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Quoted Micro 7 August 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Valiant Investments (VALP) has raised a further £52,500 at 0.1p a share and its 84.7%-owned subsidiary Flamethrower has acquired FootballTipsFC.com for £40,000. Subscriptions generate £50,000 a year in revenues for the website which provides football betting tips.
Asia Wealth Group Holdings (AWLP) reported a lower loss in the year to February 2017. Revenues improved from $1.2m to $1.53m, while the loss reduced from $150,000 to $110,000. The main business, Meyer Asset Management, made an improved contribution. The auditor has highlighted that no impairment assessment has been made on the investment in Ray Alliance. There is still $869,000 in the bank, following the acquisition of an investment property for $388,000. Management is assessing acquisitions in the fintech sector.
Block Energy (BLOK) has acquired a producing oil field in Georgia. The 90% working interest in the Satskhenisi production sharing agreement will be acquired for 70 million shares (14.35% of Block), which will be owned by Iksander . The field is near the Norio field where Block already has an interest. The permit runs until 2025 with a potential five year extension. Operating costs are up to $25/barrel and the current production from three wells is 10 barrels a day. The sale price is Brent minus $9/barrel. Block will retain 75% of revenues until more than $10m of capital costs are recovered. The purchase includes $500,000 worth of equipment, which can be used in other fields where Block has an interest.
Via Developments (VIA1) has raised a further £100,000 from a placing of 7% debenture stock 2020. Via has completed the Canal Street development in Manchester and the realised gross development value is £2.28m.
Hellenic Capital (HECP) has acquired an office premises in Leeds for £200,000. This was after the latest interims to June 2017. This is part of the new investing strategy. Net assets fell from £81,000 to £59,000 at the end of June 2017, including cash of £28,000.
Capital for Colleagues (CFCP) has invested an additional £150,000 in portfolio company Computer Application Services. Capital for Colleagues initially invested £150,000 in the Edinburgh-based software company at the beginning of 2016 and the latest investment will double the number of A shares it owns to 300,000.
Ecovista (EVTP) has raised £350,000 at 0.035p a share. This takes the stake owned by Hubwise to 12.45% and Elite CAM Balanced Discretionary Fund to 9.34%
AIM
Asset management performance software provider StatPro (SOG) reported a 23% rise in interim revenues to £21.6m, while underlying earnings per share improved from 1.1p to 1.8p. The interim dividend is unchanged at 0.85p a share. There was an initial two month contribution from the UBS Delta business and the annualised recurring revenues are running at £53.2m, which is before the latest three year contract in Australia. The acquired technology will be integrated with StatPro Revolution.
Telecoms infrastructure equipment supplier Filtronic (FTC) reported a jump in full year revenues from £13.6m to £35.4m thanks to a large order for antennas. There was a swing from a £7m loss to a £2.2m profit. The balance sheet is strong with net cash of £2.6m. Future investment in 5G telecoms infrastructure augurs well for Filtronic. Hargreave Hale has increased its stake from £6.16% to 11.3%.
Real Good Food (RGD) says that its forecast for the year to March 2017 was wrong because two anticipated claims have not materialised and it had incorrectly capitalised certain costs. This will knock £2m off expected profit. This revelation comes a few weeks after Downing invested £2.75m at 35p a share and the share price has subsequently slumped to 20.75p. Payments to Pieter Totte and Peter Salter over a three year period were not separately disclosed. Salter has left the Real Good Food board but Totte continues to survive as executive chairman.
Fairpoint Group (FRP) says it intends to appoint an administrator because of the cost of the lease on its head office costing £1m a year for four years. The IVA and related businesses are still being sold.
AdEPT Telecom (ADT) has acquired IT services provider Atomwide, which provides services to schools and local authorities, for an initial £12m. This adds 4% to this year’s earnings and 9% to next year’s. It was partly funded by £7.3m convertible loan from Business Growth Fund, which is convertible at 393p a share.
GetBusy (GETB) joined AIM last week and the share price rose to 34.5p. Cloud-based document management software provider GetBusy was spun out of ASX-listed software company Reckon and raised £3m from a rights issue. The two existing software products, SmartVault and Virtual Cabinet, generated revenues of £8m in 2016 – 82% of which is recurring – up from £6.8m the previous year. Accounting firms generate the majority of revenues and GetBusy is trying to expand in other sectors. Next generation software SCIM is being developed in order to make it easier for businesses to interact with customers and become more organised and productive.
Botswana Diamonds (BOD) has raised £543,000 at 1.25p a share and warrants have been exercised at 0.85p a share raising a further £265,000. The cash will finance exploration in Botswana and to assess an inferred resource for Frischgewaagt.
Ascent Resources (AST) has installed the infrastructure at the Petisovci project in Slovenia to enable the gas to be exported.
TechFinancials Inc (TECH) says that 51%-owned DragonFinancials is paying a dividend of $2m and TechFinancials will receive £1.02m. The payment date is 20 August.
Kestrel Partners has slashed its stake in home improvement products supplier entu (UK) (ENTU) from 21.1% to 7.33%. This investment appears a rare mistake for Kestrel which has a good record of building up stakes in technology businesses. Kestrel was still building up its entu stake in the first quarter of this year. The entu share price is around its all-time low so Kestrel will have made a significant loss on this investment. Meanwhile, entu is trying to secure a refinancing but this is likely to mean that the existing shareholders will be left with little in terms of value. The group continues to lose money.
Thor Mining (THR) is acquiring an interest in Kapunda copper deposit in South Australia. Thor is investing up to A$1.8m in convertible loan notes in a company earning a 75% stake in Kapunda. The initial investment is A$200,000. Conversion of the loan notes could give Thor up to 60% of this company. Due diligence on the US lithium assets has gone well and additional mineralisation has been identified. Director Paul Johnson acquired 500,000 Thor shares at 085p each.
A disposal deal for the interiors division of Stanley Gibbons (SGI) has fallen through because the buyer could not come up with the money. There is a termination fee payable and Stanley Gibbons believes that there are other buyers.
MayAir Group (MAYA) has won a $13.6m order to supply filtration and clean room equipment to a Chinese LCD panel manufacturer and most of the revenue will be recognised in 2017.
Empyrean Energy (EME) has raised £1m at 8.5p a share. Drilling has commenced on the Dempsey 1-15 onshore well in California.
Billington Holdings (BILN) says that its structural steel business has won two contracts worth £14m. One is for a London university and the other is for a distribution warehouse in south west England and some of the work will carry over into 2018.
MAIN MARKET
Diesel engines and parts supplier Associated British Engineering (ABSE) reported a higher loss in 2016-17 and there was also a sharp drop in NAV. The weak oil and gas market continues to hold back the group and revenues fell from £1.77m to £1.04m. The loss increased from £621,000 to £962,000, after a large increase in pension costs. The total cash outflow was just over £1mm similar to the previous year. Cash and financial assets total £968,000. There is a 2.3% stake in AIM-quoted SalvaRx. The initial stake was taken when the company was 3legs Resources. The NAV fell from 73p a share to 50p a share. This is despite a decrease in the pension deficit from £1.93m to £1.38m. There are £3.1m of trading losses and £8.5m of capital losses available but there is no deferred tax asset in the balance sheet.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 31 July 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Kryptonite 1 (KR1) has invested $100,000 in the initial coin offering of the Omisego project, which is being developed to enable decentralised payments and remittances, acquiring 365,199 tokens. A further $200,000 has been invested in a similar offering by the Insurex platform, a marketplace for insurance products, and $100,000 invested in tokens in the Agrello project, which is building an artificial intelligence-based interface for smart contracts.
Good Energy (GOOD) has agreed with Ecotricity that there should be a short deferral of the latter’s general meeting requisition. Good Energy still believes that “any nominee remunerated by Ecotricity” that joined the board would not act independently because of a conflict of interest. An appeal for planning permission for the Big Field onshore wind farm in Cornwall. Good Energy has switched its nominated adviser and broker from Arden to Investec.
e-commerce technology provider Netalogue Technologies (NTLP) says that strong second half trading made up for a weak first half. In the year to March 2017, revenues slipped from £1.12m to £1.04m and made a loss before restructuring coats of £11,000 compared with a pre-tax profit of £70,000 the previous year. This does mean that the second half profit was £221,000. Cash in the bank increased from £549,000 to £614,000, mainly due to lower debtors. There was a net increase in intangible assets of £67,000. New clients include AIM-quoted Conviviality, Enterprise Inns and Marstons. The full benefits of management changes and improved marketing are still to show through in the figures.
Ecovista (EVTP) has sold its subsidiary that owns 2 Willow Cottage and adjoining land near to Stanstead Airport for its book value of £400,000. However, the original cost of the investment was £500,000 and management was hoping to gain planning permission for car storage. It is unclear whether the former subsidiary still owns the same assets or whether any have been transferred elsewhere. The cash will be reinvested in other property.
V22 (V22O) has received planning permission for Silvertown Studios at the Royal Docks in London. V22 owns 51% of the company developing the studios, along with the landowners the Greater London Authority and The Silvertown Partnership, and a private investor owns the rest. There will be up to 200 workspaces and exhibition spaces. This development is part of £3.5bn Silvertown regeneration project.
Online games company Ganapati (GANP) has agreed a debt for equity swap with major Japanese shareholders. Shares will be issued at 52p each and £610,000 of debt will be capitalised. The current share price is 55p (45p/65p).
AIM
Morning sickness treatment Diclectin has not gained marketing authorisation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority in the UK, which is a blow to the strategy of Alliance Pharma (APH). The effectiveness of Diclectin is being questioned in Canada, where around 50% of pregnant women are prescribed the drug, and it is claimed that there are flaws in the original study of the treatment from four decades ago. In 2015, Alliance in-licenced Diclectin for the UK, and subsequently nine other countries, for £1.5m. Alliance hoped to begin sales in the UK by the end of the year and it was estimated that the potential annual revenues in all the in-licenced markets were £40m.
Fiserv has postponed the court meeting for its 2.9p a share bid for mobile banking technology developer Monitise (MONI) because some substantial shareholders have been unhappy about the level of the bid. The Monitise board still recommends the bid, which values the company at £70m. Full year revenues have fallen from £67.6m to £50.9m and the trend is set to continue. The new FINkit platform has yet to secure a contract.
Mortice Ltd (MORT) reported full year revenues 37% higher at $181m and more than trebled pre-tax profit of $5.35m. Net debt was $13.5m at the end of March 2017. Facilities management services grew revenues the fastest and it moved into profit but security revenues also grew strongly. Around three-fifths of the growth in revenues came through acquisitions but there was significant organic growth particularly in the core Indian business.
Minds + Machines Group (MMX) says that renewal rates for .vip have been 75%. There were 317,000 renewals and new registrations have risen by 49% since the beginning of the year. The .vip suffix accounted for 59% of 2016 gross billings and finnCap estimates that renewal revenues could be $6.1m this year. There will be more news about the strategic review with the interims in September.
ANGLE (AGL) says that there were positive results from a 400 patient ovarian cancer study using the Parsortix liquid biopsy technology and a breast cancer clinical study should report in the first half of next year. There are also pilot studies for other cancers. Any single cancer could provide a significant market for the Parsortix diagnostic technology. Sales for research use are taking time to build up but revenues did improve from £361,000 to £398,000. At the end of April 2017, there was £5.5m in the bank with more than £1m of R&D tax credits due to be received. That cash could last one year but this will depend on how quickly the research revenues grow and if there are any potential deals.
Crop enhancement technology developer Plant Impact (PIM) is raising £4m at 31p a share, which was a 6% premium to the market price. This will more than double the existing cash balance of £3.2m. The cash will be spent on R&D and product development.
Gear4music (G4M) says trading is in line with expectations. The musical instruments retailer expects second half weighted revenues this year. First half revenue growth will be modest but full revenue growth of 42% is anticipated. Investment in new European distribution centres will increase costs, including depreciation, and this is forecast to lead to a decline in full year pre-tax profit from £2.7m to £2.4m this year, before increasing to £3.3m the following year.
Quartix Holdings (QTX) reported flat interim revenues of £11.5m and pre-tax profit of £3.4m. The interim dividend of the telematics business has been increased by 9% to 2.4p a share and a special dividend is expected later in the year. Insurance business has recovered so full year revenues could be slightly higher, while pre-tax profit could be flat at £6.7m.
Conroy Gold & Natural Resources (CGNR) is holding a requisitioned general meeting in Dublin on 4 August. Patrick O’Sullivan, who owns 28% of Conroy, wants to remove six directors: Seamus FitzPatrick, James Jones, Dr Sorca Conroy, Louis Maguire, Michael Power and David Wathen and replace them with Patrick O’Sullivan, Paul Johnson and Gervaise Heddle. The three directors not affected by the requisition are Professor Richard Conroy, Maureen Jones and Professor Garth Earls. The indicated resources at Clontibret in Monaghan have been increased by 23% to 310,000 ounces of gold.
Interactive entertainment company Tencent has taken invested £17.7m in Frontier Developments (FDEV) and it is expected to promote games developed by the AIM company. The 9% stake was acquired at 523.2p a share.
MAIN MARKET
Specialist smaller companies-focused investment trust Athelney Trust (ATY) increased its NAV by 7% to 268.7p a share by the end of the first half of 2017. This is after the payment of a final dividend of 8.6p a share. Athelney nearly doubled its money on Lavendon when it was taken over and it has also sold its stakes in Beazley, Hiscox and Novae. New investments include The PRS REIT, Murgitroyd, Safecharge, Hostelworld, Ibstock, Crest Nicholson and Debenhams. According to the company the uncertainty in the country and the economy means that: “A sensible aim would be to try to hang onto the gains made in the first half”.
Senterra Energy (SEN) is being readmitted to the standard list on 31 July as United Oil & Gas (UOG) following the acquisition of UOG Holdings.
Biodecontamination services provider Bioquell (BQE) says that its full year profit will be better than expectations. Bioquell increased its interim revenues by 19% to £14.3m and pre-tax profit more than trebled to £1.4m. Net cash was £11.8m at the end of June 2017, compared with a market value of just over £46m at 199.5p a share.
Sealand Capital Galaxy Ltd (SCGL) has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire at least 51% of China-based mobile games developer Rightyoo. The acquisition discussions are still at an early stage and the deal has to be approved by the Chinese authorities. Rightyoo has an agreement with communications technology firm Huawei to help it to distribute its games. Management believes that the deal will help to add traffic to Sealand’s social networking platforms.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 5 June 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
National Milk Records (NMRP) is raising £7.33m at 65p a share in order to help finance the withdrawal from the Milk Pension Fund. Like Genus, National Milk Records was part of the Milk Marketing Board and that is why it has part responsibility for the Milk Pension Fund. There will be a one-off contribution of £10.1m to the fund and £4.68m will be paid in cash and shares to Genus. National Milk Records is also selling its loss-making generic products reseller Inimex to Genus for a nominal amount and entering a collaboration agreement with the animal genetics company. There would be a requirement to finance the fund up until 2076 if the deal does not go ahead. A New Zealand-based farmer cooperative and Singapore-based fund manager Working Capital Management are among the investors subscribing for the shares.
Contemporary art collector and workspace provider V22 (V22O) moved into profit in 2016. The £1m profit was helped by a £225,000 gain on the sale of half of the option to acquire part of the freehold of its Peckham building and a £225,000 notional gain on the remaining option. There was also other operating income of £621,000. Stripping these items out, there would have been a slightly higher loss. Revenues grew from £822,000 to £1.24m. There was £64,000 in the bank at the end of 2016. NAV, including a valuation of the art portfolio, is 7.31p a share. Demand for studio space is strong at a time when it is become less affordable. This puts V22 in a strong position. V22 has agreed a ten year lease on premises in Shoreditch and is the preferred bidder for a 125 year lease on The Priory in Orpington.
Blockchain-focused investment company Coinsilium Group Ltd (COIN) has raised £250,000 at 2.2p a share to finance further investments. In 2016, Coinsilium increased revenues from £12,000 to £209,000. There was a total loss of £738,000, including a £317,000 loss on disposals and investment impairments of £160,000 – admittedly down from £1.31m the previous year. The NAV was £1.43m at the end of 2016.
Kryptonite 1 (KR1) is also seeking blockchain investments. This includes subscribing for shares in Satoshipay. It has also invested in five initial token offerings and three of them are already being traded and have performed well.
London Nusantara Plantations (PALM) is selling its stake in Next Oasis for £124,000. This was in the 2016 balance sheet at a valuation of £112,000 and the proceeds will boost the 2016 cash pile from £83,000. London Nusantara has been quoted for three years and it is still seeking to acquire plantation assets and it has widened its geographic search to Indonesia, as well as considering the palm oil mill sector and generating income from oil palm waste.
Early Equity (EEQP) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysian multi-level marketing business Early Infinity, which has a distribution agreement with healthcare products supplier Yicom, where Early Equity owns 32.1%. The plan is for Early Equity to buy up to 30% of Early Infinity. Trading in Early Equity shares has been suspended.
Ganapati (GANP) has obtained a class 4 gaming licence in Malta and this should widen the potential market for its games. A tech office has been set up in Romania.
Halal services provider DagangHalal (DGHL) has raised £3.1m at 26.5p a share and this will leave managing director Francis Chong with a 29.9% stake. Revenues fell last year and there were significant asset write downs.
Middle East-focused investment company Indigo Holdings (INGO) had £906,000 in the bank at the end of 2016 and it raised £818,000 in February. Around £650,000 of that cash has been invested in three companies.
Restructuring and slow LED product sales meant that Gowin New Energy Group Ltd (GWIN) reported a slump in revenues from RMB652,000 to RMB28,000, while the loss was RMB6.94m. There is RMB2.08m of cash in the bank but there is more than that figure in shareholder loans because of the significant cash outflow during the year.
MiLOC Group Ltd (ML.P) increased its revenues from HK$8.31m to HK$10.9m in 2016 and the loss fell from HK$17.1m to HK$11.5m. The company’s clinics and traditional Chinese medicines generate the revenues and the TCM PLUS skincare products are expected to make a substantial contribution in the future. Last year, there was a large one-off cost relating to TCM PLUS. A hair care range is planned.
Equatorial Mining & Exploration (EM.P) intends to apply for a small scale mining lease for a coal mining prospect in Nigeria. Equatorial lost £1.55m in 2016 but £1.24m of this was a non-cash share-based payment charge. The cash outflow from operations was £383,000. Brett Clark has stepped down from the board following the failure to secure the acquisition of a Mexican gold project.
Healthcare staff provider Healthperm Resourcing Ltd (HPR) reported a £3.1m loss on revenues of £2,000 for 2016 but the business should generate more significant revenues this year. Steve Howson has become chief executive, while the former incumbent David Sumner became non-executive co-chairman. Two groups of overseas recruits have started work in the UK.
Ecovista (EVTP) has raised £470,000 via an issue of convertible loan notes. The conversion price is 0.05p a share. Any loan notes not converted will be repayable on 30 May 2018. Ace Liberty and Stone (ALSP) has raised £64,500 from a placing at 75p a share with most of the shares bought by Bijan Daneshmand, thereby taking his stake to 5.16%.
NQ Minerals (NQMI) lost £2.39m in 2016 but this was before the acquisition of the Hellyer gold mine in Tasmania. The main asset of All Star Minerals (ASMO) is its stake in NQ Minerals. This stake was valued at £414,000 at the end of 2016. The 2016 loss was £187,000, including a £28,000 write down in the NQ Minerals stake.
AIM
Touchstone Innovations (IVO), the former Imperial Innovations, has rejected the bid from rival University-focused technology businesses developer IP Group. The initial approach was made in April and some major shareholders were keen to pursue the merger. The main problems concerned valuation and corporate governance.
It does not appear that Tanfield Group (TAN) is going to be able to sell its 49% stake in access platforms manufacturer Snorkel in the near future because it continues to lose money. The value of the stake in the books is £36.3m – equivalent to 23.2p a share. This value can be achieved if Snorkel makes an annualised trailing EBITDA of $25m in any 12 month period up until September 2018. However, Snorkel is losing money and after September 2018 there is no fixed amount that Tanfield would receive if it sold its stake. Jon Pither has stepped down from the Tanfield board.
Acoustic insulation manufacturer Autins Group (AUTG) has appointed Michael Jennings as chief executive. He has been interim chief executive since February. Interim figures will be published on 13 June.
Draganfly Investments (DRG) has appointed mining engineer Luke Bryan as executive chairman. Edward Bayman will step down as chairman but continue on the board.
Hostels operator Safestay (SSTY) is planning to buy three hostels from Equity Point. The hostels are in Barcelona, Prague and Lisbon and they generate revenues of €1.6m. Safestay is loaning €3.6m to Equity Point and the plan is to swap the hostels for this debt.
Stanley Gibbons Ltd (SGI) has sold its 25% stake in Masterpiece London for £1.4m. The stake was valued in the books at £6,000. This is part of the strategy to focus on stamps and coins.
A general meeting has been requisitioned at Magnolia Petroleum (MAGP) in order to make changes to the board. At the end of May, Nostra Terra Oil & Gas (NTOG) acquired a 10.9% stake in Magnolia from former chief executive Steven Snead but the requisitioner has not been named.
Adams (ADA) has launched an underwritten one-for-one open offer to raise £1.03m at 2.5p a share. The investment focus is the technology and life sciences sectors. Richard Griffiths, who owns 29.9% of Adams, is underwriting the open offer. The announcement says that Adams has four AIM-quoted investments but only one of the companies mentioned, Oxford Pharmascience, is on AIM the others are fully listed.
TLA Worldwide (TLA), which published a profit warning at 6.26pm on 23 December 2016, thinks that it will be able to report its 2016 figures on 30 June. It will need to do this or trading in the shares will be suspended. TLA has warned that it will have to write-off some of the money owed to it.
Pembridge Resources (PERE) plans to move from AIM to the more lightly regulated standard listing. This will enable it to be more flexible in what it invests in and the level of stakes that it acquires. The main hurdle for a standard listing is getting the prospectus approved by the UKLA. Once that is done companies do not have the level of regulation they would if they were on AIM.
MAIN MARKET
Second half trading has been strong for car manuals publisher Haynes Publishing (HYNS). Pre-tax profit is expected to be two-fifths higher than last year. Haynes has benefited from lowering its costs and positive exchange rate movements. The new Haynes OnDemand video service will be launched this year but there will be a write down of the costs of the previous platform in the 2016-17 figures. The full year figures will be published on 13 September.
Telecoms services provider Toople (TOOP) is trying to raise up to £2m because it is running short of cash. Members of the PrimaryBid crowdfunding platform have been offered the chance to subscribe for shares at 2p each. A minimum of £1m needs to be raised. Even if the maximum is raised then the cash is unlikely to last long unless the cash outflow is stemmed in the near future.
Acorn Growth has changed its name to Vordere (VOR). This follows the proposed acquisition of German properties, which will be paid for by a share issue at 17p each. The shell company was originally known as Acorn Minerals when it joined the standard list at a placing price of 20p a share in October 2012.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 24 April 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Chapel Down Group (CDGP) reported a one-quarter increase in group revenues to £10.2m in 2016, however, £3.44m of these revenues came from associate brewing company Curious Drinks, which is no longer consolidated following last year‘s fundraising. Chapel Down owns 49.79% of Curious Drinks voting shares but has a 90.2% economic share of the business. The continuing wine operations increased revenues from £5.56m to £6.79m, while the underlying pre-tax profit improved from £155,000 to £265,000. A further £1.6m of capital expenditure was mainly spent on additional vineyard acreage, which left cash of £1.2m. Wine exports to the US are growing.
African Potash Ltd (AFPO) is planning to acquire investment company Onshore Energy Ltd but it will still require more cash even if the deal goes ahead. Christopher Cleverly is a director of both companies. At the end of April 2016, Onshore Energy had shareholders funds of £1.16m and it has raised further cash since then. The most recent was on 6 April 2017 and the company has more than 100 shareholders. Trading in African Potash shares has been suspended.
NQ Minerals (NQMI) plans to buy the Hellyer gold mine in Tasmania for A$20m in cash and shares equivalent to 29.9% of NQ on a fully diluted basis. The deal will be financed by two loan notes totalling A$13m and a A$8.5m, three year secured loan facility with an interest rate of 12%. The facility provider gets options over 64.3 million shares at 8p each and can appoint a director the NQ board. There is still scope to raise secured loans of up to A$27.5m to repay the A$13m of loan notes and develop the mine. NQ director Roger Jackson is also a shareholder in the current owner of the Hellyer mine and he has a commission arrangement to help finance the project. The assets acquired include three tailings dams and a processing plant.
Goldcrest Resources (GCRP) is changing its name to Bloc Energy when it finalises the acquisition of Georgian oil and gas assets. The general meeting to gain shareholder agreement is being held on 5 May. There are plans to move to AIM in order to raise additional cash for the business and the development of the newly acquired assets. Goldcrest intends to sell its existing gold exploration assets.
Kryptonite 1 (KR1) has invested £100,000 for 1,279,840 Atom tokens. The total initial coin offering by the Cosmos project raised $16.8m within 30 minutes. Cosmos is a proposed network of interconnected blockchains and shouldbe the first bonded point-of-stake block chain in production. Atom is the cryptocurrency for Cosmos.
Ecovista (EVTP) chief executive Louise Stokely has bought 50 million shares – 1.39% of the property investment company.
First Sentinel (FSEN) director Tom Dignall has acquired a 3.85% stake at 11p a share – a total cost of £300,000.
AIM
Verona Pharma (VRP) has launched its public offering of ADSs and ordinary shares ahead of a listing on the Nasdaq Global Market. This followed news that the FDA had given authorisation to proceed with a clinical trial in the US for RPL554 in order to assess its safety and tolerance.
Veltyco (VLTY) is acquiring 51% stakes in two related businesses – Bet90 and www.tippen4you.com – for €2.5m. The same amount of cash has been raised at 39p a share. The acquisitions add further online betting brands to the group.
Motif Bio (MTFB) has announced positive phase III clinical trial data for Iclaprim when used for patients with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI). The REVIVE-1 data shows that the drug is reliable and safe. The drug was well tolerated with most adverse effects classed as mild.
FIH Group (FIH) has confirmed that second half trading was better than expected but the profit is still going to be at least one-fifth lower than the previous year. The underlying pre-tax profit will be between £2.3m and £2.5m. Trading in the Falkland Islands was below the record levels achieved the year before. Lower passenger numbers for the Gosport ferry were offset by price increases. Momart improved its profit. There was £15.1m in the bank at the end of March 2017 and this is likely to be used to help fund acquisitions in the UK – although a special dividend is still a possibility.
Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings (IDH) has beaten expectations for 2016-17, helped by the movement in the sterling exchange rate. Revenues were approximately £40m, up 4%, but they would have been lower under constant currency rates. The full year figures will be published on 21 June.
ASX-listed Pharmanet Group has raised A$620,000 in order to provide cash to progress with the acquisition of the gold exploration assets that Keras Resources (KRS) intends to reverse into the company. The reversal is expected to happen by the summer and Pharmanet will change its name to Calidus Resources.
Power electronic systems supplier Turbo Power Systems (TPS) is holding a general meeting on 5 June to gain shareholder approval to cancel the AIM quotation. The management team controls 89.4% of the share capital so this is a foregone conclusion.
MAIN MARKET
Former AIM-quoted Camden Town property developer Market Tech Holdings (MKT) is being taken private by its majority shareholder after less than two and a half years as a quoted vehicle at a discount to its original placing price of 200p. That fundraising was done at a significant premium to NAV and made it easier to add further properties in Camden Town. In July 2015, a further £200m was raised at 223p a share. Management hoped that the combination of property in a fashionable area and an online division would continue to provide a premium to NAV. That has not been true following MarketTech’s move to the standard list. The offer is 188p a share, which values MarketTech at £892.5m. Two years ago, the stated NAV was 140.76p a share but the directors said that the adjusted NAV was 300p a share, although that assumed that all the proposed development of the properties was completed at expected capital investment levels. LabTech already owns 71% of Market Tech so the cash cost of the bid will be less than £300m.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 6 February 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Bondholders in US-focused oil and gas company Diversified Gas & Oil (DOIL) have overwhelmingly opted to take the cash alternative ahead of the flotation of the ordinary shares on AIM on 3 February. A total of £10.35m worth of bonds (97.1% of bonds in issue) are taking cash, while £198,000 of bonds will be swapped for 380,769 ordinary shares. There will be £106,640 worth of bonds remaining in issue but there will be no trading facility. The ordinary shares of Diversified Oil & Gas (DGOC) raised £39.7m at 65p a share, valuing the company at £68.6m. The share price slipped to 56.25p at the end of the first day’s trading.
Property investor Ace Liberty & Stone (ALSP) had a property portfolio worth £28.5m at the end of October 2016 and this generates annual rental income of £2.31m. The NAV was £18.25m at the end of October 2016 with a £500,000 revaluation gain partly offset by the final dividend payment.Net debt was £6.7m, down from £7.7m at the year end and there are assets held for sale worth £6.3m. Since October, a property was acquired at Hanley for £9m. The deal was financed by a £13.75m loan facility from Lloyds Bank with the rest of the cash used to refinance debt relating to five other properties.
DagangHalal (DGHL), which operates an e-marketplace for Halal verification, has parted company with its chief executive and trading in the shares has recommenced. Mohamed Hussain was paid the compensation that he was entitled to in his contract but he is claiming for twice his annual salary – equivalent to £195,000. Ali Sabri Sani Abdullah has stepped up from finance director to chief executive, while Jeff Teo and Derek Marsh have been appointed to the board. Cairn has replaced Arden as corporate adviser. The share price has not changed since trading recommenced.
AIM-quoted Metal Tiger (MTR) has sold its 28.2% in MetalNRG (MNRG) to Value Generation Ltd, a business associated with MetalNRG director Paul Johnson, and Gervaise Heddle, which each own 14.1% of the resources shell. The sales price was 0.26271p a share, whereas Metal Tiger had paid 0.2628p a share nearly one year ago.
BWA Group (BWAP) says it has been in talks with three potential acquisitions but none of the potential deals progressed. There was a £16,276 cash outflow from operations in the six months to October 2016, which was partially offset by the sale of an investment. BWA had a NAV of £562,000, with £41,593 in the bank, at the end of October 2016.
Botswana-focused oil and gas explorer Karoo Energy (KEP) says that exploration work on its two licences has confirmed the company’s geological model which predicts a deep sedimentary basin that could contain shale gas. In the six months to October 2016, there was a £326,000 cash outflow including capitalised exploration spending. Karoo had £168,000 in the bank at the end of October 2016, and £11,000 has subsequently been raised.
Property development and management services provider Formation Group (FRM) plans to consolidate its shares and shareholders will get to vote on the proposal at the AGM on 27 February. If the five-for-one consolidation is approved it will take place on 28 February.
Valiant Investments (VALP) has raised a further £34,000 at 0.1p a share. Valiant’s 84.7%-owned subsidiary Flamethrower has set up a new company called Slot Right In, which will be the social casino division and Flamethrower plans to acquire and trade domain names. Flamethrower continues to add to its portfolio of apps.
Property investor Ecovista (EVTP) says it is looking at investments in London, Essex and Hertfordshire. An offer of £275,000 has been accepted for a cottage owned by the company, while a house in Bishop Stortford, acquired for £665,000 last year, has been demolished and construction of a new building with a gross value of £1.35m will start in the spring. A planning appeal has been lodged for the development of car park site near Stansted Airport.
Grant Thornton will step down as corporate adviser to Chinese medical products and services provider MiLOC Group (ML.P) on 6 March.
AIM
AdEPT Telecom (ADT) is acquiring Our IT Department, an IT services provider in London and the South East, for an initial £4.75m with up to £3.75m more payable depending on performance. This is a profitable business that brings additional IT skills to the telecoms business. AdEPT has secured a £30m, five-year bank facility from Barclays and RBS, which will help to finance further acquisitions.
Everpower International is acquiring a 9.9% stake in Haydale Graphene Industries (HAYD) in return for a £3.26m cash payment – equivalent to 170p a share. This is part of an agreement that will enable Haydale products to be manufactured for the Chinese market. Commercial revenues from the Huntsman agreement are not likely to come through until 2017-18 and with other strategy changes this means that the revenues for the year to June 2017 will be lower than expected.
Automotive acoustics and thermal insulation designer Autins (AUTG) has shocked the market with a profit warning less than six months after joining AIM and the chief executive has resigned. First quarter sales have been in line with expectations but a major customer has reduced orders. The share price has fallen from the August placing price of 168p to 145p – but it had been as high as 240p. Miton had added to its stake in January.
Ascent Resources (AST) says the flow test at the Pg-10 well was better than expected. The maximum stabilised flow rate was 8.8 million cubic feet of gas per day.
LED lighting technology developer PhotonStar LED (PSL) says that its 2016 revenues will be slightly lower than expected and the loss will be higher because of a challenging second half. Revenues were around £5.4m and the pre-tax loss was £1.3m. There was £230,000 in the bank at the end of 2016 with £830,000 of invoice financing. Cost savings have been made and this helps to improve the outlook for 2017, although the poor second half trading has continued into January.
Eagle Eye Solutions (EYE) says that interim revenues have grown 72% to £5.1m, which is better than expected. The nationwide roll-out of the Asda contract has increased coupon redemption numbers. Cavendish Asset Management has increased its stake to 8.26%.
ECR Minerals (ECR) says that the Australian government has given consent to for drilling at the Byron target in the Bailieston project area. ECR has applied for two more licences and is awaiting news of the renewal of the Avoca licence.
Tissue Regenix Group (TRX) says that dermal allograft product DermaPure, which includes the company’s dCELL technology, has been included in the US Department of Veteran Affairs Federal Supply Schedule. This covers 152 hospitals and 800 outpatient units. This will boost the commercial prospects of the wound care product.
Prospex Oil & Gas (PXOG) is raising £850,000 at 0.5p a share and this will help to finance the evaluation of potential projects. The share price has slumped since the beginning of the year because of a disappointing result from a well on its Kolo licence area in Poland. The placing price is about one-fifth of the share price prior to the drilling news.
New management at Quantum Pharma (QP.) says trading is in line. This suggests that the pre-tax profit for the year to January 2017 will be £6.7m, down from £10m in the previous year, although there will be exceptional reorganisation charges. The loss-making NuPharm business has been closed. Net debt was £13.5m – after most of the reorganisation costs have been paid. The share price is less than one-third of its peak less than two years ago but it is higher than the 34p a share placing price in October.
Vela Technologies (VELA) is raising up to £550,000 from a bond issue via the UK Bond Network. There is already interest for £250,000 of bonds and the other £300,000 have been underwritten. The interest rate is 10% and the bonds can be repaid after one year, including interest. If they are repaid earlier than one year’s interest has to be paid. Vela will use £150,000 to increase its investment in Portr, the airline passenger facilitation and baggage transport service.
BP Marsh (BPM) has subscribed for a 30% cumulative preferred ordinary shareholding in Stewart Speciality Risk Underwriting Ltd, a Toronto-based start-up headed by a boss with 25 years of experience. Stewart specialises in insurance for the construction, manufacturing, onshore energy, transport and public sectors. A £480,000 loan facility is also being provided.
Reconstruction Capital (RC2) is returning €17m of cash to shareholders. This equates to €0.115 a share.
MAIN MARKET
Engineering and environmental consultancy Waterman Group (WTM) says that its interim revenues and profit will be in line with last year. Net cash was £6.7m at the end of 2016. This will enable Waterman to continue to increase its dividend.
Publisher Quarto (QRT) is on course to increase its pre-tax profit from $14.1m to $15.5m. Net debt was $62.2m at the end of 2016. A buyer has been identified for the Australian distributor Books and Gifts Direct. This will raise $1m in cash with the other $4.75m of the disposal price in loan notes. Even after a 46% increase in the share price, the 2016 multiple is less than eight. There are plans to change the way that the backlist of titles is valued.
Rainbow Rare Earths (RBW) commenced trading on the standard list and the share price ended the week at 12p, compared with the placing price of 10p. Rainbow has issued £260,000 worth of shares at the placing price to cover a majority of the costs of its flotation.
Challenger Acquisitions Ltd (CHAL) has sold Starneth less than two years after buying the designer and engineer of giant observation wheels. Challenger completed the acquisition of Starneth in July 2015 when an initial €1.25m was paid in cash and €825,000 in shares at 75p each. The second cash payment of €1.25m was delayed. Challenger will receive $6m in fees when the Jakarta wheel’s funding arrangements are finalised and the €1.25m payment will be taken out of that. There had been a third payment due but that does not appear likely to happen. This is a complicated deal but it is difficult to see this as a positive deal for Challenger but it will continue to work with Starneth and it will have a stake in the New York wheel. Acquisitions of businesses in the leisure and entertainment sectors that are close to revenues are likely.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 3 October 2016
ISDX
Newbury Racecourse (NYR) reported flat interim revenues of £5.56m and a higher underlying loss because of the loss of three race days to bad weather. There was a cash outflow from operations of £1.51m. The sale of a final tranche of land to David Wilson Homes has generated a disposal profit of £20.1m but the cash has not been received yet. There is £7.56m of cash in the balance sheet but the disposal proceeds will be received as homes are sold. The current market capitalisation is £17.6m, whereas shareholders funds are £44.9m.
Chapel Down Group (CDGP) says that interim revenues were 26% higher at £4.09m with the fastest growth coming in the Curious Drinks business, although the wine operations increased revenues by 14% and still remain the core activities. Curious Drinks raised £1.74m during the period and that led to a notional gain on disposal of £467,000. The cash outflow from group operations reduced from £713,000 to £441,000.
Halal verification business DagangHalal (DGHL) reported higher revenues in the six months to June 2016 but the costs of raising £3.6m and joining ISDX helped push the company into loss. Revenues grew from MYR2.96m to MYR3.34m but MYR3.54m of flotation costs and nearly trebled overheads meant that a pre-tax profit of MYR1.18m was turned into a loss of MYR4.49m. DagangHalal has not had time to invest the funds it raised, there was MYR14.9m in the bank at the end of June 2016, so this should help revenues to grow to offset he higher overheads. Management was also distracted by the flotation in the first half. The company has developed a global e-marketplace and two more certification bodies have signed up for the Halal verification engine, taking the total to 40, and two say that they will sign up for the Halal certificate management system, which has eight users. The number of merchants using the system has also increased.
In the six months to June 2016, WMC Retail Partners (WELL) reduced its loss helped by the release of £42,000 of past provisions. Revenues dipped from £2.15m to £2.05m but the loss fell from £226,000 to £78,000. No interim dividend has been declared. Management expects to make an announcement about loss-making Cornish Market World in the near future.
Diversified Oil & Gas (DOIL) has almost trebled its first half revenues from $2.9m to $7.6m. One-off books gains meant that the reported pre-tax profit was $36.5m but in reality there was an underlying loss. There was a $381,000 cash outflow from operations. The company continues to make acquisitions.
Mechan Controls (MECP) is holding a general meeting to gain shareholder approval to buy back up to 200,000 shares – equivalent to 10% of the shares in issue. This is part of the board’s plan to enable shareholders to realise part of their investment following the termination of bid talk earlier in the year.
Ecovista (EVTP) says that planning permission has been granted by East Herts Council for 100 Rye Street.The building will be demolished and a six bedroom home will be built on the site. In the six months to June 2016, the loss increased from £92,000 to £168,000. Ecovista is seeking additional finance in order to acquire the 85% of Cingella Srl it does not already own. The company has until the end of 2017 to pay €4m for this stake. Ecovista’s interim loss increased from £36,000 to £168,000.
AIM
Conference call technology and services provider LoopUp (LOOP) has reported its interims one month after joining AIM. In the six months to June 2016, revenues grew from £4.81m to £6.38m. That includes revenues from a BT contract which is almost at an end and underlying growth was 38%. There was a pre-tax profit of £72,000, compared with a £619,000 loss. The cash raised in the flotation and the conversion of debt into shares means that pro forma net cash is £3.16m.The US is the biggest generator of revenues with the UK not far behind. The cash will be invested in further development spending and marketing. Non-executive chairman Lady Judge bought 15,754 shares at 126p each, compared with the flotation price of 100p. This is her total shareholding.
Gold recovery firm Goldplat (GDP) moved back into profit in the year to June 2016 as the performance of the gold recovery activities in South Africa and Ghana improved with more to come from capital investment in these operations. Revenues grew from £16.6m to £20.2m with a loss of £796,000 turning into a profit of £1.94m. Strong cash generation meant that there was net cash of £2.06m. There was a 23% increase in gold production, which included a toll processing contract with Rand Refinery. In contrast to the growth in output from the recovery operations, there was less produced by the Kilimapesa mine in Kenya . A new processing plant should come into action by the end of this year which will increase capacity; at Kilimepesa. There is scope to expand recovered gold production by sourcing material from South America.
Training systems supplier Pennant International (PEN) returned to profit in the first half of 2016 even though a number of major orders have not yet made a significant contribution. Revenues grew from £5.78m to £6.65m, while a loss of £755,000 was turned into a profit of £11,000. Four new contracts have been secured, including one with new client Lockheed Martin. Net cash was £2.6m at the end of the period, with £3.56m raised at 55p a share since June, but there is no dividend. The order book is worth £46m. There are tax losses of £4.7m so there should be no significant tax charge for up to three years depending on how fast profitability improves. A full year profit of £2.2m is forecast. Management wants to supplement organic growth with acquisitions, which are most likely to be in the core defence sector.
Shares in Sareum (SAR) doubled on the back of a licence agreement for its Chk1 inhibitor CCT245737 with ProNAi Therapeutics. Sareum and co-investment partner CRT Pioneer Fund will receive an initial payment of $7m with up to $2m payable on the successful transfer of two ongoing phase I clinical trials for the cancer drug. Sareum will receive 27.5% of these payments and it will have £300,000 of funding commitment returned. There could be additional payments totalling up to $319.5m depending on the achievement of milestones. There could be low single digit or high double digit royalties on a commercial product.
Savannah Resources (SAV) has raised £1.42m at 3.5p a share and directors and related investors have agreed to provide a further £830,000 at the same share price. The rest of the cash will come in after the closed period has ended. The funds will be used to develop copper projects in Oman and finance other projects in Mozambique and Finland. Joint venture partner Rio Tinto has extended the long stop date for the agreement over the combined Mutamba/Jangamo project in Mozambique until 10 October or a later agreed date. The interim loss was reduced from £1m to £800,000.
Premier African Minerals (PREM) made an increased interim loss because of operational issues at the RHA tungsten mine. The plant has been upgraded so these problems should be at an end and processing rates should improve. A further expansion to 16,000t a year is planned for next year and that investment could have an impact on production levels. Net debt was $3.8m at the end of June 2016.
Thor Mining (THR) is awaiting confirmation of assay results for its Molyhill tungsten project in Australia. The initial indications are that there is anomalous tungsten. Thor may start more closely spaced drilling after the results are received. A £1m impairment on the disposal of the Spring Hill project in February meant that the interim loss before tax increased from £880,000 to £1.75m. The initial proceeds of the disposal helped to reduce net debt to £445,000.
ValiRx (VAL) is on course to start dosing patients with lung cancer with its VAL401 treatment in the phase IIb trial. Higher R&D spending meant that the interim loss increased from £1.37m to £2.12m. There was £569,000 left in the bank at the end of June 2016 and since then £1.2m has been raised and a convertible loan facility of up to $3.75m has been agreed with Yorkville.
Cloud services provider Nasstar (NASA) increased its monthy recurring revenues to £1.23m even before the recent acquisition of Modrus which took the figure to £1.7m. In the first half of 2016, revenues were 14% higher at £8.1m. Underlying pre-tax profit improved from £860,000 to £981,000. Pro forma net debt is £3.5m and cash flow should be strong enough to wipe this out by the end of 2017. Full year profit is expected to rise from £1.6m to £2m. The benefits of the Modrus acquisition should help the profit to rise to £3.5m in 2017.
Digital audio visual agency MediaZest (MDZ) has won £250,000 of contracts in the past six weeks. The company has also said that the previously announced project with Rockar is for Jaguar Land Rover at Westfield Stratford.
MAIN MARKET
Standard list shell Auctus Growth (AUCT) is still seeking an acquisition and it has just over £1m left in the bank. The directors’ are not taking any salaries yet and costs are running at £35,000 a year.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 14 March 2016
ISDX
Wheelsure Holdings (WHLP), which develops locking nut devices for railway tracks, has been introduced to new potential customers in the US and Europe for its Tracksure products and it is undertaking a review of its resources and indentifying opportunities in other sectors. Tracksure already sells to the Norfolk Southern Railroad and potential US customers include major metro systems operators and a manufacturer of crossings. Tracksure is also in talks with a major European crossings manufacturer. At 0.9p (0.8p/1p) a share, Wheelsure is valued at £1.5m.
Diversified Oil & Gas (DOIL) has issued a further £3.6m of 8.5% unsecured bonds 2020, taking the total raised to £4.2m. Diversified has agreed to acquire around 1,000 oil and gas wells in the US for $4.8m, which is a 70% discount to estimated future cash flows. At current oil and gas prices, these wells should generate annual revenues of $6.5m and EBITDA of $1.5m. This will take the number of wells operated in the Appalachian Basin to more than 5,000.
Ecovista (EVTP) has raised £500,000 at 0.08p a share in order to finance further property investments. That is the market price of the shares. On 8 March, 1,274,998 shares were traded at 0.02p each and 15,000 at 0.075p each.
AIM
SQS Software Quality Systems (SQS) is growing strongly in the US but higher tax and minority interests charges held back earnings per share. That is why the dividend has been held steady at €0.13 a share. Revenues grew from €268.5m to €320.7m with organic growth on top of the additional contributions from acquisitions and pre-tax profit improved from €18.8m to €20.8m. Earnings per share were flat at €0.371 a share. Net debt was €6m at the end of 2015. Managed services continue to make a greater contribution and this should help profit to grow to €24.9m this year.
Outsourced point of service software developer Escher Group (ESCH) returned to profit in 2015 even though revenues were flat. This is because maintenance revenues grew by one-third and the figures are not dependent on one or two large licence agreements. Historically, international post offices have been the customer base but newer customers, such as central governments and banks are using the software. The shares are trading on around 20 times prospective earnings.
Private client broker Share (SHRE) has edged up its market share to 8% but 2015 revenues have slipped and it was only profitable because of the £1.7m gain on the disposal of part of its stake in the London Stock Exchange. The dividend has been increased from 0.62p a share to 0.74p a share, which is not covered by earnings and it may be difficult to cover even an unchanged dividend for this year. There may even be a reduction in the dividend this year, particularly as Share is investing in its systems – although the benefits will not show through until 2017. There was £11.7m in the bank at the end of 2015 and this provides some scope for maintaining the dividend.
Mercia Technologies (MERC) is paying up to £11m for Enterprise Ventures and the acquisition will be immediately earnings enhancing. Enterprise manages third party funds and will provide additional investment prospects in the technology sector and boost Mercia’s position in northern England. Enterprise also has an experienced investment team with a good track record of successful investment exits. One of Enterprise’s most successful investments is OptiBiotix (OPTI), which is developing treatments based on the human microbiome.
Abzena (ABZA) says that contract bookings for its expanded range of services have been strong. The Cambridge-based life sciences services provider says that last year’s acquisitions are being integrated and the manufacturing capacity in San Diego is about to be expanded. Abzena has signed a licence agreement for its ADC linker technology ThioBridge, which links antibodies and proteins to drugs. There is potential for licence fees and milestones of up to $150m as well as royalties on any products.
Avingtrans (AVG) has secured a £75m contract for the supply of rigid pipe assemblies, lasting ten years, with Rolls-Royce. The contract includes the engine programme for the Airbus A350, which should build up and reach maturity in 2019. Avingtrans recently completed the £3.5m acquisition of Rolls-Royce’s internal pipe manufacturing businesses. There have been no changes to forecasts with a profit recovery from £2.9m to £4.1m expected in the year to May 2016, and further improvement to £6m the following year.
Outplacement and recruitment services provider Penna Consulting (PNA) is recommending a 365p a share bid from Adecco. That values the company at £105.3m. This is the highest level the share price has been in the past decade and it is nearly treble the level it was one year ago. The shareholders will also receive a 4p a share interim dividend.
Outsourced customer leads and inquiries services provider Digital Globe Services Ltd (DGS) returned to profit in the first half and it is paying an interim dividend of 2.6 cents a share – the ex-dividend date is 17 March. There was no interim last year because of the reported loss but there was a final dividend of 4.1 cents a share. In the six months to December 2015, revenues were 29% ahead at $23.7m and an underlying loss of $405,000 became a profit of $1.41m. DGS did make a similar profit in the six months to June 2015. Net cash was $521,000 at the end of 2015, having paid dividends of $1.1m. To put this in perspective, DGS made a pre-tax profit of $2.9m in 2011-12, prior to joining AIM and it has a way to go to get back to the profit of $3.38m in 2013-14 even though revenues are much higher. That is why the share price has slumped from the placing price of 159p a share when the company joined AIM in February 2013. DGS is trying to diversify its client base.
Management is bidding 1.25p a share for quantity surveyor Baqus five years after it left AIM. That values the company at £1.25m, which is a small premium to the valuation of the business by Fairhurst Accountants. Seven directors are behind the management buyout. The share price slumped by 1.12p to 1.25p, when the AIM exit was announced in April 2011, which valued Baqus at £1.42m. Baqus argues that it has been difficult to attract and retain staff. Trading in the northern business is strong but London-based business has declined.
IP Group has sold its entire stake in Tracsis (TRCS). The disposal of shares in the transport optimisation software and services provider raised £13.1m for the IP-based businesses developer. The original investment was £400,000 and IP Group has received dividends of more than that figure.
MAIN MARKET
China-focused healthcare sector investor Cathay International Holdings Ltd (CTI) owns 50.56% of Hong Kong-listed Lansen Pharmaceutical Holdings, which has admitted that its profit fell last year after a decline in sales of a rebranded product and launch costs of new products. That is before additional one-off losses, including losses related to the Chinese regulatory authorities found that a subsidiary had produced sub-standard ginkgo tablets. Overall, there will be a substantial decline in profit. There is a potential insurance claim relating to flooding but how this will be handled in the accounts is yet to be decided. Lansen associate company Zhejiang Starry Pharmaceutical is expected to join the Shanghai Stock Exchange during March. Lansen’s stake is likely to be diluted from 21.5% to 16.1%.
ANDREW HORE
Quoted Micro 25 January 2016
ISDX
Goldcrest Resources (GCRP) has secured the acquisition of Taoudeni Resources, which owns the Asheba gold project that is situated at the southern end of the Ashanti gold belt in Ghana. Goldcrest’s non-executive chairman Gavin Burnell is also a shareholder in Taoudeni, which has a non-JORC compliant resource of 176,000 ounces at 1.8g/t. Goldcrest has already conditionally acquired the nearby Akoko gold project, which has a JORC resource of 92,800 ounces at 1.9g/t. The company will seek to generate a JORC-based resource for the combined project. Goldcrest will issue 599.2 million shares for the initial consideration with deferred consideration of 617.7 million and 102.3 million warrants exercisable at 0.05p a share and lasting ten years. ISDX-quoted Hot Rocks Investments will receive 193.5 million of the initial consideration shares, taking its stake to 14.6%, plus 43.2 million of the warrants and is due to receive 320.8 million of the deferred consideration shares. AIM-quoted Sunrise Resources receives 116.6 million shares and 9.8 million warrants. Niall Tomlinson and Dr Ryan Long will join the Goldcrest board. At 0.06p (0.05p/0.07p) a share, Goldcrest is currently valued at £900,000.
A newly formed subsidiary of FT8 (GFT) has taken a 40% stake in BIPS Technologies in exchange for rights to use technology developed by FT8 to make payments and disbursements of employee benefits for healthcare providers and insurers and in this case specifically for the voluntary benefits market in the US. FT8 has also agreed to cover banking fees associated with the administration of a Supplemental Insurance Funds Transfer Program. BIPS will hold the contractual rights to this fund which will service the clients of Homeland HealthCare Inc. A minimum employee enrolment of 75,000 is projected by the end of 2016 and it is projected that it could reach a minimum of 350,000 by the end of 2018. Gross revenue per employee signed up should be just over $1/month. FT8 will not have to provide any additional finance for BIPS. At 0.65p (0.6p/0.7p) a share, FT8 is valued at £4.8m.
Blockchain technology companies investor Coinsilium Group (COIN) has invested an additional $50,000 in data management blockchain company Factom Inc. This takes the total invested to $200,000, which equates to 2% of the diluted share capital of Factom. The Coinsilium share price has recovered to 8p (6.5p/9.5p).
Ecovista (EVTP) is raising a further £252,000 at 0.06p a share. The current share price is 0.075p (0.07p/0.08p). Ecovista is also seeking shareholder approval at its AGM so that any breach of the directors duties caused by previously issuing more shares than they were allowed to will be waived.
Trading in the bonds of recruitment company Positive Healthcare (DOC) has been suspended because £1.75m of the £2m that the company claimed it had raised has not been received. The bond register needs to be rectified and then Positive Healthcare can try to issue more bonds.
Via Developments (VIA1) has raised an additional £206,000 (£204,000 after expenses) from a further issue of 7% debenture stock 2020. This takes the debentures in issue to £1.76m. Via joined ISDX on 5 November having issued £530,000 7% debenture stock 2020. The Manchester-based residential property development funder wants to raise up to £3.5m.
AIM
Empyrean Energy (EME) is selling its 3% interest in the Sugarloaf AMI development in Texas to Carrier Energy Partners II for $61.5m and this should enable a cash distribution to shareholders. If oil prices average more than $55/barrel this year then more could be payable – up to a maximum of $10m. Empyrean expects to pay $3.6m in tax plus $5.2m for outstanding bills owed to the Sugarloaf operator Marathon Oil and it will repay its debt facility of $21.6m. This will leave Empyrean with a 58.1% working interest in the Eagle Pool development project in California, a 7.5% working interest in two producing wells in Sugarloaf block A and a 10% working interest in Riverbend project in Texas. New opportunities will be sought.
Colin Porter is stepping down as chief executive of STM Group (STM) in order to take up a position in the US. He has a 12 month notice period so there is plenty of time to find a replacement. This led to a sharp drop in the share price even though it was confirmed that trading is in line with expectations for a 2015 profit of £2.7m. Alan Kentish will become interim chief executive.
Energy storage technology developer RedT Energy (RED) is raising £3.5m at 6.75p a share – a huge discount to the market price. The share price was just over 10.5p a share a few days before the placing was announced but it fell to 8.38p a share after the announcement – although that is still relatively high compared to the share price in the past three years. House broker finnCap has edged down its target price from 14.5p to 14p. RedT has received an initial $2m from the sale of its US biogas interests so it will have a cash pile to finance the commercialisation of its battery technology.
Big data services provider Fusionex International (FXI) reported revenue growth of 33% to RM70m last year. In the year to September 2015, pre-tax profit rose from RM19.5 to RM24.9m, while earnings per share were 28% higher at RM0.58 (9.4p). There has been criticism of cash generation levels and this led to a slump in the share price. Fusionex says that since September RM23.4m (£3.8m) of the year-end receivables of RM28.5m (£4.6m) has been collected.
Nasstar (NASA) says trading is in line with expectations following a strong second half, helped by the acquisition of VESK. The cloud-based services supplier has renewed the contract with its largest client – there had been some client losses earlier in the year. Net debt of £5.3m at the end of 2015 is slightly lower than expected.
Worldview Capital Management says that it is considering a cash offer for Petroceltic International (PCI). Worldview already owns 29.6% of the Irish oil and gas company, which launched a strategic review before Christmas. Advances have been received for some of Petroceltic’s remaining assets. Petroceltic has received a further waiver of repayments under its senior debt facility until 29 January so that it can continue with its strategic review. The debt facility amounted to $217.8m before Christmas.
Portfolio analytics software supplier StatPro (SOG) has paid an initial $10m for Investor Analytics, a US business that provides cloud-based risk analytics for hedge funds and asset managers. Up to $6m more could be payable depending on winning new contracts. The business has annualised recurring revenues of $4.85m (£3.3m) – out of total revenues of $5m – and should be earnings enhancing in 2016 following integration and annual cost savings of £700,000 – at a cost of up to £1m.
Tissue Regenix (TRX) says that DermaPure, which is used to treat wounds due to diabetes, has generated more than $1m in sales and it is available for reimbursement in 31 states of the US. Tissue Regenix has recruited 20 people for the OrthoPure XM clinical trial designed to gain a CE mark in Europe. OrthoPure XM is designed to repair damaged menisci, which is a condition that could lead to the onset of osteo-arthritis. The patients will be monitored for six months as part of the final information required for the CE mark submission later this year. Consort Medical boss Jonathan Glenn has been appointed a non-executive and Tissue Regenix will benefit from his medical devices expertise.
Condor Gold (CNR) has ended the strategic review it announced last September and it is no longer deemed to be in an offer period. The share price slumped by two-thirds over the period which meant that Condor was valued at $5/resource ounce so a realistic bid is unlikely at the moment. The average NPV of the La India project in Nicaragua is $196m. There are 1,544,000 ounces of inferred and indicated contained gold resources in total. Average annual gold production of 165,000 ounces is anticipated for the first five years and cash costs of production should be less than $700/ounce.
MAIN MARKET
Investment company Highway Capital (HWC) has appointed the chief executive of the Bucharest Stock Exchange as its new chairman. Ludwik Sobolewski was previously the boss of the Warsaw Stock Exchange. This follows the appointment of Dariusz Zych and Jacek Ślotała as directors in November. This suggests an eastern European focus to investments. Dominic Wheatley has stepped down as chairman but remains on the board. The other director, Maciej Szytko, has loaned £120,000 to Highway on top of a previous £30,000 loan. The loan lasts five years, from July 2015, and is convertible at 10p a share. Szytko already has a 29.99% shareholding. At the time of the loan the share price was 16p, while the current share price is 14.5p. Highway moved from a premium listing to the more lightly regulated standard listing in 2013.
Cash shell Falcon Acquisitions Ltd (FAL) has gone to a 70% premium following its flotation on the standard list on 18 January. An initial placing raised £1.6m at 10p, which capitalised the company at £2.04m, and the shares ended the week at 17p. This is based on just over one million shares traded during the week. There is a secondary fundraising that may raise up to £2m at a share price to be set between 10p and 30p. There was already £265,000 in the bank before the flotation so there is cash of £1.65m after costs of £220,000, compared with a market value of £3.47m. The focus is acquiring businesses involved in online, mobile and video broadcasting. Any target is likely to be worth up to £30m.
ANDREW HORE
Quoted Micro 16 November 2015
ISDX
Even though Daniel Thwaites (THW) has sold most of its brewing and related assets to Marstons it still managed to increase its profit in the six months to September 2015. Pre-tax profit before interest swap movements rose from £4.8m to £4.9m with the contribution from discontinued brewing activities down from £1.3m to £100,000. Revenues from continuing activities improved from £40.1m to £41.8m. Net debt was £29.1m at the end of September 2015, while the NAV is £177.6m. At 117p a share, Daniel Thwaites is valued at £70.5m. The interim dividend is unchanged at 1.1p a share. The hotels, pubs and inns businesses have grown revenues with inns growing the fastest. Central costs have been reduced.
A contribution from the bull semen business bought last year helped National Milk Records (NMRP) to grow revenues by 4% to £10.1m in the six months to September 2015. However, overall trading has been tough due to the reluctance of dairy farmers to invest in the company’s newer services when the milk price is low. The traditional milk recording and payment testing services are trading ahead of the same time last year. Pre-tax profit fell from £850,000 to £599,000 as the new genetics operations made a loss and there was a goodwill amortisation charge. At 71.5p (70p/73p) a share, NMR is valued at £5.4m. There is a pension liability of £8.4m.
IP Group is providing a loan facility of up to £1.5m to Green Chemicals (GNCP), which is developing cleaner and safer consumer and cleaning products. This could be converted into shares. IP Group already owns 8.1% of Green Chemicals and along with two other associates IP Group has a total interest of 29.5%.
Ecovista (EVTP) has raised £269,000 at 0.05p a share, which is the mid price, and the cash will be used to make further property investments. The new shares equate to 35% of the enlarged share capital. Ecovista has completed the acquisition of the remaining 49% of Willow Cottages, which owns a cottage and 2.25 acres near to Stanstead. There is also an option to acquire a nearby cottage for £300,000 – the option cost £10,000.
UK Oil & Gas Investments (UKOG) started trading on the ISDX Growth market on 12 November.
AIM
Panmure Gordon has upgraded its forecasts for AB Dynamics (ABDP) on the back of the better than expected full year figures from the automotive testing business. In the year to August 2015, revenues grew from £13.8m to £16.5m, while pre-tax profit jumped from £2.68m to £3.82m. The interim dividend was raised to 2.75p a share. AB benefits from a strong international spread of revenues and growth is coming from track testing services. Cash flow is strong and net cash was £7.97m. This means that AB has plenty of cash to finance the construction of its new facility in Bradford-on-Avon. The facility should be completed by early 2017 and AB will still have a cash pile after this additional investment. The 2015-16 earnings per share forecast has been raised from 18.8p to 20.8p and for 2016-17 from 21.3p to 23.6p.
Blackstone Funds have set up a vehicle to acquire Japan Residential Investment Company Ltd (JRIC) for £152.6m. The offer is 72p a share in cash and is recommended by the board although it says there is a potential rival offer at the same share price. At the end of May 2015, the JRIC NAV was 56.3p a share. JRIC floated on AIM at 100p a share back in October 2006 – during a period when a number of property investment companies joined the junior market. In July 2013, the life of the investment company was extended to 2018. Blackstone has been building up its Japanese residential property interests since 2013.
Fully listed-Volution (FAN) is making a recommended 345p a share bid for Energy Technique (ETQ), which values the manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air conditioning components at £9.25m. Energy Technique has complementary technology and a customer base that are potential customers for Volution products. The deal should be earnings enhancing in the first full year.
Security and facilities management services provider Mortice Ltd (MORT) has acquired 51% of Singapore-based security services and products supplier Frontline for up to £1.89m (S$4.03m). The initial payment was £600,000 (S$1.28m) and the rest is dependent on the level of EBITDA for 2015. If the performance is poor then the vendor may have to pay back some of the initial payment. There is an option to acquire a further 25% of Frontline within three years. This is the first operational business acquired in Singapore even though Mortice has its corporate base there. Frontline provides services to 73 sites in Singapore and takes Mortice into selling surveillance equipment. In 2014, Frontline made a pre-tax profit of S$590,000 on revenues of S$4.25m.
Mariana Resources (MARL) has reported further positive drilling news from Hot Maden in Turkey and it expects to more news flow over the coming year. Two more drilling holes have been completed on the Turkish gold project and one of them shows 39 metres @ 5.8 grams of gold/tonne and 0.7% copper. This is from 88 metres downhole. There is further potential to extend the resource. Mariana is assessing drill prospects for the Dona Ines gold-silver project in Chile so that drilling can commence in the first quarter of 2016. Asset Chile can earn-in to a 50% stake in the project in return for $1.65m of funding.
Xeros Technology (XSG) has raised £40m at 225p a share in order to boost marketing to commercial laundries of its polymer bead-based cleaning technology that reduces the use of water. The cash will also be used to finance a move into new markets. Xeros will have pro forma cash of £55m and this should last for more than two years. By the end of July, there were 106 machines installed in commercial laundries and growth has been helped by subsidies in North America but last year’s revenues were a modest £466,000. Cash burn is £1.25m/month and this could rise with additional R&D. Xeros is developing a domestic product and a leather processing version. The year end is being changed to December.
Rurelec (RUR) has launched an open offer to raise up to £3.54m at 1p a share. If the cash is not raised then the South America-focused electricity generator will not be able to pay its creditors. The offer price is lower than the 2p a share par value so there will have to be a capital reorganisation, which requires shareholder approval. Rurelec intends to sell its Peru hydro electricity assets. The one-for-1.58800245 open offer closes on 7 December.
MAIN MARKET
Silver Falcon (SILF) is the latest small shell to float on the standard list. The board includes Peter Redmond and Geoffrey Dart who have been involved in a number of shells, predominantly on AIM. The focus is on fintech and financial services businesses. Silver Falcon raised £1.3m at 3p a share. Initial share issues were at 1p a share. After expenses, there is about £1.4m in the bank. By the end of the week the share price had risen to 3.25p, which values the shell at £1.95m. The cash in the bank may covers less than three-quarters of that market value.
ANDREW HORE