The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Tuesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Vector Capital PLC - London-based commercial lending group - Pretax profit for the six months ended June 30 falls by 19% to £1.3 million from £1.6 million a year prior, partly driven by administrative expenses increasing by 73% to £532,000. Revenue is down 3.3% to £2.9 million from £3.0 million. Cites a ‘prudent’ approach to lending. Interim dividend is unchanged at 1.00 pence per share. Looking ahead, it says it is ‘cautious’ but ‘excited’ about capitalising on opportunities ahead. Chief Executive Officer Agam Jain says: ‘Our strategy this year has been to seek to maintain higher liquidity, with a correspondingly lower loan book and reduced wholesale borrowings. To the extent that we lend our own capital, we can now earn a much higher return than previously. We have a strong capital base which provides the board with a high level of confidence that we can weather continued or increased economic headwinds.’
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SulNOx Group PLC - London-based greentech company specialising in liquid hydrocarbon fuel decarbonisation - Says in the financial year ended March 31, pretax loss narrows to £1.9 million from £2.0 million a year prior as administrative expenses fall marginally to £2.0 million. Turnover tripled to £203,076 from £33,522. Looking ahead, says it continues to seek opportunities to drive growth.
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Arcontech Group PLC - London-based provider of real-time financial market data and services - Says in the year ended June 30, pretax profit grows by 30% to £985,696 from £758,573 a year prior. Cites a combination of ‘lower than anticipated staff related costs’ as well as a release of accruals of £110,000. Revenue falls marginally by 3.6% to £2.7 million from £2.8 million, and citing cancellations. Declares a final dividend for financial 2023 of 3.5 pence per share, up 7.7% from 3.25p per share a year prior. Looking ahead, says it is optimistic about returning to revenue growth in the near future. Chair Geoff Wicks says: ‘We remain optimistic that we will return to revenue growth in the near term, even though our markets remain challenging. Interest in our products is higher than we have seen for some time, and we have demonstrated we can compete in a price sensitive market with products that are market leading’.
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Aura Renewable Acquisitions PLC - acquisition company for businesses operating in the renewable energy sector - Says in the six months to June 30, pretax loss narrows to £68,598 from £164,065 a year prior, as administrative expenses fall by 54% to £74,850. Posts no half-year revenue, unchanged from the year before. Looking ahead, expects to continue operational existence in the near term future. Chair John Croft says: ‘The board has continued to investigate a number of potential acquisition and investment opportunities during the year-to-date, in the UK and overseas, which could offer the scale and scalability required to achieve significant growth in this crucially important market sector. We also continue to engage regularly with the board’s extensive financial networks to maintain the company’s profile and promote its expansion strategy with the board’s extensive introducer base.’
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Highcroft Investments PLC - England and Wales-focused real estate investor - Says net asset on June 30 was 1080 pence per share, down 21% from 1364p a year prior. Pretax profit in the six months to June 30 falls by 74% to £1.7 million from £6.5 million the year before. Interim gross rental income falls by 7.1% to £2.6 million from £2.8 million. Declares an interim dividend of 23p per share, unchanged from a year ago. Looking ahead, expects performance to improve in the second half of 2023.
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