AQUIS STOCK EXCHANGE
Property investment company Ace Liberty and Stone (ALSP) more than doubled its interim profit. In the six months to October 2020, rental income was 7% lower at £3.22m, while pre-tax profit was 121% higher at £674,000. The profit improvement was due to lower interest charges, offset by a £200,000 write down on assets held for sale. Rent collections have exceeded 80% each quarter. There were £131,000 of rent concessions written off in the period. NAV is £32.2m. Net debt was £49.6m at the end of October 2020. Loan to value is 53%. There is no interim dividend.
Sativa Wellness (SWEL) plans to achieve UK FSA Novel Foods accreditation by the end of March. This will enable the company to sell CBD products under the Goodbody brand and white labels. An online store will be launched. It will also be completing the integration and simplification of the businesses. Management believes the company can become cash generative from operating businesses this year. Chief executive Henry Lees-Buckley has stepped down from the holding company board.
NQ Minerals (NQMI) has resumed exploration at the Beaconsfield mine, which has 483,000 ounces of JORC compliant mineral resources.
Gunsynd (GUN) increased its stake in Rincon Resources to 17.3%. The company’s employee benefit trust is subscribing for 15 million shares at par and that will raise £12,750. That equates to a 3.7% stake.
World High Life (LIFE) raised £566,000 at 1p a share. First quarter revenues of Love Hemp were 13% ahead of the previous quarter.
Altona Energy (ANR) raised £523,000 at 6.5p a share, although £355,000 is still to be received. The cash will enable the company to complete due diligence on two rare earths mining projects in Africa and a move to the standard list. Two more possible acquisitions of rare earths assets are being negotiated.
Early Equity (EEQP) raised £243,000 at 0.5p a share.
Eastinco Mining and Exploration (EM.P) executive chairman has acquired 650,000 shares at 2.0308p each, which takes his stake to 6%. Arbuthnot Banking (ARBB) chairman and chief executive Sir Henry Angest bought 3,161 non-voting shares in the financial services provider. He owns 56.1% of the voting shares and 64.9% of the non-voting shares.
AIM
Insolvency-related litigation firm Manolete Partners (MANO) has warned that the pipeline of new cases has slowed because of the government’s Covid-19 support for businesses. Case enquiries have fallen sharply, and this is expected to remain the case until the end of March at least. Manolete has already completed twice as many cases as in the year to March 2020. Gross cash collected from cases was £9.3m up until the end of December and the company’s share is £4.8m compared with cash overheads of £3.2m. Full year realised profit will be higher than expected but the increase in unrealised gains will not be as much as anticipated. There may be a small second half profit. Mithaq Capital took a 16.1% stake on the day of the trading statement. Three non-executives bought shares.
Ideagen (IDEA) increased its annual recurring revenues to £54.8m at the end of October 2020 with organic growth of 7%. The document management and compliance software supplier says that 83% of its revenues are recurring. It is on course to improve full year pre-tax profit from £14.3m to £17.2m.
Dekel Agri-Vision (DKL) has completed a £3.5m fundraising at 5p a share. Dekel plans to spend £1.1m in cash and shares acquiring a further 16.7% of the raw cashew nut processing project in Tiebissou, Cote d’Ivoire. That will take the stake to 70.7%. The rest of the cash will fund the ongoing business.
Cloud-based PCI-compliant payment services provider PCI-Pal (PCIP) increased interim revenues by 56% to £3.2m. Total annual contract value has risen to £8.3m. Net cash was £2.1m at the end of 2020.
Beximco Pharma (BXP) increased interim revenues from £112.6m to £125.8m. Export sales were flat. Pre-tax profit increased from £15.5m to £19.4m. Beximco has received the first consignment of five million doses of the Oxford/ AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
CIP Merchant Capital (CIP) has rejected a potential 50p a share cash bid by Corporation Financière Européenne S.A. That compares with the last quoted NAV of 78.05p a share.
MAIN MARKET
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) continued to trade strongly with revenues ahead of expectations. Investec has upgraded forecast 2020-21 revenues by 4% and earnings per share by 19% to 14.1p a share, which is still down on last year. There should be net cash of £50m by the end of February 2021.
IT firm Triad Group (TRD) says that results in the second half will be well ahead of the same period last year.
Associated British Engineering (ASBE) has still not published its accounts for the year to September 2020. Management is considering opportunities that will help to get the share trading suspension lifted.
Andrew Hore