Oriole Resources confirms active drilling campaigns at core projects

Liam Roche
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Oriole Resources confirms active drilling campaigns at core projects

Oriole Resources narrows pre-tax loss

Oriole Resources (LON:ORR) is strongly positioned for the year ahead as the company confirmed active drilling campaigns at its core projects in Cameroon and Senegal, in addition to its investment projects in Djibouti and Turkey, in its full-year results.

The AIM-listed exploration company posted a loss before tax of £320,000, down from £1.67m loss the year before.

The improved performance came about as a result of a £317,000 foreign exchange gain on its Senala asset in Senegal, successful growth of its Turkish consultancy business and cost-saving measures that reduced the group’s administrative overheads by 35%.

The company confirmed it ended the year with a cash balance of £1.75m.

Just recently, Oriole Resources revealed it was making progress on its 3,080 metre drill programme at the Bibemi gold project.

Tim Livesey, chief executive of Oriole Resources, commented on the diffciculties faced by the company during 2020 while looking ahead.

“Whilst 2020 was a difficult and unprecedented year at a global level, at Oriole we succeeded in advancing the Company’s pre-stated development goals of signing of a drill contract and securing the necessary funds to allow us to finish the year poised for the commencement of our maiden drilling programme at Bibemi in Cameroon. With initial results anticipated in Q1, and continuing into Q2, we look forward to building our knowledge of the extensive gold mineralisation on the licence.”

“We also secured, alongside our partner, a district-scale package of eight new licences in central Cameroon covering 3,592 km2. We believe the area to be highly prospective for gold, both from historic results and from our initial remote sensing studies on the area. A reconnaissance visit has already been completed ahead of an upcoming stream sediment sampling programme, which we anticipate will commence in Q2.”

“The next stage of exploration at Faré will be an RC and DD programme, which is planned for completion by the end of Q2, and we also look forward to the planned RC and DD programme at Madina Bafé later in the year.”

Bellway to reinstate dividend as strong demand lifts revenue

Liam Roche
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Bellway to reinstate dividend as strong demand lifts revenue

Bellway forecasting sale of 10,000 homes for coming year

Bellway (LON:BWY), the homebuilder, has reinstated its dividend after completing a record number of homes in the first half of the year.

The FTSE 250 company posted an 11.6% rise in revenue from the year before to £1.7bn, while operating profit remained flat at £297.7m.

Bellway is forecasting sales of 10,000 homes for the full year up to 31 July 2021, which would be a substantial increase on the 7,522 sold in the 12 months prior.

Having been cancelled last year on account of the pandemic, the company reinstated its dividend at 35p per share.

The homebuilder confirmed in a statement alongside its results that the average sale price of its homes jumped to £303,206, as well as saying there was strong underlying demand in the housing market.

Bellway has also made a “significant investment in land, with a record 8,848 plots contracted.”

The Newcastle-based homebuilder has also put aside £20m to deal with cladding related issues in apartment blocks following the Grenfell disaster.

Commenting on the results, chairman, Paul Hampden Smith, said:

“Bellway has delivered a good first half trading performance, achieving record first half revenue because of its strong brought forward sales position and investment in work-in-progress. We have delivered this growth, while retaining our core focus on quality and customer care and have been recognised as a five-star homebuilder for the fifth consecutive year.”

“We have acted cautiously and responsibly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring safe working practices across all our construction sites, sales centres, and divisional offices. In addition, we continue to offer support to our colleagues, whose ongoing efforts have been crucial in helping Bellway emerge strongly from this global crisis, with ongoing mental health and wellbeing campaigns.”

“As a responsible developer, Bellway recognises concerns with regards to fire safety in apartment buildings.  As part of our efforts to help building owners of legacy apartment schemes, we have recognised an additional net legacy building safety expense of £20.3 million in the period.”

“The brings the total amount provided by the Group since 2017, in relation to fire safety, to £131.6 million. This is a substantial sum which demonstrates Bellway’s responsible approach to supporting customers with regards to this issue.”

The London Stock Exchange Group presents at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference

UK Investor Magazine
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The London Stock Exchange Group presents at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference

The London Stock Exchange Group addresses the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March 2021.

Tim Davis, Regional Head of Primary Markets at the London Stock Exchange, delivers an intriguing presentation focusing on three key areas; an overview of UK markets in the Main Market and AIM, how AIM has evolved and the London Stock Exchange’s green investing activities.

There is also insight on capital raising activity and how London is a truly international market.

Download the presentation slides here.

Ergomed consolidates North American growth

Andrew Hore
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Ergomed consolidates North American growth

Contract pharma research provider Ergomed (LON: ERGO) is in the top forty best AIM performers over five years with a 635% increase in the share price and it is not far from quadrupling over the past year. That means that the shares have a heady rating, but the growing market and potential for earnings enhancing acquisitions make it appear warranted.
Ergomed decided to concentrate on third-party services rather than co-development more than two years ago. Last year, two major acquisitions were made in the important North American market and management would like to further increase scale in the...

Temple Bar Investment Trust presents at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March

UK Investor Magazine
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Temple Bar Investment Trust presents at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March

Temple Bar Investment Trust (LON:TMPL) Portfolio Managers Ian Lance and Nick Purves present the Trusts classic approach to value investing at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference.

Temple Bar Investment Trust’s focus is on identifying undervalued UK equities that are ‘misunderstood by investors’.

With ongoing stimulus by central banks, the portfolio has a significant exposure to energy and banks – all sectors that tend to do well in higher inflationary environments.

Click here to download slides.

AVI Global Trust presents at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March

UK Investor Magazine
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AVI Global Trust presents at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March

We were delighted to welcome AVI Global Trust to the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March.

CEO & CIO Joe Bauernfreund delivered a insightful presentation on the inner working of the Trust and where their investment strategies have found success.

AVI Global Trust has a diverse portfolio of holdings that range from family-controlled assets to Japanese small cap companies.

You can download the presentation slides here.

Vietnam Holding Presentation at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March

Vietnam Holding
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Vietnam Holding Presentation at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March

Vietnam Holding (LON:VNH) presents at the UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference 23rd March.

Craig Martin, Chairman of Dynam Capital, the manager of Vietnam Holding presents the case of investing in Vietnam and provides detailed insight into the Southeast Asian economy.

Mr Martin explores Vietnam Holding’s portfolio of high-growth Vietnamese companies and breaks down some of the Trust’s top holdings.

Download the presentation slides here.

FTSE 100 shrinks below 6,700 as Merkel sends Covid warning

Liam Roche
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FTSE 100 shrinks below 6,700 as Merkel sends Covid warning

The FTSE 100 shrank below 6,700 on early Tuesday morning as it fell 0.6%. This was despite cable also shedding 0.4% as it ducked under $1.381.

The fall came on the back of employment news which “broadly disappointed” according to Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex. “Though the unemployment rate covering the 3 months to January unexpectedly fell from 5.1% to 5.0%, the more recent data paints a less rosy picture, with February’s claimant count change number hitting 86,600 against the 9,000 forecast,” Campbell said.

Extending Germany’s partial lockdown over the Easter period, Merkel stated that the country was in a ‘very serious’ situation, going as far to say that it is ‘basically in a new pandemic’ thanks to the new found dominance of the British variant. 

“Britain should perhaps prepare itself for similar news. After all, yesterday Boris Johnson warned that we would feel the effects of the European third wave ‘in due course’,” said Campbell.

FTSE 100 Top Movers

At the top of the FSTE 100, Imperial Brands (1.97%), Reckitt Benckiser (1.88%) and Severn Trent (1.70%) are the day’s biggest risers so far.

Air travel companies IAG (-4.33%) and Rolls-Royce (-4.24%) are the day’s top fallers so far, closely followed by JD Sports (-3.08%).

£5,000 for Going on Holiday

Fines of £5,000 are set to be introduced for people from England who travel abroad before the end of June as the country is taking measures to control its borders.

While the government is still reviewing the possibility of international travel in April, ahead of a possible return in May, health minister Matt Hancock said travel fines were a part of legislation in the event that a resumption of travel is not possible.

Government to fine people £5,000 for going on holiday abroad

Liam Roche
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Government to fine people £5,000 for going on holiday abroad

Travel shares take a hit following news

Fines of £5,000 are set to be introduced for people from England who travel abroad before the end of June as the country is taking measures to control its borders.

While the government is still reviewing the possibility of international travel in April, ahead of a possible return in May, health minister Matt Hancock said travel fines were a part of legislation in the event that a resumption of travel is not possible.

The news took a toll on stocks in the travel industry with IAG, owner of British Airways, falling by 4.26% in early morning trading and InterContinental Hotels Group falling by 1.31%.

Foreign holidays are currently banned by the UK government with “the earliest date by which we will allow for international travel…is the 17th May”, according to Matt Hancock. “That has not changed,” he added.

Question marks remain over whether or not people can travel abroad without a specific reason such as work or education will still be addressed by the government’s travel review, which is due to report on April 12, said Hancock.

However, the travel industry and consumers alike are fearing the worst as cases of coronavirus are rising in Europe, and the vaccine roll-out looks as though it could stall.

Airlines are now facing the prospect of a second summer without revenue, having already taken measures to raise money in order to survive the first time around.

Hancock reaffirmed that it remained too soon to give an answer on what the government’s decision on holidays would be.

“The reason for that is that we are seeing this third wave rising in some parts of Europe and we’re also seeing new variants and it is very important that we protect the progress that we’ve been able to make here in the UK,” he said.

UK unemployment falls back to 5%

Liam Roche
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UK unemployment falls back to 5%

Workers under 25 account for 63.1% of jobs lost since February 2020

The UK unemployment rate stood at 5% for the three month period to February, 0.1% higher than the quarter before, while lower than economists’ forecast of 5.2%.

As furlough measures remained in place and the vaccine roll-out gained further momentum, UK employment has begun to stabilise in the early part of 2021.

The number of employees on payrolls across the UK also increased in February, for the third month in a row, while remaining 700,000 below the figure from the previous year.

Workers under the age of 25 accounted for 63.1% of the jobs lost since February 2020, while more than half of the drop came from hospitality in London.

However, the number of young people in full-time education hit a record high of around 46%, “which shows that many are using the opportunity to upskill in preparation for the jobs market opening up”, according to Laith Khalaf, financial analyst at AJ Bell.

Khalaf provided further historical context for the UK unemployment figures announced today.

“Overall unemployment has been relatively benign so far in the crisis, thanks to the ton of government support that has been thrown at the labour market. Indeed 19% of the business workforce are currently on furlough according to the ONS.”

“It’s scant consolation to anyone who has lost their job as a result of the pandemic, but the unemployment rate today is no worse than it was in 2015, despite large parts of the economy being shuttered for much of the last year.”

The OBR reckons unemployment will rise to a peak of 6.5% towards the end of 2021, which compares with a rate of over 8% during the financial crisis.

“That’s still hundreds of thousands of jobs which are expected to be lost,” said Khalaf.

“However, economists’ forecasts are usually confounded by reality and given the unique and dynamic nature of the current economic crisis, it’s best to record any predictions with a light pencil rather than a marker pen.”

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