The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Dianomi PLC - London-based digital advertiser - Swings to a pretax loss of £618,000 in 2021 from a profit of £2.0 million the previous year. Revenue rises 26% to £35.8 million from £28.4 million. Video revenue more than doubles to £1.9 million from £800,000 the previous year. Says average spend of the top 100 advertiser increased by 27% in the period. At year-end, company had 427 active advertisers, up from 405 at the end of 2020. Chief Executive Rupert Hudson says the company has delivered the targets set at its IPO.
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Vaalco Energy Inc - Houston, Texas-based hydrocarbon exploration company - Sees net income in the first quarter of 2022 increase by 23% to $12.2 million from $9.9 million the previous year. Crude oil and natural gas sales surge to $68.7 million, up 73% against the prior year’s figure of $39.8 million. Adds it successfully drills, completed and placed on production the first two development wells of its 2021/2022 drilling campaign during the period. Chief Executive George Maxwell says: ‘As we look to the second quarter and the remainder of 2022, we are excited by the results of our drilling campaign, continued strong commodity pricing, and potential organic growth opportunities at Etame and Equatorial Guinea as well as inorganic opportunities that we continue to evaluate’. Second quarter production expected between 10,000 to 10,700 barrels of oil per day, which would represent a 29% increase at the midpoint compared to the first quarter if achieved. Second quarter sales guidance is between 10,700 bopd to 11,300 bopd, representing a 61% increase at the midpoint against the previous quarter if achieved.
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Malvern International PLC - Milton Keynes, England-based English language learning and skills development company - Pretax loss in 2021 largely unchanged at £1.6 million. Revenue rises 27% to £2.4 million from £1.9 million. Chief Executive Richard Mace says: ‘Student numbers were rebuilding throughout 2021 and by the fourth quarter we had reached 80% of pre-pandemic levels, although ongoing international travel restrictions impacted higher education starts for the 2021/22 academic year.’ Mace adds that company expects student numbers to reach pre-pandemic levels this year. Expects easing of travel restrictions to attract international students back to the UK.
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International Biotechnology Trust PLC - London-based investment trust managed by SV Health Managers LLP - Swings to pretax loss of £48.3 million in the six months to February 28 from a profit of £19.2 million the previous year. Makes a £46.5 million loss on investments, down sharply from a gain of £20.4 million the previous year. For the six months, the net asset value per share returned negative 13% while the company’s benchmark, the Nasdaq Biotechnology Index, returned negative 23%. Net asset value per share stands at 648.82 pence at February 28, down from 775.73p at the same time the previous year. Says the biotechnology sector has experienced a ‘significant’ period of weakness but company’s outlook remains positive.
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Smiths News PLC - Swindon, England-based newspaper and magazine wholesaler - Pretax profit falls by 8.8% to £14.6 million in the six months to February 26. The previous year Smiths News posted a pretax profit of £16.0 million. Revenue drops 1.2% to £544.8 million from £551.6 million. Adds that its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation figure of £20.7 million was ahead of expectations announced in November. Says inflationary pressures continue to be balanced by a combination of a favourable margin mix and structured cost control. Looking forward, company says trading for the year is in line with expectations. Chief Executive Jonathan Bunting says: ‘The combination of resilient sales, well-structured cost planning and revenue gains has been the foundation of a pleasing first half performance.’
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abrdn Latin American Income Fund Ltd - Jersey-based investment company focused on Latin America - Income from investments in the six months ended February 28 rise 35% to £1.2 million from £881,000 the previous year. Swings to a pretax loss of £871,000 from a profit of £2.4 million the previous year. Net assets increase by 0.8% to £34.0 million at February 28 from £33.7 million at the same time a year prior. Net asset value per share rises by the same percentage to 59.54 pence from 59.05p. Company portfolio underperformed its benchmark. Adds it is optimistic despite macroeconomic uncertainties.
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Andrews Sykes Group PLC - Wolverhampton, England-based heating and cooling rental company - Reports pretax profit of £19.5 million for 2021, up 23% against the previous year’s figure of £15.8 million. Revenue rises 12% to £75.2 million from £67.3 million. Company says results demonstrate a strong recovering from the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic. Adds it saw a rebound in revenue from its ’traditional’ markets of cooling and heating in the year. Notes a strong year for its UK pump hire business, which finished the year 16% up against the previous year’s revenue.
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Gresham House Energy Storage Fund PLC - London-based utility-scale battery storage fund - Net asset value per share rises to 131.89 pence at March 31 from 116.86p at December 31. Says the increase in net asset value reflects uplifts in revenue assumptions, inflation, the revaluation of projects under construction and recent capacity market contract awards. Expects net asset value per share to be at the upper end of the 140.0p to 145.0p guidance range on June 30. Announces dividend of 1.75p per share.
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