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Walker Greenbank Hikes Interim Dividend by 25.5%
Walker Greenbank WGB benefited from three factors which helped sales to increase by 29% in the half year to the 31st July, enabling the interim dividend to be increased by 25.5%. The first was a strong contribution from Clarke & Clarke, acquired in October 2016 and which produced sales of £10.3m out of a total of £54 million. The second was a 17.9% increase in licensing income and the third was a strong export performance which helped to offset a weaker UK. Despite this, statutory operating profit fell by some 10% due to acquisition costs but underlying operating profit rose by 52.8% and adjusted earnings per share by 39.4%.
Gooch & Housego GHH ended its financial year on the 30th September with a record order book, up by 29% in constant currency terms and on a like for like basis. Strong demand was seen throughout the year in the industrial and telecommunications sectors. About a third of the company’s business now relates to Aerospace and Defence.
Image Scan Holdings IGE has had such a busy September that the update given at the end of August is already out of date. Completion of orders which were due for delivery later in the year has been accelerated as has factory acceptance of other orders. The result is that sales for the year to 30th September are now expected to be £5 million compared to August’s estimate of £4.5million whilst profit before tax is expected to be well up at £450,000 as against August’s estimate of £250,000. The year end order book is also said to be strong.
Lightwave RF plc. LWRF anticipates that revenue for the year to 30th September will have more than doubled from 2016’s £1.44m Gross margins are also expected to have materially increased from last years 32.5%. Even so losses before tax are expected to be broadly in line with the £0.84m. loss for 2016
Redhall Group RHL expects results for the year to 30th September will now be materially below expectations due to client delays, especially relating to work on Hinckley Point C. The delays are not anticipated to continue and a strong performance is expected for 2018.
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Quoted Micro 10 July 2017
NEX EXCHANGE
Coinsilium Group Ltd (COIN) has sold its remaining stake in nanopayments software and blockchain company SatoshiPay to AIM-quoted Blue Star Capital (BLU) for €725,000 (£650,000), which has been raised through a placing at 0.2p a share. Blue Star Capital owns 31.1% of SatoshiPay. Blue Star Capital has granted Coinsilium 85 million warrants, of which 42.5 million are exercisable at 0.6p and 42.5 million at 0.8p. Coinsilium has made a gain of 362.6% on its initial SatoshiPay investment in less than two years, even before any longer-term upside from the warrants.
Via Developments (VIA1) has secured an exclusivity agreement to acquire land in Luton, Bedfordshire for £8.25m. The residential development site has planning permission for 200 apartments. A non-refundable deposit of £50,000 has been paid.
Capital for Colleagues (CFCP) has invested £400,000 in Employee Owners Group Ltd, whose main business is timber frame buildings supplier Carpenter Oak, in return for a 30% stake. The cash will be used to grow the business which currently supplies around 90 frames a year.
First Sentinel (FSEN) has raised £700,000 at 11p a share and made three investments, including £35,000 at 7p a share in fellow NEX-quoted company Milamber Ventures (MLVP). The two firms are already working on an investor event at the Century Club, Shaftesbury Avenue in London on 11 July. First Sentinel plans to sell the Milamber shares in the market. First Sentinel has also invested $300,000 in a 13%, one year loan note for Red Rock Resources (RRR) with two year warrants exercisable at 2.2p a share, compared with a market price of 0.75p. The third investment is in newly floated AIM copper mining company Phoenix Global Mining (PGM), where First Sentinel invested £81,000 at the placing price of 4p a share.
Blockchain investments company Kryptonite 1 (KR1) has raised £750,000 at 2p a share. Chinese medicines firm MiLOC Group Ltd (ML.P) has raised £99,000 at 28.5p a share.
AIM
Premier Technical Services Group (PTSG) is acquiring Brooke Edge Industrial Chimneys Ltd for an initial £14m, plus £1m in acquisition costs, and the building services provider has raised £15m in a placing at 120p a share. There is deferred consideration of £6m payable in three yearly instalments, which fits with the owners staying on with the business for at least three years. The acquisition made a profit of £2.1m on revenues of £10.6m last year. This consolidates Premier’s position in lightning protection services, while specialist earthing and surge protection will be added to the group’s range of services. Although the acquired business has similar margins to Premier, it has lower margins than the same businesses already owned by Premier. This means that continued growth in revenues could be complemented by improvements in margins providing even faster profit growth. According to Numis, he acquisition will enhance earnings per share by 5% to 8.7p in 2017 and 12% to 9.2p in 2018.
Blur Group (BLUR) has managed to raise £1.7m at 1.75p a share in an oversubscribed placing that more than trebles the number of shares in issue. There is one warrant for every four shares with an exercise price of 3.5p. Robert Keith has increased his stake to 25% following the placing. The need for the cash is reflected in the low issue price, which is more than 40% below the all time low market price.
Superyacht painting and maintenance services provider GYG (GYG) joined AIM on 5 July and the share price has already risen from 100p to 120p. GYG raised £6.9m before expenses.
Thor Mining (THR) will start a drill programme for the Pilot Mountain tungsten project in August. Thor expects the results in the near future from a 50 hole drilling programme on the Dundas gold project in Western Australia. Further opportunities are being assessed.
Portmeirion Group (PMP) says that its sales were 16% higher in the first half of 2017 but excluding home fragrance products manufacturer Wax Lyrical, which was acquired in May 2016, the sales are 3% higher due to a boost from sterling weakness. Churchill China (CHH) continues to grow it exports and this has been helped by weaker sterling comparatives in the first half of 2017.
Walker Greenbank (WGB) has received its final insurance payment of £2.4m relating to the flood of its fabric printing factory at the end of 2015. This takes the total payment to £19.3m.
Home improvement products supplier entu (UK) (ENTU) is undertaking a strategic review. There are already plans to cut costs and improve efficiency but entu needs to secure long-term financing to improve the balance sheet. There could also be disposals of businesses.
Sula Iron & Gold (SULA) has completed six holes of the phase 3 drilling at Sanama Hill at the Ferensola gold project in Sierra Leone. So far, 2,000 metres out of a total of 5,000 metres of drilling has been completed. Part of the drilling will include further exploration of the new southern target. The assay results will be available at the end of July.
Veltyco Group (VLTY) says that first half trading is significantly ahead of market expectations. This is not the first time that Veltyco has beaten expectations and even before this the full year pre-tax profit was expected to jump from €1.74m to €4.62m.
TechFinancials Inc (TECH) expects to make a first half loss. Senior management has taken a 20% pay cut. There is still $5.8m in the bank.
Safestay (SSTY) has acquired second hostel in Barcelona for €2m. Safestay has eleven hostels and acquisitions have gathered pace following a £12.6m sale and leaseback deal.
MAIN MARKET
Share trading will commence on 12 July in standard list shell Rockpool Acquisitions, which is seeking to acquire a Northern Ireland-based company. Rockpool is raising £1.085m at 10p a share, having previously issued 1.875 million shares at 8p each.
RockRose Energy (RRE) has raised £8m at 150p a share and it continues to progress the acquisition of oil and gas assets.
Gresham Technologies (GHT) says that revenues will be 26% higher in the first half of 2017. Eight new Clareti Transaction Control software clients have been signed up in the first half. Net cash is £7.7m.
Quarto Group Inc (QRT) has sold its New Zealand business, which was the last non-publishing business owned by the group. Quarto will receive $600,000 over two years plus 50% of debtor receipts for the next year. Quarto is also entitled to 15% of pre-interest profit for three years.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 30 January 2017
NEX / ISDX
There was a sharp improvement in operating profit from £120,006 to £213,657 at Hydro Hotel, Eastbourne (HYDP) in the year to October 2016. Revenues improved from £3.13m to £3.21m, while gross margin jumped from 9.9% to 13.6%. Pre-tax profit rose from £133,576 to £224,352. Improved marketing has helped to boost trade but the hotel will be hit by increases in the national living wage. Further refurbishment is panned at the hotel. Strong cash generation has increased the cash position from £651,000 to £1.39m. The second interim dividend is being raised from 12p a share to 14p a share, taking the total to 21p a share, up from 18p a share.
Rail track technology supplier Wheelsure Holdings (WHLP) reported an increased loss in the year to August 2016 because of higher admin expenses. Pre-tax loss moved from £228,000 to £262,000. Revenues increased by 21% to £290,000 even though London Underground orders have been delayed by budget restrictions. Orders have been received since the year end. Wheelsure has issued shares at 1p in lieu of £14,000 of commission owed to the company’s Italian agent, which has generated the first order for track equipment incorporating Tracksure.
Ashley House (ASH) remained profitable in the six months to October 2016 even though trading conditions were tough and there remains uncertainty about government funding for supported housing. It does appear likely though that there will be increasing demand for extra care housing schemes. Interim revenues were flat at £10.7m and the gross margin was much lower. The underlying pre-tax profit was halved to £200,000. Full year profit is still forecast to rise from £1.2m to £1.5m but this depends on three schemes reaching financial close by April.
Building projects manager and developer Formation Group (FRM) maintained its pre-tax profit at £2.2m in the year to August 2016, even though the recognised profit share from the development at Norwich House in Streatham fell from £2.42m to £1.42m. Group revenues were one-quarter higher at £29.4m helped by sales of apartments at Iverson Road, London N6. There was also a £1.02m post-tax write back relating to past properties. NAV increased from £7.6m to £10.4m. Since the year end, cash has been received from disposal proceeds, which will reduce net debt from £3m.
Mechan Controls (MECP) has appointed administrators from Leonard Curtis to its subsidiary PJO Industrial, following a deterioration in its prospects. PJO supplies mining and pipe laying equipment. Mining demand has been weak. PJO was hit by a bad debt in 2015 and lost £206,000, while net liabilities were £514,000.
Forbes Ventures (FOR) has raised £530,000 from Gravity Investment Group at 0.3p a share. Gravity has a 60.8% shareholding in Forbes. The bulk of the cash will be invested in £500,000 worth of 12%, two-year convertible loan notes in residential care provider Primus Care, where Gravity director Chris Bateman is on the board. The conversion price will be 80% of the fair market value of an ordinary share.
There was further fundraising activity last week. NQ Minerals (NQMI) has raised £125,000 at 7p a share in order to finance working capital. Energy efficiency products supplier Sandal (SAND) has raised £52,000 at 28p a share. Milamber Ventures (MLVP) executive chairman Andy Hasoon has invested a further £16,300 in the technology investment company at 13.55p a share. Property investor Etaireia (ETIP) has generated £10,000 from the issue of shares at 0.09p each.
United Cacao (UCL) has raised further concerns about former chairman Dennis Melka. This involves a number of loans which were not previously disclosed. It also turns out that the small farmer programme has planted 70 hectares and not 194 hectares as said in the interim figures. The Peru-based cacao plantation operator has extended the exclusivity agreement with existing investors, in order to try to secure the long-term financial viability of the business, to 31 March. Cash is being raised from bond issues at large discounts. Just over $515,000 has been raised from the issue of $3.45m of nominal value bonds with a 7% coupon. One of the company’s directors will invest a further $40,000 at 18 cents per $1 bond.
AIM
Scientific instruments manufacturer Judges Scientific (JDG) had a strong end to 2016 and order intake grew organically by 3% during the year. This was too late to benefit the 2016 figures where slow orders and manufacturing problems had led to disappointment and pre-tax profit is expected to fall to £7.1m. Earnings per share will fall by nearly one-quarter to 82.8p a share. That is line with previously downgraded expectations. The year has started with an order book lasting 13.9 weeks and there are positive foreign exchange movements that will help in the recovery. A 2017 pre-tax profit of £8.6m and earnings per share of 102p are forecast, which is still below the level in 2015.
Imaging and radiation detection products developer Kromek Group (KMK) is raising up to £21m via a placing and one-for-30 open offer at 20p a share. Net cash was £2.3m at the end of October 2016 and the additional cash will provide a significant cushion for the company. Kromek is still a couple of years away from making a pre-tax profit but the cash outflow should decline.
Taptica Ltd (TAP) has issued a positive trading statement and this has led to a forecast upgrade for 2016. Earnings per share have been upgraded by 12% to 29.3 cents, which is 150% higher than the forecast was one year ago. Increasing mobile marketing spend by customers means that there should continue to be significant growth.
Beximco Pharmaceuticals (BXP) has formed a joint venture with BioCare Manufacturing in Malaysia. Beximco will own 30% of the joint venture and will provide technical support. The initial product is a metered dose inhaler. Beximco reported a 14% local currency increase in interim revenues but in sterling they rose from £58m to £79.7m, while the growth rate in pre-tax profit was slightly higher with the sterling equivalent rising from £8.2m to £11.6m. The first product is being sold in the US and approvals have been gained for two other products.
Walker Greenbank (WGB) has received a further £1m insurance payment relating to flooding at Standfast & Barracks at the end of 2015. This takes the total insurance payments for the Lancaster fabric printing factory to £14.3m and there could be more to come. The Milton Keynes warehouse has been restocked. Octopus has increased its stake to 13.1%.
Ultrasound training simulators developer MedaPhor (MED) says it still had cash of £1.4m, net of the litigation settlement, which has been formalised with SonoSim Inc. In 2016, revenues grew by 50% to £3.3m, partly thanks to an initial contribution of £850,000 from the acquisition of Inventive Medical. The loss has increased from £1.5m to £2.5m, after settlement costs.
ImmuPharma (IMM) has recruited the 200 patients it requires for its phase III trial for the Lupuzor potential treatment for Lupus. By the end of January, more than 80% of the patients will have been treated for three months. Patients have to be monitored for 12 months so the full trial will not be completed until the first quarter of 2018. So far, there have been no indications that the drug is not safe.
Headway Investment Partners has increased its offer for Ludgate Environmental (LEF) from 16p a share to 16.3p a share, which compares with the latest NAV of 21.7p a share. The bid, though, provides cash up front rather than having to wait for the portfolio to be sold off.
Ascent Resources (AST) has started a well test at Pg-10 at the Petisovci project in Slovenia and an announcement about the results of the test should be published later this week. Henderson took advantage of a share price rise to sell one-fifth of their stake taking it to just below 10% but then almost doubled the number of shares it owns by converting £1m of convertible loan notes into 100 million shares. There are still £8.14m of convertibles in issue.
Ramblers Metals & Mining (RMM) expects to achieve the milling of 1,250 metric tonnes a day by the middle of 2017. Saleable copper of between 5,100 and 5,800 tonnes is forecast to be produced in 2017, along with 4,400 to 5,100 ounces of gold. In 2016, there was 4,174 tonnes of copper and 6,132 ounces of gold produced.
Keras Resources (KRS) has raised £600,000 at 0.35p a share in order to finance exploration at the Klondyke gold project in Australia. Some of the cash will be used to repay a £265,000 loan.
A concept study for the development of the CS natural pozzolan project in Nevada should be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2017. Sunrise Resources (SRES) should have information about the potential timeline for commercial production for the pozzolan, which is more environmentally friendly alternative to Portland cement.
MAIN MARKET
East Africa-focused Rainbow Rare Earths has raised $8m at 10p a share ahead of its standard listing. Demand for the shares was strong. This cash will be invested in the Gakara rare earths project in Burundi. Rainbow requires $2.23m to enable it to commence production in nine months. The main rare earths will be neodymium and praseodymium, which are used in generators, electric vehicles and wind turbines. Rainbow has secured a ten year offtake agreement with thyssenkrupp Raw Materials, which covers the sale of 5,000 tpa of concentrate. Petra Diamonds founder Adonis Pouroulis is chairman of Rainbow, which could move into profit in the year to June 2018.
Andrew Hore
Quoted Micro 8 August 2016
ISDX
Chapel Down Group (CDGP) has exchanged contracts on the 1.6 acre site in Ashford that will be used for the proposed new Curious brewery. The deal will be completed when planning permission is obtained.
Valiant Investors (VALP) has raised £71,000 at 0.1p a share in order for it to finance the development of 83.3%-owned apps developer and marketer Flamethrower.
Milamber Ventures (MLVP) says that its grant application partner Private Shares has invested £25,000 at 16p a share and it will invest a further £25,000 at the same share price once Milamber holds a concept development workshop. Any grant writing services provided before 18 February next year will be paid for in shares at 18p each. Milamber non-executive director Barney Battles has invested £12,500 in shares at 16p each and also converted £12,500 of fees into shares at 18p each.
AIM
A positive trading statement from software robots company Blue Prism (PRSM) lead to a share price rise of more than two-fifths. The share price was already nearly double the flotation price of 78p and it reached 211p at the end of the week. A new contract has been won with a major bank and another large bank has renewed its contract for three years. This means that the full year figures will be better than expected.
Branded interior furnishings supplier Walker Greenbank (WGB) has received a second interim insurance payment of £3.2m relating to the flooding at the Standfast & Barracks printing factory in Lancaster at the end of 2015. A payment of £8m had already been paid. An £800,000 payment is expected soon and there could be more to follow. The factory is almost back to full production following the installation of new digital printers and the backlog of orders is being fulfilled. Overall group trading is in line with expectations. UK sales have fallen but overseas sales have grown. There could be a modest boost from the weakness of sterling.
Domain names wholesaler and services provider CentralNic (CNIC) has been awarded the contract to distribute the .FM domain by its owner BRS Media. CentralNIc plans to promote the top level domain to online streaming businesses. The deal also includes the launch of other domains including .AM.
Asset management software provider StatPro (SOG) continues to transfer customers to its StatPro Revolution SaaS-based service. In the six months to June 2016, revenues improved from £15.4m to £17.6m, while underlying pre-tax profit was slightly lower at £827,000. The real benefits of the transfer to monthly revenues for Revolution will show through next year. Edison forecasts a small increase in profit from £2.6m to £2.8m this year and then a 2017 profit of £3.7m.
Ultrasound simulation equipment developer and supplier Medaphor Group (MED) is acquiring Inventive Medical Ltd, which sells cardio ultrasound simulation products under the HeartWorks brand. Medaphor already has a relationship with Inventive Medical and the companies’ products are complementary. Medaphor is paying £3m in shares – at 43p each – for the company. Loss-making Medaphor has £3.5m in the bank and this should last until the end of 2017.
TechFinancials Inc (TECH) enjoyed a strong first half, which has reassured investors following the disappointment of its failed joint venture in Asia. Revenues grew by 30% to $9.6m, while EBITDA nearly doubled to $1m.Full year forecasts have not been changed but there could be scope for upgrades later in the year.
Cloud-based communications software and services provider CloudCall Group (CALL) is raising up to £3.77m at 57.5p a share – a 3.6% premium to the previous closing price. The cash will be used to expand sales activities, particularly in the US. This investment will be coordinated with its partner Bullhorn, which is starting to sell outside of its core recruitment customer base. CloudCall’s product is used by 12% of Bullhorn’s UK customers and 2% of its US customers.
MayAir Group (MAYA) has announced the commencement of a share buyback of up to 10% of its share capital. A maximum of £5.76m can be used for this buyback. This follows $17.7m of industrial and commercial clean air equipment contract wins in recent weeks.
MAIN MARKET
Engineering and environmental consultancy Waterman Group (WTM) expects to report a full year pre-tax profit in excess of its target of £3.3m. Waterman had set itself the target of tripling its profit in the three years to June 2016. Net cash has increased from £3.8m to £5.4m. Trading continues to be strong. The results will be published on 10 October.
Andrew Hore
WH Smiths Off On The Road to Recovery
Tesco TSCO The 40% fall in net debt is probably the best item in Tesco’s preliminary results and they are perhaps entitled to boast of a turn round in quarter 4, except in its home markets of the UK and the Republic of Ireland where it still seems to have lost the plot. Group like for like sales growth for quarter 4 came in at 1.6%, with International showing a healthy 3.8% and Europe 4.1%. But where was the poor old UK ? Last of course, with a miserable rise of 0.9%, beaten by Ireland with 1%, hardly matching the company’s claim that it has become competitive again in those markets, which must be nonsense when one looks at the growth of its German competitors.
Over the full year Tesco managed to produce zero growth, its performance in Europe and other wealthier parts of the world overshadowed by continual decline in the UK and Ireland.
The second good thing is that Tesco has actually made a profit for the year of just over £1,046m. compared to the previous year’s disastrous £5 billion loss.
Tesco also proclaims that the customer is once again its prime focus and always will be, which is presumably why it stopped international delivery of online orders. Once again actions showing the emptiness of fair words.
Tesco can be praised for having stopped the rot. It will be interesting to see how far it can go in the current year to begin growing new shoots.
WH Smith SMWH has at long last enjoyed a strong first half, with profit before tax for the 6 months to 29th February up by 11%. It says something about the state of the company when it can boast that flat like for like sales is its best result for many years. Cynics amongst us had often wondered for how long it could go on squeezing more profit out of declining revenue. What is particularly pleasing i that it has also done well in its traditional markets where stationary and books were particularly strong.
Halfords HFD produced strong quarter 4 growth with revenue for the 11 weeks to 1st April up by 3.2% but cycling became the laggard with Q4 like for like sales up by only 1.9% compared to motoring and car maintenance which rose by 3.5 and 3.9% respectively. Cycling revenue for the full year actially fell by 0.9%.
Telford Homes TEF anticipates profit before tax for the year to 31st March will be slightly above what market expectations as it benefits from continued investor interest and relatively affordable apartments in London where its average price remains comfortably below £600,000.
Walker Greenbank WGB is raising its final dividend by 25% after sales rose by 5.4% and profit before tax by 15.9% as it completes recovery from serious flooding
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