2024-03-13 20:50:38
(Alliance News) – Here is an overview of the results and transactions of London-listed companies, published on Wednesday and not reported separately by Alliance News:
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PensionBee Group PLC – UK online pension services provider – Revenue increased 35% to £23.8m in 2023, up from £17.7m the previous year. The pre-tax loss narrowed to £10.7m from £22.4m. The adjusted loss before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization fell from £19.5 million to £8.2 million. The basic loss per share fell 53%, from 9.97p to 4.73p. Assets under administration reached £4.35 billion at the end of the year, up 44% from £3.03 billion at the end of 2022. Chief Executive Romi Savova says: “Having achieved our ambitious and long-standing goal of achieving adjusted Ebitda profitability in the fourth quarter of 2023, we are confident in our continued growth, supported by profitability… we have announced our expansion plan in the United States, the world’s largest market for defined contribution retirement plans, where we see a huge opportunity to help many consumers in the United States who also struggle to adequately prepare for retirement as they navigate a complex and confusing pension landscape.” Looking ahead, PensionBee says it is aiming to sign up one million invested customers, which would allow it to reach a turnover of around £150 million in the long term.
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Faron Pharmaceuticals Ltd – a drug discovery and development company based in Turku, Finland – says its pre-tax loss widened to €30.9 million in 2023, from €28.7 million l ‘last year. The company’s net assets totaled a negative €15.2 million at the end of the year, up from a negative €11.5 million at the end of 2022. Clinical trials of its cancer immunotherapy product candidate Bexmarilab progressed significantly during the year. Markku Jalkanen, Chief Executive Officer, said: “Throughout the year, we have reported very encouraging data for bexmarilimab, showing a remarkable overall response rate in both high-risk, front-line MDS patients and in MDS patients who failed MDA. These are very significant results, considering the treatment combinations these patients had previously failed to complete and the very limited options available for future therapies “They open the way to market and reinforce our confidence in the potential of this new immunotherapy to treat patients with aggressive hematologic malignancies.”
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Public Policy Holdings Company Inc – Washington DC-based group of consulting firms specializing in government relations and public relations – Achieves “record financial performance and excellent strategic progress” in 2023. Revenue has increased by 24%, from USD 108.8 million to USD 135 million. Underlying Ebitda increased 12% from USD 31.2 million to USD 35.1 million, in line with market expectations. Underlying net income increased 14% from USD 23.3 million to USD 26.5 million. Basic underlying earnings per share increased 9.7%, from 21.45 cents to 23.54 cents. PPHC’s annual dividend of 14.30 cents per share increased 2.1% from 14.00 cents a year ago. All business sectors recorded year-over-year growth. The company attributes its success to several acquisitions, including that of MultiState Associates Inc, which “will contribute healthily to the group’s revenue and Ebitda” by 2023. PPHC continues to target an Ebitda margin of between 25 and 30%, in line with the 26% margin forecast for 2023. Stewart Hall, managing director, said: “Increasing demand for our services has enabled us to generate solid levels of organic growth and healthy expansion in the number total customers. From a strategic perspective, we are progressing well with a healthy pipeline of value-add acquisition opportunities and the strength of our holding company model is validated by the outperformance of our two most recent acquisitions. “
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Sovereign Metals Ltd – Project-focused graphite development company in Malawi – In the six months ended December 31, the company’s operating loss was A$7.0 million, up from A$8.5 million million Australian dollars the previous year. Exploration and evaluation spending totaled A$5 million, up from A$5.8 million, which the company said was driven by the pre-feasibility study of its Kasiya project in Malawi. Interest income increased from AUD 138,366 to AUD 938,402.
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Commonwealth Bank of Australia – Sydney-based financial services and retail banking company – Issued $1.25 billion of subordinated notes, due March 2034. The bonds were issued under the bond program medium-term senior and subordinated bonds of the company, amounting to $50.00 billion.
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OptiBiotix Health Ltd – life sciences company specializing in the fight once morest obesity, high cholesterol, diabetes and skin care – signs a partnership agreement with Dr Morepen Ltd, a diagnostics company based in New Delhi, for the sale of SlimBiome weight loss products in India under the latter’s brand. Stephen O’Hara, Chairman and CEO, said: “Morepen brings a broad sales team with experience in highly differentiated science-based products and access to a network of approximately 500,000 pharmacies in India. Based on current forecasts “, the directors estimate that this agreement might generate revenues of around £6 million to £7 million per year over the next four to five years.”
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MacFarlane Group PLC – Glasgow based packaging company – Acquisition of Allpack Packaging Supplies Ltd, a packaging materials company based in Bury Saint Edmunds. This profit-enhancing acquisition is part of Macfarlane’s strategy to grow its protective packaging business through a combination of organic and external growth. In 2023, Allpack achieved a turnover of £3 million, as well as gross operating surplus and profit before tax of £600,000. All Allpack employees will join MacFarlane. MacFarland will provide a maximum consideration of £3 .3 million, including a performance-based earnout of £750,000, funded by the company’s existing bank facility.
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Cora Gold Ltd – gold exploration company focused on Mali and Senegal – Following the conversion of 2.3 million USD of convertible loan notes into 82.0 million ordinary shares of no par value of the company, issued an outstanding CLN for a total of USD 13.0 million maturing on March 12. The company’s cash balance is now over USD 2.9 million. Bert Monro, Managing Director, said: “With strong cash reserves, we look forward to providing updates on the progress of our Sanankoro gold project in Mali, including the submission of a mining permit application once the current moratorium is lifted, as well as broader exploration activities across all of our permits.”
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Electric Guitar PLC – Marketing services company based in Reading – Intends to apply to the Financial Conduct Authority to remove the company’s shares from the FCA’s official list and cease admission to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. This request precedes its proposal to admit its shares to trading on the AIM. The company plans to convene a shareholders’ meeting to approve the acquisition of 3radical Ltd in the coming weeks.
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Capricorn Energy PLC – Edinburgh-based oil and gas exploration company – The Securities and Exchange Board of India has ordered Vedanta Ltd to pay it USD 9.5 million within 45 days. The payment relates to the non-payment of a dividend to Capricorn UK Holdings by Vedanta, a Mumbai-based mining company.
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Oxford BioDynamics PLC – Oxford-based biotechnology company with a portfolio of clinical trials using its EpiSwitch technology – announces a fundraising through a placement to raise £9 million and a retail offering for a maximum amount of £1.3 million, with an issue price of 9 pence per share in both cases. The issue price represents a 21% discount to the company’s closing price of 11.40 pence on Tuesday. Placement results are expected to be released on Thursday. Shares in Oxford BioDynamics closed 11% lower at 10.20 pence each in London on Wednesday.
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Cooks Coffee Co Ltd – New Zealand-based, UK-focused coffee chain – announces plans to undertake a share investment and purchase plan. The plan will result in up to 5.7 million new shares in the company at an issue price of NZD0.20 per share, aiming to raise up to NZD1.7 million, or approximately GBP820,000. Cooks says the goal of the fundraising is to invest in enhancing the company’s digital programs, including its delivery, click and collect and loyalty programs, as well as expanding its operations. in the Middle East and Europe.
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By Hugh Cameron, Alliance News reporter
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