CVS Group shares spike on back of strong update

Ishen Patel
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CVS Group shares spike on back of strong update

CVS Group Plc (LON: CVSG) have seen their shares spike on Thursday afternoon after they gave shareholders a positive update.

CVS Group is the largest integrated veterinary services provider in the UK encompassing four main business areas; our veterinary practices, diagnostic laboratories, pet crematoria and e-commerce division.

Shares of CVS Group spiked 9.1% on Thursday to 1,127p. 28/11/19 14:03BST.

The board announced that trading performance in the first fourth months of financial 2020 was ahead of management expectations.

The board added that amid tough trading conditions the firm continued a trend of positive trading momentum.

In the four months leading up to October 31, the firms total sales grew by 17% and like for like sales increased by 8% from the same period one year ago.

The results will thoroughly please shareholders, as 2019 has been a year of turbulence for CVS.

At the start of 2019, the firm saw its stocks in red after the firm issued a profit warning to shareholders. However it seems that strong recovery has been made across the year.

“The board is pleased to announce that the improved trading performance delivered in the second half of the financial year to 30 June 2019 and the encouraging start to the first two months of the new financial year, as announced at the time of our preliminary results on 27 September 2019, has continued in September and October 2019,” Chair Richard Connell said in his annual general meeting statement.

The Core Practices division saw a notable rise in sales by 7.4% which drove the strong trading results published.

“These LFL growth rates primarily reflect a continued focus on high quality clinical work, including increased volume and value of referrals within the group, in addition to a price increase in our Healthy Pet Club preventative medicine scheme in February 2019 and a modest price increase applied to veterinary fees in our UK small animal business on 1 July 2019,” Connell said.

CVS said its gross margins, employment costs and vet vacancy rates have all continued at a similar level to those reported at the time of financial 2019 results in September.

“The directors recognise that the comparatives become more challenging in the second half of the current financial year, given the improved second half performance seen in the previous financial year. Nevertheless, the board is naturally pleased with the core Practices division like-for-like sales performance in the financial year to date and with the trading performance of the group being slightly ahead of management’s expectations for the first four months.” Connell added.

The industry seems to be recovering from a slump, with FTSE250 (INDEXFTSE: MCX) listed retailer Pets at Home (LON: PETS) saw their shares rise after reports of a strong half period of trading. Additionally, rival Premier Veterinary Group Plc (LON:PVG) announced a new Chief Financial Officer in a structural reshuffle.

T Clarke builds on earlier success as trading continues ‘strongly’

Jamie Gordon
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T Clarke builds on earlier success as trading continues ‘strongly’
Construction engineering company T Clarke PLC (LON: CTO) announced that their trading during the second half of the financial year had continued with the same strong momentum as the first. Ending the first half with a 25% year-on-year increase in underlying operating profit, the Company said they expected to report an underlying operating profit before interest and taxation of approximately £10 million, following a second half where the Company had continued trading ‘strongly’. This would reflect a jump from FY18, where the Company finished at £8.8 million, and would be in line with the Company’s strategy to achieve their ‘key financial target’ of an underlying profit margin of 3%.
Concurrently, the Board expects results for the full year ended 31 December to be in-line with market expectations.

The Company added that its order book stands at £361 million, and they have already secured £232 million of revenue for 2020.

The Company went on to finish its statement,

“In addition, our teams across the UK are actively negotiating a number of major schemes which provide further visibility for both 2020 and 2021.”

“Our long-standing, high quality reputation and the strength of the relationships with our blue-chip clients is a key asset for TClarke. Furthermore, our strong balance sheet continues to be a significant differentiator and enables us to win and deliver projects of a scale which positions us well for further growth. We continue to adhere to a strict bidding policy supporting our sustainable operating margin at 3% going forward.”

“Looking ahead, we approach the new financial year in a strong position, both operationally and financially which gives the Board confidence for the Group’s prospects for 2020 and beyond.”

Elsewhere in property and construction; AFI Development (LON: AFRB) posted underwhelming results, Schroder Real Estate Investment Trust (LON: SREI) adjusted its strategy, Land Securities Group plc (LON: LAND) disappointed and Shaftesbury plc (LON: SHB) booked robust leasing activity Following the update, T Clarke shares rallied 2.30% or 2.61p to 116.11p per share 28/11/19 13:26 GMT. Their p/e ratio stands at 7.38, their dividend yield is 3.42%.

Oracle Power shares rally on UAE Sheikh investment

Ishen Patel
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Oracle Power shares rally on UAE Sheikh investment

Oracle Power PLC (LON: ORCP) have seen their shares rally after the firm confirmed overseas investment from a UAE Sheikh.

Oracle Power is an AIM listed coal developer. The Company’s primary interest is the Thar Coalfield Block VI area located in the Sindh Province of South East Pakistan, a 1.4bn tonnes resource with a 529Mt JORC mineral resource and 113Mt JORC proven reserves within Phase 1 of the mining area of its mining lease.

Shares of Oracle Power have rallied 74.47% to 0.41p. 28/11/19 13:44BST.

In the industry, competitors such as AFC Energy (LON: AFC) and i3 Energy (LON: I3E) have seen their shares crash in the last week.

Additionally, Cairn Energy (LON: CNE) and (LON: XPP) saw their shares drop after modest respective trading updates.

Oracle confirmed that said the private office of Sheikh Ahmed Bin Dalmook Al Maktoum has agreed to invest £500,000 in a £700,000 placing priced at 0.25 pence per share.

The placing was arranged by Brandon Hill Capital Ltd. If shareholder approval is granted, the private office will hold 200 million shares in the lignite mineral resource and mine mouth power plant developer. It will also be issued with 300.0 million warrants exercisable at the same 0.25p price for a two year period.

Once both placing stage are complete, the private office will hold an approximately 11.5% stake in Oracle Power’s share capital.

Oracle Power has raised the other £200,000 of tis £700,000 placing from other investors, including a £40,000 subscription by Chief Executive Naheed Memon and £10,000 subscription by Chair Mark Steed.

Memon said: “We are honoured and delighted to welcome His Highness Sheikh Ahmed Bin Dalmook Al Maktoum as a shareholder in Oracle. His extensive network and global relationships are expected to help the company as it seeks to unlock the inherent value of Block VI and its sizeable coal resources.

“As stated previously, Oracle is engaged in ongoing discussions with other state-owned enterprises in both Pakistan and China which have expressed a willingness to provide financial and technical support in the event Block VI was included in a coal gasification to fertiliser initiative, which has now been acknowledged by both governments. Following today’s announcement, the company will now seek to advance these discussions towards a positive conclusion.

“We believe this is a truly exciting time for the company and I look forward to updating the market on subsequent developments.”

Barclays joins competitors in cutting senior executive pensions

Ishen Patel
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0
Barclays joins competitors in cutting senior executive pensions

Barclays PLC (LON: BARC) have announced on Thursday that they will join other competitors in cutting the pensions of personnel in senior executive positions.

This morning, Barclays announced that they had sold a division of Barclays Wealth to Rathbone Brothers (LON: RAT) for an undisclosed fee.

Shares of Barclays currently trade at 174p (-0.1%). 28/11/19 13:37BST.

Barclays announced that they will cut the £396,000 pension that it pays to Chief Executive Jes Staley by around 50%.

The moves cues after rivals have also pledged to tame executive pensions perks following activism by investors.

The British bank is consulting shareholders on the proposal following an overhaul and restructure strategy, and will be voted at the banks’s annual meeting next year.

Competitors such as HSBC (LON: HSBA) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LON: RBS) have told shareholders that they will set pension contributions paid to CEO’s at 10% of base salary, which will match other workers in the firm.

“It’s a start but these cuts do not really go far enough. There’s no real reason why CEO pension payments shouldn’t be completely in line with other staff,” Peter Parry, policy director at investor group ShareSoc told Reuters.

“There is always a worry that when companies rein in pay in one area, they compensate for it in another area. The sad thing is that executive pay is now out of control,” he said.

Additionally, Standard Chartered (LON: STAN) reported that they will cut the pension’s for their CFO and CEO at the start of the month, despite the strong leadership of Winters and Halford producing strong third quarter results.

Finally, Lloyds Banking Group (LON: LLOY) joined the movement when the global bank announced that they cut the pension allowance paid to Chief Executive Antonio Horta-Osorio, by £228,000.

Horta-Osorio, the longest-serving of Britain’s top banking bosses, pocketed a contribution of around 419,000 pounds this year, equating to 33% of his £1.27 million base salary.

The move from the global banks to make this change reflects shareholder sentiment that CEO’s are taking too much control of the institutions.

The move will certainly please shareholders and other workers at these global banks, and should allow a more consistent pension plan across all workers.

Faron Pharmaceuticals shares soar following US regulatory approval

Ishen Patel
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Faron Pharmaceuticals shares soar following US regulatory approval

Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON: FARN) have seen their shares soar after the firm won US regulatory approval for a cancer medication as it updated shareholders on Thursday afternoon.

Faron Pharmaceuticals is clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel treatments for medical conditions with significant unmet needs.

“Research and development to find treatments for severe diseases with serious unmet medical needs is what we do. I am proud and excited to be among this group of people working hard, facing challenges and understanding the humane purpose of science. ” Dr Markku Jalkanen, CEO

Shares of Faron soared 36.21% after the announcement to 224p. 28/11/19 12:47BST.

The firm said that US regulators had approved its Clevegen cancer treatments, as an investigational new drug which sent shares soaring.

Additionally, the firm reported that the drug was given clearance to allow the expansion of a clinical trial into the US, which sparked shareholder enthusiasm.

The US Food & Drug Administration approved the IND application for Clevegen, an immunotherapy targeting tumour associated with macrophages in some metastatic or inoperable solid tumours.

“We are very pleased to receive this IND approval from the FDA, marking another milestone in the development of Clevegen,” Chief Executive Officer Markku Jalkanen said.

“This approval will allow us to expand Matins into the US using the same protocol both in Europe and in the US, accelerating our understanding of this novel precision medicine in cancer patients who are refractory to all other treatment options and streamlining the regulatory processes,”

Jalkanen added. “With the US IND now approved, in due course, we plan to file applications for Breakthrough status in the US and Prime status in Europe, further facilitating regulatory interactions during the development of Clevegen.”

Market leaders such as Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and GSK (LON: GSK) have reported bullish interim updates, which gives them further foot holding the global pharmaceuticals market.

Noteworthy updates also come from ImmuPharma (LON: IMM) and Beximco (LON: BXP) who both reported progress in their trading reports.

Active Energy shares spike on progress in Canadian operations

Ishen Patel
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Active Energy shares spike on progress in Canadian operations

Shareholders of Active Energy Group PLC (LON: AEG) have seen their shares spike on Thursday after the firm gave an updaet on progress in their Canadian operations.

Active Energy Group plc is a London listed (AIM: AEG) renewable energy company focused on traditional and second generation biomass products that have the potential to transform the traditional coal fired-power industry and develop an international forestry management business.

Shares of Active Energy spiked 30.79% to 0.5p on Thursday afternoon. 28/11/19 12:33BST.

Players in the energy industry have seen a turbulent trading period, and results have been sporadic by firm.

Shell (LON: RDSA) have seen a slip in their third quarter profits amid volatile oil prices, and have struggled in tough market conditions.

Additionally, smaller names such as i3 Energy (LON: I3E) and AFC Energy (LON: AFC) have seen their shares crash in the last week.

Active Energy agreed terms for the issuance of its first CoalSwitch licence agreement to RMD Environmentals.

RMS is a Canada-based forestry management and environmental engineering and consultancy business.

The agreement was for the development and management of projects involving the use of CoalSwitch Technology technology in Alberta and British Columbia.

RMDE have got the exclusive rights for the sale and commercial developments to which the new technology could be applied in the territories for the next two decades.

AEG recieved a licence fee of $1.8 million, which pleased shareholders as reflected in the stock price movements across Thursday trading.

Both AEG and RMDE would jointly co-ordinate all future engineering activities for the installation of CoalSwitch technology, plants and equipment under the license

“This inaugural licence agreement with RMDE is a significant strategic milestone for AEG as the company focuses on the commercial roll-out of the CoalSwitch and black pellet biomass technology, which it has invested in and developed over the last four years,” said chief executive officer Michael Rowan.

“AEG’s directors believe the existing and future market opportunity for advanced biomass fuels and fuel additives, which utilise waste wood, including forestry residuals, fire, insect, disease affected timber and other legacy forestry industry waste, and which have significant renewable and sustainability advantages, has never been more relevant.

“To capitalise on these opportunities, AEG recognises that it needs to accelerate market development through the construction of operating, high volume, production facilities in various regions.”

Rowan added that this would be achieved through wholly owned production abilities and commercial partnerships.

“RMDE is a wholly indigenous-owned business and has been incorporated by Grand Chief Ronald Derrickson, RMDE’s controlling shareholder and one of AEG’s long-term shareholders.

“RMDE has an in-depth knowledge of the CoalSwitch technology and has been working with a broad spectrum of partners including government, industry and off take partners to develop commercial opportunities within the territories.

“I am grateful for Grand Chief Derrickson’s continuing support towards AEG and its commercial goals for CoalSwitch technologies; – in turn, we are supportive of the plans RMDE has presented for the commercial developments in the territories.”

Rowan added that utlitising resources, connects and experience should be available to RMDE. He concluded saying the new partnership with RMDE had already presented AEG with new opportunities to expand its existing engineering cooperation with other commercial partners.

“As AEG continues to develop its intellectual property and know-how at the Lumberton Facility, these improvements and enhancements will be made available to licensee partners including RMDE to further benefit their future commercial operations.

“Equally, as RMDE develops its operational know-how and capabilities in the field, these will be passed back to AEG for use in other CoalSwitch production facilities.

“Finally, AEG has commenced discussions with several other potential licensees to license and utilise the CoalSwitch technology in other regions of the world to take advantage of the increasing demand for advanced biomass fuels.”

Redcentric shares jump as it swings to interim profit

Ishen Patel
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0
Redcentric shares jump as it swings to interim profit

Redcentric PLC (LON: RCN) have seen their shares jump on Thursday afternoon after the firm doubled its interim dividend.

Redcentric PLC is a customer focused end to end managed service provider delivering innovative technology to improve business productivity and efficiency.

The IT firm offer a range of Application, Collaboration, Infrastructure, Network, Security and Business Mobile services.

Shares of Redcentric jumped 6.44% after the announcement to 92p. 28/11/19 12:05BST.

The firm announced that it would double its interim dividend after it swung to an interim profit despite lower revenues.

Financial 2019 has been a mixed year of results for Redcentric, as the firm reported a loss in June as it saw a fall in sales.

However, shareholders will be thoroughly impressed as RedCentric seem to have ended the year on a strong note.

In the software industry, competitors such as Avast (LON: AVST) and Kainos (LON: KNOS) have made strong gains.

Additionally, overseas competitor Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) have given shareholders a bullish update, which will stiffen competition for Redcentric.

For the six months ended September, pretax profit swung to £887,000 from a loss of £122,000 the year prior.

This was despite revenue falling 9.1% to £43.2 million from £47.5 million the year before.

“Visibility of future revenues remains strong with recurring revenues reaching 90%,” Chair Ian Johnson said. “New customers were added in the period which, together with effective cross selling, led to quarter on quarter revenue growth. This revenue growth has been achieved despite the ongoing FCA investigation, which continues to impact the pace at which we win new business.”

“Management continues to improve the operational efficiency of the business,” Johnson added. “The strategic data centre and network portfolios review now underway is expected to lead to the realisation of annual savings of at least GBP2.8 million and further improvements in operating margins.”

Redcentric proposed a 0.83 pence per share interim dividend, up from 0.40p the year prior.

“Cash flow remains strong allowing significant investment into our network and a further reduction to net debt in the period,” Johnson continued. “The board is confident that the business will continue to generate strong cash flows enabling it to return cash to shareholders by way of dividend and further share purchases via the share buy-back programme.”

Virgin Money shares rally despite dividend scraps

Ishen Patel
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Virgin Money shares rally despite dividend scraps

Virgin Money UK PLC (LON: VMUK) have seen their shares rally on Thursday, despite the firm deciding to scrap its dividend.

Virgin Money is a financial services brand used by three independent brand-licensees worldwide. Virgin Money branded services are currently available in Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom, and were formerly available in the United States.

Last year, it was announced that CYBG (LON:CYBG) had agreed to takeover Virgin Money in a deal worth £1.7 billion.

Since the deal was formalized, Virgin Money has seen a turbulent trading period. Although the announcement today was less than impressive, shareholders seem optimistic.

Shares in Virgin Money rallied 21.75% to 174p. 28/11/19 11:45BST.

The firm reported a loss for the full year and suspending its dividend amid higher-than-expected PPI and restructuring costs.

In its first annual results, the firm made a pretax loss of £265 million after absorbing £804 million of exceptional costs.

These exceptional costs included a £433 million of “legacy conduct” costs and PPI payments.

The company put aside £385 million in the last quarter to cover PPI claims but received 340,000 “information requests” (the first stage in making a PPI claim) in August alone ahead of the final deadline.

Virgin Money said around 9% of PPI claims led to a payout, which does not boast progress for the firm.

Investors however, have seen optimistic on the firms growth in business and personal banking rather than its PPI claims and dividend announcement, which has caused shares to rally.

The bank’s dividend yield, at around 2%, is not one of the largest among listed UK banks, but income has been an important way to win back the trust of investors.

Alasdair Ronald of Brewin Dolphin (LON: BRW) said: “Virgin Money would have hoped for better news on its maiden results as one company. The bank has taken a significant hit from additional PPI provisions and the cost of the merger, while pressure on UK domestic earners continues to take its toll.”

However, he pointed out that the loss before tax is better than expected.

“The decline in Virgin Money’s net interest margin is disappointing, but not surprising against previous guidance,” Ronald added.

“There are undoubtedly further challenges ahead, with increasing competition from other challenger banks potentially eroding new business margins. However, the integration appears to be on track and significant costs savings should be achieved.”

CEO David Duffy said: In the first year of our newly combined business, we have delivered a good operating performance in challenging conditions and made great progress on the integration and rebrand to Virgin Money.”

“Our statutory result was significantly affected by additional PPI provisions, driven by the unprecedented surge in PPI information requests in August, along with anticipated Virgin Money acquisition-related costs”.

Duffy concluded “Our customer divisions have performed well – we have delivered a further c.£2bn in net lending to support UK SMEs and consumers, attracted c.£3bn in customer deposits, and made marked improvements to our customer experience. We achieved all the required approvals in 2019 to enable us to operate as one bank, with one brand, and are ready to deliver our strategy to disrupt the status quo with brilliant customer service and unique Virgin Money products. In December we are launching Virgin Money’s first digital personal current account and three new Virgin Money concept stores. A unique loyalty and rewards programme for customers featuring a number of Virgin Group companies will follow in 2020, along with the launch of our brand new Virgin Money business account”.

“Considering the uncertainty at the start of the year regarding the group’s new integration into Virgin Money, these results do suggest good momentum moving forward and sets a relatively solid foundation for growth,” The Share Centre’s investment research analyst Joe Healey said.

Virgin Money are not the only firm to be hit by slumping business and slow trading. Firms in the industry such as HSBC (LON: HSBA) and Lloyds (LON: LLOY) have struggled in the market.

Additionally, crisis continues to spark at Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK) who reported a third quarter loss in their recent update.

Ocado set to open robotic warehouse in Bristol

Ishen Patel
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Ocado set to open robotic warehouse in Bristol

Shares of Ocado Group PLC (LON: OCDO) have jumped on Thursday after the firm announced plans to open its first mini robotic warehouse.

Shares of Ocado jumped 1.80% to 1,187p. 28/11/19 11:29BST.

Ocado announced that the warehouse will open in Bristol by early 2021.

While Ocado’s retail business holds only a 1.4% share of Britain’s grocery market, its technology has powered the group’s 8.1 billion pound ($10.4 billion) stock market valuation, according to Reuters.

This has enabled it to secure partnership deals with supermarket groups around the world, including Kroger (NYSE: KR) in the United States.

“This is not about Bristol, but about what it says for its technology biz,” said Bernstein analyst Bruno Monteyne.

Ocado have seen a relatively pleasant time in financial 2019, as the firm saw its sales surge in an update provided in September.

The big supermarkets have seen a period of cut throat trading across the year. Firms such as Marks and Spencer (LON: MKS) and Sainbury’s (LON: SBRY) have seen their profits slump amid tough competition.

As the rise of brands such as Lidl and Aldi continue to dominate the UK industry, competitors such as FTSE100 (INDEXFTSE: UKX) listed Tesco (LON: TSCO) have developed non price competition methods to stimulate business.

The Bristol warehouse is being built on an 150,000 square foot warehouse, and will be expected to be fully operational at the end of 2020 or early 2021.

Bristol locals have been further excited as Ocado announced that this will create 815 jobs in the area.

The mini CFC will have the capacity for over 30,000 orders per week compared to about 85,000 orders per week expected from Ocado CFC 5, currently under construction at Purfleet, east of London.

“In the future, mini-sized CFCs can complement the standard-sized CFCs to build a fulfilment network including in areas not suitable for larger CFCs,” Ocado said.

“Despite its smaller size, we expect the Bristol mini-CFC to achieve productivity close to that in our standard facilities,” Ocado said.

John Menzies shares receive boost from positive update

Ishen Patel
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0
John Menzies shares receive boost from positive update

John Menzies plc (LON: MNZS) have seen their shares boosted on Thursday morning after the firm reported good progress in the second half of financial 2019.

John Menzies plc is the holding company of Menzies Aviation, an aviation services business based in Edinburgh, Scotland, providing Ground Handling, Cargo Handling, Cargo Forwarding and Fuelling.

Shares of John Menzies were boosted 3.41% after the positive announcement to 424p. 28/11/19 11:15BST.

John Menzies have experienced a turbulent year, as the firm saw its shares dip in July following a profit warning.

John Menzies said that the reduced earnings reflected what had been a challenging period for the aviation industry, with their business particularly hampered by weak cargo volumes and flight schedule reductions.

Following this warning, seniority at the firm then decided to reshuffle their senior board a week after, announcing the department of the presiding Chairman of the Board in Dr Dermot F Smurfit.

After the hectic year for the firm, it seems that some ground has been recovered which will please shareholders.

The firm said that it had made good progress in the second half of 2019, and will keep in line with management expectations.

Commercially, John Menzies said it has put the business back on the front foot, evidenced by substantial contracts renewed during the year, new contract wins and a full pipeline of opportunities.

In addition, the group is addressing its under-performing operations, and has implemented a cost-reduction programme that delivers at least £10 million of savings during the current year, and into 2020.

“This year has been about building for the future and I am confident that we have the team in place to drive the business forward. The improvements in our operational delivery, commercial activities and customer engagement have been key and I look forward to seeing the benefits of this come through as we progress,” said Chief Executive Giles Wilson.

As John Menzies mentioned, the aviation industry has been troubled and many firms have struggled.

In September, it was announced that Thomas Cook (LON:TCG) had collapsed, and yesterday it looked just as gloomy for Fastjet PLC (LON: FJET).

Additionally, firms such as IAG (LON: IAG) and Ryanair (LON: RYA) have seen slumps in business, which led to cuts in their medium and long term forecasts.

Certainly, with the state of the aviation industry shareholders can be appeased with the update from John Menzies, as recovery has been made in a tough trading year for the firm.

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