Trading at fashion brand Joules (LON: JOUL) has been weak in the first quarter and margins have declined. The share price has slumped 35.3% to 28.45p. Since the July trading statement, retail sales are 8% lower. Some of this could be weather related, but it also reflects the poor retail market. Joules wholesale revenues are 10% ahead, partly due to earlier deliveries. Peel Hunt has downgraded its forecast for 20222-23 from a profit of £4m to a loss of £4.2m. The interim loss may be even higher. Net debt was £21.1m at the end of July 2022. Discussions with Next (LON: NEXT) about a cash injection continue. Jonathan Brown becomes Joules chief executive at the end of September.
Flexible electrical connectors manufacturer Strip Tinning (LON: STG) says that a Croatian customer has terminated a contract from 1 October. This contract for cell management systems for electric vehicles was supposed to be worth €2m a year once peak volumes were hit. The shares fell by 25.6% to 72.5p. That is still well below the 185p placing price when Strip Tinning joined AIM in February. Finance director Adam Le Van bought 2,700 shares at 105p in July.
Sustainable energy projects developer SIMEC Atlantis Energy (LON: SAE) finance boss Andrew Dagley was voted off the board at the AGM on Thursday. There were 53.5% of the votes against his re-election. There were also 45% of votes against the audited financial statements for 2021 and 27% against the directors’ remuneration report. The share price dipped 4.64% to 1.625p.
Newcrest Mining is not taking up the option to acquire a further 5% stake in the Havieron asset, so Greatland Gold (LON: GGP) will retain a 30% stake. The price for the 5% stake had been set at $60m and much of that cash was earmarked to pay off loans from Newcrest. Greatland Gold management says that it is happy to retain the larger stake, but the share price fell 4.6% to 10.4p. The latest mineral resource for the Havieron deposit announced by Newcrest is 5.5 million ounces of gold and 223,000 tonnes of copper. There has been further drilling success since the data used for this figure. The feasibility study should be published by the end of the year.
Property services provider Kinovo (LON: KINO) nearly doubled its operating profit and this pushed up the share price by 26.9% to 33p. Net debt has been reduced to £340,000 by March 2022. First quarter revenues have risen by 28% to £14m and Kinovo has moved into a net cash position. However, there are still liabilities relating to the disposal of DCB, which is in administration. The latest estimate is that it will cost £4m plus expenses to complete work, which is lower than previous estimates. Management believes this can be funded out of cash flow.
Made Tech Group (MTEC) shares have recovered following an upbeat trading statement. Full year revenues were 120% higher at £29.3m and it moved into profit. There was cash of £12.3m at the end of May 2022. The contracted order book is worth £38.2m, so the outlook is positive. Made Tech, which provides digital and data services to the UK public sector, joined AIM last September 2021 when it raised £15m at 112p a share. Today, the share price rose 6.15% to 34.5p.
