The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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PensionBee Group PLC - UK online pension provider - Says revenue increased 35% to £23.8 million in 2023 from £17.7 million a year prior. Pretax loss narrowed to £10.7 million from £22.4 million. Adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation shrunk to £8.2 million from £19.5 million. Basic loss per share dropped 53% to 4.73p from 9.97p. Assets under administration reached £4.35 billion at year-end, up 44% from £3.03 billion at the end of 2022. Chief Executive Officer Romi Savova says: ‘Having met our longstanding and ambitious goal of achieving adjusted Ebitda profitability across the fourth quarter of 2023, we are confident in our continued growth, underpinned by profitability...we have announced our proposed expansion into the US, the world’s largest defined contribution pension market, where we see an enormous opportunity to assist many consumers in the US who also struggle to prepare adequately for retirement as they navigate a complex and confusing pensions landscape.’ Looking ahead, PensionBee says it is aiming to onboard 1 million invested customers, creating a revenue ambition of around £150 million in the long term.
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Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd - Turku, Finland-based drug discovery and development company - Says its pretax loss widened to €30.9 million in 2023 from €28.7 million a year prior. The company’s net assets totalled a negative €15.2 million at year-end, increased from a negative €11.5 million at the end of 2022. Says trials of its Bexmarilab cancer immunotherapy candidate made significant progress over the year. Chief Executive Officer Markku Jalkanen says: ‘Throughout the course of the year, we have reported highly encouraging data for bexmarilimab, showing a remarkable overall response rate in both higher-risk frontline MDS patients as well as HMA-failed MDS patients. These are highly significant findings, given the combinations of treatments these patients had previously failed on and the very limited options available for future therapy. They provide us with a path to market and only bolster our confidence in the potential of this novel immunotherapy to treat patients with aggressive hematological malignancies.’
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Public Policy Holdings Company Inc - Washington DC-based group of advisory firms specialising in government addairs and public relations - Achieves ‘record financial performance and excellent strategic progress’ in 2023. Revenue grew 24% to $135.0 million from $108.8 million. Underlying Ebitda rose 12% to $35.1 million from $31.2 million, in line with market expectations. Underlying net income increased 14% to $26.5 million from $23.3 million. Basic underlying earnings per share rose 9.7% to 23.54 cents from 21.45 cents. PPHC’s annual dividend of 14.30 cents per share was 2.1% ahead of 14.00 cents a year before. All business segments achieved year-on-year growth. The company credits its successful year to several acquisitions, including MultiState Associates Inc, which ‘contribut[ed] healthily to group revenue and Ebitda’ over 2023. PPHC continues to target an Ebitda margin of between 25% and 30%, in line with 2023’s 26% margin. Chief Executive Officer Stewart Hall says: ‘The increasing demand for our services has enabled us to generate solid levels of organic growth and healthy expansion in total client numbers. Strategically, we are progressing well with a healthy pipeline of value accretive acquisition opportunities and the strength of our holding company model being validated by the outperformance of our two most recent acquisitions.’
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Sovereign Metals Ltd - Graphite development company focused on projects in Malawi - In the half-year ended December 31, the company’s operating loss was A$7.0 million, narrowed from A$8.5 million a year prior. Exploration and evaluation expenditure totalled A$5.0 million, down from A$5.8 million, which the company says stems from the pre-feasibility study at its Kasiya project in Malawi. Interest income grew to A$938,402 from A$138,366.
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Commonwealth Bank of Australia - Sydney-based financial services company and retail bank - Issues subordinated notes worth $1.25 billion, due March 2034. The notes were issued pursuant to the company’s $50.00 billion senior and subordinated medium term notes program.
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OptiBiotix Health Ltd - life sciences company focused on tackling obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and skincare - Signs partnership agreement with Dr Morepen Ltd, a New Delhi-based diagnostics company, for the sale of SlimBiome weight-loss products in India under the latter’s brand. Chief Executive Officer Stephen O’Hara says: ‘Morepen brings an extensive sales team with experience of highly differentiated scientific products and countrywide access to a network of around 500,000 pharmacies across India. Based on current forecasts, the directors anticipate this agreement could contribute in the region of £6-7 million revenue per annum in the next four to five years.’
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MacFarlane Group PLC - Glasgow-based packaging company - Acquires Allpack Packaging Supplies Ltd, a Bury Saint Edmunds-based packing materials business. Says the ‘earnings-enhancing acquisition further progresses Macfarlane’s strategy to build its protective packaging business through a combination of organic and acquisitive growth’. In 2023, Allpack delievered £3.0 million in sales alongside Ebitda and pretax profits of £600,000. All of Allpack’s employees will join MacFarlane. MacFarland will provide a maximum consideration of £3.3 million, including a £750,000 performance-based earn-out, financed from the company’s existing bank facility.
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Cora Gold Ltd - gold exploration company focused on Mali and Senegal - Following conversion of $2.3 million of convertible loan notes for 82.0 million ordinary shares of no par value in the company, has issued an outstanding CLN for a total of $13.0 million matured on March 12. The company’s cash balance is now in excess of $2.9 million. Chief Executive Officer Bert Monro says: ‘With strong cash reserves, we look forward to providing progress updates on our Sanankoro gold project in Mali, including submission of the application for a mining permit once the current moratorium is lifted, as well as wider exploration activities across our permits.’
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Electric Guitar PLC - Reading-based marketing services company - Intends to request the Financial Conduct Authority to cancel the company’s shares on the FCA official list and cease admission to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. This is ahead of its proposed application for admission of its shares to trading on AIM. The company expects to convene a shareholder meeting to approve its acquisition of 3radical Ltd in the coming weeks.
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Capricorn Energy PLC - Edinburgh-based oil and gas exploration company - Securities and Exchange Board of India has ordered Vedanta Ltd to pay the company $9.5 million within 45 days. The payment related to a non-payment of a dividend to Capricorn UK Holdings by Vedanta, a Mumbai-based mining company.
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Oxford BioDynamics PLC - Oxford-based biotechnology company with a portfolio of clinical tests using its EpiSwitch technology - Announces a fundraising by way of a placing to raise £9 million and a retail offer for up to £1.3 million, both with an issue price of 9p per share. The issue price represents a 21% discount to the company’s closing price of 11.40p on Tuesday. The results of the placing are expects to be released on Thursday. Shares in Oxford BioDynamics closed down 11% at 10.20 pence each in London on Wednesday.
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Cooks Coffee Co Ltd - New Zealand-based UK-focused cafe chain - Announces its intention to undertake a placement and share purchase plan. The scheme will result in up to 5.7 million new shares in the company at an issue price of NZ$0.20 per share, targeting a raise of up to NZ$1.7 million, roughly £820,000. Cooks says that the purpose of the fundraise is to invest in improvements in the company’s digital programs, including its delivery, click and collect, loyalty programs, as well as expanding its businesses in the Middle East and Europe.
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