Northcoders raises cash to broaden offer

Andrew Hore
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Northcoders raises cash to broaden offer

One of the 2021 new admissions that has done well is AIM-quoted Northcoders Group (LON: CODE) and it is raising £2.1m at 300p a share. Demand for the company’ software training remains high, and it wants to broaden the range of courses on offer.
There were also some small sales by existing shareholders, but they totalled less than 103,000 shares and chief executive Chris Hill hardly made a dent in his 19.6% stake. Amati Global Investors took up enough shares to maintain its holding above 14.3%.
Northcoders will be offering cyber security, platform engineering, quality assurance and agile proje...

Real Good Food shares soar as turnaround funding secured

UK Investor Magazine
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Real Good Food shares soar as turnaround funding secured

Real Good Food, the speciality food group focused on cakes, has secured £2.5m to fund their turnaround plan.

Real Good Food had previously announced a restructuring plan to deal with rising inflation which included job cuts and reduced overheads.

Real Good Food shares were up 42% at the time of writing on Monday.

The £2.5m injection came in the form of a 12 month facility from Hilco Private Capital which supplements a £6.3 million facility with Leumi ABL. Real Good Food now have a 12.1% average interest rate across third party funding.

“We are delighted that new funding has been secured to support the radical reform of RGF which is intended to reduce costs, protect revenues and preserve the inherent value of the Group,” said Mike Holt, Executive Chairman, Real Good Food

“With support from both customers and employees, we are making good progress on the required reforms and several major customers have already agreed to significant price re-sets. We are confident that the right actions are being put in place to return the business to sustainable profitability and being cash generative.”

“I am particularly pleased that Leumi ABL continues to support the Group and that Hilco has provided the new funds required. I would also like to thank our suppliers for their forbearance over recent months pending this funding being secured.”

One of Real Good Food’s main competitors was recently put into administration which highlights the risks to the business, but also the opportunity to gain market share.

AIM movers: Real Good Food finance

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: Real Good Food finance

Real Good Food (LON: RGD) has secured additional financing of £2.5m from Hilco Private Capital. This lasts for 12 months and is in addition to the £6.3m from the Leumi ABL. This will help to fund restructuring and cost reduction. The share price recovered 42.9% to 1.5p.

Catalyst Media Group (LON: CMX) investee company Sports Information Services reported a pre-tax profit of £7m in 2021-22. Catalyst Media owns 20.5% and it will soon receive its share of a SIS dividend totalling £4.4m. SIS has £58m in the bank. Oakvale Capital is reviewing strategic options for SIS. Catalyst Media shares rose 17.2% to 116p.  

Engage XR (LON: EXR) has signed a reseller agreement with Lenovo for the ENGAGE platform. Lenovo can sell the platform to help sales of its ThinkReality VRX headset and this will help Engage XR to win new clients. The deal includes ENGAGE Link, which was launched on 7 November and provides the capability to create virtual worlds. The share price more than recovered Friday’s loss and is 14.9% higher at 13.5p.

The Reabold Resources (LON: RBD) share price has recovered by 14.3% to 0.28p following the defeat of the resolutions at the requisitioned general meeting on Friday. Three-quarters of the votes were against each resolution.

Emmerson (LON: EML) has signed memoranda of understanding for the offtake of potash and salt from the Khemisset mine in Morocco. Keytrade AG will take a minimum of 245,000 metric tonnes each year for a decade. Hexagon Group AG will also take a minimum of 245,000 metric tonnes plus 500,000 metric tonnes of salt each year. The share price improved by 8.6% to 5.05p.

Tissue products manufacturer Accrol (LON: ACRL) increased interim revenues by 64% to £121.1m through a combination of higher prices and volume growth. Net debt was £30.5m at the end of October 2022 and it could fall to £24.4m by April 2023. A full year pre-tax profit of £6.7m is forecast. The share price increased by 6% to 27.2p.

Molecular diagnostics company Genedrive (LON: GDR) generated revenues of £49,000 in the year to June 2022 and the cash burn averages £400,000 each month. Net cash was £3m at the end of October. Genedrive is seeking additional funding to enable it to grow revenues. The share price fell 17.7% to 10.5p.

Ncondezi Energy Ltd (LON: NCCL) has raised £520,000 at 0.65p a share, which comes with a warrant exercisable at 1.3p. The share price declined by 10.8% to 0.825p. Updated valuations for the solar project in Mozambique vary from $23m for 100MW to $75m for 300MW. Tower Resources (LON: TRP) says that its $7m loan from a Cameroon bank has been approved by the credit committee but further approval is required before it is received. This will cover two-fifths of the $18m cost of the well at the Thali Production Sharing Contract. That still leaves 35% of the cost to be funded. The share price fell 7.32% to 0.19p.

Compass Group revenue surges as new business jumps

UK Investor Magazine
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Compass Group revenue surges as new business jumps

Compass Group had a storming 2022 FY with revenue and new business surging on strong performance in North America and Europe.

Compass Group revenue grew 37.5% to £25.8bn in 2022 – and their 4th quarter sales were 116% of pre-pandemic 2019 levels.

The food services group saw their North American sales grow 53.4% on a reported basis and now accounts for 66.5% of group revenue. Europe’s share retreated to 23% from 25% in 2021.

Shares were slightly weaker on Monday, but Compass Group shares are still 23% higher over the last 52 weeks.

“On all metrics, this was a very strong year for Compass. Growth isn’t just coming from price increases, but also from new customers which the Group said exceeded its own expectations,” said Derren Nathan, Head of Equity Research at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“New business wins totalled £2.5bn, with a strong contribution from both North America and Europe. Pleasingly, 45% of this was from customers who were outsourcing their contract catering requirements for the first time.  We see this as reflective of long-term structural drivers that Compass Group is benefitting from and it’s a class operator, with customer loyalty reaching record levels.”

The group announced a £250m share buyback programme which may have disappointed some investors that were hoping for more. Nonetheless, Compass Group’s dividend jumped to 31.5p in 2022, up from 14p in 2021.

Trafalgar Property moves into hydroponics

Andrew Hore
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Trafalgar Property moves into hydroponics

Trafalgar Property Group (LON: TRAF) has made its first step in its move into hydroponics. The residential property developer has acquired assets and leasehold premises from May Barn Horticultural Consultancy, which is controlled by Trafalgar Property director Dr Paul Challinor, for £30,000.

This is a dedicated research and development site in Nantwich, Cheshire with a five-year lease. Services will also be offered to third parties. Trafalgar Property will concentrate on assessing plant propagation requirements and studies on tissue culture of plant material.

The current work is on lettuce varieties and hydroponic tomato seedlings, as well as seedlings of Nicotiana benthamiana for future development for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

The initial decision to move into this area was taken in 2020. Dr Paul Challinor became a director in May and he is seeking opportunities in hydroponics and farming assets. The scope of these opportunities has been widened from food to plants used in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

The acquisition is conditional on shareholder approval at a general meeting on 8 December. The share price is unchanged at 0.18p.

5 Things Moving Markets 21st November

UK Investor Magazine
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5 Things Moving Markets 21st November

The pound falls

The pound was weaker as traders mulled the implications of the UK seeking a Swiss-style deal with the EU. The UK’s economic situation is far worse than the rest of the G7, largely down to Brexit and associated restrictions. It’s been reported the government is exploring options to ease pressure on the UK economy and the Swiss-style relationship could achieve this.

China exposed equities dip

Rising COVID cases in China have hit China-exposed equities with the FTSE 100’s miners down in London after a poor session overnight for Asian stocks. The FTSE 100 started the week in the red but was ticking higher as the session progressed.

Growth concerns hit oil

After giving up around 10% last week, Brent crude futures fell again on concerns China’s demand for oil would be curtailed by their response to rising COVID cases.

Compass Group share buyback underwhelms

Although Compass Group posted strong revenue growth in their most recent period, investors chose to hone in on their lower than expected share buyback plan and sold the shares.

Bitcoin drops to key support

Bitcoin has dropped to key support just above $16,000 as the crypto universe’s struggle with the fallout of FTX persists. Ether was also weaker.

Good third quarter for MTI Wireless Edge

Andrew Hore
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Good third quarter for MTI Wireless Edge

All three divisions of MTI Wireless Edge (LON: MWE) have positive outlooks for the fourth quarter and into 2023. There is particularly strong potential for antennas in India, where an initial order has been won in the fourth quarter.

A recovery in third quarter profit in antennas helped to offset a lower contribution from Mottech water management services, while MTI Summit managed to offset the loss of Russian business with organic growth and the initial contribution from monitoring and control systems business PSK Wind Technologies.

Revenues were 8% higher at $34.8m, while pre-tax profit improved from $3.11m to $3.24m. Tax was higher because currency movements, but there was a small increase in earnings per share.

Net cash was $5.2m at the end of September 2022. Payment terms for PSK are relatively long, while Russian business was paid upfront. This means that there was an increase in trade receivables that held back cash generation. Net cash could be $6.4m by the end of 2022.

Prospects

MTI has an 80%-owned manufacturing business in India and that puts it in a good position to win 5G antenna business. The initial contract will be supplied in the fourth quarter.

Mottech continues to grow, but profit was lower. Price increases will benefit next year’s figures and help profit to recover. Contract wins mean that MTI Summit Full year pre-tax profit could rise to $4.5m this year, rising to $4.9m in 2023. The share price is unchanged at 51p, which puts the shares on nearly 15 times prospective 2022 earnings, while the forecast yield is 4.9%.

Aquis reversal: EDX Medical seeks to build diagnostics business

Andrew Hore
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Aquis reversal: EDX Medical seeks to build diagnostics business

EDX Medical completed its reversal into TECC Capital on 14 November. The share price returned from suspension and increased by 64.1% to 5.25p, but it is still below the placing price of 6p.
Management believes that the sector will consolidate and EDX Medical should be at the forefront of this. Partnerships will help to broaden the range of diagnostics offered by EDX Medical.
It is still early days for the business, and it is yet to generate revenues. The valuation appears full unless an investor is willing to take a long-term view of the business.
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EDX Medical Group (LON: EDX)
Digita...

New premium listing: Ithaca Energy share price falls after float

Andrew Hore
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4
New premium listing: Ithaca Energy share price falls after float

Formerly AIM-quoted Ithaca Energy Inc (LON: ITH) has returned to the London market at a tough time, given the extension of the oil and gas windfall tax. The offer price was 250p a share and trading commenced on the Main Market on 14 November, after a few days of conditional deals. The share price ended the week at 196p.

Jersey-registered Ithaca Energy says the Energy Profits Levy should not be hit hard by the changes because of its capital investment in the North Sea. The full details are not available, so the exact potential impact is difficult to assess.

Delek Group bid 120p a share for Ithaca Energy in 2017. That valued the company at £510m. Following the bid, Ithaca Energy went into acquisition mode and became one of the largest independent North Sea oil and gas companies. It has interests in 29 producing oil and gas fields in the North Sea and is the operator of eight.

At the end of June 2022, Ithaca Energy had 2P reserves of 244MM barrels of oil equivalent. In the first six months of the year net average daily production of 66,685 barrels of oil equivalent. In the first half, net cash from operating activities was $989m.

In 2022, average daily production is expected to be between 72,000 and 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent. Production is expected to continue to increase at least until 2026.

The latest fundraising will contribute to repaying debt to the Delek Group, which remains the controlling shareholder with 89.4%. The offer raised £262.5m. The market capitalisation has fallen to £1.97bn. Ithaca Energy intends to pay $400m in dividends for 2023.

Aquis weekly movers: EDX Medical reverses into TECC Capital

Andrew Hore
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4
Aquis weekly movers: EDX Medical reverses into TECC Capital

EDX Medical (LON: EDX) completed its reversal into shell TECC Capital in a deal valued at £12m and £1.2m was raised at 6p a share. The share price returned from suspension and increased by 64.1% to 5.25p, but it is still below the placing price. EDX Medical develops digital diagnostic products and service for cancer, heart disease, neurology and infectious diseases.  

Watchstone Group (LON: WTG) has agreed settlement terms with former auditor KPMG. The final payment is £4.95m. Net assets were £11.4m at the end of June 2022, which was mainly cash. The share price increased by 11.5% to 29p, which values Watchstone at £12m.

Tectonic Gold (LON: TTAU) has recommenced drilling at the Specimen Hill project in Queensland. This is drilling below a previous mine and one result was 8.17g/t gold over one metre in distal veins. A shortage of drilling rigs delayed the restart. The drilling should be completed in a fortnight. The share price rose 3.45% to 0.75p.

Wishbone Gold (LON: WSBN) has exercised its option to acquire the Anketell gold-copper project in Western Australia. This cost £320,000 in shares at 14.75p a share and £50,000 in cash. The share price edged up 0.7% to 7.2p.

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Fallers

Web3 gaming and infrastructure company Pioneer Media Holdings Inc (LON: PNER) has closed the first tranche of the previously announced placing and this raised C$580,000 at C$0.10 a unit – one share and 0.5 of a warrant exercisable at C$0.25. This is a huge discount to the market price. The share price slumped 14.3% to 30p. This cash will finance technology development and working capital. Olivia Edwards has been appointed to the board.

Diesel additives supplier SulNOx Group (LON: SNOX) has secured an order in South Africa and a repeat order in Costa Rica. Agriculture has proved to be a large customer base. Even so, the share price fell 8.77% to 13p. NFT Investments (LON: NFT) continues to trade well below its NAV and it fell a further 2.63% to 0.925p. Some of the assets are held in cryptocurrency, so the recent declines may have reduced the stated NAV.

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