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AQUIS STOCK EXCHANGE

Technology investment company Asimilar (ASLR) is leaving AIM, but it will retain its Aquis quotation. Trading in the shares recommenced following the publication of the latest accounts. Chris Akers raised his shareholding from 9.13% to 10.3% and that helped the share price to recover from its low during the week. At the end of September 2022, net assets were 5.53p a share. A general meeting will be held on 18 May and the AIM cancelation should happen on 26 May.

Fuel additives supplier SulNOx Group (SNOX) has received a general meeting requisition from RemNOx Ltd, which wants to remove chairman Radu Florescu and appoint three new directors. It also wants to remove chief executive Ben Richardson. RemNOx is controlled by Angela Bravo.

Four shareholders are requisitioning a general meeting at TruSpine Technologies (TSP) and they want four directors to be removed. They also want three nominees to be voted onto the board, which includes two of the requisitioners: Peter Houghton and Todd Michael Cramer.

OTAQ (OTAQ) published a nine-month update showing revenues of £2.6m up until the new year end of December 2022. There was a £300,000 EBITDA loss. There are a range of aquaculture products that are becoming ready for commercialisation. First quarter 2023 trading was in line with expectations and the outlook for the second quarter is better.

MBH Corporation (M8H) increased 2022 revenues by 31% to £142.8m, while operating profit was £3.4m, down from £5.16m. There was organic growth from all the main operating sectors.

Hydrogen Future Industries (HFI) had an interim cash outflow from operating activities of £548,000. There is £736,000 in the bank at the end of January 2023. The company has commenced prototype testing of the wind element of its hydrogen production system.

BWA Group (BWA) has appointed John Byfield and Jonathan Wearing to the board, while Alex Borelli has stepped down. High levels of rutile have been identified in samples from the Dehane 2 rutile sands project in Cameroon.

Investment company MaxRets Ventures (MAX) had net assets of £497,000 at the end of October 2022, including £411,000 in cash. Annualised running costs are £280,00. There are two cannabis-related investments and no new investments have been made in the past year.

SuperSeed Capital (WWW) has made a new investment in Kluster, an AI platform that helps clients to generate revenues.

EDX Medical (EDX) has raised £1,725m at 6p a share. Bridgemere has become the second largest shareholder with 11.6%.

PanGenomic Health (NARA) says a subsidiary has signed a definitive master service agreement with Psy Integrated Health. Patient biomarker data will be collected to assist in optimising treatments. Psy will be paid $45,000 for the initial work.

Equipmake Holdings (EQIP) has been awarded a £1.6m grant, on a matched funding basis, to help it further develop its electrification technology for electric vehicles.

Wishbone Gold (WSBN) has published exploration data for the Cottesloe project in Western Australia. This shows high grades of silver, cobalt, lead and zinc.

Marula Mining (MARU) published its quarterly activities update. This was an active quarter. There is an increasing focus on battery metals. The company is debt free.

At the end of January 2023, Kasei Holdings (KASH) had net assets of £2.05m, including cash of £473,000. Since then, £164,000 has been raised from Aalto Capital at 12p a share. However, this is less than the £500,000 expected.

Semper Fortis Esports (SEMP) raised £100,000 at 0.1p a share. This will take the cash pile up to £500,000. Costs have been brought down to a minimum.

Convertible loan notes worth £161,000 were converted into Valereum (VLRM) shares at 4.7112p a share.

AIM

Deutsche Bank is bidding 339p a share for Numis Corporation (NUM), which values the AIM nominated adviser at £410m. On top of the cash bid there will be an interim dividend of 6p a share for the six months to March 2023, plus an additional dividend of 5p a share. The first dividend will be paid in June and the second dividend will be paid after the effective date of the takeover.

Zoo Digital (ZOO) has raised £12.5m at 160p a share and a retail offer could raise up to £500,000 at the same price – it closes on 5 May. The cash will help to finance the acquisition of one of its Japanese media localisation partners from a leading technology company. This should be earnings enhancing. Management says that full year revenues will be $90m, which is lower than expected. This disappointment is due to lower margin dubbing revenues.

Fiinu Group (BANK) says a lack of money has slowed progress in gaining a full banking licence. A decision has been taken to withdraw the fintech’s licence application and reapply in a few months. Management will then focus on securing between £34m and £42m of cash. Once this is obtained the application process will be resumed. Fiinu has developed the Plugin Overdraft, which provides customers with an overdraft facility without the requirement to switch banks.

Trading conditions were tougher for Focusrite (TUNE) in the content creation market and that was only partly offset by a bounce back in the audio reproduction sector as live events returned to past levels. Group interim revenues fell from £92.9m to £86.2m, even after the inclusion of recent acquisitions. A fall in freight charges helped gross margin edge up to 47.1%. Even so, pre-tax profit fell from £16.3m to £10.9m. Net debt was £13.2m after the cost of acquisitions. The dividend was still raised from 1.85p a share to 2.1p a share.

IT training provider Northcoders (CODE) reported an 86% increase in revenues to £5.6m in 2022 and pre-tax profit jumped from £100,000 to £600,000. There was net cash of £1.7m at the end of 2022. Revenues of £6.1m are already in the order book for 2023 and the full year forecast is £9.5m. The pre-tax profit should double to £1.2m.

Management process automation software provider ActiveOps (AOM) made better gross margins on forecast revenues of £25m and a positive EBITDA in the year to March 2023. A £500,000 loss was forecast. There was £15.4m in cash at the year-end. The newly launched CaseWorkIQ software is starting to gain momentum. The full year figures will be published in July.

Smoove (SMV) says it is in bid discussions with PEXA Group. These are at an early stage but could lead to a cash bid for the online residential property services provider. Australia-based PEXA Group offers online property services through the Property Now content hub that are similar to those offered by Smoove. There is no indication of bid price.

WoolOvers Group announced on Tuesday afternoon that it will not be making a 10.5p a share bid for footwear retailer Unbound Group (UBG).

Parkmead Group (PMG) produced more condensate than expected from the LDS-01 well in the Netherlands, so the well has been temporarily shut-in to enable work to handle the greater volume. This will mean that 2022-23 pre-tax profit will be lower than expected, but still doubled at £15.1m. Longer term, the prospects appear brighter. Gas reserves appear to be greater than anticipated and the high gas price is prompting greater exploration activity.

Fire Angel Safety Technology (FA.) has been hit by supply problems and that particularly hampered sales of higher margin products. A delayed contract also held back progress. Costs have fallen but EBITDA will be below expectations in 2023. Price increases will help revenues from the second quarter onwards. Shore Capital has withdrawn its forecasts.

Iodine producer Iofina (IOF) has an increasingly attractive outlook for 2023. The iodine price remains relatively high at near to $70/kg and the new IO#9 facility should be up and running before the end of June. There are more potential sites for plants. Iodine derivatives sales are also increasing. Net income was $7.2m in 2022 and it is expected to improve to $8.1m this year.

MAIN MARKET

Mears (MER) reported 2022 pre-tax profit of £35.2m and higher than expected average net cash of £42.9m. The dividend has been increased by 31% and a £20m share buy back has been launched. The order book covers 98% of 2023 forecast revenues – pre-tax profit is likely to be flat.

Castings (CGS) has beaten forecasts for the year to March 2023. Pre-tax profit will be 8% ahead of the estimate at £16.8m. Demand from HGV manufacturers is still improving, and production inefficiencies resolved, helping the second half to be much better than expected.

Andrew Hore