News blog

AIM 50 Digest 24 February 2023

BY: Andrew Hore |
POSTED: 26/02/2023 |

Construction materials supplier SigmaRoc (SRC) raised £30m from a placing and retail offer at 54p a share, which was a premium to the then market price. Selling three assets will raise a further £9m. Management says that the money will be invested in acquisitions projects that could produce annualised pre-tax profit of £6m. Overall, the fundraising and the deals should be slightly earnings enhancing. Net debt remains high but could fall below £170m by the end of the year. The chief executive of the Nordkalk subsidiary bought 27,500 shares at 57.797p each after the placing was announced.
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Vet practices owner CVS Group (CVSG) grew like-for-like interim revenues by 7.5% and the pace of acquisitions has increased. Margins also increased. In the six months to December 2022, revenues increased from £273.7m to £296.3m, while underlying pre-tax profit improved from £36.2m to £41.1m. Net debt was £57.6m at the end of 2022. The new £350m bank facility leaves plenty of cash to fund other acquisitions, which may not all be in the UK. Five practices were acquired in the first half and a further three since then. Peel Hunt forecasts that full year pre-tax profit will improve from £75.2m to £82.6m.
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Logistics Development Group (LDG) has bought a further 5.84 million shares in Alliance Pharma (APH) at an average price of 59.11p each – a total cost of £3.45m. Logistics Development Group has a 3.46% stake. The previous purchase cost £5.92m at an average share price of 46.11p. Alliance Pharma shares at 68.3p value the stake at nearly £12.8m – a gain of £3.5m.
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Verification services provider GB Group (GBG) says revenues will be lower than expected in the year to March 2023. Demand has been weak in North America, particularly from cryptocurrency customers, where revenues are £15m lower. Underlying operating profit should be £60m, including a £3m foreign exchange gain. Chair Richard Longdon acquired an initial 29,876 shares at 333.3721p each. A closing statement will be published in April.
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Pan African Resources (PAF) reported a fall in gold production in the six months to December 2022. Production was 92,307 ounces, but full year guidance remains between 195,000 ounces and 205,000 ounces. Costs of production/ounce increased because of the lower volume.
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MP Evans (MPE) has commissioned a new palm oil mill at Musi Rawas, which is the sixth operated by the palm oil plantations company. This will help to improve extraction rates. Harvesting started at Musi Rawas in 2017 and the trees are maturing.
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Aquaculture company Benchmark Holdings (BMK) has acquired the 10.5% minority stake in Benchmark Genetics Iceland, which supplies salmon eggs. At the AGM. shareholders voted against eliminating pre-emption rights to share issues.
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The GannetGE-04 well in the North Sea has commenced production at initial rates of 100,000 barrels of oil per day. This is an asset acquired by Serica Energy (SQZ) through the acquisition of Tailwind.
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Pantheon Resources (PANR) has cleared out the sand blockage in the Alkaid #2 well in Alaska and flow testing has recommenced.
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RWS Holdings (RWS) says client wins underpin the full year expectations. Some projects are due to start in the second half. The new Unitary Patent should come into operation in June.
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Ceres Power (CWR) says Weichai Power has launched solid oxide fuel cell using Ceres Power technology. This has been operated for more than 30,000 hours.
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Peel Hunt has initiated coverage of Victorian Plumbing Group (VIC) and the broker believes that the plumbing products retailer will benefit from the move to online, particularly by the trade. One-fifth of the revenues currently come from the trade. Peel Hunt forecasts mid-teens earnings growth.
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Polar Capital (POLR) non-exec Laura Ahto bought 500 shares at 540.16p a share. Watkin Jones (WJG) non-exec Rachel Addison acquired an initial stake of 49,693 shares at 100.1139p each.

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AIM 50 Digest 24 February 2023

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