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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Springfield Properties PLC - Scottish housebuilder - Revenue in six months to end of November £87.3 million, down from £94.4 million a year ago. This leads to drop in pretax profit to £6.2 million from £8.6 million. However, interim dividend is raised to 1.5 pence from 1.3p. ‘Private housing completions were comparatively lower primarily due to H1 2021 being boosted by completions that had been scheduled for handover in the final two months of 2020, but rolled over due to the Covid-19 lockdown. It also reflects the timing of completions, with handovers having started at eight new private developments since period end,’ company says. Is on track to deliver full-year results in line with market expectations. It adds: ‘The group is well-positioned to manage the moderate inflationary cost pressures that are being experienced across the industry thanks to its robust supply chain, with a high proportion of materials being procured directly. The group also continues to expect house price inflation to absorb any increased build costs this year.’
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Blancco Technology Group PLC - Bishop’s Stotford, England-based provider of mobile device diagnostics - Revenue for half-year to December 31 rises 13% to £19.7 million from £17.4 million, and pretax profit jumps to £1.8 million from £525,000. Says pipeline and early third quarter sales activity provides confidence for second half, but operating margins anticipated to slightly reduce in the short term due to wage inflation and a return to more normalised levels of travel expenditure. Adds: ‘However, with a full sales pipeline of opportunities as we enter the second half of the financial year, we look forward with confidence to another period of growth.’
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Benchmark Holdings PLC - Sheffield, England-based aquaculture genetics, health and nutrition company - First quarter revenue up 28% year-on-year with ‘good growth’ in all three business areas. Advanced Nutrition revenue up 26%, Genetics revenue up 20% and Health sales surge more than four-fold. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £7.4 million for the quarter is more than double £3.0 million a year before, helped as the adjusted Ebitda margin strengthens to 18.6% from 10.4%. However, on statutory basis, pretax loss widens to £3.7 million from £500,000. Says it is trading in line with internal expectations following good first quarter. ‘The positive market environment in our core species, our leading market positions, together with our focused strategy and financial discipline positions the Group well to reach profitability and deliver growth,’ says Chief Executive Trond Williksen.
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Zinnwald Lithium PLC - High Wycombe, England-based mineral exploration and development company - Pretax loss for 2021 narrows to €1.7 million from €2.2 million, helped as firm books €1.0 million revaluation gain on joint venture. Says it passed number of milestones during year, such as gaining full control of Zinnwald lithium project. Says it is well funded for 2022 with €7.7 million cash position. ‘We look forward to reporting further progress in the year ahead as we further develop the project towards a Bankable Feasibility Study for Lithium Hydroxide,’ firm adds.
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Herald Investment Trust PLC - invests in smaller quoted companies operating in telecommunications, multimedia and technology areas - Reports net asset value per share of 2,719.3p at end of December, up 19% from 2,285.3p a year before. This compares favourably to increase of 18% for Numis Smaller Companies plus AIM (excluding investment companies) Index and increase of 15% for Russell 2000 Technology Index (small cap) in sterling terms. Does not recommend dividend for year, in line with 2020.
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Belluscura PLC - London-based oxygen enrichment technology developer - Pretax loss for 2021 $5.2 million, widened from $2.0 million in 2020. This is on increased administrative expenses. Registers revenue of $420,316 for year, versus nothing in 2020. Says year was ‘transformational’ and adds trading in first six weeks of 2022 has continued to accelerate. ‘We are delighted with the progress we made in 2021, having successfully launched our first X-PLOR product into the growing supplemental oxygen market. Alongside this, we have continued to develop our follow-on products which will be launched in 2022. The company has a strong balance sheet and is well positioned to deliver substantial growth in 2022. We look forward to the future with confidence,’ says Chief Executive Robert Rauker.
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Bluefield Solar Income Fund Ltd - Guernsey, UK-based investment company focused on low-carbon assets in the UK - Net asset value per share 122.96p at end of December, up from 115.83p at end of June. ‘It is pleasing to report on another successful period for Bluefield Solar. Having performed very well during the pandemic, Bluefield remains an ideal home for investors looking for robust sterling income with sector leading earnings and dividends,’ says Chair John Rennocks. Raises dividend target for full-year to 8.16p per share, which would be up from 8.0p for the prior year.
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Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Holdings PLC - pharmaceutical company developing prescription cannabinoid medicines - Pretax loss for six months to end of November £2.3 million, widened from £814,495 year-on-year. This is due to growth in research costs and administrative expenses, as well as £204,317 in exceptional items. Firm says good progress made across all four of its current drug development programmes. ‘The fundamentals of the group remain strong, delivering against the strategy laid out in the IPO prospectus and with a strong financial base,’ says Chief Executive John Lucas.
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