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Quoted Micro 1 May 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Cyber security technology developer and consultancy Crossword Cybersecurity (CCS) continues to scale up its business and there is a product launch planned for this summer. In 2016, revenues jumped from £21,000 to £345,000 but the loss increased from £755,000 to £950,000 – even after £78,000 of R&D tax credits. There was £1.55m in the bank at the end of 2016. AIM-quoted Iomart is cooperating with Crossword on launching the Nixer machine learning DDoS platform on the market.
Brewer Adnams (ADB) says sales of beers and spirits continue to grow and its pubs are trading well, although the sale of smaller pubs will reduce the profitability of this part of the group. Currency movements, the sale of the UK distribution rights for Lagunitas beers and the renovation of the Swan Hotel will hamper overall progress in the first half. The £7m investment in the brewery is almost complete.
Sandal (SAND) has signed an agreement with Spanish smart home technology business Momit, which will redesign its smart thermostat so that it is compatible with the Energenie MiHome platform. This is part of Momit’s strategy to enter the UK market. The redesigned product should be launched in September and, along with related radiator valve sales, could add £500,000 to the annual revenues of Sandal.
Healthcare staff provider Healthperm Resourcing Ltd (HPR) has revised its strategy and candidates need to have passed the International English Language Testing System, which is required for a visa anyway. Healthperm has opened its own IELTS training facility in the UAE and this is focused on nurses. Healthperm has won two new mandates and there are three other potential mandates on the cards. Chief executive David Sumner has agreed to increase the maximum amount of loan notes he will subscribe for from £1m to £1.8m. The loan notes have a 10% interest charge.
Capital for Colleagues (CFCP) has raised £1.44m at 42p a share from its open offer and a further £980,000 in a placing at the same price. Coinsilium Group (COIN) has raised £118,000 at 2p a share and it will use £60,000 to finance the development of a blockchain-based management system. Goldcrest Resources (GCRP) is raising £380,000 at 0.5p a share. The cash will help to finance the competent persons report on the Norio block, which the company is in the process of acquiring.
NQ Minerals (NQMI) has entered into a A$6.5m loan facility to help finance the acquisition of the Hellyer gold mine in Tasmania. This means that NQ has A$15m of the A$20m in cash it requires to make the purchase.
Indigo Holdings (INGO) is investing £200,000 in Iranian Fast Moving Consumer Goods Ltd, an online retail delivery business associated with a convenience store chain.
Ashley House (ASH) has secured a £500,000 loan facility from its non-executive deputy chairman Stephen Minion. The secured facility lasts for 12 months.
Housebuilder St Mark Homes (SMAP) has appointed Alfred Henry Corporate Finance as its corporate broker. Merchant Place had performed this role for 18 years.
AIM
Mortice (MORT) has made a second UK acquisition. The facilities management services provider is paying up to £4.5m for Elite Cleaning and Environmental Services – £3.5m in cash and shares plus a 12-month earn-out of up to £1m in cash and shares. Elite provides cleaning services and clients include ITV and BMW. Elite made EBITDA of £1m on revenues of £12.3m. finnCap has increased its earnings forecast by 5% to 7.8 cents a share.
Internet domain registry company Minds + Machines (MMX) moved into profit in 2016. Revenues grew from $5.5m to $13.5m, while a loss was turned into an underlying pre-tax profit of $3.5m. This follows a restructuring of the business and the sale of non-core operations. Sales of the .vip domain in China were the major factor in the growth in revenues and .boston should be launched later this year. Cash conversion was poor due to restructuring costs and increased working capital.
Directa Plus (DCTA) had technological problems which held back the progress of the graphene producer last year. In 2016, revenues fell from €1.7m to €0.8m and the loss more than doubled to €4.1m. The reason behind the fall in revenues was the lack of sales of mobile decontamination units with sales of G+ graphene nearly doubling. The focus is textiles and environmental uses of the company’s graphene. Directa Plus has net cash of €6.8m and this will be enough to absorb the expected cash outflows for the next couple of years.
Diagnostic tests supplier Omega Diagnostics (ODX) says that its underlying pre-tax profit will fall from £1.3m to £1.1m in 2016-17. All divisions increased their revenues, helped by currency movements. Field trials are planned for the VISITECT CD4 test and the CE mark could be obtained by the end of the year.
TLA Worldwide (TLA) continues to embarrass itself with disastrous trading statements. Having issued a trading statement at 6.26pm on 23 December 2016, it has released its latest profit warning at 4pm – management probably thinks that is a big improvement because it was before the market closed. It turns out that four months after the end of the financial year TLA’s 2016 figures will be even worse than expected. Changes to revenue recognition and provisions for money that TLA thought it was owed but has not been paid are the reason. There is also money that TLA believed it was owed in financial periods prior to 2016 but has not been paid. That will lead to write-downs and the current estimate is between $1.5m and $2.5m. The 2016 figures may eventually be released in late May, according to the company.
Imaginatik (IMTK) says its revenues for the year to March 2017 will be flat at £3.9m but the loss should still be reduced. Bookings for the innovation software were lower at £3.5m but new clients were won in the second half. Imaginatik could be on course to breakeven in the current financial year.
AstraZeneca has returned the rights to AZD9412 to Synairgen (SNG) following a phase IIa study. The inhaled interferon beta did have a beneficial impact on lung function but the positives were not enough to continue with trials. The data will be returned to Synairgen for it to analyse. Synairgen has £4m in the bank.
Avacta (AVCT) has signed its first non-therapeutics licence for its affimers. The licensee is a major global diagnostics companies. The upfront payment is probably small but this is a significant deal.
Radiation detection technology company Kromek (KMK) is trading in line with expectations and it expects to continue to win new contracts.
Property management services provider HML Holdings (HML) has confirmed that its 2016-17 profit will be in line with expectations of £1.8m. There were six acquisitions during the year. A 2017-18 profit of £2.2m is forecast.
Instant communication mobile services provider Mobile Tornado (MBT) has raised £1.1m at 5p a share and the cash will be used for further development of its technology and support the launch of the Dispatch Console service. Last year, revenues fell 10% to £2.02m but recurring revenues increased to more than 90% of the total. The loss increased from £2.03m to £3.73m. Net debt was £9.06m at the end of 2016.
MAIN MARKET
Sealand Capital Galaxy Ltd (SCGL) has completed the acquisition of social media business SecureCom and Sealand hopes that a share split/bonus issue will improve liquidity. Existing shareholders will receive nine bonus shares for each one they own, leaving them with ten times the number of shares and the share price would be adjusted from 25p to 2.5p. The November 2015 flotation price was 10p and earlier this year a further £1.4m was raised at 20p a share. Pro forma cash was £3.26m at the time of the acquisition.
A number of standard list shells have reported their annual figures so that they beat the deadline of the end of April. Financial services-focused shell Vertu Capital Ltd (VCBC) is still discussing the potential acquisition of VCB Malaysia but there is still some way to go before a deal is secured. There was £553,000 in the bank at the end of 2016. Auctus Growth (AUCT) still had £1m in the bank at the end of 2016 and it continues to assess potential acquisitions.
Papillon Holdings (PPHP) is still proceeding with the long drawn out acquisition of Myclubbetting.com and it is near to lodging a readmission document with the UKLA. The publishing of the accounts of Papillon has been delayed because of difficulties concerning quantifying the costs of the acquisition.
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 17 April 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Capital for Colleagues (CFCP) is raising £2.02m via a one-for-two open offer to existing shareholders at 42p a share and there are already commitments for 57% of this investment. The closing date is 27 April. The NAV was 43.5p a share at the end of February, which was hit by a write-off of a major investment. There are new investors will to take up shares worth £819,000 of they are not taken up in the open offer, or if there are not enough shares available additional shares will be issued.
Coinsilium Group Ltd (COIN) is joining forces with Oraclise to develop a smart contract system that can be used for the next generation of blockchain applications. The system will manage token issuance. There are already funds that trade in these tokens, which can be swapped for ownership rights in assets. Specific markets have been identified. The full details will be announced on Thursday.
Goldcrest Resources (GCRP) is acquiring a 100% interest in the Norio onshore production sharing agreement and has an option for a farm-in agreement to acquire 70% of Block VIII, which includes the East Khavtiskhevi onshore field. These assets are in Georgia and the current production at Norio is 25 barrels of oil per day. There are plans to increase production at Norio to 250 barrels of oil per day, which will enable Goldcrest to start generating cash during this year. Goldcrest has paid $380,000 and will issue $300,000 of shares at 0.5p each for 38% of Norio and then has the option to pay $620,000 plus $250,000 for the other 62%. Money will be raised by selling the existing gold exploration assets in Ghana.
Gunsynd (GUN) has received £3,000 in cash and 300,000 shares in Integumen in final consideration for the original skin treatment assets that Gunsynd, then known as Evocutis, sold in 2015.
Valiant Investments (VALP) has raised £47,750 at 0.1p a share.
AIM
Carpets manufacturer Victoria (VCP) says trading is ahead of expectations for the year to 1 April 2017. The performance has been helped by the integration of acquisitions in the UK and Australia. The new chief executive arrived too late in the financial year to have an impact.
MayAir Group (MAYA) improved full year revenues by 3% to $65.6m but pre-tax profit slumped from $7.5m to $5.9m because of a delayed contract. This contract has been completed and there should be a partial recovery in profit this year. The air filtration equipment supplier is on course to open its new facility.
D4T4 Solutions (D4T4) says that its earnings will be slightly ahead of expectations as higher margin software sales more than made up for lower project revenues. The 2016-17 pre-tax profit forecast has been edged up to £4.1m. There was £5.1m in the bank at the end of March 2017. There is still uncertainty about potential demand from a Japanese customer.
Arian Silver Corp (AGQ) has signed an option to acquire three lithium exploration projects in Mexico for up to $200,000 payable over 12 months.
Strategic Minerals (SML) has secured a deal to supply 400,000 tons of magnetite a year at a market based price over several years – depending on Strategic continuing to have access to the Cobre magnetite stockpile. This should double annual sales with a maintained margin.
More good news from software provider Cerillion (CER). Interim revenues have grown from £6.9m to £7.5m and EBITDA moved ahead from £1.1m to £1.5m. The interim figures will be announced in the middle of June.
Full year contributions from all its hostels meant that 2016 revenues generated by Safestay (SSTY) rose from £4m to £7.4m but it remained loss-making. NAV is 58p a share and the company is trading at a small discount to this figure. There has been a subsequent £12.6m sale and leaseback of the Elephant & Castle and Edinburgh hostels and a new £18.4m, five year secured debt facility provided by HSBC. This will reduce the cost of borrowings.
First Property Group (FPO) had funds under management of £475m at the end of March 2017, up from £353m a year earlier. Profit is expected to be in line with expectations before the recently announced sale of a property in Romania. The full year figures will be published on 8 June.
EMIS Group (EMIS) has appointed Andy Thorburn as its new chief executive. In the past four years, Thorburn has been chief operating officer of Caribbean-focused communications group Digicel. Prior to this has worked for a number of software companies and BT.
Dolphin Fund has decided not to proceed with a bid for FIH Group (FIH) because of the uncertainty caused by the attitude of the Falkland Islands government. Dolphin cannot make a bid for six months unless there is a rival bid announced.
Hague and London Oil (HNL) plans to acquire the Netherlands-based assets of Tullow Oil for an initial €9.75m with the potential to pay a further €20m. There are capital spending requirements for these assets which are generating revenues. Operating spending is estimated to be $21/barrel in 2017. The finance for the deal is being negotiated.
Gas and electrical services provider Bilby (BILB) is beginning to win work from the framework contracts it has been appointed to and this will boost the 2017-18 financial year. Northland has been appointed nominated adviser and broker.
Franchised property services provider Hunters Property (HUNT) grew its pre-tax profit from £1.42m to £1.85m in 2016. The dividend was increased from 1.5p a share to 1.9p a share. The subsequent acquisition of Besley Hill takes the group into south west England and the number of outlets has risen past 200. House broker Dowgate Capital forecasts a 2017 underlying pre-tax profit of £1.91m earnings per share may be slightly lower.
A reduction in admin expenses helped APC Technology (APC) to return to profit in the first half. Revenues declined from £9.5m to £8.3m but this was due to a large Morrison contract in the corresponding period. The core electronic components distribution business grew revenues by one-fifth. The underlying pre-tax profit was £200,000.
The second largest shareholder in Hornby (HRN) is requisitioning a general meeting to remove Roger Canham as chairman and from the board and replace him with Ian Anton.
MAIN MARKET
WideCells (WDC) has raised an additional £649,000 at 12p a share in order to accelerate the growth of its three divisions and develop a client relationship management system. Last July’s placing raised £2m at 11p a share. The CellPlan stem cell insurance product is selling better than expected. The stem cell storage facility will be operational in the second quarter and the company has applied for a research licence. The additional funds will help to finance additional appointments for its WideAcademy education and training business.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 16 January 2017
NEX / ISDX
Ecommerce technology provider Netalogue Technologies (NTLP) has secured three contracts in the drinks sector. Brewer Marston’s, pubs operator Enterprise Inns and drinks wholesaler Matthew Clark have bought ecommerce portals. They all used the iTradeNetwork online ordering system previously but this will no longer be available from August so this provides a significant opportunity for Netalogue.
Goldcrest Resources (GCRP) has raised £217,000 at 0.25p a share to provide working capital so that it can execute its plans. Further shares are being issued to Pelamis Investments Ltd for the conversion of a £70,000 convertible loan note at 0.25p a share and from issuing 48.52 million shares at the same price to settle £121,000 of liabilities. Goldcrest plans to seek further gold projects. Peterhouse has been appointed as corporate adviser and broker.
NQ Minerals (NQMI) has secured funding of A$4m and raised £400,000 at 8p a share. The loan is secured on the assets of a subsidiary and has an annual interest charge of 12%, payable quarterly. There is a fee of A$35,000. Greg Lane, who has experience in mine development, has joined the board. He has four million options exercisable at 7p a share.
AIM
This year will be an important one for battery technology developer Ilika (IKA). There are discussions with potential licensees for solid state battery technology and there should be deals during 2017. Stereax M250 batteries are being assessed by a number of potential customers. In the six months to October 2016, revenues improved from £254,000 to £329,000 but the operating loss edged up to £2.2m. Full year revenues should grow from £600,000 to £2.5m, which is partly underpinned by recent grant wins. Losses are expected to continue for the time being. The balance sheet is strong and there should be £6.7m in cash at the end of April thanks to cash raised late in 2016.
Packaging supplier Robinson (RBN) says that trading is still tough but it has gained planning permission on part of its surplus property portfolio. The outline planning permission covers 23 acres on two sites. House broker finnCap believes that this could double the value of the land from £5m to £10m – equivalent to 60p a share. The disappointing trading and investment in sales and marketing has led to a 12.5% downgrade in the 2016 pre-tax profit forecast to £2m, and the 2017 forecast has been cut to £2.1m.
Somero Enterprises Inc (SOM) has sparked another forecast upgrade with its latest trading statement. A strong finish to the year means that the earnings per share for 2016 have been upgraded from 22.7 cents to 24.4 cents. There was good demand for newer products and larger concrete levelling machines. Net cash is expected to be $18.7m and the dividend payout ration has been increased from 30% to 40% of net adjusted income. There is even potential for a special dividend.
Cloud-based telecom services provider Cloudcall (CALL) increased its full year revenues by 50% to £4.9m with a large chunk of this growth coming from existing customers. Around 400 customers were added each month last year. There is cash of £3.2m. The expected 2016 loss of £3.5m is similar to the year before but it is expected to be reduced in 2017. Around 85% of revenues are recurring or repeating.
Focusrite (TUNE) says trading continues to be strong and cash is building up. Foreign exchange movements have been favourable. Timothy Carroll has taken over as chief executive.
Tertiary Minerals (TYM) is evaluating acquisitions so that it can generate revenues and profit earlier than would be the case with its current fluorspar interests. Legal changes in Sweden and poor market conditions for fluorspar has delayed progress with the existing assets.
Caledonia Mining Corporation (CMCL) says that its Blanket mine beat production expectations for 2016. There was an 18% increase in fourth quarter gold production (year-on-year) and 2016 gold production was 18% higher at 50,351 ounces. Caledonia owns 49% of Blanket mine. In 2017, production of 60,000 ounces is expected and the mine cost is estimated to be lower than in 2016 at $600-$630/ounce. Investment in infrastructure are improving production but there is a lot more to come and annual production of 80,000 ounces of gold is anticipated in 2021.
Evgen Pharma (EVG) has received a positive interim safety review from the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the use of SFX-01 to treat subarachnoid haemorrhage. This means that the phase II trial will proceed and results should be available in the first half of 2018. So far, 26 patients have enrolled out of a total of 90 people.
Pensions services provider Mattioli Woods (MTW) says that revenues are growing faster than expected. Profit growth has been held back by investment in the business but finnCap has raised its earnings per share estimate from 30.5p to 32.5p. The interim figures are due to be published on 7 February.
Edenville Energy (EDL) has started trial mining at its Rukwa coal project in Tanzania and commercial mining should begin by the end of the first quarter of 2017. The trail mining is generating revenues.
The old guard continues to depart from 1Spatial (SPA) with the latest being Marcus Yeoman.
MAIN MARKET
Canadian oil and gas explorer and producer Zenith Energy Ltd (ZEN) joined the standard list on 11 January. The company, which operates onshore oil and gas fields in Azerbaijan, Argentina and Italy, is already listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. Zenith also produces electricity in Italy. AIM-quoted and NEX-quoted Gunsynd (GUN) has invested £524,000 in Zenith.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 14 November 2016
ISDX
Dairy services provider National Milk Records (NMRP) reported flat revenues, including joint ventures, of £10.3m in the six months to September 2016 but profit declined as the core milk recording business fell into loss. This was due to a reduction in clients. There are signs of the milk price improving but that will take time to feed through to increased demand for services as dairy farmers rebuild their cash position. The laboratories and livestock surveillance businesses generated higher revenues but made lower profits. Inimex Genetics reported a reduced loss. Underlying pre-tax profit fell from £809,000 to £619,000 as the milk records contribution moved from a profit of £71,000 to a loss of £119,000. Even so, the inflow from operating activities doubled from £300,000 to £599,000. This was down to an increase in creditors, compared with a reduction in the corresponding period. The pension deficit has increased from £3.5m to £6.25m.
Diversified Gas & Oil (DOIL) plans to raise $60m (£48m) via an issue of ordinary share and join AIM. The bonds that are traded on ISDX can either be converted into shares or be repaid. A maiden dividend is promised by June 2017. The US-focused gas and oil producer and daily production is running at 4,400 barrels of oil equivalent with an average operating cost of $9.53/barrel. Total production was 428,522 barrels of oil equivalent in the first half of 2016, while revenues were $7.6m. Funding from the bonds trading on ISDX has helped Diversified Gas & Oil to grow by acquiring and investing in wells. Other oil companies are focused on shale prospects so the conventional projects that the company focuses on are reasonably priced and the fundraising will provide plenty of cash for acquisitions. Bradley Gray has been appointed finance director and chief operating officer. He has been granted an interest in 5% of the Diversified Gas & Oil ordinary shares and this will vest over a three year period.
Goldcrest Resources (GCRP) continues to review ways of pushing ahead with its Asheba project in Ghana and it is also assessing other projects in west Africa. Ryan Long has resigned as a non-executive director.
Kryptonite 1 (KR1) has raised a further £127,000 at 0.05p a share. Back in June, £10,000 was raised at 0.04p a share and in July £100,000 was raised at 0.03p a share. Kryptonite 1 was formerly known as Guild Acquisitions.
AIM
ServicePower Technologies (SVR) says that a subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc, which is generating funds from the winding up of Bond International Software (BDI), may make a cash bid for the work scheduling software company. Constellation has previously acquired gym and leisure membership software provider Gladstone in 2010, following a lapsed bid at the end of 2008.
Asset manager Miton Group (MGR) has managed to weather the problems caused by investment manager departures and assets under management are being rebuilt. Peel Hunt forecasts an improvement in full year profit from £3m to £4.7m. The broker expects assets under management to be £2.8bn at the end of 2016 and it believes that Miton has funds that should be able to attract investment inflows over the coming years. The share price has barely recovered from its low.
Oil and gas exploration information provider Getech (GTC) reported a strong second half and this meant that management appear to have been too cautious when they issued their profit warning prior to the year end. The weak oil sector still meant that pre-tax profit fell from £1.99m to £671,000 as revenues declined from £8.64m to £7.03m. Net cash is £1.89m but there is no dividend. Dr Jonathan Copus became chief executive during the summer so did not have time to affect the full year figures. He represents a move towards a more commercially focused management, away from the previous academic management that developed the business and its products. Getech is well-placed to take advantage of an upturn in the oil sector but this may take some time to come through.
Thalassa Holdings (THAL) has requisitioned a general meeting at The Local Shopping REIT. Thalassa would like a faster liquidation of the REIT’s assets and it is also critical of the management agreement with and bonus scheme for INTERNOS Global Investors. Thalassa wants to remove the two directors and appoint three of its nominees.
Starcom (STAR) says Amerijet Airlines has approved its Kylos Air GPS tracking device for air cargo. Kylos Air can be used to track high value air cargo because they are in flight mode when the plane is in the air and then they start transmitting when the cargo is unloaded. Starcom is no longer expected to make a profit in 2016, but a pre-tax profit of $500,000 is forecast for 2017. This type of news helps to give greater confidence that the forecast could be achieved. There is more than $1m in the bank.
Savannah Resources (SAV) has completed its initial mineral resource estimates for two out of the four deposits at the Mutamba project in Mozambique. The indicated and inferred mineral resource estimate is 3.5 billion tonnes at a grade of 3.8% of total heavy minerals, containing 81 million tonnes of ilmenite, 2.2 million tonnes of rutile and 3.8 million tonnes of zircon. This is part of the deal for Savannah to build its stake in its joint venture with Rio Tinto from 10% to 51%. A scoping study will be completed in three-four months.
MAIN MARKET
Trifast (TRI) interims were better than expected and this led to an earnings upgrade for the full year. Revenues were 15% higher at £89.7m and underlying pre-tax profit was one-fifth higher at £9.9m. The main growth came in the EU. A full year profit of £18.2m is forecast. Malcolm Diamond is becoming non-executive chairman.
Standard list shell Falcon Acquisitions (FAL) intends to pay £500,000 for direct-to-consumer media technology company Teevee Networks. A general meeting will be held on 24 November to gain shareholder agreement for the acquisition of Quiptel, which operates in the over the top (OTT) broadcast services market.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 31 May 2016
ISDX
Transport safety technology developer Wheelsure Holdings (WHLP) increased its revenues by 47% to £133,000 in the six months to February 2016. However, the operating loss edged up to £120,000. Orders are still being received from London Underground but at a slower rate than expected. There are more tube lines that can order the Tracksure range of fasteners. Orders are also coming in from other European countries. Royalty income from the US remains modest. Tax losses almost total £4.5m. Daniel Stewart is hopeful that Wheelsure could break even this year.
Crossword Security (CCS) has won a contract with the Ministry of Defence that will lead to the development of blockchain enabled smart documents. The contract was won with the University of Warwick. Hybridan has been appointed as broker.
V22 (V22O) has made £225,000 from selling half of its option interest in a company that owns the freehold to a building in South Bermondsey. V2 has already received £150,000 with £75,000 payable by the end of June. V22 retains an option over 15% of the holding company that owns the building. At 0.9p a share, V22 is valued at £300,000.
The acquisition of the Akoko prospecting licence by Goldcrest Resources (GCRP) has been terminated because Goldcrest had not been able to join AIM by the end of May. A revised sale and purchase agreement may be possible.
Social impact investor Inqo Investments (INQO) has taken a stake in a Zambia-based organic honey producer. Bee Sweet Honey uses a network of small farmers in northern Zambia with each farmer having an average of ten beehives. The honey is exported to the US and EU.
AIM
TSX-listed WSP Group Inc has launched an agreed bid for rival professional services provider Sweett Group (CSG). The offer is 35p a share in cash, which values Sweett at £24m. The combined business will be a stronger competitor in global markets and Sweett will enhance WSP’s project and cost management services. There will also be cross-selling opportunities
Graphene supplier Directa Plus (DCTA) got off to a strong start on its first day of trading. A placing had raised £12.8m at 75p a share for the Italy-based company and they ended the first day at 105.5p. Unusually for a graphene producer, Directa Plus already has significant sales of product although it still loses money. The company has been trading for more than one decade and there are a wide range of potential uses for its graphene products, which it manufactures itself. In recent times, the graphene (in various forms) has been used for bicycle tyres, ski-wear and environmental remediation.
TechFinancials Inc (TECH) grew its revenues from trading platform software licensing in 2015 but problems with regulation hit the revenues of the company’s own trading platforms. This meant that TechFinancials slumped from profit into loss. New joint ventures will help to boost revenues but they will take time to make a significant contribution. There is $3.4m in the bank and first quarter trading is in line with expectations.
Regenerative medical devices developer Tissue Regenix (TRX) says that the sales of wound care product DermaPure have exceeded expectations. Sales are building up in the US but the cost of the sales infrastructure and EU clinical trials mean that the group loss increased from £7.6m to £9.5m in the year to January 2016. Tissue Regenix has a strong balance sheet with £19.9m in the bank at the end of January 2016, thanks to the £19m placing at 19p a share, which was completed at the beginning of last year. Sales may begin in the EU could commence in this financial year.
Redx Pharma (REDX) continues to build a commercially-focused pipeline in oncology, anti-infectives and immunology. A development candidate has been selected for the potential treatment of pancreatic, head and neck and triple negative breast cancer. Human studies of RDX004 are set to start in early 2017. The pipeline continues to expand with plans to identify another development content by the end of 2016. There is pro forma cash of £14.4m.
Telecoms billing and CRM software supplier Cerillion (CER) increased its recurring revenues by 22% to £2.2m in the six months to March 2016. That is nearly one-third of total revenues of £6.85m, while underlying pre-tax profit improved by one-fifth to £703,000. The move into cloud-based services should enhance recurring revenues. There is also potential for acquisitions. Even though Cerillion has only been quoted for a few weeks it is paying a dividend of 1.3p a share.
MAIN MARKET
Standard listed CML Microsystems (CML) is acquiring China-based fabless semiconductor company Wuxi Sicomm Technologies for $11m in cash and shares. The wireless semiconductors supplier has around £11m in the bank so it can afford the acquisition. The deal will enable CML to address higher volume markets. Joint broker SP Angel has not updated its forecast yet. The 2015-16 figures should will be published on 14 June.
Illustrated book publisher Quarto (QTR) says that first quarter revenues have increased from $28.4m to $33.3m. This is a quieter period for the group and this year will be even more second half weighted. Net debt has fallen to $67.6m, compared with $77.6m 12 months earlier.
Standard list cash shell Senterra Energy (SEN) has secured a deal to acquire a sim-card technology business rather than an oil and gas business as originally envisaged. Singapore-based Oasis Smart Sim PTE had 2015 revenues of $13m with most of the revenues generated from 2G, 3G and 4G SIM cards. Senterra is providing a £500,000 loan to the acquisition target. The deal requires shareholder approval because it is outside of the company’s investing strategy. Trading in the shares has been suspended. Existing Senterra shareholders will end up with 15% of the group before any fundraising.
ANDREW HORE
Quoted Micro 18 April 2016
ISDX
BWA Group (BWAP) is still seeking a reverse takeover target. Trading in the shares has recommenced after a potential reverse takeover, where talks started 12 months ago, fell through. A settlement has been agreed with the potential target which will lead to a cash inflow of £76,311 for BWA. This will be recognised in the year to April 2016. The NAV was £526,000 at the end of October 2015. At 0.45p (0.3p/0.6p), BWA is valued at £505,000.
Goldcrest Resources (GCRP) has terminated its option agreement over the Zamsa exploration licence in Ghana. The focus is gold projects in southern Ghana. At 0.06p (0.05p/0.07p), Goldcrest is valued at £1.3m. Gavin Burnell has resigned as chairman, while Callum Baxter has moved to non-executive director.
Property investment company Ace Liberty & Stone (ALSP) is already starting to use the cash raised in the recent fundraising and it has raised a further £850,000 from the sale of Princegate House in Doncaster. Princegate House was purchased in 2013 for £694,000 and Ace is retaining the car park. Ace has bought two industrial estates in Plymouth and two residential properties in London – one of which has been bought from a director. The industrial estates cost £3.5m and generate annual rents of £205,000. The two residential properties cost a total of £4.2m – partly payable in shares at 3p each. At 4p (3.5p/4.5p), Ace is valued at £38.8m. The heavily discounted open offer price was 1p a share.
Western Selection (WSE) has increased its stake in AIM-quoted Bilby following its recent placing that raised £5m at 118p a share to help finance two acquisitions for its gas and building services business working for social housing and local authorities. Western Selection invested a further £545,000 and owns 5.9% of Bilby. At 47.5p (45p/50p), the investment company is valued at £8.5m. There was one deal last week at 45p a share.
AIM
Sports Direct International has taken a 6% interest in Goals Soccer Centres (GOAL). Sports Direct already owns nearly 1% of the five-a-side football pitches operator but it has added a contract for difference over more than 5% of the share capital.
OptiBiotix (OPTI) continues to sign deals for its technology based on the human microbiome. The latest is with health and nutrition company Royal DSM. This is a joint development agreement to develop new products using the OptiBiotic platform. A study shows that the company’s cholesterol-reducing product has reduced cholesterol levels by an average of 7.2% in the study group. Commercial discussions with potential partners are ongoing. There was £2m in the bank at the end of November 2015 and since then £2.5m has been raised. This gives OptiBiotix, whose monthly cash outflow is relatively modest but rising, an excellent financial base from which to pursue other deals while it awaits revenues from the first commercial product.
Acquisitions helped hostels operator Safestay (SSTY) to more than double its revenues to £4m in 2015 but there was organic growth in that figure. The Elephant & Castle hostel continues to improve its performance. This year there will be 12 month contributions from the Edinburgh and Holland Park sites. NAV is 48p a share.
Stephen Roberts has resigned from the board of China-focused investment company Grand Group Investment (GIPO). Roberts stated: “It has been a great pleasure working with my fellow Board members Jay Newman and Mark Hemmann, and I wish them and Grand success in the future.” The other members of the Grand Group board were Mr Yang Xiao, Mr Zhou Jiang, Mr Li Chuang and Ms Gu Yingying, although Ms Gu Yingying subsequently resigned.
MAIN MARKET
Bluebird Merchant Ventures Ltd (BMV) finally joined the standard list on 13 April. The flotation was originally foreshadowed at the end of 2015 and it raised £1.49m (after expenses) at 5.75p a share. The Philippines-focused firm has interests in a potential gold mine and copper concentrate trading. The share price ended the week at 4.63p. The prospectus is available at www.bluebird.com.ph.
Tex Holdings (TXH) reported flat revenues of £36m for 2015 but pre-tax profit improved from £1.18m to £1.49m. This was mainly due to a strong performance from the engineering division. NAV was £9.44m at the end of the year. Net debt was £2.9m. A special dividend of 15p a share was paid last November. Excluding that, the total dividend was increased from 6p a share to 7p a share. This year has started strongly overall, although the plastics business is sluggish.
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