TRADING UPDATES: Renew profit surges; Topps Tiles returns to profit

Tue, 18th May 2021 20:37

(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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Watkin Jones PLC - London-based student accommodation developer and manager - Pretax profit in six months to March 31 down 3.3% year on year to GBP25.8 million from GBP26.7 million. Revenue slips 3.9% to GBP178.4 million from GBP185.7 million. Declares interim dividend of 2.6 pence, after foregoing payment last year. Chief Executive Officer Richard Simpson says: "As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, we are seeing increasing investor confidence in our market sectors. We've maintained the momentum from the second half of last year and made further good progress in securing new forward sales, adding to our development pipeline and keeping all our construction activities on track."

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Renew Holdings PLC - engineering services company - Pretax profit in six months to March 31 grows 19% to GBP18.1 million from GBP15.2 million. Revenue grows 17% year-on-year to GBP366.4 million from GBP313.6 million. Declares interim dividend of 4.83 pence, reinstating shareholder payouts. Order book ends half at GBP750 million, up from GBP690 million year before. CEO Paul Scott says: "After reporting strong organic growth in the first half, trading has started strongly into the second half of the year and we look to the future with confidence. We are well positioned to take advantage of the UK government's commitment to level up the economy by investing GBP640 billion in an infrastructure-led recovery that will bring significant opportunities for Renew and our differentiated, diversified, low-risk business model."

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McKay Securities PLC - South East and London-focused office property investor - Sinks to pretax loss of GBP16.6 million in year ended March 31 from GBP9.5 million profit the year before. Loses GBP23.4 million on investment property revaluations, sharply higher from GBP2.2 million loss year before. Annual net rental income broadly flat year on year at GBP21.6 million from GBP22.0 million. EPRA net asset value per share at March 31 10.21 pence compared to 10.60p at same point year before. Total dividend up to 8.3p from 7.2p. CEO Simon Perkins says: "McKay has delivered another positive set of results against a market backdrop that continues to be dominated by Covid-19, reflecting the portfolio's resilience during these challenging market conditions. As a result of our active asset management efforts, we exit the third lock down with a reduced LTV compared with twelve months ago, having completed a meaningful level of lettings and lease renewals at or above ERV, as well as achieving a number of substantial milestones."

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Topps Tiles PLC - Leicestershire-based tile retailer - Improves to pretax profit of GBP4.0 million in 26 weeks to March 27 versus GBP3.2 million loss a year before. Revenue slips 2.8% year on year to GBP103.2 million from GBP106.2 million. Retail like-for-like sales up 2.0%. No interim dividend declared, however company intends to reinstate dividends by the end of year. "In another reporting period dominated by the impacts of Covid-19, Topps has once again shown its flexibility and resilience and I would like to thank all colleagues across the Group for the continued hard work and commitment underpinning these results," CEO Rob Parker says. He adds: "Inevitably, our first half results reflect two sharply contrasting periods of trading. An exceptionally strong performance in Q1 demonstrated the ability of the business to bounce back following the initial lockdown. Our performance in Q2, while materially stronger than in the first lockdown, was heavily impacted by the re-imposition of Covid-related trading restrictions at the start of the period." Notes "rapid" increase in sales after stores reopen on April 12.

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Sureserve Group PLC - Basildon, Essex-based compliance and energy services focused on UK public sector - Pretax profit in six months to March 31 improves to GBP4.4 million from GBP2.6 million a year before. Interim revenue grows to GBP114.6 million from GBP109.6 million. Order book ends first half at GBP371.6 million, up from GBP323.7 million year before. Interim Chair Robert Legget says: "Our half year performance provides a solid base from which our highly experienced team can grow the business. Although the immediate future still remains uncertain due to the pandemic, Sureserve has a substantial order book providing good levels of visibility of earnings, an established business model of recurrent revenues from our public sector client base and a strong balance sheet to support both organic and inorganic growth opportunities. We therefore are cautiously optimistic about the future."

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Sanderson Design Group PLC - Buckinghamshire-based interior furnishings company - Pretax profit in year to January 31 improves 15% to GBP5.0 million from GBP4.4 million. Revenue drops 16% year on year to GBP93.8 million from GBP111.5 million. Notes intent to pay dividends "as soon as conditions allow". Chair Dianne Thompson adds: "Current sales trends in February, March and April 2021 were slightly ahead of our expectations reflecting increased demand for home interiors. The group has a strong balance sheet with net cash at January 31 of GBP15.1 million, which positions the business strongly in the event of further disruption. Overall, we remain cautiously optimistic in our outlook for the year ahead."

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Trinity Exploration & Production PLC - Trinidad & Tobago-focused oil exploration and production company - Improves to pretax profit of USD103,000 in 2020 from USD14.1 million loss in 2019. Revenue from crude oil sales drops to USD44.1 million from USD63.9 million. Impairments drop to USD1.2 million from USD15.2 million and royalties fall to USD11.7 million from USD20.0 million. Average production volumes grew in aggregate by 7.3% to 3,226 bopd in 2020. Executive Chair Bruce Dingwall says: "While balance sheet strength and strong cash flow, along with prudent expense management and low-cost growth, remain the cornerstones of the business, given the number of growth initiatives now underway, 2021 will be a year of investment as we seek to advance current developments, identify new opportunities via the strategic partnerships we have recently entered into and pursue further low-cost appraisal and exploration targets."

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Escape Hunt PLC - escape room operator based in London - Pretax loss in 2020 widens to GBP6.6 million from GBP6.0 million loss in 2019. Revenue sinks to GBP2.7 million from GBP4.9 million. Administrative expenses falls to GBP8.6 million from GBP9.6 million. Notes over 25% like-for-like sales growth on a 12-week rolling basis in the two months prior to lockdown. Owner-operated estate expanded by 56% to 14 sites in 2020. CEO Richard Harpham says: "We are delighted that our UK sites have finally been able to re-open and are excited to be building on the substantial strategic progress we have been able to make in the last year, notwithstanding the extremely tough conditions brought about by Covid-19. Escape Hunt is in a much stronger position today than it was twelve months ago, and subject to reasonable assumptions on demand returning, we are confident that we now have a platform established capable of supporting a profitable business."

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Minds + Machines Group Ltd - web domain registry company - Pretax profit in 2020 broadly unchanged at USD3.0 million, with revenue down to USD16.8 million from USD17.2 million in 2019 but general administrative expenses slip to USD6.3 million from USD7.2 million. Domains under management down to 2.0 million from 2.5 million. CEO Tony Farrow says: "Our results for 2020 continue to demonstrate the quality of our portfolio and the cash generative nature of the company. Q4 was a transitional period for the company as in addition to immediate actions such as reducing staffing and terminating non-accretive supplier contracts, we considered structural and operational changes that we believe sustainably improve the business going forward." Farrow notes first quarter of 2021 revenue down 4% year on year.

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Incanthera PLC - AQSE-listed which develops novel treatments for solid tumours - Pretax loss in year to March 31 GBP1.0 million, narrows from GBP1.2 million the year before. Total operating expenses slips to GBP1.0 million from GBP1.1 million. Does not generate revenue in either period. "It has been an exceptional year for Incanthera, one that was always going to be important in our first full year as a public company," Chair Tim McCarthy says. CEO Simon Ward adds: "The public stage has provided a great opportunity for us and we have concentrated on delivering operational successes through our evolutionary technology Sol, now the subject of discussion with two global cosmetics companies. These discussions continue to progress and we look forward to making further updates when we are able."

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By Paul McGowan; paulmcgowan@alliancenews.com;