UK EARNINGS SUMMARY: Carr's Full-Year Profit Ahead Of Board Forecasts

Mon, 23rd Nov 2020 16:38

(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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Carr's Group PLC - Carlisle, England-based agriculture machinery distributor and engineering firm - Revenue for the financial year ended August 29 fell 2% to GBP395.6 million from GBP403.9 million, with pretax profit slipping 23% to GBP12.5 million from GBP16.3 million. Says performance "robust" in challenging circumstances, slightly exceeding revised board expectations. First half trading in the Agriculture division "characterised by both challenging market conditions affecting farm incomes and continued unseasonal weather" in the UK and US. Agriculture trading in the second half of the year recovered well, firm notes, and overall profitability exceeded revised expectations. In Engineering, profitability was below revised forecasts. "In difficult market conditions the group delivered a robust financial performance, with full year profitability slightly ahead of the board's revised expectations. Across both divisions, the group responded well to managing the challenges arising from the Covid-19 pandemic," says Chair Peter Page. Trading in recently-commenced financial year has started in line with internal expectations.

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Contango Holdings PLC - developing Garalo gold mine in Mali and Lubu metallurgical coal project in Zimbabwe - Pretax loss for financial year to May 31 slims to GBP258,027 from GBP320,299 the year before. This directly reflects a fall in administrative fees. "Since the conclusion of the Lubu transaction in June 2020, both corporate and operational activities have accelerated, and I am confident that Contango will be revenue generative in 2021. This is a significant achievement for Contango and represents the first phase of our growth strategy," says Chair Roy Pitchford.

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Thruvision Group PLC - security system supplier - Revenue for six months to end of September falls to GBP4.7 million from GBP4.8 million, with pretax loss widening to GBP502,000 from GBP413,000. Says "controlled expenditure management" allowed firm to reach earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation breakeven for first time. "Given the ongoing uncertainty and particularly with regard to travel restrictions both nationally and internationally, and the resulting impact on our ability to prosecute sales, it remains difficult to provide detailed guidance for the group's prospects for the financial year ending March 31, 2021. However, recent announcements on Covid testing and potential vaccines do give some cause for wider optimism that we may return to more normal sales activity in 2021," company says.

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Mind Gym PLC - London-based training and management development firm - Revenue in half-year to September 30 falls 40% to GBP14.5 million year-on-year and company swings to pretax loss of GBP2.0 million from GBP3.9 million profit a year ago. Blames fall in revenue on pandemic, as Covid-19 caused disruption to business activity and a suspension of face to face meetings. More positively, digitally-enabled revenue increased 43% to GBP10.3 million. Notes that there has been a month-on-month increase in revenue since July, with October delivering the "largest monthly revenue in the year to date" with the smallest year-on-year reduction at 15% versus October last year. "We expect this trend in performance to continue and therefore anticipate full year revenue being down 20% to 30% and a return to profitability in H2 resulting in a small loss for the full year. Furthermore, despite the planned investment of GBP2.8 million in new digital products during H2, cash at bank at year end is expected to be between GBP9 and GBP11 million," says Mind Gym.

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Codemasters Group Holdings PLC - video game developer and publisher - Reports revenue of GBP80.5 million in half-year to September-end, double the GBP39.8 million posted a year ago. Pretax profit nearly doubles to GBP19.9 million from GBP10.1 million. Says trading in second half of financial year has started well, including the successful release of DiRT 5 earlier in November. "I am delighted to report a record first half in which we benefitted from three game launches, including our most successful iteration of the F1 franchise. We continued to make significant progress against our strategic objectives, to strengthen the group's overall leadership position in racing, grow the audience and increase average revenue per user," says Chief Executive Frank Sagnier. Adds that takeover offer received from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc post-period end demonstrates "strength of our offering".

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NextEnergy Solar Fund - renewable energy investor - Reports net asset value per share of 99.6p at September 30, up from 99.0p at March-end. For the half year, the NAV total return was 4.1%. Says electricity generation 11% above budget in period. "Due to our exceptional generation in the period and our electricity sales performance, we achieved earnings of 4.04p per ordinary share with our dividend target for the current financial year of 7.05p per ordinary share remaining unchanged," says NESF Chair Kevin Lyon.

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SysGroup PLC - IT services & cloud company - Revenue for six months to September 30 falls to GBP9.0 million from GBP9.3 million a year ago, though swings to pretax profit of GBP125,00 from loss of GBP368,000 a year before. Operating expenses fall to GBP4.0 million from GBP4.3 million, and firm only takes GBP36,000 in exceptional items during recent half, reduced from GBP288,000 in same period a year ago. "Whilst Covid-19 has had a marked impact on many sectors, it has created a huge opportunity for the IT services sector. The value of robust, flexible and secure IT has never been so important to businesses; outsourced managed services has been recognised as a key component of many businesses' success, growth and continuity. We look forward to capitalising on that trend in the years to come," says Chief Executive Adam Binks.

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By Lucy Heming;Â lucyheming@alliancenews.com