TRADING UPDATES: Vertu Profit To Beat Forecasts; eEnergy Revenue Jumps

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

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Vertu Motors PLC - used car dealer - Expects trading result for the financial year ending February 28, at an adjusted pretax profit level, to exceed current analyst forecasts of around GBP18 million. Says strong marketing activity, maximisation of its omni-channel retailing functionality and cost control have meant that its trading performance in the two months to the end of January continued the positive trend reported for the nine months to November 30.

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eEnergy Group PLC - London-based energy efficiency-as-a-service - Says business eLight, which provides Light-as-a-Service to schools and businesses, experienced strong organic growth in the six months to December 31. eEnergy generated revenue of around GBP6.6 million in the six-month period, up more than three-fold on a year ago, and generated net income before exceptional items of GBP100,000, in line with its previously announced break-even guidance. "The board remains confident that, with the current and expected contracted forward order book, together with active cross-sell engagement for customers across the eLight and Beond businesses, group revenue and gross profit remain in-line with its expectations for the full year to 30 June 2021," says eEnergy.

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Bushveld Minerals Ltd - South Africa-focused vanadium producer and energy storage provider - Reports Bushveld Vanadium 2020 production of 3,631 metric tonnes of vanadium, up 24% on 2019 but below guidance of between 3,660 tonnes and 3,940 tonnes. 2020 sales of 4,264 tonnes was up 78% on 2019. For 2021, expects production between 4,100 tonnes and 4,350 tonnes, which would be between 12% and 20% higher than 2020. "In summary, we have entered the new financial year on a positive footing with the secured funding, the higher production for the year and a rising vanadium price," says Chief Executive Fortune Mojapelo. Separately, says ore reserves for the Vametco vanadium mine have been depleted by around 2% after 12 months of mining from previous estimate as at December 31, 2019. Mojapelo says: "I am pleased to report no significant change in our ore reserve in the past twelve months, except for the depletion that occurs in the ordinary course of mining the deposit. For a deposit with decades of production ahead of it and potential for expansion, this gives us the confidence to pursue our growth targets knowing we have a quality and consistent resource at Vametco."

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Tern PLC - internet of things-focused investor - Says momentum with portfolio companies continues, noting further contract win for Fundamental VR valued at around USD700,000 and Talking Medicines is launching its artificial intelligence and natural language processing powered patient intelligence platform, PatientMetRx. As at December 31, Tern had unaudited cash resources of GBP2.1 million, with approximately GBP380,000 subsequently invested in its portfolio companies, Device Authority and Wyld Networks Ltd, as part of their recent syndicated fundraisings. "The board of Tern believes that the company's cash resources are sufficient for its current needs, including developing the portfolio and supporting the progress of its portfolio companies, taking into account the expectation of the availability of third-party funding to assist the development of the portfolio companies as appropriate," says Chief Executive Al Sisto.

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Alternative Income REIT PLC - UK commercial property investor with assets predominantly let on long leases - Collects 91.4% of rents due for the March, June and September 2020 quarters, with payment plans in place for the remaining 8.6%. By the end of January 2021, the group had collected 80.4% of its December quarter's rent and agreed, or is in the process of agreeing, rent concessions with the remaining 19.6%. Says net asset value per share 84.68 pence at December 31, up from 83.88p at September 30. Declares interim dividend of 1.00p for quarter to December. Alternative Income paid a dividend of 1.25p for the quarter to September 30. "The board continues to target a resumption of a fully covered annual dividend of 5.5 pence per share, all else being equal, by September 2022," company says.

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Phoenix Spree Deutschland Ltd - investment company specialising in German residential real estate - Says Berlin residential property market has remained resilient during the financial year, with total portfolio at December 31 valued at EUR768.3 million by Jones Lang LaSalle GmbH, up 5.2% on a year ago. Expects EPRA net asset value per share at December 31 around EUR5.27 to EUR5.33, versus EUR4.92 a year ago. "I am pleased that the company has been able to deliver further increases in property values and net asset value. The fact that this result has been achieved despite the introduction of the Berlin Mietendeckel and the impact of Covid-19 is testament to the resilience of our business model during these unprecedented times," says Chair Robert Hingley.

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Panoply Holdings PLC - IT service management company - Wins two separate contracts in partnership with Mastek, a global IT player, worth more than GBP7 million. The contracts run for two years and have been awarded by the NHS Business Services Authority, comprising a GBP6 million framework agreement to provide capabilities to support the organisation's digital transformation agenda and a GBP1.2 million contract to be its overseas digital health delivery partner. "These contract wins represent a step-change in our reach into healthcare, a key growth sector for the group. We look forward to working with Mastek to support the NHS BSA with its ongoing digital transformation agenda," says Chief Executive Neal Gandhi.

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Duke Royalty Ltd - London-based provider of financing solutions to private companies whose owners want to retain equity control - Says cash revenue - being cash distributions from Duke's Royalty Partners and cash gains from sales of equity assets - for its third quarter, which ended December 31, was GBP4.2 million, a "record quarter of cash revenue generation for Duke." Based on current trading, Duke expects cash revenue for the fourth quarter to be GBP2.5 million.

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Kropz PLC - South Africa-focused plant nutrient feed minerals developer - Appoints Hatch Africa (Pty) Ltd to complete the updated feasibility study for the Hinda phosphate project, located in the Republic of the Congo. The updated study will be concluded by the end of September 2021.

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EPE Special Opportunities Ltd - investment company - Says net asset value per share at January 31, 2021 was 437.63 pence, up 38% on 317.18p a year ago. "The company has overall performed well in the face of significant disruption caused by the spread of Covid-19 and the resultant economic headwinds," says EPE.

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By Lucy Heming; lucyheming@alliancenews.com

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