Property developer Bellway saw its underlying operating profits grow 11.6% from £297.7m to £332.2m in H1 of 2022 due to volume growth. However, the threat of higher costs has hit investor sentiment and shares were down over 5% on Tuesday.

Compared to H1 2021, Bellway’s volume output has increased to 5,694 houses from 5,656 houses in H1 2022 with the average price for the homes exceeding £305,000 in 2022.

The company believes ‘long-term housing market fundamentals’ are favourable. The property developer expects to increase its total output to exceed 11,100 homes for the full year ending in July 2022.

On 13 March 2022, Bellway was already in a strong forward sales position with 7,491 houses in their order books, an increase from 6,028 houses, for a value of £2.2bn as opposed to £1.6bn in H1 2021.

Bellway saw its revenue increase by 3.5% to £1.78b from £1.72bn in H1 2021 as underlying demand increased by 5.8% in the overall reservation rate and 3.8% in the private reservation rate.

Bellway invested in 8,660 plots compared to 8,848 plots in H1 2022 across 45 sites with an expected gross margin of 23% to enable growth in the coming years for the group.

Price optimisation and cost control benefitted the underlying operating margin by 18.7% in H1 2022.

However, Bellway has increased building safety improvements adjustments by £22.1m, before a £2.5m recovery of provisions to aide past fire safety problems.

The pre-tax profit for the group increased by 8.9% to £327.2m from £300.5m in H1 2021.

The property company announced a 28.6% increase in interim dividends from 35p to 45p in H1 2022 with dividend cover expected to be 3x.

Ross Hindle, Senior Analyst, Third Bridge commented, “Bellway produced a steady set of results, with revenue increasing 3.5% to £1,780.0 million, in line with estimates, and continuing its impressive volume growth, with a further 5,694 new homes completed during the period.”

“Although inflated raw material and labour costs are a big factor, continued undersupply means Bellway continues to benefit from the yawning gap between housing supply and demand.”

“Rising costs, staffing shortages and cladding issues remain the three of the key challenges facing Bellway.”

Bellway saw its shares drop 1.7% to 2,555p despite delivering strong revenues in H1 of 2022 and creating optimism around the rest of its financial year.

AstraZeneca’s share price increased 0.6% in early morning trading on Tuesday following the company’s announcement that its product Ondexxya had been approved in Japan.

Japan became the first country to approve the drug for use with all three FXa inhibitors currently available.

The medicine is reportedly the first approved reversal agent for Factor X inhibitors, including apixaban, rivaroxaban and edoxaban.

Ondexxya is capable of reversing anticoagulation, which means the drug can be used to stop uncontrolled, life-threatening bleeding in patients.

The medicine is currently under conditional approval by the European Commission for adults treated with apixaban and rivaroxaban, which was received in 2019.

Ondexxya received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2018 and is marketed under the trade name Andexxa.

“With the approval of Ondexxya in Japan, we are working to make this important medicine available as quickly as possible for the small proportion of patients with life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding who are on FXa inhibitors and who have not previously had an approved reversal agent treatment option,” said AstraZeneca Executive Vice President of BioPharmaceuticals R&D Mene Pangalos.

Rio Tinto shares have gained 1% to 5,922p in early morning trade on Tuesday after completing the acquisition of the Rincon lithium project.

The Argentinian Rincon lithium project was acquired for $825m by Rio Tinto once the Australian mining group received approval from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).

Rincon is located in the Salta Province of Argentina and is an undeveloped lithium brine project. The project has scalable capabilities for battery-grade lithium carbonate, earning the region a reputation as an ’emerging hub for greenfield projects’.

When compared to solar evaporation ponds, the direct lithium extraction technology proposed for the project has the potential to substantially improve lithium recoveries.

Currently, a pilot plant is operating on the site, and future development will concentrate on further refining the method and recovery rates.

Rincon Mining, owned by Sentient Equity Partners, entered into a binding agreement with Rio Tinto in December 2021 for the acquisition of their Rincon lithium project.

Jakob Stausholm, Chief Executive Officer, Rio Tinto, said “Rincon strengthens our battery materials business and positions Rio Tinto to meet the double-digit growth in demand for lithium over the next decade, at a time when supply is constrained.” 

“We will be working with local communities, the Province of Salta and the Government of Argentina as we develop this project to the highest ESG standards.”

The second half of the next decade is expected to see a supply-demand deficit due to the expected demand increase of 25-35% for battery-grade lithium carbonate.

Recruitment agent RTC group saw a drop in revenues from £81.4m to £77.7m in 2021 due to employees on furlough as a consequence of Covid-19 and Nato troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan.

RTC Group shares plummeted 18.5% to 28.5p after the company reported disappointing revenues and no final dividend.

The UK recruitment division saw revenues increase from £64.5m to £66.8m in 2021 as the rail division entered into a contract with Network Rail to provide frontline labour services from October 2021 to at least 2026.

The group’s UK revenues in 2020 also included a one-off contract performance obligation settlement of £590k which was not repeated in 2021.

The energy division’s revenue was positively impacted by the Government’s smart meter roll-out programme.

The international recruitment division saw a drop in revenues to £9.6m from £16.1m in 2021 due to NATO troops withdrawing from Afghanistan in Q2.

RTC Group recorded operation profits of £0.3m, £0.8m lower than 2020 due to the reduction in Government support from £2.5m to £0.3m in 2021, higher administrative costs caused by the mobilisation of the new Network Rail contract and inflation in wages.

RTG group noted a net cash outflow from operating activities of £2.4m compared to an inflow of £5.1m in 2020 due to an increase in working capital tangled with debtors.

The group also paid off £1.5m VAT deferrals the Government allowed as a form of financial support during the pandemic.

Earnings per share reduced from 4.66p to 0.04p in 2021 and no final dividend has been proposed by the group.

Andy Pendlebury, CEO said, “RTC Group, like many other companies, had an extremely challenging year in 2021.”

“The COVID pandemic continued to significantly impact client demand across many markets and where requirements for contract labour remained strong this was accompanied by higher operational costs to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our workforce; candidate reluctance to change employers or careers given these turbulent times and workers self-isolating increased both direct and indirect costs as programme and project continuity was heavily disrupted.” 

“In addition, the sudden and immediate demobilisation from Afghanistan due to the complete withdrawal in August of all American, United Kingdom and NATO troops curtailed a large contribution of revenue from our international business.”

“However, despite the untimely combination and cumulative effect of all these events, the majority of which were outside of the control of the Group, we still managed to trade, albeit marginally, in positive territory.”

“Although for many reasons we are all naturally very disappointed with the way the year played out for us, and also mindful of the fact that there are still many geo-political events and micro-economic challenges threatening the domestic and international landscape, we believe our positioning across a broad range of markets, sectors and industries, give us every reason to be optimistic about our ability to deliver long term sustainable value to all our stakeholders.”

Aptamer Group, a developer of innovative Optimer binders, acknowledges DeepVerge’s announcement today that Optimer-enabled Microtox PD systems for pathogen detection in wastewater were installed at 6 sites across the UK as part of the Environmental Monitoring for Health Protection (EMHP) programme, with more installations expected in the UK over the next few months.

Aptamer Group uses its unique Optimer platform to create custom affinity binders that enable new medicinal, diagnostic, and research options.

Using its patented Optimer platform, the company aims to create disruptive products that satisfy the needs of biomedical researchers and developers.

MicrotoxPD, a DeepVerge product, detects and monitors pathogens in wastewater and drinking water in real-time.

The information gathered by the MircotoxPD units as part of the programme will allow public health officials to provide targeted containment in the event of a disease outbreak, as well as identification of the SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, which Aptamer’s SARS-CoV-2 binder can detect.

Following a performance test of the SARS-CoV-2 Optimers in comparison to ligands from several suppliers, Aptamer Group was chosen as the recommended ‘ligand provider’ for MicrotoxPD.

Optimer binders are oligonucleotide affinity ligands that can be used instead of antibodies. The global antibody market is presently valued at over $145b.

The Joint Biosecurity Centre (part of NHS Test & Trace), DEFRA, researchers, and water companies are leading the EMHP wastewater monitoring programme.

DeepVerge shares soared 12.5% to 13.5p as the company announced launching wastewater monitoring initiatives across the UK, and will launch more later this year.

Arron Tolley, Chief Executive Officer, Aptamer Group, commented, “We are really pleased to see the deployment of multiple Optimer-enabled MicrotoxPD units under the Environmental Monitoring for Health Protection programme.”

“This will allow remote, real-time monitoring of water pathogens, particularly SARS-CoV-2, for the country to prepare for the next winter period.”

“This Optimer-based detection offers increased national and international water safety through routine installations and monitoring, and we look forward to supporting our partners at DeepVerge through the supply of highly specific Optimer binders that enable specific and sensitive pathogen detection on their platform.”

Aptamer Group has successfully completed projects for large pharma firms, diagnostic development agencies, and research institutes with the goal of acquiring royalty-bearing licences across a wide range of targets and functions.

Scientists and collaborators can make faster, more informed decisions that assist discovery and development in biomedicine thanks to the unique Optimer technology and processes.

Aptamer’s shares have gained 2% to 123p with the news of DeepVerge launching wastewater monitoring systems using Aptamer’s Optimer binders.

The Ince Group has unveiled its new InceDemurrage advisory service for demurrage claims, in collaboration with the Demurrage Desk.

The company announced the venture as a “one-stop demurrage solution” for clients in the maritime sector.

InceDemurrage is reportedly an integrated expert demurrage and laytime advice and insights service.

The venture marks the third combined law, consultancy and technology service launched by Ince tailored for the maritime sector.

The company said the service aimed to capitalise on Demurrage Desk’s state-of-the-art technology for completely digitalised demurrage, laytime tracking and calculation, alongside Ince’s expertise in demurrage legal issues.

Ince said the service is currently working towards the development of advanced integrated solutions and involving market-leading Blockchain technology in the streamlining of the demurrage process.

The service will be aimed at ship owners, vessel operators, charterers, traders, P&I Clubs and alternative entities which work in laytime and demurrage.

“The service represents a new benchmark in the way that laytime calculations and demurrage claims are tracked, processed, and disputed, and elevates demurrage processes to a higher standard in line with industry best practice,” said Ince Global Senior Partner Julian Clark.

“Against the continued digitalisation of the maritime sector, shipping companies can no longer afford to track and process demurrage and laytime without the necessary levels of structure, accuracy, and sophistication.”

“InceDemurrage addresses our industry’s need to optimise, professionalise and modernise despatch, demurrage and laytime processes, reclaiming the importance of these in the wider context of shipping operations.”