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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Firering Strategic Minerals PLC - exploration company focused on lithium and coltan projects in West Africa - Issues 73.8 million from placing, subscription and retail offer, raising £2.1 million. Proceeds will fund the acquisition of an initial 21% stake in Limeco Resources Ltd, as well as go towards commissioning and ramp up for Limeco. Funds will also aid the Atex lithium-tantalum project exploration programme. On Tuesday, it announced a deal to acquire the Limeco stake for $3.5 million. Limeco owns a limestone project in Zambia.
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CT Private Equity Trust PLC - Edinburgh-based investment trust for private equity assets - Net asset value per share at March 31 first-quarter end totals 685.46 pence, down 2.4% on-year from 702.47p. ‘At this stage in the year it is only possible to form a preliminary view of how the company’s portfolio will progress through the year. As noted before, the flow of realisations slowed notably in the second half last year. So far this year, exits have been healthy as exemplified by the Jollyes and Coretrax sales. There are several other portfolio companies which are at different stages of planning exits and where a realisation is expected this year,’ it adds. ‘2024 is an election year in both the USA and UK and in several other countries. Historically changes in government on either side of the Atlantic have not impeded the increased adoption of private equity but it is a factor that will attract increasing focus.’
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JPMorgan China Growth & Income PLC - investor in Chinese companies - Net asset value per share at March 31 half-year end totals 234.5p, down 15% from 276.2p, as ‘extreme volatility’ continues to hurt market performance. ‘Sentiment remained depressed, impacted by concerns about fragile domestic consumer confidence, the significant challenges facing the Chinese property and regional financial sectors, global macroeconomic concerns and continued geopolitical tensions, particularly between the US and China. Against this difficult backdrop, Chinese growth stocks, which have long been the focus of our disciplined portfolio managers, remained out of favour, and the company’s performance suffered accordingly,’ it adds. Total return on net assets was negative 13%, underperforming MSCI China Index, which declined 9.5%. Has so far declared three interim dividends worth 2.76p each, 8.28p in total. Its first three interim dividends in prior year totalled 10.26p. Its dividend for whole of prior year amounted to 13.68p. It expects an annual dividend of 11.04p this time around.
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abrdn European Logistics Income PLC - investment trust, which backs European warehouse properties - Net asset value per share falls 1.7% to 91.8 euros cents at end of first-quarter from 93.4 cents at end of 2023. Portfolio value declines 1.6% like-for-like to €606.3 million from €633.8 million in December. abrdn Lead Fund Manager Troels Andersen says:‘ Market expectation is mounting that the ECB will start cutting interest rates at its next monetary policy meeting in June, and despite a small valuation decrease this last quarter, economic indicators are more positive for the second half of this year. With the improving backdrop, and key long-term structural drivers underpinning the logistics sector’s rental and capital growth prospects, we expect to see increasing investment activity for this high conviction asset class.’
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Tertiary Minerals PLC - copper and precious metal exploration projects in Zambia and Nevada, USA - Revenue in six months to March 31 totals £77,385, up from £75,944 a year prior. Pretax loss widens to £269,485 from £252,854. Administration costs climb to £312,671 from £294,796.
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Petro Matad Ltd - petroleum exploration, development and production in Mongolia - Gets remaining approvals from Matad District to allow the 2024 operational programme to commence. ‘Land use certificates have been issued for the three areas of operation selected by the company,’ Petro Matad says. It adds: ‘With the local land use approval in place, Petro Matad is in discussion with service provider DQE to agree the timing of mobilisation of the completion crew to Heron 1. If possible, it is hoped to have the crew at site before Mongolia’s parliamentary elections on 28th June, although campaigning tends to have a disruptive influence on logistics in the country. If not possible before, mobilisation shortly after the election will be targeted.’
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