News blog

Quoted Micro 8 April 2019

  • BY: Andrew Hore |
  • POSTED: 08/04/2019 |

NEX EXCHANGE

SG Recruitment (SGRL) says that trading in the six months to December 2018 trading was in line with expectations and the previous six months period. There was cash of £31,000 and loans of £126,000 from holding company, Gulf Healthcare Holdings Ltd. A further £1.2m can be borrowed from Gulf.

Forbes Ventures (FOR) sold its stake in KCR Residential REIT (KCR) last year. NAV fell from £401,000 to £45,000 at the end of 2018. Forbes still owns a stake in challenger bank Allica Ltd, which was formerly known as Civilised Bank. The focus is investment in technology that improves the efficiency of finance, property and legal businesses.

High Growth Capital (HASH) says that it needs to change from an investing company into an operational company in order to exploit digital technology opportunities. Christopher Fong has stepped down as chief executive.

Ananda Developments (ANA) says that its investee company iCAN Israel Cannabis has raised C$4m from a convertible loan note issue at a premium to Ananda’s investment. Sativa Investments (SATI) has entered into a research agreement with King’s College London on the impact of cannabinoids on inflammation and respiratory diseases. Sativa will supply specific strains of cannabis.

Milamber Ventures (MLVP) plans to leave NEX and move to the JP Jenkins matched bargains platform, which it believes is more cost effective. Loans and charges for services totalling £521,000 have been converted into shares at 9p a share and 13p a share.

Churchill Mining (CHL) intends to appoint an administrator. Trading in the shares remains suspended.

AIM

NWF (NWF) has acquired Cornwall-based fuel distributor Consols Oil, which delivers 25 million litres a year. The previous fuels acquisition has been integrated with the company’s depot in Kenilworth. Group trading remains in line with expectations.

Instem (INS) is still benefiting from the move to SEND for submitting data to the FDA in the US and there is more growth to come. Instem is benefiting from outsourced work relating to SEND because other companies cannot cope with the workload. The team is being expanded so that it can cope with £500,000 of work each month, which would be an increase of more than one-third. In 2018, revenues were 8% higher at £22.7m but underlying pre-tax profit was 47% ahead at £2.61m. North America accounts for 51% of revenues. There was £3.57m in cash at the year-end.

Biopesticide products developer Eden Research (EDEN) reported a 48% increase in 2018 revenues to £2.8m, thanks to doubled product sales and a slight increase in milestone payments. The operating loss was reduced. There was net cash of £2.5m at the end of 2018. Earlier this year, Eden’s second product, nematicide formulation Cedroz, has gained EU approval via Malta, although individual state approval is still required and this is being sought by its partner Eastman Chemical. That means that this year there are likely to be limited sales to the greenhouse market, but next year it should be available for the new crop. Eden associate TerpeneTech is expected to start sales of its head lice treatment in the UK later in the year.

Churchill China (CHH) has acquired some of the assets of its rival Dudsons, which has gone into administration, for £2.1m. This includes the Dudson brand and two product ranges (Harvest and Evo). There is also some plant and equipment that will be moved to Churchill’s facility.

Lighthouse (LGT) is recommending a 33p a share bid from fully listed Quilter (QLT) and this values the IFA at £46.2m. Shareholders will still get the 0.5p a share final dividend. Quilter owns Intrinsic, which is a network of more than 3,500 advisers and provides advice to more than 200,000 clients.

Shareholders failed to pass resolution four at the Photonstar LED (PSL) general meeting. This would have enabled directors to issue new shares. Previously announced subscriptions were conditional on all the general meeting resolutions being passed, so the future of the shell, which is changing its name to Bould Opportunities, is uncertain.

Property investor Wynnstay Properties (WSP) says a new valuation of its investment properties has increased by £771,000 to £35.1m. That is an extra 28p a share before tax. The tenant of the Basingstoke property has applied for planning permission and the lease and option deal has been extended until the end of September 2019.

Wind turbine sensors developer Windar Photonics (WPHO) has entered into an agreement with The Technical University of Denmark to broaden the capabilities of Windar’s retro-fit products. The software should be launched during 2020.

Minds + Machines (MMX) increased its revenues from £14.3m to £15.1m in 2018 and edged up profit to £3.2m as marketing spending was reduced. The internet top level domain names company will have a full year contribution from ICM in 2019 and pre-tax profit is expected to rise to £4.1m.

Urban Exposure (UEX) arranged £525m of property loans and £371m of asset management agreements in 2018. Management is taking on additional staff and increasing costs because it believes that there are strong growth prospects. That means that the company will continue to lose money in 2019. Even so, this year’s dividend of 2.5p a share, which is for part of the year, should be doubled to 5p a share for the first full year as a quoted company.

Scientific Digital Imaging (SDI) has acquired MPB Industries and this has boosted earnings per share by 8% to 3.3p in 2019-20. Kent-based MPB manufactures flowmeters and process control instrumentation and is costing £1.6m. Customers include BAE, Rolls-Royce and BP.

MAIN MARKET

Spectre Holdings is making a mandatory cash offer for Bonmarche (BON) and the loss-making womenswear retailer’s directors are considering the bid. Spectre bought BM Holdings’ 52.4% stake for 11.445p a share so it has to make the same offer to other shareholders. Spectre believes that it can offer guidance to the boar on how to turnaround the business.

Highway Capital (HWC) has published its annual reports for the year to February 2017 and the year to February 2018. The latest net liabilities are £544,000. The main asset at the end of February 2018 was £282,000 of loans receivable from Mylux and these have subsequently bee received. The shell had failed to announce convertible loan notes that had been issued and other loans in the past couple of years. Peterhouse has been appointed as financial adviser.

A general meeting has been requisitioned at Argo Blockchain (ARB) in order to remove Jonathan Bixby and Mike Edwards from the board. First Investments Holdings is behind the requisition and it wants to appoint another director.

Stranger Holdings (STHP) has signed non-binding heads of terms for the purchase of HCS (North East) Ltd, which provides goods to local government and social housing providers. Stranger has also signed heads of terms for the acquisition of The Airedale House Group, which has health and well being operations.

BATM (BVC) has received $14.5m of initial investment in Ador Diagnostics. Up to $30m could be invested. BATM owns 38.2% of Ador, which has an enterprise value of $44.5m. The other $15.5m will be invested before the end of 2020 at a 33.3% premium to the current enterprise valuation.

Flavour and fragrance ingredients supplier Treatt (TET) increased its interim revenues by 7%, even though the important citrus price was weak. The order book is strong.

Athelney Trust (ATY) had advised voting against resolutions 10, 11 and 12 at its AGM. The first two of these, the election as directors of S Moore and Dr Pohl, who regained his seat on the board by a narrow margin, were successful, but they failed to remove David Lawman from the board. Mrs H Sachdev was not re-elected to the board.
Andrew Hore

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