The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Thursday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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XP Factory PLC - Crawley, England-based entertainment company operating under the Boom Battle Bar and Escape Hunt brands - Updates on trading for the 52 weeks to December 31. Revenue reaches around £44.5 million, nearly double last year’s £22.8 million. Boom like-for-like sales up 29% and Escape Hunt up 17%. Record corporate sales at Christmas drove strong like-for-like sales in December - at Boom up 50% and Escape Hunt up 20%. Performance provides confidence of meeting market expectations for the financial year to March 31.
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Zotefoams PLC - Croydon-based cellular material technology firm - Expects to report revenue for the year ended December 31 in line with current market expectations and similar to the previous year at £127.0 million. Revenue in 2022 totalled £127.4 million. Adjusted pretax profit expected to be £13.1 million compared to £12.5 million a year ago, a group record and around 5% ahead of current market expectations. Sees 21% increase in the combined segment profitability of polyolefin and HPP business units and a segment loss of £4.1 million in the MuCell Extrusion business unit. Says ‘well positioned to deliver further profitable growth.’
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Restore PLC - London-based provider of digital and information management and lifecycle services - Expects to report adjusted pretax profit for the year to December 31 in line with market expectations. ‘Whilst 2023 was a challenging year for the group, our foundation of highly contracted and recurring income streams, in particular our storage revenue, underpinned our financial performance,’ company says. Notes cash generation remained healthy, with anticipated year-end net debt of around £98 million, towards the lower end of market expectations. Will publish full-year results on March 14.
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N Brown Group PLC - Manchester-based clothing and footwear company - Reports revenue in the 18 weeks ended January 6 fell 9.7% to £226.0 million from a year ago. Highlights improving product revenue trend. This reflects an improvement in both clothing & footwear and home businesses in the quarter. Strong performance was seen in categories including third-party branded womenswear and lingerie, beauty, gaming consoles and its premium own-brand, Anthology. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation guidance remains unchanged. Net debt is anticipated to improve when compared to previous guidance and is expected to be under £260 million at the end of the financial year.
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Headlam Group PLC - Birmingham, England-based floor coverings distributor - Says underlying pretax profit for the year ended December 31 is expected to be in line with market expectations. Notes UK revenue for the year was broadly flat versus the prior year, with Continental Europe declining by 7.7%. Explains the UK residential market was weak from September, as consumers cut back spending on home improvement projects. But revenue from the commercial sector was more robust, along with revenue from larger customers and trade counters, which finished the year up 26% and 8.5% respectively, with December being a record month for average daily sales in the trade counters business. Full year results are scheduled to be announced on March 5.
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M&C Saatchi PLC - London-based advertising agency - Headline pretax profit for the 12 months ended December 31 is expected to be in line with market expectations, underpinned by strong second half profit improvement as a result of cost saving initiatives and a simplified structure. Second half operating profit margin is expected to have improved to 16% from 8% in the first half. Full year net revenue is expected to be £252 million, down 7% on £271 million, the year before. Net cash at December 31 was £8.2 million, compared to £30.0 million, a year ago. This reflects the settlement of put options and some changes in the mix of working capital.
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Gear4Music Holdings PLC - York, England-based online retailer of musical instruments and equipment - Reports peak season trading in-line with expectations, strong margin progress, and trading in line with full year market expectations. Revenue in third-quarter to December 31 fell 6% to £46.4 million from £49.5 million. ‘January trading to date continues to be in line with the board’s expectations. We are confident that the actions we have taken during FY24 to improve our gross margins and reduce our cost base and net debt ensure that the business is well positioned for profitable growth during FY25,’ company says.
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The Pebble Group PLC - Reports results for the year ending December 31 which will be published on March 19, and are expected to be in line with current market expectations. Group revenue will be around £124 million compared to £134.0 million the year before. This is expected to generate adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of around £16 million, down from £18.0 million a year ago. Cash generation was slightly ahead of expectations, with net cash (excluding IFRS 16 liabilities) at December 31 of £15.9 million compared to £15.1 million last year.
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Franchise Brands PLC - Manchester-based owner of ChipsAway, Willow Pumps and Metro Rod brands - Expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the year December 31 to be within the range of current market expectations of £29.2 million to £30.1 million. ‘Despite challenging macro-economic conditions, the resilient underlying demand for the group’s essential reactive services means that the business continues to perform well and grow, with its key divisions all achieving record results in 2023,’ company says.
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Niox Group PLC - Oxford-based developer of medical devices for asthma diagnosis and management - Reports revenue growth of around 18% to £36.8 million in the year to December 31, up from £31.3 million last year. Expects adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in line with expectations at around £11.4 million, up from £7.3 million last year. Gross margin improved to 72% from 71% in 2022, with recurring test kit revenues for the clinical business continuing to represent a high proportion of clinical sales at 92%.
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TheWorks.co.uk PLC - Birmingham, England-based retailer of arts and crafts - Reports revenue growth in the six months to October 29 of 3.1% to £122.6 million from £118.9 million the year before. Like-for-like sales grew 1.6% against a challenging backdrop with softened consumer demand. Pretax loss widened to £14.8 million from £7.3 million the year prior, basic loss per share totalled 17.6 pence compared to 8.4p the year before. Further, reports like-for-like sales declined 4.9% in the 11 weeks ended January 14. This was lower than anticipated and was primarily a result of the challenging consumer environment and subdued demand over the festive period. Retains expectation for full-year pre IFRS 16 adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of around £6.0 million.
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