The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Orcadian Energy PLC - oil and gas development company - Amends repayment schedule for secured facility agreement with Shell International Trading and Shipping Company Ltd. The original repayment date for the $1 million was August 23, now extended to June 13. Orcadian says this is to allow time for its proposed sale of an 81% interest in its North Sea Licence P2244.
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Versarien PLC - Cheltenham-based engineering technology company - Enters into manufacturing licence agreement and technical assistance agreement with Montana Quimica Ltda, a Brazil-based paint and finishing product company. The agreements cover the use of some of Versarien’s proprietary graphene products, or Graphinks, to be manufactured and sold by Montana in South America. Under the terms of the deal, Montana will pay Versarien an initial fee of £50,000, a further £25,000 once manufacturing commences, and provide a royalty of 5% of total sales revenue earned using the company’s IP. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Hodge says: ‘The Agreements with Montana are in line with Versarien’s strategy to be a manufacturing-light business in the UK and licence our patents, know-how and other intellectual property to key partners. We are very pleased to be partnering with Montana, a leading business in its markets in South America’.
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CAP-XX Ltd - New South Wales, Australia-based manufacturer of energy storage supercapacitors - Says Maxwell will be applying for an extension to lodge an application for a claim of costs against CAP-XX by the end of the week. The company says that the pair have an in-principle agreement and are in final negotiations to resolve litigation matters as soon as possible.
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Pacific Horizon Investment Trust PLC - Edinburgh-based investment trust owned by Baillie Gifford & Co - Net asset value per ordinary share 603.43p at January 31, down 5.3% from 637.18p July 31. Decline more muted than MSCI All Country Asia Index benchmark, which fell 8.1%. Earnings per share were 0.59p for the six months to January 31, up from 0.25p a year prior. Company attributes the dropoff to ongoing weakness in Chinese economy, despite improvements in India and Taiwan.
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Atome PLC - Leeds-based green fertiliser company - Awarded Enterprise Investment Scheme status by HMRC in respect to the company’s equity fundraise announced on February 19. The EIS ‘enables a qualifying investor with a UK tax liability to claim tax relief in the UK of up to 30% of their investment, subject to a maximum investment of £1 million per tax year’. Atome says: ‘The grant of EIS status broadens the company’s potential investor base as it continues to develop and grow. However, the company reiterates that it intends to finance its first 145 megawatt project in Paraguay at the asset level through its subsidiary, Atome Paraguay.’
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Synergia Energy Ltd - Perth, Australia-based gas producer - Pretax loss A$2.1 million in the six months to December 31, narrowed from A$3.7 million a year prior. Total revenue from gas and oil sales were A$353,168 in the half-year, down from A$690.820. Sales costs were down to A$741,361 from A$2.4 million. Says jet pump installation at the Cambay Field, India, continues to work reliably, with production averaging 114,000 standard cubic feet per day in December. A heads of terms deal was reached with Selan Exploration Technology Ltd in February, with a view to farming out up to 50% of the Cambay licence.
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Symphony Environmental Technologies PLC - Borehamwood-based environmental plastic manufacturer - Extends existing £1.0 million loan agreements with Sea Pearl Ventures Ltd to December 31, 2025 from September 30 2024. Interest on the loan is 7% per annum. Sea Pearl currently holds a 17.4% stake in Symphony.
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Firering Strategic Minerals PLC - West Africa-focused mineral mining company - Receives 20.0 million shares in Ricca Resources Ltd at a price of A$0.05 per share, worth A$1.0 million. The payment relates to the $18.6 million earn-in agreement between the pair to advance the Atex lithium-tantalum project in the Ivory Coast.
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Schroder Asian Total Return Investment Company PLC - London-based - Investor in companies trading in the Asia Pacific Region - Declares 11.50p dividend for 2023, up from 11.00p in 2022. NAV per share total return swung to 8.8% from negative 12.7% in 2022. This tracks ahead of the MSCI AC Asia excluding-Japan Index benchmark, which returned 1.3%. Net assets were £448.5 million at December 31, down from £457.5 million a year prior. Says results were impacted by Chinese economic weakness, though this was offset by gains by technology stocks and chipmakers in Taiwan and South Korea.
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Oakley Capital Investments Ltd - Bermuda-based private equity firm specialising in the technology, consumer, education and business services sectors - NAV per share of 684p 2023, with NAV of £1.21 billion. Total NAV return per share, including dividends, was 4%. Declared 2.25p dividend per share for the year, bringing the full-year dividend to 4.50p, unchanged from 2022.
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Wildcat Petroleum PLC - Investor targeting assets within the upstream sector of the petroleum industry - In the six months to December 31, the company’s pretax loss was £125,000, narrowed from £146,000 a year prior. Says it intends to take a minority stake or acquire control of a business, which would require the raising of additional capital. As at December 31, the company had £416,000 in cash, up from £235,000 at the end of 2022.
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AVI Japan Opportunity Trust PLC - Investor in small-cap Japanese equities - NAV per share total return for 2023 was 15.8%, swung from a negative 4.3% in 202 and ahead of the benchmark MSCI Japan Small-Cap Index’s 6.9% return. Net asset value reached £182.9 million, up from £156.4 million. Pretax profit was £25.2 million, from a loss of £6.6 million in 2022. Says enthusiasm for Japanese equities grew in the year, and says: ‘The portfolio is well positioned with a concentrated, yet diverse, collection of high-quality, lowly valued companies, with multiple levers for re-ratings. As a Board, we are confident that AJOT can build on its successful track record of engagement and will continue to deliver attractive returns for investors.’ Proposes final dividend of 0.85p per share for 2023, bringing the total dividend to 1.70p per share, up from 1.55p in 2022.
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