TRADING UPDATES: Smiths gets Euros sticker boost; Hotel Chocolat grows

Tue, 13th Jul 2021 14:06

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

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Smiths News PLC - Swindon, England-based newspaper and magazine wholesaler - Says performance in 43 weeks to June 26 ahead of market expectations. Smiths News ends financial year on August 28. Smiths says boosted by return of major sporting events, the delayed UEFA European Football Championships in particular. Company notes event drove growth in sales of one-shots, stickers and albums, generating a GBP1 million one-off boost to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for full-year. Smiths adds: "Given the continued strong performance of the business, together with the one-off benefit to sticker and album sales this year, the board expects full year adjusted Ebitda to be ahead of market expectations."

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Hotel Chocolat Group PLC - Royston, Hertfordshire-based chocolatier - Says revenue in year ended June 27 totals GBP165 million, up 21% year-on-year and rises 24% from financial 2019, pre-virus. Says underlying pretax profit to top board expectations. "Group trading has remained strong. With all channels open, group sales for the 10 weeks from 19 April 2021 to 27 June 2021 grew 34% compared to the same period in 2019, and 63% compared to the same period in 2020 when all physical locations were closed," company adds. Chief Executive Angus Thirlwell says company plans to create 250 new roles this year, "from designers and data gurus to engineers and apprentices". Thirlwell adds: "I am particularly excited by what we have achieved so far in the USA and Japan, two of the three largest economies in the world. We have great growth opportunities there for Hotel Chocolat and strong teams in place to drive and support it."

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Brandshield Systems PLC - Israel-based cybersecurity solutions provider - Says wins deal with merchandise arm of a "celebrity franchise". Says deal related to online abuse of brand, as well as counterfeit merchandise. "The customer will use BrandShield's capabilities in detecting brand abuse across standalone websites, eCommerce marketplaces and social media networks," Brandshield says. "The use of BrandShield to protected companies such as the new celebrity merchandising company is targeted to protect the revenues of the customer, since the sale of counterfeits directly affects the bottom line, as well as protect against fraudsters who use impersonating methods to deceive users."

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1Spatial PLC - Cambridge, England-based location data management software provider - Says 1Integrate rules engine software adapted to support 3D data entry. Will mean platform can now manage aspects such as solar panel capacity, building occupancy levels and sunlight availability. "These are typical requirements for facilities management, smart cities or infrastructure management sectors," 1Spatial adds.

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Belluscura PLC - London-based oxygen enrichment technology developer - Lands third US distribution pact for X-PLO2R oxygen concentrator range. The deal is with a durable medical equipment provider located in Midwest region of US.

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Hutchmed (China) Ltd - Hong-Kong-based pharmaceutical company - Makes first China commercial sale of orpathys, or savolitinib, cancer treatment. Sale comes three weeks after drug received regulatory approval. As part of terms of license pact with AstraZeneca PLC, company to land USD25 million milestone payment.

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Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC - Hertfordshire-based firm that turns plastic into biodegradable material - Says revenue in six months ended June 30 improves yearly to GBP4.9 million from GBP4.8 million. On constant currency basis, improvement is 13% to GBP5.4 million. Expects to swing to GBP500,000 operating loss from GBP40,000 profit. Tips 2021 results to be in line with market expectations.

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Mosman Oil & Gas Ltd - London-based metals exploration and development company - Agrees to farm-in extra 6% interest in Winters Lease, Texas, lifting stake to 29%. Mosman to pay USD12,000 for past costs, as well as 8% of next well costs. At Winters-2 well, Mosman notes Nadsoilco LLC is now preparing to drill. Mosman adds: "Funding of the farm-in and the drilling costs of USD150,000 will be from existing cash resources."

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Castillo Copper Ltd - base metal explorer focused on Australia and Zambia - Trading of shares in Sydney halted. Castillo requested halt pending announcement related to exploration results, expected on Thursday. "Trading in the company's ordinary securities will continue on the London Stock Exchange during this period," Castillo adds.

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Blencowe Resources PLC - natural resources company focused on the development of the Orom-Cross graphite project in Uganda - Reports results from metallurgical test work at Orom-Cross conducted by technical consultants SGS Lakefield. Says concentrate grades ranged at "top end of the spectrum", between 97% and 98% total graphite content. Compares favourably to Blencowe's target of 94%.

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Pure Gold Mining Inc - operates mine in Red Lake, Ontario, Canada - Total gold output in second quarter of 2021 rises 46% to 6,261 ounces from 4,291 ounces in first quarter. Also notes "high-grade" results from underground drilling at PureGold Mine, Canada. Notes first ore output in East Ramp of asset achieved.

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Block Energy PLC - development and production company focused on Georgia - Says 42,600 barrels of oil equivalent per day produced in second quarter, down 4.1% from 44,400 in first quarter. "Although WR-38Z was on production for the whole of Q2 compared to only two months in Q1, this was outweighed by the natural decline of the wells," Block Energy says. Sells 15,600 barrels of oil in second quarter, netting USD960,000, down from 26,300 barrels in first quarter. First quarter sales amounted to USD1.4 million.

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Kistos PLC - London-based energy sector investor - Says first half output at Q10-A gas field in the Netherlands averages 48 million cubic feet per day. Expects field to end 2021 with production of around 71 million cf/d. "We have a busy schedule in the second half of 2021, which we hope and expect will result in strong organic growth in our production from 2023 onwards. In the meantime, we will seek to deploy our balance sheet strength to make further acquisitions that meet our criteria. We look forward to reporting on further progress as the year unfolds," Interim Chief Executive Officer Andrew Austin says.

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DP Poland PLC - franchise in Poland for Domino's Pizza - Says average daily dine-in sales improve to PLN122,900, about GBP22,997, in period from May 18 to June 30, from PLN63,300 in period between May 1 and May 17. In June alone, dine-in business improves 25%, but still down 24% from two years earlier, before onset of Covid-19. System sales in June rise 5% to PLN13.8 million from PLN13.1 million. Down 5% from PLN14.5 million in June 2019.

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Ariana Resources PLC - London-based mineral exploration and development company - Launches Asgard Metals Fund, focused on investments in discovery-stage exploration firms which show "early development potential". Ariana adds: "Projects may be located anywhere across the Eastern Hemisphere and within easy reach of Ariana's operational hubs in Australia, Turkey and the UK."

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Serica Energy PLC - London-based oil & gas company - Reports flow test results from Columbus development well in UK North Sea. Says stabilised flow rate of 38.0 million standard cubic feet per day achieved. "We are delighted to have achieved the objectives of this challenging but ultimately very successful campaign," Chief Executive Mitch Flegg.

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President Energy PLC - energy company with assets focused primarily in South America - Says new oil treatment site at Rio Negro asset, Argentina "partially in service". Full capacity expected before end of July, later than planned due to Covid-19-related delays. At Puesto Guardian, also in Argentina, first of three new firm oil wells penned to be spudded in first half of October, as planned. While in Paraguay, regulatory approval process for Pirity concession farmout "progressing positively".

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Atalaya Mining PLC - Cyprus-based copper concentrates and silver by-product producer - Copper output rises 5.3% annually in second quarter to 14,353 tonnes, from 13,635 tonnes. "Despite ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, mining operations have continued normally with higher production levels compared with previous quarters," Atalaya says. Backs 2021 guidance but now expects output at upper end of 52,000 tonnes to 54,000 tonnes range.

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Arkle Resources PLC - gold and zinc explorer & developer in Ireland - Posts results from drillhole 4 at Mine River gold project in Wicklow, Ireland. Says some grades "may be lower than expected". This is due to nugget effect, a problem sometime seen in gold deposits which may lead to value of ore being underestimated. Arkle says "visible gold was noted in three of the samples sent for analysis but returned lower grades than expected". Company adds: "During the sample preparation process nuggets may or may not make their way to the final representative sample and therefore cause a nugget affect whereby the analysis may give an over or under estimation of the overall gold grade."

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Proton Motor Power Systems PLC - Munich-based hydrogen fuel cell developer - Receives fifth order from GKN Powder Metallurgy. Proton Motor to supply additional PM Module S8 component which allows for "autonomous provision of energy and heat". "As for previous orders from GKN PM, the Proton Motor system will be deployed to supply self-sufficient clean power and heat in a residential setting from hydrogen generated from renewable sources," company adds. GKN is owned by FTSE 100-listed Melrose Industries PLC.

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By Eric Cunha; ericcunha@alliancenews.com