ISDX

Blockchain technology investor Coinsilium (COIN) has raised £1.15m of the £1.5m it is seeking via crowdfunding site Seedrs.com. Coinsilium has also raised additional cash via a placing ahead of a potential flotation on ISDX. There are still 39 days to go for the crowdfunding. Coinsilium already has a portfolio of eleven investments. Blockchain technology groups digital transactions into blocks that can be accessed easily and provides a permanent record of transfers of assets. This means that transactions can be verified and reconciled without the need for a centralised third party.

Property investor Ace Liberty & Stone (ALSP) has completed the sale of the remaining units of Telephone House in Sheffield. The property is owned by a 38%-owned associate but it was consolidated in the Ace figures. The latest disposal proceeds were £4m taking the amount raised from the site to £8.1m. Ace will receive £2.2m, which includes a profit of £456,000.  This can be reinvested in other properties. The strategy is to acquire properties with short-term tenancies with government or other blue chip tenants. These are properties that can be converted into residential or student accommodation, or other new uses. Once planning is approved then Ace will probably sell them on to developers, although it could choose to develop some sites itself. Dr Abdel-Karim El-Rousstom has bought 2 million shares and Hikmat El-Rousstom 2.91 million shares at 2.75p each. That raised £135,000 for Ace and takes their stakes to 18.7% and 2% respectively.

Online secondary school operator and consultancy Wey Education (WEYP) wants to raise £1.75m as part of a move to AIM on 7 December.  The cash will be used to grow the business. At 4.5p (4p/5p) a share, Wey is currently valued at £2m.

GP software provider DXS International (DXSP) says that its revenues have increased by 42% in the five months to September 2015. Annualised revenues are £3.2m. The interims will be published in the middle of December. At 13p (12.5p/13.5p) a share, DXS is valued at £4.3m.

Green Chemicals (GNCP), which is developing cleaner and safer consumer and cleaning products, has decided to withdraw from the ISDX Growth market. The share price slumped from 22.5p to 4.5p on the news. There was one trade during the week at 2p a share. The board is asking shareholders to vote for the withdrawal in order to save £35,000 a year and in the hope that an investor in unquoted companies can be attracted. News will be published on the website (www.greenchemicalsplc.com) and broker Keith Bayley Rogers will provide a matched bargains service for the shares. Earlier this month, IP Group provided a loan facility of up to £1.5m to Green Chemicals. This can be converted into shares. IP Group along with two other associates has a total interest of 29.5%.

Diversified Gas & Oil (DOIL) has raised a further £1m (£990,000 after expenses) through the issue of 8.5% unsecured bonds 2020. This means that there will be £3.2m of unsecured bonds in issue. There should be more than £3m in total to invest in developing the company’s oil and gas assets in Ohio and West Virginia.

AIM

Structural steels supplier Billington Holdings (BILN) is adding additional capacity through the £4.85m acquisition of property and assets five miles away from the company’s Barnsley facility, which is operating at record levels. The purchase will be funded by a £2.5m mortgage and from the company’s cash pile. Capacity will be increased over a two year period as the acquired facilities are adapted to optimise production. The site has long-term tenants which generate annual rents of £400,000. Assuming the deal goes through it should add £200,000 to profit in 2016 before the benefits of the additional capacity show through.

Inland Homes (INL) has sold a major part of the former RAF Stanbridge site to Catalyst Housing Association for £14m. Inland has retained a 0.5 acre retail site pre-let to a major food retailer and another small parcel of land. The disposal will help to underpin the 2015-16 profit expectations of £16m. Inland has invested £1m in a 25% stake in housebuilder Troy Homes. Inland will also be providing a further £2m to Troy in loan notes. Troy is run by former Banner Homes boss Richard Werth. Inland has also secured a £20m revolving credit facility with Barclays, which matures in October 2019. There is scope for a further £10m to be added to the facility.

Property lettings and sales business franchisor Belvoir Lettings (BLV) says that its franchisees have made acquisitions in Southampton and Brighton, which will add network revenues of £250,000. This means that they should add £30,000 to Belvoir’s franchise revenues, plus additional interest income of £10,000 a year from the loans. Belvoir has loaned £118,500 to help finance these acquisitions. In Southampton, lettings and estate agency Langford Charles has been bought, while in Brighton a property portfolio was acquired.

Fifty Four Four Ltd, which is owned by YCO director Charles Birkett, has increased its stake in former AIM company YCO to 71% following its 1p a share bid, which valued the superyacht services provider at £485,000. Fifty Four Four already owned 50.4% prior to the bid but it does not have a high enough stake to compulsorily purchase the rest of the shares. YCO was trading at 7.25p a share prior to the announcement of its intention to leave AIM in May 2012 – it left in July 2012 and re-registered as a private company in 2014. Net cash was £2.46m at the end of 2011 following the disposal of a fuel business.

MAIN MARKET

Specialist Fund Market-listed Marwyn Value Investors Ltd (MVI) has raised £50m at 220p a share with the founders Mark Watts and James Corsellis investing an additional £2m in total. The cash raised will go into the Master Fund, whose portfolio includes BCA Marketplace, Zegona Communications, Gloo Networks and Le Chameau Holdings SAS. There will be a special dividend of 2p a share paid in January and from then on the dividend will be quarterly. Last year’s dividend was 8.255p a share and this will be the minimum total payment in 2016 – not including the January dividend. The disposal of the Entertainment One stake will provide cash to distribute to shareholders. There could also be special dividends following any disposals from the portfolio. In October, Marwyn paid 24.6p a share to investors. Marwyn is trading at a 16% discount to estimated NAV of 256.3p a share.

Dr Qu Li has been appointed as a non-executive director of cash shell Flying Brands Ltd (FBDU) and she will be seeking an acquisition in the area of logistics and/or technology. LCP Consulting (http://www.lcpconsulting.com/) has been taken on to identify an acquisition. LCP has been researching city logistics, including the use of electric vehicles in order to improve air quality. Annual costs are around £70,000 and there was £247,000 in the bank at the end of October.  Since then, a further £100,000 has been raised via the issue of convertible loan notes, taking the total issued to £369,800. The new loan notes are convertible at 1.5p a share.

Aminex (AEX) has signed a disposal and farm out agreement for its Tanzania oil and gas assets with AIM-quoted Bowleven. The deal will raise cash of $8.5m and Aminex will receive $5m of shares in Bowleven, which it will have to retain for at least nine months. Bowleven is buying a 25% stake in the Kiliwani North development licence and earning a 50% gross interest in the Ruvuma PSA. Aminex will have a net carry of $10m on Ruvuma activity. Aminex is also entitled to a bonus of $500,000 in cash when drilling is completed on the Ntorya-2 well and $4m in cash or shares when Ruvuma has been in production for at least 30 days. Current partner Solo Oil is entitled to 25% of the net carry and 25% of the bonus for Ruvuma. Aminex will be able to reduce its debt but it remains as operator of the assets with 30.575% in Kilwani North – Solo can purchase a further 6.5% stake from Aminex – and 37.5% of Ruvuma. The deal has to be approved by Aminex shareholders and by Solo.

ANDREW HORE

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