TRADING UPDATES: Manolete Sets Records; Ergomed Earnings Top Forecasts

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

----------

Manolete Partners PLC - insolvency litigation financing firm - Says record "case completions and record completed case cash inflows". Says completed 95 cases in nine months ended December 31, at gross settlement value of GBP23.9 million, "comfortably exceeding board expectations". Gross cash collected from completed cases in the first nine months of financial year up 60% annually to record of GBP9.3 million. "The board expects realised profits to be above, but unrealised profits to be significantly below, market expectations and therefore for the company to be overall marginally EBIT profitable in H2," Manolete adds.

----------

Ergomed PLC - pharmaceutical services firm - Says 2020 revenue rose 27% to GBP86.4 million from GBP68.3 million in 2019. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation topped market forecasts, Ergomed says.

----------

Midatech Pharma PLC - drug delivery company - Says Q-Sphera has expanded to net five active projects. Says MTX110 clinical trial programme moved to US from Zurich. Says both Phase I and Phase II studies can be completed "for less than the cost of the original planned study in Zurich". In relation to closure of Bilbao, Spain operations, all liabilities settled, save for one "small Spanish government loan".

----------

FastForward Innovations Ltd - technology and life sciences sector focused investor - Says investee EMMAC Life Sciences, which FastForward has 2.3% stake in, partners with Paris-listed Boiron for French medical cannabis trial. "The trial, the first of its kind in France, will allow 3,000 patients access to medical cannabis as a treatment option for certain indications; including chronic pain, epilepsy, oncology and spasticity; under tightly controlled conditions," FastForward says. Separately says investee Yooma Corp, which it has an 11% interest in, has merger with Globalive Technology approved at shareholder meeting.

----------

Applied Graphene Materials PLC - graphene materials maker with headquarters in Redcar, Cleveland - Proposes placing and subscription to raise GBP5.5 million. Says placing will comprise of 12.9 million shares sold at 41 pence each and extra GBP200,000 expected to be raised from subscription. Says proceeds "to provide ongoing working capital funding, including costs associated with continuing the company's product and technology development roadmap; to service anticipated growth in customer and product demand; and for minor capital expenditure."

----------

Rambler Metals & Mining PLC - Canada-focused copper and gold producer, explorer, and developer - Fourth quarter copper output up 34% to 3,666 tonnes from 2,735 tonnes in third quarter. For 2020, output down 27% to 14,550 tonnes from 19,924 tonnes.

----------

Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd - oil and gas exploration company focused on Guyana and Namibia - Forms new company, Eco Atlantic Renewables, alongside with Nepcoe Capital Partners Ltd to acquire "potential high yield solar projects". Eco Atlantic will own 70% stake in new firm.

----------

Griffin Mining Ltd - operator of the Caijiaying zinc-gold mine in China - Reports "significant increase" to resource of Zone II at Caijiaying Mine. "These new resources, which are reported in compliance with the JORC Code, are in addition to the zone III mineral resource currently being mined at the Caijiaying zinc-gold deposit," Griffin explains. Notes highlights include 1.5 million tonnes of zinc, up from 638,00 tonnes, 463,000 ounces of gold, improved from 164,000 ounces and 36.8 million ounces of silver, up from 15.5 million ounces.

----------

Thor Mining PLC - exploration and development company - Reports maiden mineral resource estimate of 177,000 tonnes of contained copper and 71,500 ounces of contained gold at Australia's Alford East project.

----------

Arkle Resources PLC - gold and zinc explorer focused on Ireland - Updates on drilling of 23%-owned Stonepark zinc project, Ireland. Says drilling intersects 8.7% zinc and 3.3% lead. "There is now significant potential to expand the resource estimate at Stonepark North and good guidance for follow up drilling on Stonepark West," Arkle adds.

----------

Dekel Agri-Vision PLC - West Africa-focused agriculture company - Says additional EUR900,000 subscription to first tranche of EUR15.2 million seven-year bond facility. First tranche now up to EUR5.9 million. "This follows the acceptance by the Ivorian regulator of a request to participate in the new bond which was submitted by an internationally-owned Ivorian bank around the closing date of the issue," Dekel adds. "There are no further pending subscriptions for the New bond. The company will consider the issue of further tranches of the new bond, as part of its ongoing debt refinancing programme and growth strategy and while there are no immediate plans to issue further bonds the directors will monitor market conditions and may do so if opportunistic circumstances arise."

----------

Tertiary Minerals PLC - mineral exploration and development in the US state of Nevada and in northern Europe - Says raises GBP450,000 in placing of 173.1 million shares at 0.26 pence each. Tertiary says: "The funds raised will provide additional working capital for the company and additional funds for ongoing development and exploration of its project portfolio."

----------

Triad Group PLC - IT consultancy services provider with offices in Godalming and Milton Keynes - Expects results for second half of financial year ending March to be "significantly ahead of the same period last year".

----------

ProPhotonix Ltd - manufacturer of LED illumination systems - Adds new hyperspectral LED line light to COBRA platform. "This new option provides an excellent solution for hyperspectral applications," ProPhotonix says. Notes adoption of LED technology or hyperspectral imaging applications is "rapidly increasing".

----------

Crimson Tide PLC - Kent-based mobile software firm - Wins pilot project deal with World Federation of Haemophilia for a significant global healthcare project involving "the verification, data capture, and analysis" of haemophilia treatments.

----------

Marechale Capital PLC - London-based investor - Conditionally raises GBP250,000 from issue of 20.0 million shares at 1.25 pence each. "The purpose of this strategic fundraising is to put the Company in a better position to take advantage of investment and co-investment opportunities that are presented to Marechale in connection with its activity for corporate clients. The company sees significant potential for growth within the hospitality and leisure industries and the technology sector as the economy recovers from the current pandemic," Marechale adds.

----------

Oakley Capital Investments Ltd - investment vehicle offering access to Oakley Funds - Says Oakley Capital IV makes minority investment in southern Europe-focused real estate classifieds platform idealista. "OCI's indirect contribution via Fund IV will be GBP43 million," company says.

----------

BP Marsh & Partners PLC - London-based private equity investor in financial services businesses - Says Melbourne-based investee ATC Insurance Solutions Pty Ltd has "has continued to show strong growth". Says gross written premiums rose at a compound annual rate of 34% in year ended June 30. "We are delighted with the success of ATC since our investment in 2018. This investment is a demonstration of the success of our modus operandi," Chief Investment Officer Dan Topping says.

----------

River & Mercantile Group PLC - London-based asset manager - Says Ian Berry, former head of Infrastructure Equity at Aviva Investors, joins to establish an infrastructure investment unit. "The first infrastructure investment initiative at River and Mercantile will be the launch of an Infrastructure Equity Income Fund which will focus on delivering long term, stable cash flows to institutional clients through investing in long-life infrastructure," River & Mercantile says.

----------

Tanfield Group PLC - investment firm headquartered in Newcastle Upon Tyne - Says additional GBP200,000 subscribed to from loan instrument, taking total amount to GBP700,000. "The additional loan will be used for the purpose of providing the necessary funding for the ongoing US and UK proceedings and other day-to-day costs," Tanfield adds. "The board remain hopeful that a positive outcome to either/both the US proceedings and UK proceedings is possible and, so far as it is necessary, the company will continue to vigorously defend and advance its position in both proceedings, whilst continuing to seek advice."

----------

JPMorgan Indian Investment Trust PLC - India-focused investment trust - Plans to introduce performance-related conditional tender offer. Under proposal, a tender offer will be made to shareholders for up to 25% of the company's shares should its net asset value total return does not beat MSCI India Index in sterling terms plus 0.5% per annum over five-year period started October 1, 2020. "If the tender offer is triggered, it will be subject to shareholder approval at the relevant time," JPMorgan Indian says. Says since start of financial year, NAV total return has beaten benchmark by 2.1%.

----------

United Carpets Group PLC - retailer of carpet and floor coverings - Says further 2.2 million shares tendered under tender offer as of Monday afternoon, London time. Company says it has now received valid tenders for 24.7 million shares and affirms delisting to take effect from January 29.

----------

Global Ports Holding PLC - London-headquartered cruise port operator - Completes sale of Port Akdeniz to QTerminals WLL for USD140 million. "As a result of the disposal, GPH will become a more geographically diversified business, with Turkey representing a significantly reduced proportion of group revenue going forward," company says.

----------

By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2021 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.