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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Harworth Group PLC - Rotherham, England-based regenerator of land and property - Issues trading update for six months to June 30. Expects planning progress, disposals ahead of book value and positive revaluations to drive moderate EPRA net development value growth. Expects EPRA NDV at the end of December to be broadly in line with current market consensus, sees EPRA NDV at June 30 moderately higher than the £662.9 million at year end 2023. ‘This has been another strong first half for planning approvals and land sales,’ company says. Remains on track to reach £1 billion EPRA NDV by the end of 2027.
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Oakley Capital Investments Ltd - Bermuda-based private equity firm specialising in the technology, consumer, education and business services sectors - Says net asset value at June 30 is 708 pence. Total NAV return for the six months to June 30, including dividends is 3.8% compared to prior six months.
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Alphawave IP Group PLC - London-based designer of high-speed connectivity solutions - Issues business update for three months to June 30. New bookings total $107.4 million, up 27% from $84.1 million a year prior. Represents third consecutive quarter of bookings above $100 million. Says this reflects a strong pipeline and outlook for the business. ‘This was also a record quarter for design wins with 14 new design wins in the business,’ company says. Executive Chair John Lofton Holt says: ‘The momentum in all areas of the business is expanding, and this is reflected in the strong bookings numbers for the second quarter. Our trajectory is expected to continue, and we expect to have nearly half a billion dollars in backlog by the end of the year. In addition, we have restructured our debt which strengthens the balance sheet and provides us with flexibility to further enhance our capital structure in the future.’
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Oxford Nanopore Technologies PLC - Oxford-based specialist in DNA and RNA sequencing technologies - Provides trading update for the six months ended June 30. Expects to report Life Sciences Research Tools revenue of around £84 million, down from £86.0 million a year prior, broadly flat year-on-year at constant currency. Gross margin for the first half is expected to show year-on-year improvement, despite foreign exchange headwinds, and remains on track to meet the group’s full year 2024 guidance. Expects full-year LSRT revenue growth between 6% and 15% on a constant currency basis and underlying revenue growth is expected to be between 20% and 30% on a constant currency basis. Continues to expect full-year 2024 revenue to be second half weighted, with an approximate 45:55 split. Gross margin is expected to be around 57%. All medium-term guidance is unchanged.
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Learning Technologies Group PLC - London-based digital learning and talent management company - Announces trading update for the six months to end-June. Reported revenue is expected to be not less than £248 million, down from £268.2 million on a like-for-like basis, with an FX headwind due to a weaker US dollar. SaaS and long-term services contracts, which account for around 75% of revenue, continue to be resilient. However, in line with the broader market, company continues to experience subdued transactional revenues. Expects full-year revenue between £485 to £505 million and earnings before interest and tax of £91 to £96 million.
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MP Evans Group PLC - Tunbridge Wells, England-based producer of crude palm oil - Issues crop and production information for six months to June 30. Fresh fruit bunches total 759,700 tonnes, up 5% from 721,100 a year prior. Produces 177,000 tonnes of crude palm oil, up 6% from 166,200. Produces 39,200 tonnes of palm kernels, up 13% from 34,600. Expects higher cropping levels in the second half after slower start to 2024 for some estates. Says crude palm oil prices up 2% in the first half on-year, palm kernel prices up 7%.
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Marston’s PLC - Wolverhampton-based based pub operator - In the 42 weeks to July 20, like-for-like sales rose by 5.2% on-year, Marston’s says. For the final 16 weeks of that period, they improved 2.4%. ‘We have seen considerable uplift from Euro 2024, with like-for-like sales for the week of the semi-final and final matches rising by 8.0%. This has helped to lessen the impact of recent unseasonably wet weather and a particularly strong comparative period last year. We continue to see positive momentum across both food and drink occasions. Food sales have been particularly encouraging, with changes to our menu proving increasingly popular with guests,’ Marston’s says. Adds: ‘The trading momentum seen year-to-date provides the board with confidence that...performance will be in line with market expectations.’
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Centaur Media PLC - London-based provider of business information, training and specialist consultancy services - reports weaker half-year earnings. Revenue declines 7.7% to £16.5 million in the first half of 2024, from £17.9 million a year prior. Pretax profit declines 6.3% to £1.5 million from £1.6 million. Centaur maintains its interim dividend at 0.6p per share. Anticipates a greater weighting of revenue and profit and a return to growth in the second half of 2024. In addition, it announces Colin Jones will not extend his stint as chair when his term expires at the start of September. ‘A search for a new chair is underway and, in order to ensure an orderly handover, Colin will remain in his role until a new chair has been appointed, and his letter of appointment will be extended accordingly,’ Centaur says.
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LBG Media PLC - Manchester-based digital publisher, owns Lad Bible - Issues trading update for six months to June 30. Expects revenue growth of 55% to £42.3 million in the first half of 2024. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation is expected to jump to £10.2 million from £3.0 million. ‘The UEFA Euro 2024 [football] tournament has given the group a number of opportunities to work with brands seeking to access our young adult audience, with notable campaigns including Euros-themed editions of the hugely popular original series of ’Snack Wars’ sponsored by Uber Eats,’ it adds. Remains confident in the outlook for the full year and that performance will be in line with market expectations.
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Nichols PLC - Merseyside-based owner of Vimto drinks brand - In the half-year that ends June 30, revenue slips 1.8% to £84.0 million from £85.5 million 12 months earlier. Pretax profit, however, rises 5.8% to £11.8 million from £11.2 million. Nichols raises its ordinary interim dividend by 18% to 14.9p per share from 12.6p. It announces a 54.8p special dividend, which will return £20 million in total to shareholders. UK Packaged revenue rises 5.3% to £45.4 million from £43.1 million. But International Packaged revenue falls 6.9% to £20.0 million. Looking ahead, Nichols adds: ‘The company has begun trading in Q3 positively and in line with management expectations. Reflecting the progress made in H1 and underpinned by the group’s ongoing focus on driving margin improvement, the board now expects to report full year adjusted profit before tax slightly ahead of current market expectations.’ It puts market expectations for adjusted pretax profit at £28.8 million.
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Totally PLC - Derby, England-based company is a provider of frontline healthcare services, corporate fitness and wellbeing services across the UK and Ireland - In the financial year to March 31, swings to pretax loss of £3.9 million from £1.8 million profit a year prior. Revenue falls 21% to £106.7 million from £135.7 million. Debt remains unchanged, and the company continues to have headroom on all bank covenants. Basic losses per share are 1.60 pence compared to EPS of 0.94p a year ago. No dividend proposed. ‘With the healthcare market now easing and after allowing for the full year impact of the previously flagged contract exits, the company expects revenues for the year ending March 31, 2025 to be around £85 million and [earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation] to be not less than £3.5 million.’
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