TRADING UPDATES: Norcros sets out strategic aims; Synthomer seals sale

Wed, 01st May 2024 16:37

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

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UK Oil & Gas PLC - oil and gas with assets in UK and Turkey - Appoints UK based oil and gas divestment and project marketing specialists, Envoi Ltd, to facilitate the farmout of up to a 50% working interest in the company's 100% owned Loxley gas and hydrogen feedstock project. The farmout seeks to fully fund the planned Loxley-1 appraisal drilling and testing programme with the company's share of costs being carried by the farminee or farminees. The project has incontestable planning consent to proceed ahead. Separately from Envoi's mandate, notes active discussions are ongoing with two UK listed energy companies interested in pursuing the farmout opportunity.

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Narf Industries PLC - London-based cybersecurity company - Says that it is accelerating work on capabilities shown to be effective in battling new generation threats to the open-source software supply chain. Narf says it presented this past week to key customers and industry partners its new generation of threat intelligence tools.

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Synthomer PLC - Essex, England-based chemicals manufacturer - Completes EUR27.5 million sale of its latex compounding operations to Matco NV. Expects sale to result in a modest profit on disposal, and includes two manufacturing sites in the Netherlands and one in Egypt. The divestment proceeds will be used to reduce net debt.

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Regional REIT Ltd - commercial property investor - Announces two new lettings at Bennett House, Stoke-on-Trent and Delta 1200, Delta Business Park, Swindon. The buildings are both now 100% occupied, providing an aggregate rental income of GBP0.8 million per annum.

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Seeing Machines Ltd - Canberra, Australia-based artificial intelligence driver monitoring specialist - Announces a significant generational program extension with an existing North American Tier-1 customer and original equipment manufacturer. Says the initial program, already in production, will expand to a total of 19 distinct vehicle models being sold in North America, Europe and China, and extend through 2032 based on the OEM's next generation Driver Monitoring System solution utilising Seeing Machines' improved FOVIO chip design.

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Sovereign Metals Ltd - mining exploration and development company with assets in Malawi - Announces plans to increase graphite pre-concentrate sample preparation from its existing testing facility in Lilongwe, Malawi. Plans to install and commission a spiral concentrator containing industrial-scale spiral equipment at the company's laboratory and testing facility in Lilongwe. This enables the preparation of rutile concentrate and graphite circuit feed from its Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project at a bulk scale.

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Silverwood Brands PLC - holding company established to invest primarily in branded consumer businesses - Issues trading update. Expects to report a pretax loss for 2023, and says trading since in the first quarter of 2024 has been "as expected." "Silverwood is not immune to the headwinds battering global markets, but we believe that our commitment and experience will enable us to prosper over the longer term. We are resolutely focused on enabling our existing brands to deliver their full potential, whilst continuously reviewing complimentary brand opportunities when we find them," company says. Views the future with "confidence."

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Ariana Resources PLC - precious metals exploration company focused on the Eurasian Tethyan metallogenic belt - Issues 2024 production guidance from its interest in the Zenit Mining Operations. Ariana holds 23.5% stake in Zenit. Gold production guidance for 2024 from Zenit is expected to be around 20,000 ounces of gold. Average monthly production is expected at around 25,000 tonnes of ore. Ore throughput to the mill during 2024 is expected to be around 300,000 tonnes.

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Golden Metal Resources PLC - Nevada-focused metals exploration company, which owns 100% owned Pilot Mountain project - Announces exploration update at Pilot Mountain Project. Says magnetic geophysics survey successfully delineates two significant magnetic high anomalies within the 'Porphyry South' target area. Explains the two anomalies are strongly coincident with the resistivity and chargeability high anomalies identified during the 2022/2023 survey which originally defined the 'Porphyry South' target. Golden Metal says it is "very encouraged" by the results and has immediately requested three dimensional inversions of the magnetic dataset.

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Norcros PLC - Wilmslow, Cheshire-based kitchen and bathroom products supplier - Hosts Capital Markets Event to launch growth strategy. Sets out key objectives and targets over the medium term. These include organic growth at 2% to 3% above the market; group operating margin to reach 15%; cash conversion greater than 90%; return on capital employed greater than 20%. No new material trading information will be disclosed at the event.

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By Jeremy Cutler, Alliance News reporter

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