results" from its Atex drilling programme in the second half. It will target the lithium-bearing pegmatites. The project is located in West Africa.

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Block Energy PLC - London-based oil and gas company focused in Georgia - Starts project II with the drilling of the JSR-01DEEP well, as part of the redevelopment of the Patardzeuli Middle Eocene reservoir located in Georgia. Says well JSR-01DEEP will involve the deepening of the existing well JSR-01, which was drilled by a previous operator in 2013. The project is funded from cash generated from current operations. Says it will run at the same time as project I.

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Dekel Agri-Vision PLC - West Africa-based agriculture company - Says its two new operational projects in Ivory Coast, producing palm oil and cashews, will provide two new material revenue streams. Expects "material" step up in revenue and profit in 2023 and beyond. "The exposure to one commodity has been evident during the first half of 2022 where we experienced continued record CPO pricing but also the lowest first half peak harvest period we have seen. We consider the decrease in fruit to be seasonal and a normalisation of the fruit level, together with continued high CPO prices, means the palm oil operation is well placed to continue to deliver strong results," says Chief Executive Youval Rasin. Says it has potential for revenue to surpass EUR50 million in 2023 for the first time.

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Kazera Global PLC - diamonds and rare earths explorer in South Africa and Namibia - Receives first payment of USD100,000 under from lithium investment deal for lithium produced from its mine at Tantalite Valley in Namibia.

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By Abby Amoakuh; abbyamoakuh@alliancenews.com