The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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itim Group PLC - London-based retail software solutions provider - Revenue in 2023 rises 15% to £16.1 million from £14.0 million. Pretax loss narrows to £1.1 million from £1.3 million. Chief Executive Ali Athar says: ‘Our strategic investments have fortified our position and enhanced our products, paving the way for sustained success in the dynamic retail landscape.’ The CEO adds: ‘Looking ahead to 2024, itim’s strategic focus on margin enhancement and operational efficiency provides the board with cautious optimism and positions us well for continued success. I look forward to updating the market in due course.’
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Vela Technologies PLC - Early stage-focused technology investor - Between July 4 of last year and last week Friday, it sold 430,000 shares in semiconductor designer EnSilica PLC at an average price of 62p per share, netting £265,633. Expects disposal to generate a realised gain of £18,719 for year ended March 31 and a realised gain of £4,800 in new financial year. Now owns 666,707 shares in EnSilica, a 0.8% stake. Vela says: ‘The proceeds of the disposal are being utilised by the company for general working capital purposes.’
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Huddled Group PLC - investor in e-commerce brands - Revenue in 2023 jumps to £2.4 million from £796,000 in 2022. Pretax loss widens to £2.3 million from £1.9 million. Including discontinued operations, profit after tax totals £13.0 million, Huddled highlights, swinging from loss of £661,000. CEO Martin Higginson says: ‘Generating a profit of £13.0 million in 2023 allowed us to return significant funds to shareholders as well as enabling us to transition into a group focused on developing high growth e-commerce brands, which is a market in which we see great potential.’
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Guild Esports PLC - London-based esports business - Says Compassare Holdings exercises its right to convert principal amount of £250,000 convertible loan into new ordinary shares. Conversion price was £0.00375. Compassare has been issued 66.7 million Guild Esports shares.
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NetScientific PLC - deep tech and life sciences venture capital investor - Its venture capital and corporate finance firm EMV Capital has been named as investment manager to Martlet Capital Ltd, managing a £23.3 million portfolio of investments. NetScientific says: ‘Martlet Capital is a seed stage investor based in Cambridge, providing patient capital to deep tech and life sciences early-stage companies, primarily in the Cambridge tech cluster.’
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Atrato Onsite Energy PLC - renewable energy-focused investment trust - Reports two solar investments for combined £6.4 million. ‘The investments comprise 9.5MW of solar capacity and are expected to deliver long dated, highly visible, contracted cashflows with annual uplifts,’ Atrato Onsite says. Investments include operational portfolio comprising 7.3MW of solar PV systems situated on two commercial sites in the UK, both in automotive sector. Investments also include three Tesco PLC stores as part of framework agreement. Atrato says: ‘These sites total 2.2MW of rooftop solar capacity and are all commercialised under 20-year power purchase agreements with fixed annual uplifts. Installation commenced on the sites in April with commercial operations expected in July.’
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Foresight Solar Fund Ltd - sustainability-focused fund investing in solar and battery storage assets in the UK and internationally - Agrees framework deal with Chelion Iberia, a battery engineering, financing and integration firm, to progress development-stage BESS projects in Spain. Foresight Solar Fund says: ‘The agreement increases the company’s proprietary pipeline whilst requiring no upfront investment and only modest development capital to take opportunities to ready-to-build status over the coming years.’
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Hercules Site Services PLC - Cirencester, England-based labour supplier for the UK infrastructure sector - Says trades in line with market expectations for the full year. In six months ended March 31, revenue is expected to have risen 27% to ‘over’ £47 million. ‘All income streams grew, each with their own individual drivers, underpinned by the substantial demand in the infrastructure sector,’ it says. CEO Brusk Korkmaz adds: ‘We have delivered further revenue growth in the first half of this financial year and gained a number of new contracts, including over £5 million in civil projects and signed a significant new framework agreement with Costain. The integration of Future Build Recruitment following our acquisition of the business in December 2023 is progressing well and we are already seeing cross-selling and upselling opportunities from our existing clients.’
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Gulf Marine Services PLC - London-based owner and operator of barges for the oil and gas sectors - Says its net debt further decreased in the first quarter to $256.4 million at March 31 from $267.3 million at December 31. Gulf Marine reports an additional prepayment of $5.0 million towards its debt repayments last week. The company says ongoing efforts to reduce leverage are creating value for shareholders and improving its overall financial position.
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Mining Minerals & Metals PLC - acquisition vehicle seeking assets in natural resources sector - Says company and acquisition target Georgina Energy PLC ‘have been busy with their advisory teams in recent months’ to finalise deal. Mining Minerals & Metals says: ‘The company has appointed Oak Securities as joint broker, to work alongside its existing broker and financial adviser, Tavira, in connection with the proposed placing of shares in the company as enlarged by the proposed acquisition.’ In October, it entered heads of terms with Georgina Energy for a reverse takeover. Georgina Energy is an early-stage resource company pursuing helium, hydrogen and hydrocarbon interests located in the Amadeus and Officer Basins in Northern and Western Australia.
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Jersey Oil & Gas PLC - upstream oil and gas company focused on the UK continental shelf region of the North Sea - Pretax loss in 2023 totals £5.6 million from £3.1 million in 2022. Generates no revenue, unchanged on-year. Administrative expenses rise 79% to £5.7 million. It says: ‘2023 was a pivotal year for the company. Having successfully aggregated the Greater Buchan Area resource base and progressed the necessary development planning activities, two farm-out transactions were executed, bringing in two credible industry partners and the funding required to monetise the area.’
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Kefi Gold & Copper PLC - exploration and development company focused on gold and copper projects in the Arabian-Nubian Shield - Reports on progress in first-quarter of 2024. In Ethiopia, it notes Tulu Kapi’s remaining finance syndicate approval processes are on track for final backing this month. Project launch preparations have commenced at site, it adds. In Saudi Arabia, notes 25%-owned Gold & Minerals Ltd has been granted 14 exploration licences in the past two years compared with three in the previous 13 years. Says this is ‘illustration of the priority given to mineral exploration and recent government prioritisation of the Saudi mining sector’. Says at Jibal Qutman gold development project, GMCO is ‘progressing evaluating alternative development scenarios whilst also seeking lower-cost solutions for inputs like water and power’. Kefi adds: ‘Whilst we do not publish an exploration strategy, it is notable that we are pegging in both Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia. We have a number of gold, base metal and critical metal prospects granted or under application covering brownfields and grassroots targets. In all these prospects there is historical evidence of mineralisation and the opportunity to apply certain exploration technology and techniques for the first time.’
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Pathfinder Minerals PLC - AIM-listed cash shell seeking reverse takeover - Receives £30,000 from subscriber. Says ‘in regular dialogue’ with subscriber for outstanding balance of £30,000, but cautions ‘there can be no guarantee’ that sum will be forthcoming. Last week, it announced a deal to acquire Rome Resources Ltd in what would constitute a reverse takeover. Rome shareholders will receive 19.54 ordinary shares of Pathfinder. Existing shareholders of Rome will own approximately 69% of enlarged firm. Rome is a firm with agreement to acquire 51% interests in two contiguous properties located in the Walikale District of the North Kivu Province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Also on Wednesday, Pathfinder reports pretax loss in 2023 totals £1.0 million, stretching from £376,000 in 2022. Generates no revenue, unchanged on-year.
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Lexington Gold Ltd - gold exploration and development company with projects in South Africa and US - Says Jelani Resources Pty Ltd prospecting right formally renewed until May 29, 2026. Says this is a ‘milestone’ related to acquisition of White Rivers Exploration Pty Ltd. Jelani Resources is 65% owned by WRE, and 35%-owned by Johannesburg-listed Harmony Gold Mining Co Ltd. Lexington adds: ‘The Jelani Resources prospecting right covers an area adjacent to Harmony’s Target Mine in the north-western portion of the Welkom Goldfields in South Africa.’ As part of milestone, Lexington issues total of 25.8 million deferred consideration shares to Mark Creasy or his nominee and Sunswell Holdings Pty Ltd. Creasy now owns 13% of Lexington and Freefire Technology Ltd, a Sunswell nominee, owns 3.8%.
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