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Good to see that guidance for the year is firmly stated as being in line with expectations, despite the EBITDA reduction in the much seasonally weaker H1. I note that repeatable revenues are strong at 84%.

The all-important H2 has seen increased visitor footfall, presumably supporting the "meeting expectations" guidance given that we're already halfway through H2.

ACSO is going through a phase of acquisition integration and resetting of the business through increased investment in new and upgraded software, which impacted the H1 results.

As BodRuncie said, the three "transformational" acquisitions in H1 for $50m will soon start to benefit operations from cross-selling and other synergies.

Loads of news from The Vaccine Group (TVG) over the last 2-3 months now suddenly on the web site:

Https://thevaccinegroup.com/news/

Which is probably not unconnected to this in particular:

Https://thevaccinegroup.com/sp-global-interview-tvg-eyes-investment-to-support-newly-extended-vaccine-pipeline/

The relatively small amount under discussion should be easily achievable given the news flow and prospects.

Excellent H1 results from Shire, with revenues up 21%, margins increasing and PBT up 29% in the much seasonally weaker first half.

The £25.96m m/cap compares to £21.4m cash (plus £1.45m of properties for sale) and £35.3m net assets.

Shire made £2.43m PBT last year, so PBT looks set for well over £3m PBT this year assuming the H1 rate of growth continues.

Assuming £3m PBT, less 25% CT, times 80% ownership, equals £1.8m. Give that a P/E of say 8 and Shire is worth £14.4m.

Taking into account the cash pile and the net assets there's plenty of upside from here.

Good to see the reassuring commentary too from Nick about he and the business moving forward from the tragic loss of his brother.

Good to see buying just now at 11.2p - nicely above the published 11p offer price. Someone's keen.

News just out this afternoon - Allied Gold has approved development and fast-tracking of production at the Diba project, where CAPD are the drilling contractor, with production in H1'24:

Https://www.juniorminingnetwork.com/junior-miner-news/press-releases/2828-tsx-venture/ele/148213-elemental-altus-notes-development-approval-of-diba-project-by-allied-gold.html

"Frederick Bell, CEO of Elemental Altus, commented: "We welcome Allied Gold's announcement that our recently sold Diba project, which is contiguous with their flagship 10 million ounce Sadiola mine, is being fast-tracked in to production in H1 2024. The combination of royalty revenue and milestone payments from Diba will contribute meaningfully to our revenue growth, with over 6,000 GEOs and up to $6 million in cash payments over 2024 and 2025. There remains a material resource across the project and significant exploration upside...."

This Calor Ireland contract win looks very tasty:

Https://www.touchstar.co.uk/blog/calorireland

"CALOR IRELAND – Major system upgrade TO OPTIMISE DELIVERY AND BOOST CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

13 September 2023

CALOR IRELAND – Major system upgrade TO OPTIMISE DELIVERY AND BOOST CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

14th September 2023, Manchester UK – Touchstar client Calor Ireland make a further significant investment in ‘Fuelstar’ system

About Calor

Every day, Calor supplies LPG, BioLPG, LNG and Autogas to its customers: homes and businesses off the mains gas grid. Calor provides an energy that is easy to transport, store and use, which has many versatile uses, and a limited environmental impact compared to popular alternatives.

Calor Ireland are the leading supplier and distributor of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) in Ireland, allowing customers who are located off the natural gas grid use LPG gas for power in their homes and businesses. The company is expert in LPG procurement and commissioning, bulk gas storage, cylinder filling and storage, LPG transport and delivery, installation and maintenance. The company also actively develop and innovate new LPG powered products such as the Calor Mini-BBQ and new lightweight cylinder.

Calor Ireland employ 284 staff in 6 sites located throughout the island of Ireland serving circa 50,000 customers across residential and industrial commercial sectors.

etc"

And also:

Https://www.touchstar.co.uk/blog/100pluslogistics

"100+ Logistics select ‘PODStar’ system to enhance delivery operation

12 September 2023

100+ Logistics select ‘PODStar’ system to enhance delivery operation"

" After extensive research and evaluation of the latest available technologies, the management team at 100+ Logistics have commissioned an electronic proof of delivery system from Manchester-based Touchstar Technologies. The ‘PODStar’ system will solve the current challenges of a large paper trail, ensuring manual processes are optimised, credit control issues resolved and customer service improved.

The integrated PDA and web-based back-office solutions will allow 100+ Logistics to manage their operations in real-time and remove the problems associated with paper-based processes. "

" Client Reaction

Scott Partridge, Managing Director of 100+ Logistics, is excited by the potential for the newly acquired system to transform their supply chain operation: “We were impressed by how the Touchstar team rapidly understood our business needs and by the overall capabilities of the software. We can readily drag and drop jobs onto runs and distribute seamlessly to the driver’s mobile devices. We’ll be able to plan routes and receive ETA information in real-time which will optimise our deliveries and improve our service to our clients. There are a lot of secondary benefits to the system such as automating our vehicle checks and the Touchstar team are developing one or two bespoke enhancements

Good H1 numbers as already known, but Cavendish (aka Finncap) now forecast just 1.5p EPS this year, assuming that the writer and actor strikes aren't resolved until the end of the year.

Net debt is set to increase to £18.9m (from £11.7m last year).

They forecast 8.8p EPS next year assuming a return to normality.

I wonder if the return to shorter and presumably more geographically diverse work as noted by Cavendish - in order to "go after all available work" given the strikes - will cause transport costs to rise again as per last year. And of course interest rates are so much higher, though they may ameliorate at some point (maybe next year).

Whether to invest at present is obviously a gamble on whether the market will look forward to next year or whether the shares will drift on the more negative outlook for the next few months and in the prelim numbers for this year.

Https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230907840010/en/Titan-Partners-with-Team-Internet-Formerly-CentralNic-to-Offer-Business-Email

"Titan Partners with Team Internet (Formerly CentralNic) to Offer Business Email

September 12, 2023

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Titan, a leading business email service provider, announced a strategic partnership with the Team Internet Group (TIG) formerly CentralNic, a leading global internet solutions company. Team Internet’s dual focus includes domain name management (Online Presence) and high-growth digital advertising (Online Marketing). Initially, Titan's business email will be available through Team Internet’s flagship retail brand, OnlyDomains, which helps individuals, MSMEs, and SMEs build an online presence. The alliance will accelerate digital transformation across North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

The core offering of this partnership is a premium business email trial with every domain at OnlyDomains. OnlyDomains customers with domain names can now strengthen their online presence with a professional-looking email address. This service is available for newly-registered and existing domain names.

Titan’s business email requires no setup and offers a user-friendly interface and native apps. Titan provides up to 50GB storage per user, and Calendar and Contacts apps. Read Receipts and Email Templates help users reach their customers more easily. Priority Inbox, Follow-up Reminders, and Send Later boost productivity.

"Through our partnership with Team Internet, we aim to help more entrepreneurs solidify their online presence. Offering our premium business email free with every domain simplifies the journey for businesses," said Bhavin Turakhia, CEO of Titan. "We're eager to empower more businesses through Team Internet."

Pairing Titan with domains increases NPS and customer satisfaction, and exposes customers to the provider's branding within Titan for over 150 hours every year."

Intriguing upwards movement here. FYI there's a new article dated September 7th on NTQ's web site confirming the positive noises around SABER:

Https://www.enteq.com/news-media/2023/09/chronicles-from-catoosa-saber-validates-its-effectiveness-during-extensive-trials/

Extracts:

"07 September 2023

Chronicles from Catoosa: SABER validates its effectiveness during extensive trials

Neil Bird, VP Advanced Drilling Systems, Enteq

In April, I detailed the qualified success of initial testing in Norway for the SABER Tool — our innovative alternative to conventional rotary steerable systems (RSS) for directional drilling. After that, our attention shifted to SABER’s next testing phase at Catoosa Test Facility in Oklahoma, and I’m delighted to report this trial was a resounding success. It felt only natural to continue our testing series with a second piece as we celebrate SABER proving its effectiveness under operational conditions.

This is a huge moment for the whole Enteq team. While its significance has taken some time to sink in, we are now beginning to appreciate the scale of our achievement.

Catoosa preparations revolved around two goals: first, confirming the effectiveness of SABER’s unique application of Bernoulli’s steering concept; second, identifying operational limits. During an extensive drilling programme, we were able to put a tick in both of these boxes.

Testing proved SABER’s ability to induce significant dogleg (DLS severity) in typical downhole conditions and navigate diverse formations, mirroring real-world commercial environment. We were able to generate a build and drop, hold and change azimuth when we needed to, and turn. This validates its suitability for our target commercial applications in lateral horizontal wells.

All testing results have been verified by an independent survey and we have conducted our own thorough analysis to confirm our success, but also scope out further areas for optimisation, which we are in the process of implementing."

"In the two decades since RSS supplanted mud motors as the premier directional drilling tool, the technology has remained largely stagnant. SABER represents the first real innovation the industry has seen in that time, so it is natural that some people may have doubts. However, these results mark a pivotal moment and affirms that SABER can redefine industry standards and expectations.

Validating SABER’s application of Bernoulli’s principle marks a significant moment, underscoring its capacity for precise at-bit steering in global commercial drilling, with enhanced tool life and reliability. SABER’s applications for geothermal and methane capture applications further expand its uses beyond existing RSS technologies.

In line with our growth and commercialisation strategy, we are now actively selecting partners in strategic global regions to bring the tool to market. We will be keeping our sunglasses on as we look forward to our participa

Continuing to move up steadily on relatively small buying, so stock seems to be scarce once again. Good to see buying this morning at the full 1.7p offer.

The Investment Company PLC/Chelverton have evidently been buying per today's RNS and have accumulated a 6.3% holding in INSE, with 6.335m shares:

Https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/inspired-INSE/share-news/Inspired-PLC-Holdings-in-Company/92058452

Chelverton Asset Management had a 4.7% holding in INSE at 14th August with 4.72m shares per INSE's web site, so I assume they've bought another 1.6m or so shares.

Chelverton were appointed as the Investment Company's external investment portfolio manager in July. Perhaps the new holding is a combo of both their holdings now (the Investment Company haven't previously had a holding in INSE).

Good to see the share price up today. Heavily oversold imo given the extremely low P/E for the sector and the strong outlook with the business "performing well" and trading nicely in line with expectations.

More "excellent" drilling results from PDI's Bankan project (where CAPD are the contractor) sent PDI's shares up 6% overnight.

I calculate this holding alone is now worth almost £24m:

Https://cdn-api.markitdigital.com/apiman-gateway/ASX/asx-research/1.0/file/2924-02710418-6A1167721?access_token=83ff96335c2d45a094df02a206a39ff4

Surely CAPD should issue an RNS re the Allied Gold IPO, if only to clarify how much their holding is now worth (or whether they sold any on IPO). We know that the AAUC m/cap is now C$1.32 billion, but don't know CAPD's value within that.

Tipped overnight - as these articles are usually subscriber-only here's the intro and conclusion:

"A tech bargain buy on a 57% discount

Shares in a cash-rich technology investment company are trading on a huge 57 per cent discount to book value"

"Fieldworks funding round exceeds target

Pulsiv makes heavyweight appointments

Frontier IP’s share price on 57 per centdiscount to NAV"

"The 24-month bear market in Aim-traded shares has not only led to a 44 per cent decline in the FTSE Aim-AllShare index, but it has created some eye-watering deep value opportunities to exploit. Edinburgh-based Frontier IP(FIPP:38p), a technology investment company that provides commercialisation services to university spin-outs in return for ‘free equity’ stakes, falls firmly into this category.

To put the scale of its undervaluation into perspective, the group’s last reported net asset value (NAV) of £49mn (88.2p) is 132 per centhigher than its £21.1mn market capitalisationeven though Frontier held net cash of £5.85mn(10.5p) at the start of 2023. Since then, it has sold down £1.5mn shares in Nasdaq-listed Exscientia (US:EXAI), a clinical-stage pharma technology company pioneering the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to design new drugs.Frontier still holds 0.49mn Exscientia shares worth $2.7mn (£2.2mn).So, after factoring in estimated operating costs of £1.5mn for the first half of 2023, and a post-period £1mn investment in Cambridge University spin-out CamGraPhIC, a developer of graphene-based photonics technology for optical transceivers, I estimate that the liquid stake inExscentia and pro-forma cash account for £7mn(12.5p) of NAV of £49mn.

It means that ignoring goodwill of £2mn on the group’s balance sheet,other investments worth £40mn (72p) are in the price for £14mn (25p), or 65 per cent below their carrying valuations. That’s an absurd discount given the progress being made by multiple investee companies."

"Frontier’s de-rating a buying opportunity

Frontier’s share price has fallen 40 per cent since the interim results in mid-March, a de-rating that is in no way a reflection of the operational progress of its investee companies. Rated on anunwarranted 57 per cent discount to NAV, the shares rate a bargain basement buy ahead of annual results in mid-November. Buy."

Good H1 results as previously flagged. With $4m revenues in H1 the forecast $7.8m for the year has a clear chance of being beaten.

I suspect that following the £10m fundraising, and with it being at a relatively good price, there's further news flow to come.

Good results and outlook today - nice to see the upgrades.

High interest rates will also benefit HVO's EPS given the £31m+ cash pile.

Liberum have raised their target price slightly to 26.6p and say Buy. Here's their summary:

"hVIVO plc

H1 weighting translates into upgrades"

"More often than not, an H1 weighting translates into a fullyear upgrade, and interim results have not disappointed. After good progress on new trial authorisations, forecast risk has been reduced for FY23 and alongside plans for a new facility, management has raised FY23 revenue and EBITDA margin guidance translating to a 12% upgrade today. Some of this benefit this year and next year is a oneoff, but operational gearing from the new facility should come into effect from FY25, so we are confident in pushing through structural c.9% EBITDA upgrade today for our outer years. There was also news that management will commence a nominal dividend in FY24.

After today’s upgrades, the shares trade on just 9.3x EV/ 2023 EBITDA and look materially undervalued, particularly against the recently announced 21x takeout EV/ 2023 EBITDA multiple for its closest UK peer, Ergomed. We remain buyers with a new target price of 26.60p."

Nice article last night on Master Investor:

Https://masterinvestor.co.uk/equities/altitude-group-still-in-the-ascent/?mc_cid=8b859fb02d&mc_eid=db9f9bbaf2

"This little group has significant prospects, and its shares will rise accordingly, with so much more to go for yet"

Onward Opportunities PLC, a smaller company focused investing company, has just released its interims to 30th June. They've disclosed that they've recently invested £800,000 in REAT (mostly since 30th June) and have this this to say:

Https://polaris.brighterir.com/public/onward_opportunities_limited/news/rns/story/xje12or

"With React, we believe we have captured a defensive growth opportunity, at a value price and invested c.6% NAV into the company. It is a business the team have been researching since September last year and was an early pipeline priority. Through a mix of specialist cleaning services for UK corporates, the business has a highly attractive earnings profile. The business has three core divisions:

1. React - the heritage of the group, reactive specialist cleaning often needed for emergencies or callouts requiring specialist cleaning techniques, high margin but less predictable.

2. LaddersFree - large glass pane and cladding cleaning for UK corporates, executed through a capital-light membership model.

3. Fidelis - contract cleaning focused on public services.

The business operates over 80% of its sales on contracted terms of one to five years and has been organically growing at 17%+ per annum for the past four years under a new management team. Sales are highly cash generative and yield a high contribution margin, whilst CAPEX, depreciation and amortisation are all insignificant.

Crucially now as a result of to a mix of organic and acquisitive growth and the upcoming cessation of deferred consideration payments, the business is beginning to generate strong profits and free cash flow growth from contribution margin, as it exploits inherent operational gearing. If one were to look away for a moment - not knowing the company cleans large glass facades, rolling stock, and prisons - its characteristics mean it could easily be mistaken for a small, successful software company. Yet we have been able to acquire shares in React over the past six months on forward P/E multiple of 6.5x - 8.5x.

We have analysed React's ability to continue growing organically and potentially through bolt-on acquisitions over the next five years. Independent referencing with a number of larger customers and partners have underscored React's competitive advantage and high levels of service delivery. This work has given us confidence to model and substantiate projections further out than most analysts. Based on our work, we believe the business can grow sales to c.£30m and generate a c.15% EBITDA margin within the next five years. Such a growth and margin profile should command a P/E multiple well in excess of 12x, and as a result, our investment has the potential to outperform our target returns of 2x money invested. At this scale, we believe the business would become a target for larger managed services groups."

The Allied Gold IPO will open in Canada this afternoon, under the symbol AAUC.

As a reminder, CAPD own a large stake in the formerly privately owned Allied Gold Corp. This is thought to be around 2% of Allied, and has been valued at $7.7m at 31/12/22 (see p.101 of the Annual Report). It's thought that on IPO this stake could be worth $17m-$20m or so for CAPD, on top of the considerable investment value of the rest of CAPD's investment portfolio - giving a likely total portfolio valuation of some $45m-$50m:

Https://finance.yahoo.com/news/orion-mine-finance-announces-receipt-123000171.html

H1's 4.84p EPS is a touch ahead of Liberum's forecast, and Liberum have retained their forecast for the year of 13p EPS.

They've also raised their forecasts for 2024 and 2025 by 5%, to 13.7p and 13.9p EPS

They have a 200p target price and say Buy.

INSE are confident of meeting expectations given the H2 weighting.

Great to see ESG and Software roaring ahead, and Optimisation is trading well again.

Underlying EPS was down due to higher interest rates, and cash flows were affected by acquisition consideration payments which won't recur - in fact July cash inflows were terrific.

Over time there looks to be excellent upside here.