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Andrew Hore – Quoted Micro 18 December 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Wine and beer maker Chapel Down Group (CDGP) has raised £18.53m at 50p a share and could raise up to £1.47m more via a one-for-35 open offer at the same share price. The latest acceptance date is 5 January. Chapel Down will invest in an additional 500 acres of vineyard land and more money will be put into marketing. The family interests of Michael Spencer have invested in the fundraising. Nigel Wray has invested a further £500,000 but his stake has fallen to 16.5%, prior to the open offer. This year’s turnover is expected to be at least £11.6m and management expects growth to accelerate after the additional investment. New gin and vodka brands have been launched and the Ashford brewery should be up and running by the end of 2018.
Ashley House (ASH) has signed a joint venture with Morgan Sindall to develop extra care and supported living housing. This deal sparked a 55% increase in the share price to 14.75p. Morgan Sindall is paying £4m in total for the 50% stake in the joint venture, with £1.5m of this dependent on certain completion factors. It should all be paid by the end of 2018. The Ashley House housing division will complete two existing schemes and then own 50% of the joint venture, which will develop any further schemes. This additional cash will help to accelerate the growth of this part of the business. There is already a pipeline of potential developments. Ashley House will make an interim loss but expects to profitable for the full year.
e-commerce technology provider Netalogue Technologies (NTLP) reduced its interim loss as revenues grew from £317,000 to £479,000. There has been a lower number of larger projects, particularly in the food and drink sector, and Netalogue would have been profitable without the investment in the company’s technical team. A move towards a SaaS-based model could hold back short-term revenues.
AIM-quoted, spread betting business London Capital Group (LCG) has joined the NEX Exchange Growth Market on 15 December. Glio Holdings Ltd owns 78.1% of London Capital.
Early Equity (EEQP) has made two more investments. It has invested £60,000 in TruSpine Technologies Ltd, which plans to join AIM next year. TruSpine has developed the Faci-LOK and Cervi-FAS minimally invasive spine stabilisation devices and the VOSC catheter atherosclerosis treatment product. The plan is to gain FDA authorisation for Faci-LOK next year and then float. TruSpine is valued at £15m. A £35,000 investment in the profitable corporate finance and asset management business Farina Investments (UK) Ltd has been made ahead of a flotation. Early Equity raised £115,000 at 0.6p a share.
Hydro Hotel, Eastbourne (HYDP) has declared an unchanged total dividend of 21p a share for the year to October 2017.
Lombard Capital (LCAP) says that it is progressing towards the issue of an investment bond that will be quoted on a recognised bond market. There was nearly £60,000 in the bank at the end of September 2017.
Coinsilium Group Ltd (COIN) raised £720,000 at 9p a share and this will be used to invest in blockchain companies and expand the company’s own advisory business. Last June, £250,000 was raised at 2.2p a share. Coinsilium has been appointed as an adviser to token generation event of Hdac Technology AG, which is developing payment platforms for connected devices.
Equatorial Mining and Exploration (EM.P) has raised £5,000 at 0.01p a share and issued further shares for convertible loan notes and warrants at the same price. Valiant Investments (VALP) has raised £34,000 at 0.1p a share. Via Developments (VIA1) has issued a further £50,000 of debenture stock.
AIM
Satellites owner Avanti Communications Group (AVN) has revealed a financial restructuring that could put it on a firm footing. Certainly, without this restructuring the outlook would be bleak. The $557m of 2023 loan notes will be converted into two billion shares, while investors in the 2021 loan notes are being asked to accept and extension of the term and lower income. Annual interest charges would still be $36.6m
Best of the Best (BOTB) says that it expects to pay remote gaming duty and this will knock £300,000 from profit this year and £600,000 next year. This year’s pre-tax profit is forecast to decline from £1.5m to £1.4m, with a further fall to £1.2m in 2018-19. Net cash is expected to be £2.6m at the end of April 2018. The company is still claiming £4.5m of VAT so this could provide a cash boost in the future.
Plant Impact (PIM) is suffering continued delays in demand for its Veritas product in Brazil. A new partnership with Albaugh Brazil will commercialise other Plant Impact products in Brazil. This has sparked the decision to consider putting the company up for sale. Cash is running out and a further £7m would need to be raised to keep the company going well into 2019.
Van Elle Holdings (VANL) has defeated the five resolutions proposed by former chairman Michael Ellis at last week’s general meeting.
Recruitment and outsourcing services provider Servoca (SVCA) reported better than expected full year figures. Pre-tax profit improved from £3.5m to £3.9m. Education and healthcare will be the main growth areas.
Evgen Pharma (EVG) is collaborating with King’s College London to examine the use of SFX-01 as a therapy against ischaemic stroke. Multiple doses will be assessed and this will take nine months. This could lead to a clinical trial that might be funded by a charity organisation associated with King’s College.
Range Resources Ltd (RRL) returned to AIM following the reverse takeover of producing oil and gas assets in Trinidad from Trinity Exploration and Production (TRIN).
Defence equipment and services supplier Cohort (CHRT) had a weak first half but it expects to more than make up for that in the second half. There was a mixed performance with some parts of the business finding trading conditions difficult. The order book is worth £132m. Full year pre-tax profit is forecast to improve from £14.5m to £15.4m.
Savannah Resources (SAV) says that it has discovered high-grades and large intercepts in the latest drilling at the Mina do Barroso lithium project. A maiden mineral resource estimated could be announced before the year end with potential for upgrades from further drilling.
Daniel Stewart expects China New Energy (CNEL) to report a jump in pre-tax profit from £400,000 to £2.6m in 2017. The shares are trading on less than four times fully-taxed 2017 prospective earnings. The company constructs bioenergy plants that convert feedstock into ethanol. The most recently reported order book was worth £28.7m with the orders due to be fulfilled in 2017 and 2018. Demand from China is strong and there is also international business.
Coal bed methane projects developer Tlou Energy Ltd (TLOU) has secured a listing on the Botswana Stock Exchange and trading commenced on 13 December. Tlou raised £2.4m at 11p a share.
Synairgen (SNG) has secured a £5m cash injection from a deal with Pharmaxis, which will take over the development of LOXL2 in fibrotic diseases. Synairgen will also receive 17% of any partnering revenues. This compares with £3m invested by Synairgen in LOXL2. The cash will enable Synairgen to fund the phase IIa study for SNG001 for COPD. The trial should be complete by the end of 2018.
New management has turned around the performance of contract disputes and expert witness services provider Driver (DRV) and it moved back into profit last year. Cost savings have been made and the focus is on profitable business rather than just growing revenues. Cash collection is improving with net debt down to £200,000 and there is likely to be net cash of £2m in one year’s time. This year’s revenues are likely to be flat at around £60m but pre-tax profit should improve from £2.5m to £2.7m.
One month after its previous trading statement IDOX (IDOX) says that an internal audit has found that it should not recognise all the revenues that it originally intended to. This will knock £3m off profit for 2016-17. The software company reported its full year figures in December but the attest full year figures have been delayed until February. Chief executive Andrew Riley is away ill and former boss Richard Kellett-Clarke has taken over on a temporary basis.
Abzena (ABZ) reported interims in line with expectations. Growth came from the chemistry and manufacturing businesses. This is a period of capital investment as various parts of the company move to new facilities. The ADC master services agreement with a US biotech will yield at least $5m in services revenues over the next 12 months. This deal is shared between chemistry and manufacturing divisions.
Surface coatings provider Hardide (HDD) is starting to improve its gross margin as demand improves. There is even some signs of improved demand from the oil and gas sector. Even so, Hardide remains loss-making but it still has not gained any orders from Airbus. It raised £2.5m for capital investment earlier this year. A new reactor will be installed in the US in this financial year and another next year.
MAIN MARKET
Titon Holdings (TON) continues to benefit from strong demand for its window ventilation components in South Korea. The majority of profit comes from South Korea and that is where all the growth came from last year as the contributions from the UK and North America fell. In the year to September 2017, revenues were one-fifth ahead at £28m, while pre-tax profit improved from £2.14m to £2.49m. The dividend growth of 20% to 4.2p a share is ahead of earnings per share growth. A pre-tax profit of £2.81m is forecast for this year.
Avation (AVAP) has secured an initial $100m revolving facility to finance the acquisition of aircraft.
Sealand Capital Galaxy Ltd (SCGL) has secured an agreement with AIM-quoted MySQUAR (MYSQ) for the distribution of its games on MySQUAR’s platform and MySQUAR’s games on the Huawei InTouch platform. This is initially a two year deal.
Standard list shell Stranger Holdings (STHP) says that it expects to complete the acquisition of biogas and renewable energy business Alchemy Utilities. A five-year £20m bond is being raised.
Andrew Hore
Andrew Hore – Quoted Micro 27 November 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Kryptonite 1 (KR1) has invested $986,000 in DOT tokens, which are related to the Polkadot Project. A total of $150m was raised to finance the development of a decentralised protocol that allows trust-free movement of tokens and data between blockchains., that will also be able to create new parachains instead of starting a new community. The project is expected to go live by the end of 2019. Kryptonite 1 has sold Melon, Omisego and FunFair tokens in order to raise just over £290,000. That is a gain of around £270,000.
Via Developments (VIA1) has agreed to sell Plymouth Grove, Manchester for £2.5m. A non-refundable deposit of £250,000 has been paid and the deal should go through by the end of November. The property was originally acquired in June 2016 for £1.625m, although there will have been additional investment in development since then. In March, Via Developments announced a previous exclusivity agreement to sell which was dependent on planning permission. There was a refundable deposit of £100,000 for that potential deal. It is unclear whether the deals are related.
Health and care properties developer Ashley House (ASH) has welcomed the increased funding for health and housing schemes announced in the Budget. News that the government will not cap rents in the supported living sector has improved sentiment. Financial closure is anticipated on two projects in the next few weeks. Management continues to seek additional finance.
Block Energy (BLOK) has published its Schedule 1 notice for its proposed move to AIM. This is expected by 7 December.
Sandal (SAND) says that trading is in line with expectations with Energie MiHome sales trebling. By the end of 2018 the energy efficiency products should be generate as much in revenues as the power connections division.
There were 300,000 shares taken up in the Hellenic Capital (HECP) open offer but £250,000 was raised because the rest of the shares were placed.
Primorus Investments (PRIM) has raised £1m at 0.2p a share, which was a small premium to the previous closing price. The cash will finance further pre-IPO investments. Turner Pope has been appointed broker.
Trading in the shares of Churchill Mining (CHL) should recommence when the figures for the year to June 2017 are published. That should be before the end of November. Pala Investments has subscribed for £500,000 of 10% convertible loan notes, which have a conversion price of 2.976p a share. Pala holds 21.3% of Churchill and full conversion of the loan notes would take the stake to 29.3%. Pala is also entitled to receive 25% of any proceeds from the claim for unlawful expropriation of the East Kutai coal project. Churchill is hopeful of overturning an unfavourable ruling on the case.
Etaireia Investments (ETIP) has issued shares valued at £21,750 at 0.09p a share in settlement of an outstanding loan from Blue Oak Assets. The deferred payment of £20,000 for the purchase of Pacha Cleator from Oliver Fattal has been satisfied by a share issue at the same price. That takes his stake to 9.96%.
Ken Riley is no longer finance director and company secretary of WMC Retail Partners (WELL) and Nigel Higgs has taken over as interim finance director.
AIM
Accrol Group Holdings (ACRL) is raising £18m at 50p a share, which should be enough to keep the toilet roll business going. A restructuring of the business is underway and health and safety procedures are being reviewed. The bank facility has been extended until 2021. The share price fell by more than two-thirds when the suspension was lifted and ended the week at 37.5p.
Immunodiagnostic Systems Holdings (IDH) published its interims at 4.30pm on Friday. That means that the share price reaction will be on Monday. There were no shares traded in the diagnostic services provider on Friday. Revenues were 4% lower at £18.7m. Growth in automated business revenues partly offset lower licensing revenues. Pre-tax profit excluding restructuring costs fell from £1.77m to £1.11m. Net cash is £28.3m. The average number of assays per instrument has increased from 3.8 to 4.3. Reg Duval stepped down as chief executive at the end of October after seven months in the job. Jaap Stuut took over the role. He talks about improving the sales team.
Sutton Harbour (SUH) has agreed a 29.5p a share bid for 70% of the shares of the harbour operator and property developer from FB Investors. That will cost £19.9m. A shareholder can accept for more than 70% of their shareholding but they could be scaled back. FB Investors is subscribing £2.75m for new shares at the same price.
Boku Inc (BOKU) had a successful first week on AIM with the share price rising from the 59p placing price to 81p. That values the developer of technology enabling payments via mobile at around £170m.
Contact centre services software provider Netcall (NET) says the integration of the MatsSoft acquisition is progressing well and trading is strong in the first four months of the financial year. The dividend will return to a normal level this year having been enhanced in the past few years. This year’s dividend is expected to be 1.2p a share.
Angle (AGL) is included in a €6.3m study to develop liquid biopsy services that is being headed by Philips. This is a four year research project.
Jon Fenton has stepped down as chief executive of Van Elle Holdings (VANL) ahead of a requisitioned general meeting on 15 December.
Amiad Water Systems (AFS) has been granted a licence by Dow Technologies to use its TEQUATIC PLUS filter. Amiad will take over the manufacturing of the product and pay Dow 3.75% of revenues generated.
First Property Group (FPO) has already invested £51m for the new Fprop Office LLP but there is more than £200m more to invest. Annualised management fees are £2.64m and full investment of the new vehicle will significantly increase that figure.
Audio equipment supplier Focusrite (TUNE) increased its full year pre-tax profit by one-third to £9.5m. There was particularly strong growth in the US.
Cambria Automobiles (CAMB) managed to edge up its pre-tax profit last year even though trading becoming tougher in the second half. The motor dealer is expected to report a lower profit of £9.5m this year but it has a strong balance sheet and it is investing heavily in new sites for upmarket brands that will not fully contribute until next year.
Premier African Minerals (PREM) raised £1m via PrimaryBid at 0.4p a share, which was double the amount it was originally asking for. The cash will be used to develop mining projects in Zimbabwe and Benin.
Professional services provider Progility (PGY) put out its full year figures late on Friday. There was still time for the share price to fall by 0.2p to 1.25p. Progility did move back into profit in the period but it was a modest one. There was a warning that progress may be held back this year by operational efficiency improvements.
TechFinancials Inc (TECH) is selling non-core businesses for $400,000 and reinvesting the cash in the development of technology to integrate blockchain-based currencies into its systems.
African Alliance is planning to invest £2.4m at 11p a share coal bed methane projects developer Tlou Energy Ltd (TLOU) conditional on a listing on the Botswana Stock Exchange before the end of the year.
Thor Mining (THR) is making a $125,000 (£95,000) payment to Pacific Gold and Royalty Corporation in settlement for the $1.5m (£1.13m) payment that would have had to have been made when the Pilot Mountain tungsten project in Nevada comes into production. Thor is still fully funded well into 2019. Metal Tiger has taken its stake in Thor to 9.77% after exercising 16 million warrants.
MAIN MARKET
Cash shell Landscape Acquisition Holdings (LAHL) raised $500m at $10 a share but the share price fell below the placing price when dealings commenced. The focus is hospitality, land-based gaming and real estate businesses in North America and Europe.
Rockpool Acquisitions (ROC) has secured a potential reverse takeover target. It is lending an initial £543,000 to Northern Ireland-based renewable energy firm Greenview Gas and this will be used to buy two companies. The deal includes an option for Rockpool to acquire Greenview paid for by a share issue.
Creightons (CRL) increased its pre-tax profit by one-fifth to £956,000, helped by an improvement in gross margin. An interim dividend of 0.15p a share is proposed.
IT services provider Triad Group (TRD) made further progress in the first half. In the six months to September 2017, revenues dipped from £14.8m to £14.2m, while pre-tax profit moved from £668,000 to £737,000. There is £2m in the bank. An interim dividend of 0.5p a share has been declared.
Andrew Hore
Andrew Hore – Quoted Micro 20 November 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Clean Invest Africa (CIA) raised £530,000 at 0.4p a share and joined the NEX Exchange Growth Market on 14 November. The founders subscribed for shares at 0.25p each during September and October. The expected admission price was 1p and the share price ended the week at 1.45p (1.3p/1.6p). That values the company at £2.26m. There is £512,000 in the bank after expenses of £63,800. Clean Invest Africa is focused on renewable and clean energy projects and technologies that will aid the development of Africa. Executive coach Rene Carayol has a 6.28% stake.
Brewer Daniel Thwaites (THW) reported an improvement in interim revenues from £44m to £48m but pre-tax profit was flat at £5.4m, excluding movements on interest rate swaps. The interim dividend is unchanged at 1.1p a share. Net debt rose to £60.9m due to hotel acquisitions and capital investment. Most of the growth in revenues has come from the hotels and inns businesses. Management says that it is aware of some weakening in its consumer markets.
Metal NRG (MNRG) lost £59,000 in the six months to August 2017 but there was still £273,000 in the bank. The focus is cobalt and investments have been made in Western Australia and Nevada. There are further potential investments in Australia and North America. Management plans to announce how it will increase its profile and the liquidity of its shares.
African Potash Ltd (AFPO) is raising £400,000 at 0.025p a share and the cash will finance the development of the African fertiliser trading business and an eVoucher payment system using blockchain.
AIM
Science in Sport (SIS) has secured £14m via a placing at 70p a share in order to expand geographically and in terms of sports. A further £1m could be raised through a one-for-32 open offer at the same share price. The cash will be used to expand the company’s online presence in the US and new product development. The US expansion will be predominantly via Amazon initially and this will require additional stock levels. The SIS.com ecommerce platform will also grow. A move into football will increase the addressable market. Losses are expected to continue for at least two more years.
Zoo Digital (ZOO) is already getting the initial benefits from its film and video dubbing service ZOOdubs. This has widened the scope of the business and helped interim revenues to grow by 63% to $12.7m. A full second half from ZOOdubs will help achieve full year revenues of $26m and that should move Zoo digital into profit in the year to March 2018 even though costs are being increased ahead of expansion in revenues. Localisation services are generating more than two-thirds of revenues with subtitling service ZOOsubs also growing its revenues. ZOOscripts is being developed to provide scripts and metadata that can be used by the other services.
Floorcoverings manufacturer Victoria (VCP) has agreed to acquire floor and wall ceramic tiles manufacturer Keraben Grupo for £246.5m. A placing is raising £180m at 783p a share.
Meat and dairy products supplier Zambeef (ZAM) achieved its downgraded forecast for last year but there has been a further downgrade for 2017-18. Revenues were 17% higher at $255.8m but profit slumped to £200,000. Sales are expected to be flat this year but a recovery in pre-tax profit to $4.2m is anticipated. Non-executive director Tim Pollock, who is investment director for food and agriculture at CDC Group, will take over as joint chief executive from Carl Irwin at the end of March.
President Energy (PPC) is beginning the workover programme of four wells on Puesto Flores, which will cost $2.2m. The payback should be less than 12 months, assuming an oil price of $55/barrel. This is one of the reasons behind the expected increase in forecasts sales from $20.6m in 2017 to $69.5m in 2018, which will enable a 2018 pre-tax profit of $10m.
SRT Marine Systems (SRT) expects a strong second half following a 10% rose interim revenues to £2.9m but a higher loss of £1.6m. That excludes a £1.5m impairment charge for a large Asian contract that has been delayed until 2018-19. finnCap expects the maritime awareness technology developer to report flat full year pre-profit of £1.5m but that requires £12m of revenues in the second half. That requires project milestones to be achieved.
AB Dynamics (ABDP) continued to grow its business at the same time as starting to move into new premises. In the year to August 2017, the automotive testing systems and measurement products supplier increased revenues by one-fifth to £24.6m. Underlying pre-tax profit improved from £4.72m to £5.94m. The total dividend has been raised by 10% to 3.331p a share. Net cash was £9.6m.
Versarien (VRS) wanted to raise £1.2m via institutions and PrimaryBid.com at 18p a share and it ended up accepting £2.9m. Back in March, £1.5m was raised at 15p a share in the same way. The advanced materials company has announced a collaboration with a global consumer goods company on the development of the Nanene graphene nano-platelets in polymer structures. The first purchase order has been made.
GCM Resources (GCM) has completed the appointment of Northland as nominated adviser and joint broker. GCM wants to raise £2m via an offer at 34.4p a share through PrimaryBid. The cash will be used to provide further funding for the development of a mine mouth power plant proposal and for working capital.
Serabi Gold (SRB) has announced the conditional acquisition of Chapleau Resources Ltd for an initial $5m, with a further $5m payable in three months and the final $12m when first gold is produced from the Coringa project in Brazil or 24 months from the initial payment. Coringa is relatively near to Serabi’s existing producing gold mine at Palito. Running the two together should reduce the costs of production. The initial payment can come out of existing facilities. Serabi generated revenues of $36.2m and a cash inflow from operations of nearly $7m.
InterQuest Group (ITQ) appears to have set in motion the first stage of plans to leave AIM. That is because it wants shareholder approval to allow it to issue additional shares equivalent to 75% of the issued share capital. The management behind the recent bid for the company own a majority of the shares but need the backing of 75% of the shares voted in order to cancel the quotation. By issuing additional shares InterQuest can dilute the stake of the shareholders that oppose the cancellation of the AIM quotation and management can get what it wants.
AdEPT Telecom (ADT) reported a 36% increase in interim revenues to £22.6m with managed services contributing more than two-thirds of the total. Pre-tax profit increased by 29% to £3.9m. The interim dividend was raised by 13% to 4.25p a share. Full year profit is expected to rise from £6.9m to £8.3m.
Boku Inc develops technology which enables people to pay for services via their mobile. The company is loss-making but it is highly operationally geared so after it covers its costs the profit should grow rapidly. At 59p a share, Boku will be valued at £125.9m. Existing shareholders will raise £30m and the company will raise £15m.
Belluscura has announced details of its plans to join its parent company Tekcapital (TEK) on AIM in early December. Tekcapital’s 47.5% stake in Belluscura will be diluted by a fundraising to generate between £7.5m and £10m. Belluscura has acquired non-core product lines from large medical device companies as well as new IP and technologies.
Keystone Law Group is the latest legal firm to come to AIM. A placing at 160p a share will raise £10m and value the company at £50m. The flotation is due to be completed on 27 November.
Beeks Financial Cloud Group is raising £7m at 50p a share, which values the company at £24.5m. The flotation date is 27 November. Beeks is a cloud-based provider of automated foreign exchange and futures trading.
Ten Lifestyle Group is a lifestyle and travel platform providing concierge services. Corporate clients provide Ten’s services to individual customers. It also expects to join AIM on 27 November.
Mirriad Advertising has developed native in-video advertising technology, which can insert branded advertising into existing content. Revenues are modest and Miriad is still heavily loss-making. IP Group currently owns 38.2%. The flotation is expected on 29 November.
Concepta (CPT) has confirmed a £600,000 order from China for its MyLotus product which provides measurements to help improve the chances of conception. On the back of this, Concepta raised £2m at 7p a share.
Amryt Pharma (AMYT) has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with El Seif in Saudi Arabia for its products.
Africa Oil Corp is subscribing for £8.46m worth of shares in Eco (Atlantic) Oil and Gas (ECO) and this will give it a 19.8% stake. The subscription price of 22.25p a share was at a 28% premium to the closing price on the previous day’s trading. The cash will be used to identify and acquire new oil and gas exploration assets.
MTI Wireless Edge (MWE) has won a $1m contract for military antennas. Along with previous contracts, the revenues will be recognised over the period until the end of 2019. There is potential for larger orders to come.
TLA Worldwide (TLA) reported its 2016 results at 7am on 15 November and the 2017 interims at 7.01am on the same day. That is much better than releasing the profit warning concerning the 2016 figures at 6.26pm on the last day of trading prior to Christmas 2016. Trading in the shares resumed at 2pm on 16 November after the 2016 accounts were posted. The 2017 loss was $9.26m. The interim loss was $3.86m and net debt was $25m with further contingent consideration of $12.2m. The share price slumped to 12p and then recovered to 14p.
Former chairman Michael Ellis has requisitioned a general meeting at Van Elle Holdings (VANL) so that he and his son-in-law Thomas Lindup can be returned to the board. Both men had left the board of the ground engineering services provider prior to its profit warning in March, which was five months after floating. Ellis also wants to remove chief executive Jon Fenton and senior independent director Robin Williams.
Utilitywise (UTW) has delayed publication of its results because of the requirements for further auditing.
Integumen (SKIN) has acquired the Stoer skincare range for men and its ecommerce platform. This brand complements the Visible Youth brand aimed at women. Integumen is issuing 12.6% of its enlarged share capital in payment for Stoer, which values it at £510,000 at a share price of 2.45p.
Interim revenues fell from £21.9m to £17m at Hornby (HRN) and the loss increased to £5.7m. Net debt was £4.7m at the end of September 2017. A £12m placing and open offer at 29.5p a share will provide cash for investment and to buy a 49% stake in the holding company of Oxford Diecast Ltd, which is controlled by Hornby chief executive Lyndon Davies.
Blue Prism Group (PRSM) has sparked another upgrade with its latest trading statement. The robotic process automation supplier has added more customers and has a 100% renewal rate so full year figures will be comfortably ahead of expectations but the loss will be in line with forecasts. The annual figures will be published on 25 January.
Fishing Republic (FISH) has been hit by increased competition in the fishing market, which has knocked profit margins. There was a decline in like-for-like store sales in October. That means that there will be a loss this year. This has led to the departure of the chief executive and other board members. Chris Griffin becomes acting chief executive and he will conduct a strategic review. His experience should be helpful with online sales, which continue to grow.
Angling Direct (ANG) has acquired North West Angling Centre and Tacklesaver for £450,000 in cash plus stock. They have annual revenues of £1.8m. That takes the number of stores to 20. Angling Direct has reassured the market that trading is in line with expectations.
Oracle Power (ORCP) and its partners have submitted plans to the Pakistan authorities for a 660MW power plant which would eventually become a 1,320MW plant. The coal for the power plant will come from Thar Block VI. If the regulator issues a letter of intent then the partners will have to submit an electricity tariff application and apply for a generation licence.
Film finance provider FFI Holdings (FFI) has acquired digital, post-editing machine rental business EPS-Cineworks for $9.54m. This business fits well with the Pivotal Post post-production business acquired earlier this year prior to flotation.
BOS Global Holdings (BOS) says that Innovation Corporation has asked for security to be provided against its convertible note. Innovation has converted £217,000 of convertibles at 16p a share. That left £1.06m available from the note. Former managing director Michael Travia, who has requisitioned a general meeting to change the BOS board, is associated with Innovation and they have a total stake of 18.9%. BOS admits that its cash position is tight.
MAIN MARKET
Packaging supplier Macfarlane Group (MACF) says it expects full year expectations to be met as the momentum of the first half has continued into the second half. The distribution division increased revenues by 11% in the four months to October 2017 which more than offset a small dip in manufacturing sales. Manufacturing profit will be flat this year but distribution profit will be much higher.
Standard list shell Spinnaker Opportunities (SOP) has viewed potential acquisitions but has yet to find one that fits with its criteria. It is seeking an energy or industrial acquisition valued at between £5m and £30m. There was still £1.1m in cash at the end of October 2017 and the NAV was 4.23p a share.
Telecoms business Toople (TOOP) has more than 1,300 small business customers and it says that “monthly revenues have consistently exceeded £100,000” between June and October 2017. Toople has decided to end its relationship with a third party sales agency and bring sales in-house. The current customer acquisition cost is said to be “within the range previously announced of £40 to £91 per customer” and that is the same as 12 months ago. In the first half, admin expenses were £662,000. There was a £82,000 gross profit on sales of £655,000. Management has tried to keep costs down but revenues do not appear to be significantly higher in the second half based on the above statement. The first half cash outflow from operating activities was £552,000. This may have been reduced in the second half but the outflow is still likely to be significant. There was net debt of just over £300,000 at the end of March 2017 but since then £1.26m net from a fundraising in June. The share price is 1.18p, compared with the 2p fundraising price.
Simian Global (SMG) says that the exclusivity period for the acquisition of media and advertising company GVC Holdings has been extended to the end of March 2018. A further £50,000, on top of £200,000 already lent, will be provided to GVC at an interest rate of 15%.
Andrew Hore