TRADING UPDATES: U&I results "disappointing"; Oxford Metrics profit

(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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U&I Group PLC - property regeneration developer and investor - Reports net asset value per share of 163p as at end of March, down from 232p a year before. Pretax loss widens to GBP86.7 million from GBP58.6 million. "We have made some clinical decisions in many areas of the business, resulting in further development and trading asset impairments. Covid-related market issues further added to us reporting hugely disappointing financial results today. I am absolutely determined that these years of underperformance are now behind us," says Chief Executive Richard Upton.

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Oxford Metrics PLC - software company servicing infrastructure, life sciences, entertainment and engineering markets - Reports revenue of GBP15.3 million for half-year to March 31, up from GBP15.0 million a year before. Swings to pretax profit of GBP994,000 from loss of GBP111,000. Says traded well despite pandemic restrictions, and has "fully adapted" to pandemic-affected environment. "The pandemic remains ongoing so there may be unforeseen challenges ahead, but we are cautiously optimistic that the group will now resume the growth trajectory we have previously enjoyed. Sales pipelines in both Vicon and Yotta are promising, giving the board confidence for the second half, which is typically the group's more active trading period," it says.

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ASA International Group PLC - Weybridge, Surrey-based microfinance lender - Reports pretax profit of USD2.6 million for 2020, down sharply on USD54.3 million a year ago. Total operating income falls to USD112.1 million from USD140.7 million, and books credit loss expense of USD27.3 million, up from USD4.2 million. "Considering the challenging operating circumstances in 2020, we are pleased with the resilience of the business and its model, and especially how local management navigated the operating subsidiaries through the crisis," says Chief Executive Dirk Brouwer. In separate update on Wednesday, says liquidity at end of April remained high, with around USD109 million of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents across group. Pipeline of funding deals under negotiation totalled USD164 million. With the exception of India, the Philippines and Myanmar, all other operating companies in April achieved collection efficiency of more than 90% and 9 out of 13 countries achieved collection efficiency of more than 95%.

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i-nexus Global PLC - AIM-listed cloud-based strategy execution software solutions provider - Revenue for six months to end of March GBP2.0 million, down from GBP2.3 million a year prior, but pretax loss narrows to GBP426,756 from GBP2.2 million. Administrative expenses shrink to GBP2.0 million from GBP3.8 million. Says challenges seen in prior financial year continued into first half, but financial planning "stood us in good stead". "As we enter June, the business is expected to be operating at an Ebitda break even position with a visible cash runway," firm adds.

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Livermore Investments Group Ltd - investment company focused on fixed income instruments - Net asset value per share USD0.94 at end of 2020, down from USD0.99 a year ago. Pays dividend of USD0.0343 during year, and says: "The board of directors will decide future dividends based on profitability, liquidity requirements, portfolio performance, market conditions, and the share price of the company relative to its NAV." It adds: "Considering the strong liquidity positions of Livermore, together with its strong foothold in the US CLO markets as well as the robustness of its investment portfolio and the alignment of the management's interests with those of its shareholders, management believes that the company is well positioned to benefit from current conditions."

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Majedie Investments PLC - London-based investment trust - NAV per share 280.2p at end of March, up from 247.7p at end of September. NAV total return 16% and total shareholder return 38%. Over the six months the FTSE All-Share index rises by 19% and the MSCI All Country Index rises by 12% in sterling terms, company notes. Declares interim dividend of 4.4p, steady on a year ago. "Markets are expected to remain volatile having recovered so strongly from March 2020. This market background should favour fund managers with a proven flexible investment process such as MAM. Their investment returns since the outbreak of the pandemic reinforces our confidence that MAM will gain assets under management as investment performance tends to be a leading indicator of asset growth," company says.

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MyCelx Technologies Corp - clean water firm based in the state of Minnesota, US - 2020 revenue falls to USD7.1 million from USD11.9 million, and pretax loss widens to USD5.8 million from USD2.5 million. Says 2020 was "challenging" year, with energy and industrial markets hit by pandemic outbreak and oil and gas prices sinking to multi-year lows. "At the time of writing, although the markets remain fragile, we are starting to see opportunities appear across the industries we are targeting. We have already signed a number of new commercial agreements in 2021 and, with the resurgence in oil prices, we hope to see renewed bidding activity as we move into the second half of 2021 and into 2022," MyCelx says.

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Ormonde Mining PLC - Irish natural resource company - Pretax loss widens to EUR1.1 million from EUR904,000, as administrative expenses rise to EUR1.1 million from EUR855,000. Says year started with sale of its 30% interest in the Barruecopardo Tungsten Mine in Spain and the receipt of EUR6 million from Oaktree Capital Management ahead of the onset of the coronavirus crisis. "Since that time, the company has focused its efforts on the development of new opportunities for the deployment of its capital and enhancement of shareholder value, while continuing to review the best route to generate value from its remaining Spanish assets," company says.

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Tertiary Minerals PLC - mineral exploration and development company - Revenue for six months to end of March falls to GBP81,495 from GBP94,691, but pretax loss narrows to GBP223,663 from GBP278,780. Administration costs fall to GBP243,851 from GBP352,914. Makes further progress in transition from a fluorspar focused company to a broader based company exploring for copper, gold, and silver. Now holds five active projects in Nevada, US, with exploration programmes in progress across the portfolio. "We anticipate regular news flow over the remainder of the financial year and look forward to advising shareholders of our progress," company says.

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Mast Energy Developments PLC - developer of reserve power generations plants - Reports pretax loss of GBP510,058 for half-year to March 31, widening from GBP208,787 a year ago. Generates no revenue in either period, but says first project in the UK reserve power market is "expected to come on stream imminently from which the group expects to commence generating revenue." Firm listed on London Stock Exchange in April, raising GBP5.5 million in its IPO.

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Starvest PLC - London-based early-stage mineral exploration investor - Says net asset value GBP16.7 million at end of March from GBP18.0 million at September-end, but highlights that this stood at just GBP4.7 million at March 30, 2020. "This annual increase is mainly due to the performance of our holdings in investee company Greatland Gold PLC and, to a lesser extent, Ariana Resources PLC," company says, adding it has continued to see gains post period-end, with net asset value GBP19.1 million at April 30. Swings to half-year pretax loss of GBP1.2 million from profit of GBP2.5 million a year prior.

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Power Metal Resources PLC - metals exploration and development in Africa, US and Canada - Revenue for half-year to March 31 GBP17,000, versus nil a year ago, while pretax loss widens to GBP607,000 from GBP256,000. Operating expenses rise to GBP660,000 from GBP316,000. "In the six months ended 31 March 2021 we have pushed the Power Metal business to explore extensively across its project portfolio with, in our view, some excellent and very fortunate findings. We are seeking large scale metal discoveries with the emphasis on plural as we believe our portfolio is capable of delivering a number of discoveries," Chief Executive Paul Johnson says.

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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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