The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Galliford Try Holdings PLC - Uxbridge, England-based building and infrastructure construction company - It has signed three new infrastructure pacts totalling almost £100 million. The construction firm’s environment business signs the dotted line on a £33 million deal to install a pipeline in South London. The same unit wins a £31 million deal to install a pipeline which connects a water treatment works in the east of Guildford, Surrey with a reservoir network to the west. Finally, its Highways business inks a £34 million contract to redevelop the A629 route into central Halifax, West Yorkshire. The deal includes ‘pedestrianising key access areas and re-routing access to the town’s railway station while removing traffic from the centre’.
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Sylvania Platinum Ltd - platinum group metals producer and developer with assets in South Africa - It reports weaker half-year results on less favourable pricing. Net revenue in the six months to December 31 falls 49% to $40.8 million from $79.9 million. Its pretax profit tumbles to $8.1 million from $45.5 million. Chief Executive Jaco Prinsloo says: ‘While many PGM producers in the industry are faced with challenges relating to the current market environment, revenue and net profit for the company remain respectable despite the significantly lower PGM basket price.’ Lowers interim dividend to 1 pence per share from 3p. It has a policy of distributing minimum of 40% of annual adjusted free cash flow, divided into one-third for interim dividend and two-thirds for final dividend.
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Ariana Resources PLC - mineral explorer and developer with gold mining interests in Turkey, Cyprus and Kosovo - Reports ‘positive results’ from fourth-quarter drilling programme at partly-owned Kizilcukur project in Turkey. ‘All results for the resource infill and extensional drilling programme have been received, testing all three main zones of mineralisation and identifying potential extension zones,’ Ariana says. It notes ‘several very high-grade gold and silver intercepts at depth on the Zeki Vein’. That suggests mineralisation has ‘further depth potential’.
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Angus Energy PLC - UK-focused onshore oil and gas developer - Angus enters into a deal with a unit of commodity trader Trafigura Group Pte Ltd concerning the Saltfleetby gas field in Lincolnshire, UK. ‘As part of the wider co-operation between Trafigura and Angus, the parties wish to leverage their complementary capabilities and collaborate on an underground gas storage facility in the UK, for natural gas, CO2, or hydrogen, and the offtake by Trafigura of pre-agreed capacity of the proposed gas storage facility,’ Angus says. In addition, Angus reports it has signed definitive loan documentation which allows it to draw down in full on a £20 million loan with Trafigura. It explains: ‘The existing senior debt of £4.56 million will be transferred to Trafigura and the proceeds of the facility will be applied to repay the bridge facility of £6 million, and £1.75 million of Forum Energy’s deferred consideration from the sale of Saltfleetby Energy Ltd’s 49% interest in the Saltfleetby Field to Angus in 2022.’ It adds: ‘The balance of funds from the Facility will be used to pay legacy creditors and invest in wells and equipment to increase gas production from Saltfleetby and restart oil production from the Brockham field in southern England.
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TruFin PLC - London-based holding company of three growth-focused technology businesses operating in early payment provision, invoice finance and mobile games publishing - Playstack subsidiary releases fastest selling game, Balatro. The title, described as a ’sensational poker roguelike‘ reached game profitability in one hour.
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1Spatial PLC - Cambridge-based data management software company - Signs 12-month pact with UK Power Networks, following ’successful trial‘. Deal is for traffic management plan automation solution and will deliver 1Spatial minimum of £340,000 software as a service revenue. ’The 1Streetworks’ cloud-based SaaS solution is the first solution in the market to fully automate the production of traffic management plans, diversion routing and asset inventory lists and has the potential to fundamentally change the industry,‘ it adds.
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STV Group PLC - Glasgow-based television broadcaster and content producer - Says STV Studios unit confirms three drama series commissions for new Two Cities Television label. Includes renewal of Blue Lights, a Belfast-based police drama airing on the BBC for further two series.
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RWS Holdings PLC - Buckinghamshire, England-based technology-enabled language services provider - Says outlook for year ending September ’remains in line with the board’s expectations‘. ’Whilst we remain mindful of the macroeconomic environment and the continuing market pressures seen in the prior year, client retention and satisfaction remain high, our growth initiatives are contributing incremental revenue and we continue to make progress with transforming the group into a scalable platform to support growth and profitability,‘ Chair Julie Southern says. Southern adds: ’In January we successfully completed the beta programme for Evolve (our groundbreaking linguistic AI solution which offers significant efficiency gains for global enterprises with substantial translation demands) and are already beginning to see some early wins with enterprise-level clients, helping them safely harness the benefits of AI.‘ In addition, RWS completes a share buyback programme, repurchasing £49.7 million shares at an average price of 239.23 pence.
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East Imperial PLC - New Zealand-based producer of tonic waters and drink mixers - Expects to report revenue of £2.4 million for 2023, short of the £3.2 million in 2022, as it suffered ’operating constraints‘ in the second and third quarters. ’Post resolution of operational issues, sales recovery in Q4 2023 with momentum maintained in Q1 2024,‘ it adds. East Imperial says sales growth in mainland China was slower than expected. It adds: ’The company has been working closely with its distributor to roll out a targeted development plan for this market for 2024. With the significant Tier 1 addition of Galaxy Entertainment Group in Macau and with approximately 6,000 cases expected to be shipped in Q1 2024, progress is being made.‘
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JPMorgan Mid Cap Investment Trust PLC - invests in medium-sized UK companies ’with the potential to graduate to the FTSE 100‘ - Shares in the company were suspended on Wednesday at its request. A general meeting concerning its tie-up with JPMorgan UK Smaller Cos Investment Trust PLC is scheduled for February 27. The pair hope to complete the merger by the end of February to create a combined company that will be called JPMorgan UK Small Cap Growth & Income PLC. It still will be managed by JPMorgan Funds Ltd via JPMorgan Asset Management (UK) Ltd and will have a combined net asset value of about £430 million.
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Hardide PLC - Oxfordshire, England-based provider of advanced surface coating technology - Raises £880,000 at 4.5 pence per share through a placing and subscription, it said Wednesday. Price was a 22% discount to Tuesday closing price of 5.75p. Hardide adds: ’The net proceeds of the Fundraising will provide the Company with the resources needed to meet the group’s working capital requirements and its corporate costs, at anticipated revenue levels, for the remainder of the financial year to 30 September 2024.‘
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Dewhurst Group PLC - London-based supplier of components to the lift, transport and keypad industries - Acquires remaining shares of P&R Liftcars Pty Ltd it does not already own, lifting its holding in the lift car interior manufacturer from 75%. It first bought into P&R by in 2017 by acquiring a holding from Roy Peat and Peter Hosey. Peat had retained 25%. Dewhurst is to acquire the additional stake for A$2.9 million, around £1.5 million. Dewhurst adds: ’[Peat] will remain with the business in a full time capacity until at least September 2024 to enable an orderly handover. The Transaction will be immediately earnings enhancing to shareholders of Dewhurst.‘
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