Steel structures supplier Billington (LON: BILN) will report a much better 2022 profit than anticipated. Forecasts have been raised by 50% to £5.9m and the 2023 pre-tax profit forecast increased by 56% to £7.55m. Business is being won at higher margins, while capital investment has boosted efficiency. The forecast dividend is 11p a share, up from the previously expected 8p a share. The hare price jumped 30.4% to 300p.
Corcel (LON: CRCL) raised £466,000 from AUSPECT Investment at 0.004p a share – a 95% premium to yesterday’s market price. The share price rose 26.2% to 0.265p. The cash will be used to repay debt and finance the search for battery metals opportunities. The sale of the Tring Road Peaker project raised £318,000. Earlier this month, an option to acquire 100% of Mt Weld was exercised for the issue of 50 million shares at the placing price.
Igas Energy (LON: IGAS) is on track to produce 1,900-1,950 barrels of oil equivalent per day. If a planning application for the Glentworth project is awarded, then this could add 200 barrels/day. The hare price moved 7.08% higher at 17.025p.
Interim figures from defence equipment and services supplier Cohort (LON: CHRT) show underlying pre-tax profit more than trebling to £4.5m. That excludes a foreign exchange loss on contracts of £1.57m. Surveillance business Chess more than trebled revenues and went from a loss of £2.66m to a profit of £329,000. MCL, another surveillance business, profit nearly quadruped to £2.16m, while sonar company ELAC made a lower contribution and the loss of communications systems designer EID increased. The shares are 7.32% higher at 440p.
Trackwise Designs (LON: TWD) is an example of how difficult it can be for a small company to raise cash, particularly when it regularly disappoints the market. The printed circuit technology supplier is raising £3.64m at 1p a share and a one-for-0.250054 open offer could raise up to £1.5m. Unsurprisingly, the share price has fallen off a cliff and is 88.3% lower at 1.475p. Hamilton Capital Partners has invested £1.21m. The cash should last until August, when it is likely that more cash will have to be raised. If production for new contracts gets going as expected there may be a more positive view of the company by then.
In-content advertising technology company Mirriad Advertising (LON: MIRI) continues to burn through cash and 2022 revenues will fall short of expectations and be between £1.52m and £1.75m. Cash will be slightly better than expected, but it will still fall by £13m to around £11.5m. There are £2.5m of annual cost savings being implemented. The share price slid 22.4% to 5.25p.
Interim results from Agriterra (LON: AGTA) show flat revenues and a higher loss due to increased interest charges. Capacity utilisation is low in the grain and beef divisions and the cost base has been reduced. Net debt is nearly £11m at the end of September 2022, whereas net assets are £9.84m. The share price was 13.3% lower at 4.03p.
Helium One Global (LON: HE1) has raised £9.9m at 5p a share, having initially sought at least £7m. The share price fell 10.2% to 5.7p. The money is coming from new and existing investors. The cash will be spent on a single exploration well in the Tai prospect in the Rukwa Basin, Tanzania. This will help to prove up a working helium system. Management has secured a drilling rig for the first quarter of 2023.
