The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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McBride PLC - manufacturer and supplier of private label and contract manufactured products for the domestic household and professional cleaning and hygiene markets - Revenue in year ended June 30 climbs 31% to £889.0 million from £678.3 million. McBride’s pretax loss narrows to £15.1 million from £35.3 million. McBride also hails an ‘encouraging start to new financial year’. Chief Executive Officer Chris Smith says: ‘The decisive actions taken in the last financial year helped set the foundations for the strong recovery achieved across the business. In combination with the hard work and dedication of our teams, McBride has delivered an impressive return to profitability and volume growth in an environment that continues to be volatile. Inflation will remain a challenge for the business into the new year, one which we believe we are better positioned to manage, driven in part by our shift to three-monthly pricing.’ Smith noted a ‘growing consumer shift towards private label products’ due to cost-of-living pressure. The CEO adds: ‘Overall, while the current macro environment continues to present challenges, McBride is well-positioned to deliver sustainable and profitable long-term growth.’
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Henry Boot PLC - Sheffield, England-based property developer - Revenue in six months ended June 30 rises 25% to £179.8 million from £144.4 million a year earlier. Henry Boot’s top-line is boosted by ‘land disposals and housing completions’. Pretax profit, however, falls 36% to £25.0 million from £38.8 million. Its share of profit of joint ventures and associates is almost wiped out, coming in at £188,000 compared to £10.4 million. Chief Executive Officer Tim Roberts says: ‘Whilst uncertainty in our markets has increased, we believe we have enough momentum to carry us through the year, although the outlook for 2024 for the time being is not so clear. However, we have conviction in our three markets which are driven by structural trends and I am pleased to report that we remain on track to hit our strategic growth and return targets over the medium term.’ Henry Boot lifts its interim dividend by 10% to 2.93 pence from 2.66p.
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Jadestone Energy PLC - Asia-Pacific-focused oil and gas firm - Revenue in first half of 2023 falls 62% on-year to $86.7 million from $225.6 million. Realised oil price per barrel of oil equivalent declines to $86.15 from $109.52. Swings to pretax loss of $70.3 million from $77.7 million profit a year prior. ‘The first half of 2023 was impacted by the ongoing shut-in of Montara until late March, with few liftings and softer Brent pricing, coincident with a period of heavy investment at Akatara and elsewhere. We therefore acted decisively to maintain a robust balance sheet by finalising the RBL in May and by raising an additional gross $53 million of new equity in June,’ Chief Executive Paul Blakeley says.
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Eagle Eye Solutions Group PLC - London-based software-as-a-service marketing solutions provider - Revenue in year ended June 30 jumps 36% to £43.1 million from £31.7 million the year prior. Eagle Eye, however, swings to a pretax loss of £760,000 from profit of £685,000. Operating expenses are 44% higher at £41.6 million. CEO Tim Mason says: ‘Eagle Eye’s outstanding performance in FY23 demonstrates we have the right strategy, offering and team in place to support our continued strong growth as an increasingly international business. In the current difficult economic environment, retailers are turning more and more to data driven, personalised promotions and rewards as one of the most effective ways to drive increased trade and retain customer loyalty. Eagle Eye’s central position as the technology that enables the execution of these programmes means we are becoming increasingly relevant, providing further growth opportunities.’ Eagle Eye says it continues to ‘successfully’ manage inflationary pressures.
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Surgical Innovations Group PLC - surgical & medical instrument manufacturer - Revenue in first half of 2023 improves 4.4% to £5.7 million from £5.4 million a year earlier. However, pretax loss widens to £374,000 from £111,000. Other operating expenses rise 12% to £2.2 million. ‘Sales in key markets have continued the strong growth momentum from H1 and, in addition, the backlog of OEM orders has been addressed and there is an encouraging positive orderbook for H2,’ the firm says. However, it adds that ‘initial growth in new markets was slower than anticipated’. Chair Jonathan Glenn says: ‘Despite recently reported operational challenges with manufacturing productivity and supply chain disruptions, we are confident the measures being implemented will help overcome these. We have engaged an industry specialist to lead this project which is well underway, and we expect to see significant benefits flowing though into the P&L during the first half of the next financial year.’
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Fintel PLC - technology and support provider for the retail financial services sector - Revenue in half-year to June 30 down 1.6% to £31.7 million from £32.2 million on-year. Pretax profit declines 24% to £4.5 million from £5.9 million. ‘Fintel delivered a positive financial and operational performance during the first half of 2023 and continued to make significant progress in line with its strategic plan. We have increased investment into our technology and service platform, with earnings enhancing acquisitions expanding our unique proposition and driving future growth opportunities,’ Joint-CEO Matt Timmins says. ‘Current trading remains encouraging and in line with our expectations. Together with the strength of our balance sheet and positive qualified M&A pipeline, we are confident of delivering further strategic progress and accelerating growth, as we continue to inspire better outcomes for retail financial services.’ Fintel lifts its interim dividend by 10% to 1.1 pence per share from 1.0p.
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Litigation Capital Management Ltd - asset manager specialising in dispute financing solutions - Revenue in first-half rises to A$84.2 million, around £43.9 million, from A$47.1 million. Pretax profit more than doubles to A$28.6 million from A$12.9 million. Both figures exclude third-party interests. ‘Our fund management strategy is delivering third party capital for investment. Our referral network in Europe and APAC is delivering the high-quality investment opportunities that will underpin our generation of value and cash to fund investors and LCM shareholders,’ Chief Executive Patrick Moloney says. In addition, LCM plans to kick off a A$10 million share buyback programme.
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