Home » Posts tagged 'GAQO'
Tag Archives: GAQO
Quoted Micro 5 September 2016
ISDX
Guild Acquisitions (GAQO) has invested £30,000 in NOMAN Ventures Ltd, which is seeking investments in areas such as block chain, artificial intelligence, drones and virtual reality. The cash is being invested in convertible loan notes that will either be convertible at a 40% discount to the share price of the next fundraising of at least £250,000 or after 12 months. Guild plans to ask its shareholders to vote to change its name to Kryptonite 1.
St Marks Homes (SMAP) increased its NAV to 137p a share by the end of June 2016. A Richmond development was completed in March and three sales have been completed since June. Sutton and St Margarets sites will be completed this month, with all of the Sutton residential units already sold and the commercial space under offer. The merger with St Marks Contracts Ltd happened after the period end. Carbury Property Holdings has increased its stake in St Marks to 19.1%.
Via Developments (VIA1) says that it expects to start generating revenues in the final quarter of 2016. Cash raised from debenture issues has been used to buy three development sites – two in Manchester and one in Luton – costing £4.1m and with a development value of £18.3m within 18 months. The marketing of the first development in Manchester has begun. The company says that it is seeing more interest from foreign investors since the EU referendum. Via Developments has issued more ordinary shares but Pyramid Court Investments Ltd, which is owned by John Kahn, still holds 100% of these unquoted shares.
Secured Property Developments (SPD) has agreed to lend £600,000 for development finance to Space Property, which is 29.15% owned by Secure Property Developments director R Shane. This means that shareholders have to agree to the deal. The cash will lent for 12 months at 10.2% a year and it will be secured on a freehold commercial property in York. Secured Property Developments had £760,000 in the bank following the sale of its property asset.
Black Sea Property (BSP) has joined ISDX and 50,000 shares were traded at 0.01p each on the first day of trading (31 August). The former AIM company has a new strategy, which is to build up a portfolio of Bulgarian property assets. This could be residential, commercial or hotel properties, or it could be investments in distressed companies that need to be restructured.
Diversified Oil & Gas (DOIL) has raised a further £715,000, taking the value of bonds in issue to more than £10.6m. That is after buying back £197,000 worth of 8.5% unsecured bonds from a bondholder fund.
Crossword Cybersecurity (CCS) has appointed former chief of the secret intelligence service Sir Richard Dearlove as non-executive chairman.
AIM
EMIS (EMIS) reported flat interim revenues but profit improved. The GP and pharmacy software operations grew their profit but the specialist operations produced disappointing results due to the extra costs for taking on additional contracts. There were cost savings in the first half and the benefits will start to come through in the second half. Full year profit is expected to improve from £36.1m to £39.3m even though revenue forecasts have been shaved.
Facilities management and security services provider Mortice (MORT) grew its revenues by 51% to $133.5m in the year to March 2016 and even if acquisitions are stripped out underlying growth is still 13%. There were initial contributions from the UK and Singapore businesses acquired during the year but they will make a much bigger contribution this year – particularly as the UK facilities management business has won a major contract. India remains the main revenue generator but further acquisitions are likely. There should be a large increase in pre-tax profit in 2016-17 – house broker finnCap forecasts $4.2m.
Surgical instruments developer and supplier Surgical Innovations (SUN) has returned to profit at the operating level and there is still scope to improve gross margin. A small pre-tax profit is expected for the full year as new product launches boost second half sales. A sharp fall in inventories and debtors has helped to cut net debt to around £700,000. The underlying business is back on a firmer footing and management can turn its attention to building up the group via acquisition.
Bond International Software (BDI) says that it has received a bid approach from ESW Capital but no figure has been put on the potential offer. The Bond board has advised shareholders not to accept the Constellation Software bid of 105p a share. The offer document has been sent to shareholders.
MAIN MARKET
Investment in new products is starting to pay off for BATM (BVC) but the real benefits are unlikely to show through until next year’s figures. BATM reduced its interim loss and it is on course to move back into profit this year. Revenues declined in the first half because of reducing sales of legacy products, particularly in the networking sector, but newer products will boost second half revenues. The diagnostics business grew its revenues and it has secured a partner in China. A pre-tax profit of $2.7m is forecast for 2016 and that profit should double in 2017 as the newer products build up sales.
Cathay International Holdings (CTI) has investments in China-based healthcare businesses and a hotel. Revenues dipped slightly to $61.1m but higher gross margins meant that the company swung from loss to profit in the six months to June 2016. The main improvement came from 50.5%-owned Lansen. Trading would have been even stronger but for the decline in the RMB.
Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) has launched an open offer to raise £19.1m at 0.8314p a share as part of its restructuring. The open offer closes on 15 September.
Quoted Micro 25 July 2016
ISDX
Guild Acquisitions (GAQO) is raising £100,000 at 0.03p a share in order to finance a technology-based investment strategy. The money was not received for a previous £40,000 placing. The focus is likely to be on blockchain-related investments and the new board believes that there will be plenty of opportunities. George Mcdonaugh, Jeremy Woodgate and Rupert Williams are joining the board, while Charles Goodfellow is leaving and enabling Peterhouse to become corporate adviser. Mcdonaugh has experience in the technology sector and will be an executive director. He bought 20 million shares in the placing. Williams and Woodgate,who acquired 10 million shares in the placing, are also directors of broker Smaller Company Capital Ltd (www.ec-capital.co.uk) and used to run another broker, Ocean Equities.
MiLOC Group Ltd (ML.P) is raising $650,000 (£482,000) from a convertible bond issued to Murray Investment Fund Company. The maturity date is 19 January 2018 and there is no interest charge in the first 12 months, followed by an annualised interest rate of 6%. The conversion price will be four-fifths of the share price at which MiLOC or a new holding company floats on the standard list. There is a 3% redemption premium if the loan is not converted into shares.
Food and logistics supplier AfriAg (AFRI) plans to change its name to AfriAg Global in order to reflect a more international focus. Nearly 1.5 million kg of perishable goods was air freighted globally in the first half of 2016., a 60% increase on the first half of 2015.
AIM
Lettings firm Belvoir Lettings (BLV) says that four of its existing franchisees have acquired businesses that will add £850,000 a year to network revenues and this should lead to additional annual management services fees for Belvoir of £102,000. Belvoir has provided funding of £353,000 to help finance the acquisitions and this will add £32,000 to interest income. The deals include the acquisition of a business in Bournemouth which formed the basis of a new franchise. These purchases follow the acquisition of Northwood, the largest remaining independent lettings franchise, as part of the company’s multi-brand strategy. Belvoir is paying up to £22m for Northwood, which has 86 franchised outlets, taking the group total to more than 300 outlets and 54,000 managed properties. Northwood is different from the other group franchises because it offers a guaranteed rent scheme for landlords.
Safestay (SSTY) says that the strong trading performance of its Elephant & Castle hostel has led to an increase in its valuation from £12.2m to £16m.
Renewable energy supplier Good Energy (GOOD) has increased its customer meter points by more than one-third in the first half of 2016 and brand awareness is at new highs. The figure is dominated by FiT customers where growth is likely to slow. Customer meter points were 36% higher at 239,750, with the fastest growth coming in gas where customers were 54% higher. A 5MW solar farm in Dorset increased generating capacity to 52MW with 5MW due to be added in the second half. A new billing system should be installed by the end of this year. A generating site sale will add at least £430,000 to first half profit. The interims will be published on 13 September.
Radiation detection and x-ray technology developer Kromek (KMK) has an impressive order book having taken in $30m of orders in the year to April 2016. These orders are for more than one year but it covers most of the expected 2016-17 revenues of £8.9m. Kromek is expected to continue to lose money for the next two years but the loss will decline. Met cash was £3.86m at the end of April 2016 and this cash is expected to last for at least two years.
Interactive TV content technology developer Mirada (MIRA) is set to have a much improved performance in the year to March 2017. Mirada lost £829,000 in 2015-16 but management expects the company to start generating cash later in the current financial year. The integration of Mirada’s technology for the Televisa cable networks in Latin America means that revenues will be generated every time that a viewer signs up to the service. Mirada continues to invest in R&D. House broker Allenby believes Mirada could make a profit of £1m in 2017-18.
Somero Enterprises Inc (SOM) says that its full year figures will be better than expected and this has led finnCap to upgrade its 2016 earnings forecast by 7.5%, which leaves the shares trading on a single figure prospective multiple.
IS Solutions has changed its name to D4T4 Solutions (D4T4). This reflects the company’s focus on data and data analysis. In the year to March 2016, revenues of £18.6m were boosted by licence sales and projects. There was net cash of £3.4m at the end of March 2016 and the dividend was increased from 0.56p a share to 2p a share. This year, pre-tax profit is expected to rise from £3.5m to £4m, although some of the earnings growth will be held back by a higher tax charge.
Judges Capital (JDG) has warned that its 2016 figures will be lower than expected. The scientific instruments manufacturer had already warned at its AGM that the year had started sluggishly. Order intake was 3.4% lower in the first half of 2016 and the order book is shorter. Orders have started to pick up and the foreign exchange moves could be beneficial for Judges. House broker Shore has cut its 2016 earnings forecast from 122.3p a share to 100p a share. The business is highly cash generative and the dividend is still expected to grow by 10% to 27.5p a share.
MAIN MARKET
DRS Data & Research Services (DRS) says that it has received a bid approach from AQA Education, an independent education charity. The offer is likely to be in cash. DRS provides data capture technology and services for elections and education. DRS, which has been listed for more than two decades, had been considering a switch to AIM following a requisitioned resolution from founder Malcolm Brighton.
Natural flavourings supplier Treatt (TET) says that the disputed earn-out for the acquisition of Earthoil has been set at £971,000. That is less than was asked for but Treatt is still disappointed. This leaves an addition £414,000 to be paid by Treatt. There are outstanding claims totalling £694,000 where judgement is expected next year.
ANDREW HORE