The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Friday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Keywords Studios PLC - provider of technical and creative services for video game production - Provides trading update for 2024 to date. Remains confident in delivering good overall revenue growth in 2024, with performance expected to be second half weighted as the sector starts to emerge from the slower content creation trends that are currently dampening industry spend and therefore Keywords’ growth. But notes a small number of larger game development projects have been deferred or cancelled in the first half. This, together with ongoing softer demand in Globalize and the relatively slow ramp-up in content production in Hollywood, has meant that reported revenue is expected to grow by around 7% in the first half, with organic growth expected to be around minus 2%. First half adjusted operating margins seen around 13%. Notes pipeline of of active M&A opportunities.
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Hipgnosis Songs Fund Ltd - London-based music investment company - Court sanctions scheme by which bid by Blackstone Inc will be implemented. Scheme expected to become effective on Monday. Shares expected to be suspended on Monday.
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Supermarket Income REIT PLC - London-based real estate investment trust - Completes £170 million refinancing through its first private placement debt issuance and a new unsecured bank facility. Signs and completes an agreement with a group of institutional investors for a private placement of €83 million of new senior unsecured notes. The notes have a maturity of seven years and a fixed rate coupon of 4.44%. Also refinances existing £97 million secured debt facility with Deka through a new £100 million unsecured debt facility with ING Bank NV.
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Petershill Partners PLC - London-based investment group focussed on private equity and other private capital strategies - Aggregate partner-firm assets under management rise 11% to $332 billion from a year prior. At June 30, partner-firms had $8 billion of AUM which is not yet paying fees, similar to the level at December 31 2023.
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Man Group PLC - London-based active investment manager focused on private markets - In the six months to June 30, pretax profit rises to $164 million from $83 million a year prior. Core net revenue rises to $761 million from $513 million, earnings per share climb to 17.1 US cents from 8.9 cents. Assets under management June 30 is $178.2 billion from $167.5 billion on December 31. Notes net inflows of $0.9 billion, positive investment performance of $11.1 billion. Declares 5.6 cents interim dividend, as guided and unchanged from a year ago. Says ‘business is in great shape’ going into the second half. ‘We have started the year strongly, delivering for our clients in a market environment driven by the evolution of forward interest rates, expectations of technological disruption, and the outcome of elections globally,’ company says.
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GCP Infrastructure Investments Ltd - Jersey-based investment company, which is focused on infrastructure - Net asset value per share at June 30 is 107.58 pence, down slightly from 107.62 pence at March 31. The portfolio continues to perform materially in line with the company’s expectations.
Announces a dividend of 1.75 pence per share for April to June, in line with the annual dividend target of 7p per ordinary share.
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Jupiter Fund Management PLC - London-based ‘high-conviction’ active asset manager - In the six months to June 30 pretax profit grows 11% to £38.7 million from £34.8 million a year prior. Net revenue, however, falls to £173.7 million from £181.0 million. Basic earnings per share are 5.4 pence, up from 4.6p. Total dividend is cut to 3.2p from 6.4p. Discloses outflow of £3.4 billion in the period. Assets under management little changed at £51.3 billion. ‘Jupiter delivered a solid financial performance during the first half of the year consistent with our expectations despite experiencing outflows, which were nearly all associated with changes in the Value team and to the management of the Chrysalis Investment Trust,’ company says. Sees reasons to be ‘cautiously optimistic’.
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Poolbeg Pharma PLC - London-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company - Announces it is voluntarily delisting its ordinary shares from trading on the OTCQB market due to low trading volume and associated administrative requirements. Last day of trading will be Monday. Reaffirms its ambitions to be dual listed on a national securities exchange in the US, such as Nasdaq, subject to meeting their listing requirements at the appropriate time.
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EQTEC PLC - Cork, Ireland-based thermochemical conversion technology company - Confirms the acquisition of two lots of property in Castiglione d’Orcia, Italy that houses the EQTEC Italia MDC plant and feedstock storage facilities. Pays EUE0.6 million cash.
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ACG Acquisition Co Ltd - special purpose acquisition company focused on new economy metals mining - Extends deadline by Class A shareholders wish to redeem all or a portion of their depositary interests to August 13 from July 30.
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Great Southern Copper PLC - Chile-focused copper, gold, and lithium explorer - In the year to March 31, pretax loss widens to £1.8 million from £1.3 million. Loss per shares improves to 0.64 pence from 0.61p. ‘The next six to twelve months promise to be an exciting period for the company with plans in place to drill our priority targets. Our strengthened financial position enables us to accelerate our exploration activities, ensuring that we maximise the value of our asset base,’ company says.
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Jadestone Energy PLC - Asia-Pacific focused upstream oil and gas company - Announces that through the Malaysia bid round plus it has been awarded a 100% participating interest in a small field asset production sharing contract offshore peninsular Malaysia by Petroliam Nasional Berhad.
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Oberon Investments Group PLC - investment management, wealth planning and corporate broking firm - In the year to March 31, revenue increases by 50% to £7.58 million from £5.05 million last year. Group loss narrows to £2.7 million from £3.9 million. Says activity levels continue to grow at a rapid pace in the first quarter following several new initiatives and client wins. Growth is expected to continue in financial 2025, with target revenue growth of more than 30% on a like-for-like basis. On track to move towards profitability in the second half of financial 2025, barring exceptional costs.
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Trident Royalties PLC - diversified mining royalty company - Court meeting approves scheme by which bid by Deterra Global Holdings Pty Ltd will be implemented.
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Panthera Resources PLC - gold exploration and development company owning multiple assets across West Africa and India - Australian subsidiary Indo Gold Pty Ltd formally issued a notice of arbitration with the Republic of India over the latter’s breaches of its obligations under the 1999 Agreement between the Government of Australia and the Government of the Republic of India on the Promotion and Protection of Investments.
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