Home » Posts tagged 'aty' (Page 2)
Tag Archives: aty
Quoted Micro 4 April 2016
ISDX
Hearing aids and mobility products retailer DHAIS (DHAP) fell into loss in the first half on slightly lower revenues. Costs increased in the mobility division and the focus will be on the hearing aids business. A store in Swindon was sold but DHAIS is still selling hearing aids from the site. In the six months to December 2015, revenues dipped from £5.13m to £5.07m, while a profit of £21,000 was turned into a loss of £86,000. At 24.5p (22p/27p) a share, DHAIS is valued at £15.3m.
Globe Capital Ltd (GCAP) has bought Globe Capital Administration, which was incorporated in January 2016, for £1,250 and paid £12,500 for a 25% stake in Sterling Craig, which was incorporated on 11 December 2015.
Welney (WENP) still has options over tyre recycling business Mitre Rubber and cleaning company Cleanbrite Facilitation and has not made a decision on whether to proceed with either deal. Neither company had a business at the time of their most recent accounts. Another investment is being negotiated. There was £59 in the bank plus a Nasdaq listed investment worth £2,675 at the end of 2015.
AIM
Ultrasound training simulators developer Medaphor (MED) has raised £3.2m at 45p a share in order to finance working capital for its latest contract. Earlier this year, Medaphor’s US subsidiary has signed a long-term agreement with the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) for the use of its ScanTrainer as the simulator for its obstetrics and gynecology certification exams. ABOG undertakes 2,000 examinations each year. The cash will also be used to develop the US sales team and the continued product development. Hopefully, this will be enough cash to get Medaphor to profitability. Last year, Medaphor lost £1.7m on revenues of £2.2m.
Fastnet Equity (FAST) has published the acquisition document for Amryt Pharmaceuticals. The deal is valued at £29.6m and Fastnet is raising £10m at 24p a share (post one-for-eight share consolidation). Amryt has, conditional on the deal going ahead, agreed to acquire Germany-based Birken, which has developed a recently approved drug for partial thickness wounds and a potential orphan drug for the skin disorder epidermolysis bullosa called Episalvan, and Switzerland-based SomPharmacuticals, which is focusing on treatments for acromegaly and Cushing’s disease. Some of the cash will be used to fund a phase III clinical trial of Episalvan.
Digital Barriers (DGB) is selling its services business to its management for a nominal sum and this should reduce costs by £1m a year. The focus will be surveillance, security and safety technology, where organic revenue growth was 50% in the year to March 2016. The underlying loss has been reduced.
MAIN MARKET
Investment company Athelney Trust (ATY) is seeking to raise additional funds. This will help to spread costs over a larger capital base. The plan is to increase the share capital by up to 9.9%, which should also help to make the shares more liquid.
Aseana Properties Ltd (ASPL) is selling the Aloft Kuala Lumpur Sentral Hotel for a gross value of $104.6m. That should generate a gain of $35.9m to project NAV. The hotel was developed by Aseana and opened in March 2013. The transaction should be completed in the third quarter and marks a significant step in the plan to realise the company’s assets. Net gearing will be reduced from 1.12 times to 0.48 times NAV. There are plans for a $10m capital distribution and then will be further distributions after that.
Civil engineer and building services provider North Midland Construction (NMD) returned to profit in 2015but there is still no dividend. The board hopes to start paying dividends in the near future. In 2015, revenues improved from £193.2m to £217.6m. The core building division returned to profit and the group pre-tax loss of £2.97m to £606,000. This was helped by a reduction in the costs of legacy contracts. Net cash was £2.4m at the end of 2015.
Cleantech-focused investment company Menhaden Capital (MHN) is traded on the Main Market on the Social Stock Exchange offshoot of ISDX and it raised £80m last July. At the end of 2015, the NAV was 83.9p a share – a 14.1% decline even after initial costs are excluded. Management remains optimistic, particularly concerning its investment in solar energy products developer X-Elio.
ANDREW HORE
Quoted Micro 6 March 2016
ISDX
Brewer Shepherd Neame (SHEP) reported a lower brewing profit but this was made up for by a higher contribution from managed pubs in the six months to December 2015. However, the National Living Wage and other costs will increase by £1.1m in the next financial year and management is cautious about the prospects for consumer spending. Revenues were flat at £73.7m but underlying pre-tax profit improved from £4.73m to £5.07m, helped by lower interest costs. There was also a property disposal profit of £3.6m. Net debt was reduced to £61.4m thanks to disposal proceeds.
Electrical and control systems supplier Field Systems Design Holdings (FSD) had a much stronger six months to November 2015 thanks to additional work from the energy from waste incineration sector. Longer-term, demand from the water sector should build up. There was a jump in revenues from £5.51m to £8.31m, while pre-tax profit improved from £11,000 to £91,000. There was £1.1m in the bank at the end of November 2015. At 15.5p (14p/17p) a share, Field is valued at £900,000.
Energy efficiency products supplier Sandal (SAND) moved back into profit in the six months to November 2015. Overall revenues were flat at £1.66m, although there were much higher sales of Energenie products, while a loss of £129,000 was turned into a profit of £7,000 thanks to lower overheads. Sandal has completed its investment in the Energie MiHome range with ongoing investment focused on linking up with Hive and other smart devices for the home. There was £398,000 in the bank at the end of November 2015.
Leni Gas Cuba Ltd (CUBA) has made two new investments in Cuban businesses. The first is a 49% stake in entertainment consultancy Cuba Professionals Inc for an investment of €180,000 over nine months. A short-term working capital facility of €200,000 will also be prfinance ovided. This cash will go towards a larger office in Havana and recruiting additional staff. The other investment is a 15.8% stake in Australian company MEO Australia Ltd, which is focused on Cuban oil exploration. The £730,000 investment will be used to finance exploration in onshore block 9 in Cuba, where another one of the company’s investments, Petro Australis has and interest. Non-executive director Darren Smith has bought 250,000 shares at 0.8p each. That takes his stake to 4 million shares. Smith did not buy any shares in the subscription at 5p a share when the company joined ISDX. The share price has fallen back to 0.9p (0.8p/1p).
Via Developments (VIA1) has raised a total of £2.5m from ten placings of 7% debenture stock since joining ISDX. Two residential property acquisitions have been made in Manchester and Luton.
Ganapati (GANP) is still attempting to obtain a licence from the Gaming Commission and there have been further delays so the company will require additional cash. Ganapati also needs to further develop its BUZZPOP app and this means that there will be no revenues from the app until 2017. There will be a write-down of intangible assets as a consequence. The share price was unchanged at 60p (50p/70p).
Doriemus (DOR) plans to leave AIM and move to ISDX. This follows the decision to buy a further 60.56% of Greenland Oil & Gas. This means that a reverse takeover will not be completed by 14 March and the AIM quotation will be cancelled. The oil and gas-focused investment company should start trading on ISDX on 15 March.
Cyber security technology commercialisation company Crossword Cybersecurity (CCS) is linking up with the University of Surrey in order to explore opportunities for commercially exploiting technology for advanced information hiding. The university has developed a way of encoding information into the normal ebb and flow of computer systems. A patent has been filed for this research and the plan is to develop a platform that can use the technology.
AIM
Shell company 3Legs Resources (3LEG) has announced details of the reverse takeover of SalvaRx and plans to raise £1.95m at 35.5p a share – post a 100:1 share consolidation. SalvaRx is an immunotherapy business and it owns 60.5% of iOx, which is developing under lice compounds for cancer immunotherapy. The cash raised will help to finance the first human clinical trials, which are being sponsored by Oxford University, for iOx’s lead compound based on invariant natural killer T cells. SalvaRx has invested £510,000 in iOx and is committed to put in a further £1.33m. 3Legs had already acquired 11.1% of SalvaRx, at a cost of £215,000, last September. The rest of the shares will be swapped for 3Legs shares valuing them at £8.8m. New chairman Jim Mellon and his associates will end up with 73% of 3Legs, whose name will be changed to SalvaRx Group.
Property investor Palace Capital (PLA) has bought an office block in Milton Keynes, near to the railway station, for £7.2m. The near-fully let building generates net income of £550,000 a year. This deal will immediately enhance earnings per share and there is potential to increase rents in the short-term.
Sutton Harbour (SUH) has renewed and extended its bank facilities. A new £25m, three year facility with RNS will replace the £22.5m facility due to expire in October. Finance costs are not expected to change significantly. The enlarged facility plus the rolling £550,000 asset lease financing facility will provide more headroom for Sutton Harbour to push ahead with property developments and invest in the harbour infrastructure.
NWF (NWF) has boosted its agricultural business through the acquisition of ruminant feed manufacturer Jim Peet, which supplies 500,000 tonnes a year to cattle and sheep farmers in northern England and south west Scotland, where NWF wants to grow its exposure. There are two factories near Carlisle and Wigton and they fit well geographically with NWF’s existing facilities.
Advanced ultrasound training simulators developer Medaphor (MED) says that its US subsidiary has signed a long-term agreement with the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ABOG) for the use of its ScanTrainer as the simulator for its obstetrics and gynecology certification exams. ABOG undertakes 2,000 examinations each year. This provides additional confirmation of the usefulness of the technology.
MAIN MARKET
Investment company Athelney Trust (ATY) increased its net asset value by 7.5% to 245p a share last year. The final dividend is being increased by 18% to 7.9p a share on the back of this growth. During the year, Athelney acquired new stakes in two REITs, Safestyle UK, Samuel Heath and Low & Bonar amongst others, while also adding to existing holdings including Begbies Traynor, Juridica Investments and Quarto Group. The disposal of stakes in GLI Finance and Plus500 appears to have been well timed, while Catlin and Nationwide Accident Repair were taken over. There was a dip in the NAV to 235.8p a share by the end of January but that is not surprising given the weak stockmarket. Athelney says that it would not be surprised to see small caps outperforming larger companies again. The original investors in Athelney back in 1994 have enjoyed an annual return of 15.8% net of basic rate tax on their original investment.
Global Resources Investment Trust (GRIT) is changing its strategy to become a more direct investor in resources businesses. This is because it is in default for its 9% convertible loan notes. Prime Star Energy FZE is subscribing £3.9m at 2p a share and RDP Fund Management £1.5m at the same price. There is also an open offer raising up to £300,000 at 2p a share. However, the final proposals are still not agreed and the board is in discussions with the main parties. The company name will be changed to Global Resources International.
Education software and services provider Tribal Group (TRB) is selling its Synergy children;s services management information systems business to Servelec for £20.25m in cash. The business generated EBITDA of £2.3m in 2015. The disposal cash will be used to reduce the requirement for funds in the previously announced rights issue. The plan is to raise up to £21m and the terms will be announced later this month when the 2015 figures are announced. Ian Bowles took over as chief executive on 1 March. There had been plans to move back to AIM but no mention was made of this.
ANDREW HORE