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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Safestyle UK PLC - Bradford-based retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors - Revenue in half-year ended July 2 declines 5.3% on-year to £74.1 million from £78.3 million. Pretax loss widens to £6.7 million from £2.8 million. Decides against interim dividend, after 0.4 pence per share payout a year prior. ‘The trading context of the UK economy and consumer confidence remains extremely difficult. Encouragingly, inflation is beginning to show some signs of moderating, but that follows a period of sustained high inflation. The impact of significantly higher interest rates than expected is clearly impacting consumers’ disposable income,’ Safestyle says.
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Zegona Communications PLC - London-based company focused on communications and entertainment opportunities - Pretax loss in six months to June narrows slightly to €1.8 million from €1.9 million. Generates no revenue, unchanged year-on-year. Zegona adds: ‘Over the last 6 months we have continued to focus on identifying and pursuing the right opportunity within the European telecommunications market where we can again successfully apply our proven ’buy-fix-sell‘ strategy to generate attractive returns for our shareholders. We remain patient and disciplined in our approach and are encouraged by the stabilisation in both the economic outlook and telecommunications market trends, which contribute to the confidence we have in our ability to find the right next investment for Zegona.’ On Friday, it confirmed it was in talks with Vodafone Group PLC to acquire its Spanish operations. Zegona said the deal remains subject to agreement on final terms with Vodafone, completion of its due diligence and formalisation of funding arrangements. As a result, it stressed that there is ‘no certainty’ that the potential acquisition will go ahead, nor as to any of the final terms if a deal were to be struck.
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ProBiotix Health PLC - Wakefield, England-based life sciences business developing probiotics to tackle cardiovascular disease and other lifestyle conditions - Pretax loss in six months to June 30 widens to £512,000 from £251,000 a year prior. It reports ‘other administrative costs’ more than double to £668,000 from £274,000. Revenue rises 83% to £552,000 from £302,000. Chief Executive Officer Steen Andersen says: ‘Since I took over as CEO in January 2023, my focus has been on building and developing a defined strategy whereby we are looking to become a solutions provider of finished probiotic products in consumer formats. My objective is to build ProBiotix into a £10 million plus turnover company, marketing our products both under our own brands and partner private labels. We are excited about the future of the company and remain committed to providing long term value to our shareholders.’
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OptiBiotix Health PLC - York, England-based life sciences company, which develops edible compounds to tackle chronic conditions like obesity and diabetes - Swings to pretax loss of £1.9 million in first six months of 2023, from profit of £13.9 million a year prior. In the prior year, it booked a £21.6 million profit on the disposal of a subsidiary. It registers no such gains this time around. Revenue rises to £351,000 from £119,000. CEO Stephen O’Hara says: ‘The aim for the second half of the year is to maintain our focus on managing costs, growing sales and closing out ongoing discussions with a number of larger partners across first and second-generation products to ensure a return on investment from the expansion of our commercial and business development teams.’
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Allergy Therapeutics PLC - West Sussex, England-based commercial biotechnology company - Revenue in year ended June 30 falls 16% to £61.0 million from £72.8 million. Allergy’s pretax loss stretches to £49.8 million from £12.7 million. ‘This financial year has been challenging, however, the group has made good progress in recovering manufacturing capacity and developing robust quality systems that are well-placed to support future growth,’ CEO Manuel Llobet says.
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Fadel Partners Inc - media rights and royalty management software developer - Revenue in half-year ended June 30 declines 20% to $5.4 million from $6.7 million a year earlier. Pretax loss widens to $1.3 million from $1.1 million. CEO Tarek Fadel says: ‘The outlook for Fadel remains positive and the benefits of our investments are already coming through as the strong trading momentum enjoyed in 1H23 continues into the second half of the year. Investments made in the business to date, alongside the wider shift towards digitisation, are driving increased demand for our offering and give great confidence in the group’s outlook.’
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