The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Arbuthnot Banking Group PLC - London-based merchant bank - As at April 30, loan balances including leased assets increase 6.1% to £2.37 billion from £2.23 billion a year prior. Funds under management as at April 30 at £1.87 billion, up 10% since the start of 2024 and 36% higher than a year ago, ‘driven by strong net flows’. The company held its annual general meeting on Wednesday.
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Benchmark Holdings PLC - Worthing, England-based fish farming technology company - Pretax loss balloons to £7.9 million in the six months ended March 31, from £1.2 million a year prior. Revenue falls 19% to £80.2 million from £98.7 million, while cost of sales decrease by merely 17% to £41.0 million from £49.3 million. Looking ahead, the company says it is trading in line with the management’s expectations for the full year. ‘There is good visibility of revenue in Genetics including excellent progress in Chile, and there have been no operational or financial consequences from the infectious salmon anaemia (ISA) incident reported in February this year,’ it says.
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KRM22 PLC - London-based technology and software company aiming to help capital markets companies reduce the cost and complexity of risk management through its range of services - Pretax loss widens 49% to £4.9 million in 2023 from £3.3 million in 2022. Revenue grows 23% to £5.3 million from £4.3 million. Administrative costs increase 45% to £8.8 million from £6.1 million. Cost of sales increase 20% to £1.1 million from £955,000. Further, reports an impairment cost of intangible assets of £1.6 million for 2023 compared to none for 2022. Looking ahead, KRM22 says it has continued to make good progress towards its target of becoming a £10.0 million annualised recurring revenue business. ARR stood at £6.0 million as at Wednesday. Chief Executive Officer Dan Carter says: ‘ The pipeline of sales opportunities is strong and the reorganisation of our workforce in early 2024 will help us manage the cost base of the business as we look towards the move to positive adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and cashflows.’ Adjusted Ebitda loss was £1.4 million in 2023, narrowed 17% from £1.7 million in 2022.
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Mpac Group PLC - Tadcaster, England-based packaging automation company - Notes first production trial of 24M Technologies SemiSolid unit cells has been completed at Freyr’s customer qualification plant in Norway. The plant will move to continuous production and manufacture sample cells. Mark Dudziak, senior director, Advanced Manufacturing at 24M Technologies says: ‘This is an important step toward demonstrating the production of SemiSolid technology at GWh-scale.’
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Phoenix Digital Assets PLC - London-based investment fund for digital assets focused on large cap crypto currency - Reports pretax profit of £49.9 million for the three months to March 31, on the back of a £53.2 million fair valuation gain on movements in digital assets and tokens. Further, proposes tender offer to buy shares for up to £33.7 million for up to 625.0 million shares at 5.39 pence per share. Chair Jonathan Bixby says: ‘This Tender Offer is a means of returning this value to shareholders and safeguarding the future of Phoenix as we continue our strategic aim of becoming the premier large cap crypto currency fund in the UK.’
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Rockhopper Exploration PLC - Salisbury, England-based oil and gas exploration company with key interests in the Falkland Islands - Pretax loss widens 41% to £4.6 million in 2023 from £3.2 million in 2022. Reports no revenue, compared to £652,000 in 2022. Administrative costs increase 18% to £4.3 million from £3.6 million. Notably, gain from foreign exchange movement dives to £307,000 from £6.6 million. Finance expenses decrease to £497,000 from £4.2 million. Looking ahead, Rockhopper says: ‘Whilst there continue to be some risks, with a strong balance sheet, a signed transaction to monetise the Ombrina Mare Arbitration and a highly economic Sea Lion development plan in place, we believe your company remains well placed to deliver long term value to its shareholders.’
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Samarkand Group PLC - cross-border eCommerce technology solutions provider, which has headquarters in Shanghai and London - Expects results for the financial year ended March 31 to be in line with market guidance relating to adjusted Ebitda, with revenue set to be below guidance. The firm anticipates revenue to be 3% to 4% lower, while adjusted Ebitda loss is set to be reduced by 55%, citing ‘material improvements in gross margin, growth in our owned brands and the delivery of operating efficiencies across the business as we continue to focus on profitable growth.’ Looking ahead, Samarkand is optimistic: ‘we enter FY25 in a better position than prior year. Our adjusted Ebitda in the fourth quarter of FY24 was close to breakeven demonstrating the progress we have made in improving our run rate gross margins and costs.’
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