Mediazest revenue grows to £1.4m as projects recommence post-Covid

Natasha Doris
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Mediazest revenue grows to £1.4m as projects recommence post-Covid

Mediazest shares fell 7.1% to 0.07p in late afternoon trading on Tuesday following a 66% growth in revenue to £1.4 million compared to £846,000 in HY1 2022 as a result of easing Covid-19 restrictions and client projects recommencing.

The firm reported a gross profit increase of 84% to £756,000 compared to £410,000, along with a gross margin rise of 54% against 48% the last year.

Mediazest mentioned a climb in administrative expenses of 35% to £618,000 from £459,000 the year before linked to the furlough scheme ending and staff returning to the office as hybrid working kicked off.

The company announced a EBITDA of £138,000 against a loss of £49,000 year-on-year, alongside a net post-tax profit of £40,000 compared to a loss of £160,000 in the previous year.

The group noted cash and cash equivalents of £46,000 from £16,000 as of 31 March 2022.

Mediazest highlighted a strong outlook for FY 2022, with its long-term clients expanding the range and number of deployments with the firm and new opportunities emerging in Europe, with the board currently in the process of establishing an office in mainland Europe to better capitalise on new opportunities and facilitate project delivery post-Brexit.

The company confirmed strong recurring revenue streams, alongside the addition of new clients as it eyes potential acquisitions in a bid to unlock shareholder value.

Mediazest commented it remained aware of macroeconomic headwinds, however it reported strong demand across its sectors and estimated growth in FY 2022.

IG Design Group profits fall on cost inflation, eyes growth in FY 2023

Natasha Doris
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IG Design Group profits fall on cost inflation, eyes growth in FY 2023

IG Design Group shares soared 20% to 81.6p in late afternoon trading on Tuesday following a growth in revenue to $965.1 million in FY 2022 against $873.2 million in FY 2021.

IG Design Group attributed its revenue climb to strong demand for its products and focus on delivering customer commitments.

The company announced an adjusted pre-tax loss of $1.3 million compared to an adjusted pre-tax profit of $32.8 million, along with a reported pre-tax profit of $2.2 million from a reported pre-tax profit of $14.7 million in the previous year.

The firm highlighted supply chain and cost inflation issues as the main factor behind its drop in profits, alongside a lack of freight availability throughout the financial year.

IG Design Group mentioned a net cash at year end fall to $30.2 million from $76.5 million as a result of increased costs and working capital requirements.

The company noted that a recent banking covenant amendment to March 2023 and a facility extension to March 2024 had secured access to financing to support its working capital requirements.

The design company confirmed a strong order book for FY 2023, which is currently at 71% of budgeted revenues, indicating continued demand and positive customer relationships.

The firm added that it was passing on cost inflation to customers where possible, resulting in a minor operating margin improvement estimated for FY 2023.

The company also commented that higher financing costs were expected linked to revised banking facilities and a maintained higher working capital as the group looked to manage its higher cost environment heading into the next term.

“The extent of the impact of the inflation and supply chain challenges in FY2022 have given us cause to re-examine our business, and we are therefore laying out today a foundation for a strategy with a clear focus on restoring profitable and sustainable growth,” said IG Design Group interim executive chair Stewart Gilliland.

“While it will no doubt evolve further over the coming months, the Board and wider management team are fully aligned, focused on mitigating cost pressures and creating a more resilient business.”

“This will provide a stronger base on which we can build in the future.”

IG Design Group reported a dividend of 1.7c per share from 11.8c per share in FY 2022.

OptiBiotix revenues rise to £2.2m on Probiotics & Prebiotics success

Natasha Doris
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OptiBiotix revenues rise to £2.2m on Probiotics & Prebiotics success

OptiBiotix shares were up 0.8% to 20.6p in late afternoon trading on Tuesday following a reported 45.3% rise in revenue to £2.2 million against £1.5 million in FY 2021.

The firm announced a 27.7% increase in gross profit to £1.1 million from £879,000, alongside a climb in its Probiotic business sales of 34% to £1.1 million compared to £800,000 with a 92.6% spike in underlying profit sales year-on-year.

OptiBiotix confirmed its Prebiotics business sales grew 59.3% to £1.1 million against £600,000 the year before, with underlying sales rising by 122%.

The company mentioned both its Prebiotics and Probiotics sectors experienced profitable trading with EBITDAs of £13,000 and £179,000, respectively.

The group further noted a significant increase in the value of its holding in SkinBio therapeutics from £8.9 million to £13.7 million, resulting in a group net profit of £6.3 million compared to £5.8 million in the previous year.

OptiBiotix reported a total cash on balance sheet at the close of 2021 rise of 122% to £2 million from £900,000 year-on-year.

“With our products winning awards in several jurisdictions and an increasing number of large companies like The Hut Group, Holland and Barrett, AlfaSigma, Apollo Hospitals, and Nahdi Medical using our products, we are in strong position for further growth” said OptiBiotix CEO Stephen O’Hara.

“With no debt, a healthy balance sheet, a growing reputation within the industry, second-generation products close to commercialisation, and growing consumer interest in the microbiome and gut health, the Company is in a strong position for continued growth in this exciting area of healthcare.”

Coro Energy shares fall on $7.5m loss

Natasha Doris
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Coro Energy shares fall on $7.5m loss

Coro Energy shares were down 8.7% to 0.2p in early afternoon trading on Tuesday after the group announced a total loss of $7.5 million in FY 2021 against $11 million in FY 2020.

Coro Energy highlighted a pre-tax loss from continuing operations of $6.5 million from $8 million the year before, and an overall pre-tax loss of $1.6 million against $1.1 million.

The company reported a loss from discontinued operations of $1.5 million compared to $2.1 million last year, alongside a loss from operating activities of $3.5 million from $3 million year-on-year.

The energy firm noted a selection of highlights across the year, including its acquisition of an early stage South East Asian renewable energy portfolio with an initial focus on the Philippines as part of the group’s efforts to develop its green energy assets.

It also announced a new partnership in Vietnam with Vihn Phuc Energy to develop rooftop solar projects and initiated a 3 MW pilot including signing a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement for the pilot.

The company further raised net proceeds of approximately $5.5 million through a placing and open offer to fund the firm’s low carbon energy investments.

Coro Energy mentioned the relaunching of its producing Italian gas portfolio against the backdrop of recent structural changes in European gas prices, and highlighted its continued progress towards commercialising the Mako gas field in which it holds a 15% interest.

“Underpinned by its strong Italian production and four institutional lenders, Coro’s shareholders are exposed to a leveraged play on the oil price,” said Coro Energy chairman James Parsons.

“Our strategy remains to monetise the Duyung PSC, use the Italian cash flows, which more than covers the Company’s G&A costs, and invest selectively in South East Asian renewables and high graded Italian production enhancement opportunities.”

“Recent volatility in energy markets have presented huge opportunity to Coro with the re-birth of the Italian portfolio alongside a significant uplift in the core NAV of its position in the Duyung PSC. It is in this context that we are delighted to present our annual report and accounts to shareholders.”

Coro Energy did not declare a dividend for FY 2021, following its decision not to issue a dividend in FY 2020.

FTSE 100 rises 1% as miners soar on $600bn G7 fund

Natasha Doris
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FTSE 100 rises 1% as miners soar on $600bn G7 fund

The FTSE 100 was up over 1% in early afternoon trading on Tuesday as markets were pulled up by mining companies on hopes of growing future demand for raw materials.

The G7 $600 billion plan to fund infrastructure in developing countries over the next five years served to send commodities groups surging as investors leapt to the sector.

“Periods when the FTSE 100 rises in the region of 1% in a day should be celebrated given how this year has been so gloomy for investors. Today, the fireworks are most definitely lighting up the sky and the UK market is regaining its mojo,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Miners revved their engines yesterday following the G7 $600 billion infrastructure plan and were striking more gold today as investors continue to flock to the sector.”

Anglo American shares gained 1.8% to 3,191.7p, Antofagasta rose 0.3% to 1,227.2p, Croda saw an uptick of 0.4% to 6,409p, Endeavor increased 1.4% to 1,770.5p, Glencore soared 2.7% to 465.1p and Rio Tinto climbed 3% to 5,202.5p.

The price of oil increased to $117 per barrel for benchmark Brent Crude, sending Shell and BP shares up 3.2% to 2,181p and 3% to 403.3p, respectively.

China eases Covid-19 restrictions

Meanwhile, China-focused stocks saw an uptick as the Chinese government eased Covid-19 quarantines to ten days rather than three weeks for visitors entering the country.

Asia-focused insurance company Prudential gained 3.4% to 1,044.2p and the Hang Seng increased 0.8% to 22,418.9.

The prospect of fewer disruptions to global production also served to boost US markets, with NASDAQ pre-market trading up 0.5% to 12,099.7 and the Dow Jones up 0.5% to 31,604.

“Perhaps helping the cause was news that China would reduce the Covid quarantine period for visitors from overseas, perhaps a sign that the Asian superpower’s extra tough pandemic measures might be relaxed going forward,” said Mould.

“That would help to alleviate fears that commodities demand would be weaker from China if it shut up shop every time a new Covid wave came.”

Utilities fall

Utilities dropped as JP Morgan downgraded Severn Trent, with the group’s shares falling 4.9% to 2,711.5p. The move triggered a dip in United Utilities shares, which dipped 1.2% to 1,021.7p.

“Utilities were out of fashion following a broker downgrade on Severn Trent,” said Mould.

“JPMorgan moved to an ‘underweight’ position on the stock, triggering a 4.2% decline in the share price. United Utilities fell in sympathy.”

The pathway to production and beyond with Alien Metals

UK Investor Magazine
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The pathway to production and beyond with Alien Metals

The UK Investor Magazine team was delighted to welcome Bill Brodie Good, CEO at Alien Metals, to the Podcast ahead of our Summer Investor Evening this week. Register for your spot here.

The Alien Metals CEO provides a comprehensive overview of the company and their key projects.

Bill starts by detailing their Mexican and Australian jurisdictions and what attracts him to operations in the countries.

We progress to Alien Metals’ individual projects. Alien Metals has a diverse portfolio of assets focused on PGMs, gold, silver, and iron ore. The Hancock iron ore has the potential to begin production next year which would provide significant cashflow to further grow Alien’s portfolio.

Bill outlines Alien’s strategy and business model, and how they are navigating the challenges created by today’s markets.

Bill Brodie Good will present at the UK Investor Magazine Summer Investor Evening. Register for your spot here.

AIM movers: WANdisco, Symphony Environmental, MS International, Jangada Mines

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: WANdisco, Symphony Environmental, MS International, Jangada Mines

Data management and analysis software provider WANdisco (LON: WAND) has won its largest ever contract with a major telecoms company that is an existing client. The shares rose 10% to 296p. The agreement is valued at $11.6m – $5.8m in advance – and takes the total value of contracts with the customer to $14.3m. The software will be used to move smart meter data to multiple cloud providers. WANdisco remains heavily loss-making so the additional cash will be useful. Last year, the cash outflow from operating activities was $28.2m and there was $5.76m of capital investment. There was $27.8m in the bank at the end of 2021, with a further $19.8m raised at 270p a share earlier this month.

Investors have been excited by a deal that Symphony Environmental Technologies (LON: SYM) has made with North American bread supplier Grupo Bimbo. The potential for the deal pushed the share price up 17.2% to 18.75p. The supply deal for d2p antimicrobial technology for use in the production of bread bags is for an initial period of three years. The new bread bags are already being produced. This follows successful legal action in Peru to get the government to differentiate between Symphony’s ox-biodegradable products and oxo-degradable products, which leave behind microplastics.

Shares in MS International (LON: MSI) rose 8.3% to 300p after it announced a 12% increase in the total dividend to 9.25p a share. In the year to April 2022, the defence and engineering products supplier improved pre-tax profit from £1.59m to £5.97m. That included a £1.19m settlement for a contract dispute, although there were £600,000 of legal expenses in overheads.  

Jangada Mines (LON: JAN) warns that its Pitomberias vanadium project in Brazil could require more cash. This means that the 100%-owned project may not start production this year. A decision should be made on sourcing the funding within three to nine months. The project has an NPV8% of $96.5m. The share price slumped 23.7% to 3.55p. At the end of December 2021, Jangada Mines had £3.5m in the bank and since then $650,000 has been raised from the sale of ValOre shares.

Oil and gas explorer Providence Resources (LON: PVR) has regained all its share price decline after it announced a proposed fundraising at a 35% discount to the previous day’s closing price. Today, the share price is up 25% to 2.75p, having been as low as 1.8p last week. Providence is raising $1.8m at 1.5p a unit (one ordinary share and one warrant exercisable at 1.5p). The cash will be spent on working capital and fund Providence’s lease undertaking application for Barryroe, which is an offshore field south of Cork.

Bango (LON: BGO) has signed its second agreement in less than one week. Bango shares rose 10.9% to 159.75p. The latest is with Spanish language programming-focused US network TelevisaUnivision Inc, which is licensing the Bango payments platform for its OTT subscription service ViX+, which will be offered around the world. Last week’s agreement was with an unnamed multinational technology company, which will use the Bango platform for carrier billing and bundling services for app store payments and subscription services. Prior to that announcement, the share price was 126.5p.

Limited cash to take advantage of Oxford BioDynamics prospects

Andrew Hore
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Limited cash to take advantage of Oxford BioDynamics prospects

Precision medicine tests developer Oxford BioDynamics (LON: OBD) fell 14.7% to 13.225p following its interim figures announcement. The company has significant opportunities but limited funds.

The cash outflow after R&D tax credits was £2.3m in the six-month period. There is £4.6m of cash in the bank at the end of March 2022. That was after £3.62m was raised at 46.5p a share last October.

Last week, EpiSwitch CiRT was launched in the UK, having been launched in the US in February. This is precision medicine test that can predict whether a patient will respond to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies – they are infective treatments for 70% of patients.

Costs will be saved by not prescribing ineffective medicine and doctors can be reassured that it is correct to prescribe treatments.

Oxford BioDynamics is still talking with major pharma companies about the test so it will take time for revenues to build up. Once a reimbursement code is obtained in the US it should be easier to assess the potential.

Oxford BioDynamics has other products. The next diagnostic is likely to be for prostate cancer.  EpiSwitch CiRT is the one that could be significant in the medium-term, though. The prospects are positive.

Investors may be concerned about the cash position and the likely need for a fundraising in the next year. Revenues are unlikely to build up fast enough to enable the company to take advantage of the opportunities. There were warrants with the recent placing, but they are exercisable at 58.125p.

Credit Suisse found guilty on money laundering charges

Natasha Doris
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Credit Suisse found guilty on money laundering charges

Credit Suisse has been found guilty on charges of money laundering, according to the verdict reported on Monday, with the bank ordered to pay fines of £1.7 million alongside £17 million to the Swiss government.

The verdict found the banking company guilty of failure to adequately prevent members of a Bulgarian crime syndicate from profiting off cocaine trafficking across Europe.

The investigation reported a Credit Suisse employee failed to stop the criminal organisation from laundering over 19 million Swiss francs through the bank between July 2007 and December 2008 despite evidence that the money was illegally obtained.

The Swiss criminal court imposed a 20-month suspended sentence on the bank’s employee and an additional fine for her role in the money laundering scandal.

Swiss criminal law states that if a company is negligent in allowing its employees to launder money, the business is subject to a fine.

Credit Suisse denied complicity in any wrongdoing and confirmed it would be appealing the judgement.

“Credit Suisse Group has taken note of the Swiss Federal Criminal Court’s decision to impose a fine of CHF 2 million against Credit Suisse AG for certain historical organizational inadequacies (article 102 of the Swiss Criminal Code) for the period between July 2007 and December 2008,” said the bank in a statement.

“The investigation dates back more than 14 years. The bank will appeal the decision.”

The verdict is not the first time Credit Suisse has been under investigation for criminal activity.

A leak in February 2022 revealed a series of the banking group’s clients were involved in torture, money laundering, drug trafficking and general corruption.

The report was initially reported by German press agency Süddeutsche Zeitung before it was picked up by the New York Times and international news organisations.

A whistle-blower released the evidence with the statement that “I believe that Swiss banking secrecy laws are immoral…The pretext of protecting financial privacy is merely a fig leaf covering the shameful role of Swiss banks as collaborators of tax evaders.”

The notorious secrecy of Swiss banking laws mean banks tend to have cover behind which to operate without intensive public scrutiny, which makes illegal operations difficult to pinpoint and evict from the banking system.

Credit Suisse announced at the time that 90% of the leaked accounts had been closed down, and accused media reports of attempts to discredit the Swiss banking infrastructure overall.

“Following numerous inquiries by the consortium over the last three weeks, Credit Suisse has reviewed a large volume of accounts potentially associated with the matters raised,” said Credit Suisse in a statement.

“Approximately 90% of the reviewed accounts are today closed or were in the process of closure prior to receipt of the press inquiries, of which over 60% were closed before 2015.”

“Of the remaining active accounts, we are comfortable that appropriate due diligence, reviews and other control related steps were taken in line with our current framework.”

Croda secures $75m funding from US government to expand lipid facilities

Natasha Doris
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0
Croda secures $75m funding from US government to expand lipid facilities

Croda has secured funding from the US government in a $75 million agreement which will see the US support the firm’s US lipid systems facilities used in novel therapeutic drugs, such as mRNA vaccines.

Croda announced it would be investing up to $58 million in line with its ‘Empower Biologics Delivery’, bringing the project investment to $133 million.

The group reported the cost was included in its existing capital expenditure programme listed in its 2021 financial results.

The company highlighted the investment would be used to develop a lipid facility as part of a new multi-purpose cGMP site in Pennsylvania, with construction scheduled to kick off later this year and new capacity anticipated in 2025.

Croda mentioned the investment would support the expansion of its patient healthcare solutions portfolio by installing a third manufacturing site for lipid systems alongside its existing Alabama and Leek, UK facilities.

The funding from the US government comes as a joint award from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and the Army Contracting Command’s Joint COVID Response Division (ACC JCRD).

The facility is set to form part of a programme to expand the US industrial base supporting vaccine and therapeutic manufacturing activities, with the base at Lamar supporting the US preparedness for future health emergencies by ensuring adequate capacity is available in the US to produce the vital components for vaccine manufacture.

Croda noted that given the scale of the current development pipeline, the market for lipid systems is expected to grow significantly over the coming decade due to its use in novel mRNA-based therapeutics, including vaccines and cancer treatments.

“We are grateful to the U.S. government for its support of Croda. The delivery technology based on lipid systems offers significant potential for the safe and efficient delivery of next generation vaccines and therapeutic drugs,” said Croda life sciences president Daniele Piergentili.

“As a result of this investment, Croda will be able to expand its capabilities to develop and manufacture ingredients in support of this important technology.”

“This will help ensure that the U.S. is well prepared for future health emergencies and equipped to offer advanced treatments for some of the most prevalent illnesses in the world today.”

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