MusicMagpie (LON: MMAG) has been hit be weak consumer spending with lower sales of technology. That has hit the share price making it the biggest faller on the day with a 71.3% decline to 7.9p. Rental income is growing, though, and that is good for longer-term revenues. The original pre-owned books and music operations are trading as expected. The second half should still be better than the first half, although a full year pre-tax loss is forecast on flat revenues. A small profit is forecast for 2023. Net debt is expected to be £8m at the end of the year. This is going to hamper investment in growth. The April 2021 placing price was 193p.
Brighton Pier Group (LON: PIER) bounced back well in the year to June 2022, but the ending of business rate relief and lower VAT for food and leisure, along with cost increases, will mean that trading will be tougher. The year end is being changed to December. The 12-month pre-tax profit of £6.5m was better than expected. Cenkos still has a forecast for the year to June 2023 and the pre-tax profit has been sharply downgraded to £2.1m. The share price slipped 18.4% to 57.5p.
Logistics firm Xpediator (LON: XPD) ran into problems with its systems at the UK freight forwarding division. That hit profit and cash collections. A rise in net debt means that there is no interim dividend and there may not be a final dividend, either. Excluding a goodwill write-off, interim pre-tax profit fell from £3.6m to £3.1m. The new management team has already put a lot of effort into improving the operations and full year profit could be flat at £9m. The performance of the warehouses requires improvement, but central European operations are still trading well. The share price fell 12.1% to 29p.
Delays obtaining a niche component has knocked £2m off this year’s forecast revenues for embedded computer products manufacturer Concurrent Technologies (LON: CNC) and it means that it will not do much better than breakeven in 2022. Investment in R&D is increasing, and eight new products will be launched this year. It will take a couple of years for the sales of those products to build up. US outsourcing partner Nextek has been approved as a manufacturing partner and this will help Concurrent Technologies to win further US defence business. The benefits of these investments will not show through in the short-term and the share price has reacted to the short-term trading delays by slumping 13.9% to 71.5p.
Sustainable biopesticides developer Eden Research (LON: EDEN) has obtained US EPA approval for its three active ingredients and two formulated products. There was a 24% rise in the share price to 4.65p. Mevalone (a biofungicide) and Cedroz (a nematicide) sales should start next year via existing distribution partners. State approvals are required before launching in an individual state. Eden Research is reducing its losses, but a cash raising may be required in the next 12-18 months or so.
Alan Rosenthal has been buying shares in mattress supplier eve Sleep (LON: EVE) and this has helped the share price recover. He owns 8.19 million shares. There was a 29.6% increase in the share price to 0.875p.
Tavistock Investments (LON: TAVI) boosted its balance sheet through the sale of Tavistock Wealth for up to £40 and the ongoing financial advisory operations are growing. Full year revenues from continuing operations grew 35% to £31.3m and there was a small profit before exceptionals. Net cash is more than £15m with more cash to come from the disposal. Allenby estimates a sum of the parts valuation of 17.3p a share. The shares are 13.3% ahead at 8.5p, which is just above NAV.
Morocco-focused potash project developer Emmerson (LON: EML) has reached agreement with its strategic investors to extend the commitment period for the $40m convertible loan note to subscription to the end of September 2023. They are also investing $6m at 6p a share and are being issued 50 million warrants exercisable at 8.2p each. The share price rose 12.7% to 6.2p a share. Existing shareholders were given the chance to subscribe for up to £1m in shares through an offer at 6p a share via REX. Emmerson expects to start construction of the mine at Khemisset in 2023. Potash prices remain high, although they have fallen back to $800/ton, which is higher than the price used in the 2020 feasibility study that came up with an NPV of $1.4bn for the project.
