AQUIS STOCK EXCHANGE
Good Life Plus (GDLF) reported its figures for the 16 months to January 2024. This includes a full contribution from the core luxury prize draw business and a few months of the shell it reversed into. Revenues were £2.39m and the loss was £3.98m, although that included costs of the reversal. The underlying business is losing money as it builds up the subscriber base. The recent £2m fundraising was after the balance sheet date, so there is plenty of cash to continue to add players. The number exceeds 30,000 and continue to rise. There are potential deals with media partners that could reduce the costs of subscriber acquisition by providing access to new people and only paying if they sign up to the Good Life Plus prize draws.
Interim figures of Arbuthnot Banking (ARBB) show a decline in interim profit as net interest rate margin was reduced from 6.1% to 5.2%. Pre-tax profit fell from £26.4m to £20.8m. Asset based lending profit did improve. Tangible NAV was 1396p/share.
Broker and investment manager Oberon Investments Group (OBE) increased revenues by 50% to £7.58m in the year to March 2024. There was still a loss of £2.88m, even after the £318,000 gain on a stake disposal. Additi9nal hires mean that overheads were much higher. NAV was £23.9m. Corporate finance income was slightly lower with the main growth coming from investment management. There has been a strong first quarter this year and signs of improving business. Like-for-like growth should be more than 30% this year.
Invinity Energy Systems (IES) has opened its manufacturing facilities in Motherwell. This will increase capacity for its energy storage technology to more than 500Mwh/year.
Rathbones has a 5.59% stake in Walls and Futures REIT (WAFR).
Stephen Bamford has reduced his stake in SulNOx Group (SNOX) to less than 3%, following a transfer of shares to his children. Gunsynd (GUN) executive director Donald Strang bought one million shares at 0.1215p each.
AIM
FRP Advisory (FRP) is benefiting from strong restructuring services demand and its corporate finance operations are trading better than many of its peers. In the year to April 2024, revenues were 23% higher at £128.2m, while pre-tax profit improved from £24.1m to £33.7m. The dividend was raised to 5p/share. Net cash is £29.7m. Since the year end, two acquisitions have been made: Southampton-based finance provider Hilton-Baird and Cardiff-based Lexington Corporate Finance. Even so, net cash could improve to m£32m by April 2025.
Order intake has weakened at scientific instruments supplier Judges Scientific (JDG) and there is no sign of this changing in the near term. There have also been delays of some projects. Organic revenues declined 3% in the first half. Demand from China has been weak. Some delayed work will come through in the second half. Even so, the full year pre-tax profit forecast has been cut by 10% to £30.3m, down from £31.7m last year.
Prospex Energy (PXEN) has secured a ten-year extension of the licence concessions for the El Romeral project in Spain. It can be extended for another ten years to 2044. Prospex Energy is trying to gain permission to drill more wells to provide gas to El Romeral so its electricity production can increase by one-third.
Shield Therapeutics (STX) chief executive Greg Madison is stepping down and non-exec Anders Lundstrom will take over on an interim basis. Iron deficiency treatment ACCRUFeR generated revenues of $6.9m in the second quarter, which was 69% higher than the previous quarter. This is a combination of more prescriptions and higher selling prices. The interim revenues are $11m. Cash is still flowing out of the business.
Energy supplier Yu Group (YU.) increased revenues by 60% in the first half and cash has increased to £86.8m. Lower prices mean that monthly average bookings have declined by 9% and that will hit operating margins. These factors mean that SP Angel is keeping its full year pre-tax profit forecast at £44.5m even though interim revenues grew much faster than expected.
Inspiration Healthcare (IHC) has finally signed the £3.3m Middle East contract it has been waiting for. The equipment should be shipped in the period to year-end in January 2025. This covers the majority of the revenues needed to be gained to achieve the full year forecast revenues of £41m. Earlier in the week, BGF Investment Management increased its stake to more than 21%.
Hydrogen and fertiliser projects developer Atome (ATOM) has signed heads of terms for a fertiliser offtake agreement with Yara. This covers the Villeta project in Paraguay. This will help to achieve full financing of the project by the end of 2024. The Villeta facility could produce 260,000tpa of fertiliser. Yara is the largest fertiliser and ammonia trader and the fertiliser produced at Villeta should be sold at a premium price.
Zephyr Energy (ZPHR) has completed the initial phase of testing of the State 36-2R LNW-CC well in the Paradox Basin, US. Peak production rates were 1,350 barrels of equivalent/day even though the well was choked back and constrained. There is a higher condensate yield than nearby wells and this will be attractive to Utah refineries. There is little water production. However, the natural fracture network may be partially obstructed. Zephyr Energy will try to remove drilling mud emulsions that could be blocking the fracture and that will cost a few hundred thousand dollars.
Healthcare services provider Totally (TLY) made a small loss in the year to March 2024, but it is expected to return to profit this year even though revenues are set to continue to decline. Annualised cost savings of £3.5m have been made. There have been delays to tender activity around the General Election, but this is changing. The investigation into the NHS should report in September and this could provide opportunities.
Aptamer (APTA) is raising £2.83m at 0.2p/share, which was a large discount to the market price. The cash is required to get the full potential from its Optimer binder technology. There are relationships with the top ten pharma companies and there is potential for licensing the technology in the next few years. The fixed cost base will be reduced from £3.5m to £2.9m.
Brighton Pier (PIER) has been hampered by poor weather. There was a 29% decline in footfall on Brighton Pier itself so this year’s revenues will be lower than expected. The other three leisure businesses are trading in line with expectations. Cavendish expects a 2024 loss after tax of £700,000.
Architectural and construction software provider Eleco (ELCO) generated organic growth of 12% in the first half. Overall interim revenues were 21% higher at £16.3m. Annualised recurring revenues are £25.8m. Cavendish is maintaining its full year pre-tax profit forecast at £4.8m. Profit has been held back by the move to SaaS-based income, but as this process matures it should accelerate.
Braveheart Investments (BRH) has increased its stake in Image Scan (IGE) from 5.21% to 7.22%,
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Thalassa Holdings (THAL) has taken a 9.94% stake in Surgical Innovations (SUN) and the share price recovered 23.1% to 0.8p, which values the surgical instruments manufacturer at £7.5m. Earlier this year, Thalassa chairman Duncan Soukup made initial restitution payments due to a loss on an investment in Tappit Technologies and he will pay up to £1.5m more. This means that Thalassa has cash to invest. Thalassa had a book value of 116p/share at the end of 2023.
Financial management software developer Aptitude Software (LON: APTD) is going through a period of transition. The current core product is AccountancyHub, but the newest product is Fynapse. The plan is to transfer one-third of the AccountancyHub customers to Fynapse by 2027, while also adding new clients. There is less need for complicated implementation processes with Fynapse and much of that work is done by partners. That is why those revenues have declined in the latest period and total interim revenues fell from £37.5m to £35.3m. Annualised recurring revenues are £46.7m. There was a cash outflow in the first half, but net cash should recover to £25m by the end of 2024. Pre-tax profit improved from £1.75m to £2.5m.
Andrew Hore
