Broker Upgrades and Downgrades & Key UK Corporate Snapshots 04 August 2015

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AfriAg Plc (AFRI.L) Announced, in its trading update for the company’s 40% owned specialist African agri-logistics group AfriAg SA (Pty) Ltd, that it saw another strong performance in the half year to 30 June 2015 for perishable airfreight logistics. A total of approximately 907,000 kg of perishable produce was air freighted by AfriAg SA for the 6 month period from 1 January to 30 June 2015. These perishable goods were trucked by AfriAg’s modern fleet of 25 refrigerated trucks from farming and fishing operations in southern Africa and exported by airfreight from to Europe and Asia from Johannesburg and Cape Town international airports.

African Potash Limited (AFPO.L) Announced that it has entered into a trading agreement (Trading MOU) with the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Mask Africa Crowd Farm Fund Limited (MACFF), with a view to creating a vertical platform for the mining, production and distribution of fertiliser, focussed on the Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA States) region and beyond. The company enters into three year fertiliser trading agreement with COMESA to supply and deliver at least 500,000 metric tonnes (MT) of fertilisers on an annual basis during an initial three year period to off-takers identified and introduced by COMESA. Trading agreement complements the company’s Lac Dinga Potash Project in the Republic of Congo, which continues to advance. Near term revenue potential and a strong customer base are expected as a result of the trading agreement. The company now has a prime interest in both the exploration & extraction and trading sectors of the fertiliser industry as part of strategy to create a vertical platform for the mining, production and distribution of fertiliser.

Aqua Bounty Technologies Inc (ABTX.L) Announced, its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2015, that it raised $3.0 million through a placing of shares with Intrexon Corporation. The company is continuously pursuing the approval of its New Animal Drug Application with the US Food and Drug Administration for AquAdvantageR Salmon for which the board remains hopeful that the decision will be received in the near term. The commercial preparations has progressed in several foreign markets for field trials of AAS. The net loss for the first six months was unchanged at $3.5 million (H1 2014: $3.5 million) while the cash and marketable securities balance at 30 June 2015 was $4.7 million (31 December 2014: $5.2 million).

Ariana Resources Plc (AAU.L) Announced, in its progress update on the Kiziltepe Sector of the Red Rabbit Gold Project in western Turkey (Red Rabbit) which is being developed in partnership with Proccea Construction Co. (Proccea), that statutory payments have been made by Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S. (Zenit) to the Department of Forestry totalling TL2.66 million ($0.96 million) have been made in order to secure the rights of the JV company, Zenit, to operate in the designated forestry permit areas. Turkiye Finans Katilim Bankasi A.S. has released the first tranche of funds to satisfy project cash-flow requirements up to the end of July 2015. The JV company has continued to acquire freehold land within the footprint area of the mine. Almost all critical land has now been acquired with a small number of additional parcels currently in the process of being acquired. Further advancement of the project is no longer contingent on the acquisition of the remaining surface rights and the project is now clear to proceed in to construction. Final negotiations on major Turkish supplied plant components has commenced and other long lead orders are being placed with foreign suppliers. Final mining contractor quotes have been received and a contractor is to be decided upon shortly. Based on the current development schedule and expected equipment delivery times, it is anticipated that completion of construction will be achieved in early H2 2016.

ARM Holdings Plc (ARM.L) Announced the forthcoming appointment of Lawton Fitt and Stephen Pusey as independent non-executive directors. They would both join the board on 1 September 2015. Lawton would also join the audit committee from that date.

Byotrol Plc (BYOT.L) Announced that it has signed an agreement to develop and commercialise long-lasting biocidal products (“Agreement”) with the listed international chemical group Solvay SA (“Solvay”). As part of the agreement, Solvay will be making a significant investment in the company’s technical cost base in the current financial year. The board expects the EBITDA to break-even in the six months to 31 March 2016, assuming normal trading conditions prevail.

Direct Line Insurance Group Plc (DLG.L) Announced, in its half year ended 30 June 2015, that revenue declined to £1535.8 million from £1575.5 million posted in the same period last year. The company’s profit before tax stood at £315.0 million, compared to a profit of £211.7 million reported in the previous year. The basic earnings per share stood at 16.5p compared to earnings of 10.9 reported in the previous year. The company further stated that the board has proposed an interim dividend of 4.6p per share (2014: 4.4p) which will be paid on 11 September 2015 to shareholders on the register on 14 August 2015 whereas the ex dividend date will be 13 August 2015.

Epistem Holdings Plc (EHP.L) Announced, in its pre-closing trading statement for the full year ended 30 June 2015, that income was seen at £4.5 million and was in line with market expectations. It expects EBITDA losses to be approximately £3.8 million reflecting the increased expenditure leading up to the launch of the company’s Genedrive® device. The net cash at 30 June 2015 stood at £4.9 million (2014: £4.2 million). The company has placed its first Genedrive Tuberculosis products with its Indian distributor as part of Genedrive’s introduction to the Indian market. The initial product sales will be used to satisfy ‘Key Opinion Leader’ (KOL) studies and to build a bank of clinical reference data to support product positioning and entry into the Indian market. The company also announced that an agreement was signed with the US Department of Defense for the development and manufacture of Genedrive as a “Joint Handheld Bio-Agent Identifier” for the identification of biological warfare agents (pathogen identification). The US Government programme will provide up to $7.8 million (£5.0 million) in milestone based funding over five years, divided into two phases with the first phase being worth up to $2.4 million (£1.5 million) for work scheduled to be completed in the current financial year. The company will release its final results for the year ended 30 June 2015 on Wednesday 28 October 2015. The company separately announced that Matthew Walls left his position as Chief Executive Officer and Dr. Ian Gilham, Non-Executive Chairman, will be the new Chief Executive Officer on an interim basis, with immediate effect.

Fresnillo Plc (FRES.L) Announced, in its unaudited interim results for the six months to 30 June 2015, that its reported revenue stood at $752.3 million, compared to $677.1 million in the preceding period. Profit after tax was $76.4 million compared to $137.1 million. The company’s basic and diluted earnings per share was 0.104c, compared to 0.177c.

Galliford Try Plc (GFRD.L) Announced that it has been appointed by developer ACDL (a joint venture between Miller Developments and Pro Vinci Asset Management) to deliver the first phase of the new Arena Central scheme in central Birmingham. The £66 million contract covers the construction of the 2 Arena Central building which will include 210,000 sq ft of office space to accommodate over 2,500 people, as well as extensive landscaping and external public realm works to create a new ‘urban meadow’ and public square at Bank Court.

Griffin Mining Ltd (GFM.L) Announced interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2015. Revenues increased to $35.2 million from $33.2 million recorded in the same period a year ago. Profit before tax slipped to $3.7 million from $5.8 million. Throughput of 418,950 tonnes of ore in the six months to 30th June 2015 at Griffin’s Caijiaying Mine was up 2.5% on that achieved of 408,671 tonnes in the six months to 30th June 2014. In line with previous years’ practice and the Company’s policy of determining annual dividends at the time of the Company’s full year results, no interim dividend has been declared by the Board of Griffin. Chairman Mladen Ninkov commented, “Operationally, the Company continues to achieve very good results in light of the current downturn in commodity prices with, period to period, increased zinc, lead, silver and gold production, including record gold output, better grades and good recoveries, all this without the imminent commissioning of the new 1.5 million tonnes per annum processing facilities. Nevertheless, the continuing severe weakness in commodity prices coupled with the fixed cost nature of mining production inevitably means any costs increases, such as the increased regulatory costs in the first half, impact the profitability of the Company. The Company eagerly looks forward to any or all of the following occurring: The increased processing and production profile, the long awaited Mining Licence over new production areas and/or a rise in commodity prices.”

Imperial Innovations Group Plc (IVO.L) Announced that it has completed a £2.5 million Series A funding round in Oxford Biotrans, a University of Oxford spin-out company, which is pioneering the commercialisation of biocatalytic processes for the production of high value specialty chemicals, based on its patented enzyme technology. Innovations has now committed £1.25 million to the Series A round alongside existing investors IP Group and the University of Oxford, with new investors Oxford Innovations and Technology EIS fund and De Monchy Aromatics also participating. Innovations now holds a 41.0% stake in the Company.

Just Eat Plc (JE..L) Announced results for the six months ended 30 June 2015. The Group’s revenues grew 54% (H1 2014: 58%) compared to the same period last year, reaching £107.8 million (H1 2014: £69.8 million). On a forex neutral basis, revenue growth would have been 58% (H1 2014: 61%). Profit before tax (“PBT”) for the period was £14.0 million (H1 2014: £8.6 million). No dividends were declared during the first half (H1 2014: £18.25 million), as the Company intends to retain any earnings to expand the growth and development of the business. The dividend paid in 2014 was part of a pre-IPO capital reorganisation. The Board does not anticipate paying dividends in the foreseeable future. Management now expects revenue for 2015 of around £230 million, with such revenue over-performance expected to continue into 2016. By the end of the current financial year, the company intend to invest an additional £8 million in marketing in core markets, together with an additional £5 million of investment into technology and our Latin American teams. Notwithstanding this significantly increased investment, the company remains on track to deliver EBITDA for the current year in line with expectations.

Lok’nStore Group Plc (LOK.L) Announced that it has received an additional £2 million from the purchaser of the original Reading store site in return for the relinquishment of all remaining rights to receive further payments in connection with the sale of the property. This sum is in addition to the £2.9 million received from the purchaser in 2014, taking the total consideration to £4.9 million.

Manx Telecom Plc (MANX.L) Announced that it has entered into a three-year contract with PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker operator. PokerStars has agreed to be the main tenant for Phase two of the company’s Greenhill Data Centre (“GDC”). The contract will see a total of 48 data hosting racks and the associated equipment will be moved from their current location in Dublin to the company’s Tier 3 GDC location which was opened last year.

MediaZest Plc (MDZ.L) Announced an update on more new business confirmed for delivery during the financial year 2015/16. Since the detailed update in April 2015, the group has added further business with many ongoing and several new clients in the new financial year. Following the Retail Week award win for the Hyundai Rockar Dealership at Bluewater shopping centre, the Group has been able to secure several pieces of additional business with Hyundai with more expected to be confirmed before the end of the calendar year 2015. The Bluewater showroom has also recently been shortlisted for a prestigious Point of Purchase Advertising International (“POPAI”) award. Since April 2015 the Group has again been working with Adidas. Having previously worked with the company for a small number of short-term promotional campaigns around the 2012 Olympics, the Group is now working with Adidas again on an ongoing basis. This has led to 2 deployments in the UK at high profile sites and one in Germany with another in the UK and one in Belgium to follow in August 2015. At the last trading update, the Board noted a deployment for one of the UK’s largest retailers which it hoped to give more detail on shortly thereafter. This contract was for delivery of audio visual systems and services for a single concept store for the retailer, which was successfully completed in May 2015. The Group has been asked by the client not to make a detailed announcement regarding this until the retailer has completed their press activities around the project. The Group is currently tendering for three more stores with this retailer, in a highly competitive environment, and will announce further details in due course. Work with new client Ted Baker continued in the last quarter with the launch of their new store concept, Ted Baker & Moore at Commercial Street in East London. In addition new work has been secured with Chivas Regal, Samsung and Virgin Active in the period. The combined total revenue value of these projects is in excess of £500,000. With all of these clients we expect to deploy further projects moving forward in respect of ongoing repeat business. The Group expects to announce full year results for year ended 31 March 2015 before the end of August at which point the Board will give more detail on recent activities and performance.

Meggitt Plc (MGGT.L) Announced, in its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2015, that revenues rose to £793.7 million from £718.9 million recorded in the same period a year ago. Profit after tax widened to £99.6 million from £81.6 million. Diluted earnings per share stood at 12.4p, up from 10.0p. The directors have declared an interim dividend of 4.60p per ordinary share (2014: 4.25p). Separately, the company announced that it has been awarded £10.2 million in contracts from the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to upgrade British Army small arms training systems known as Dismounted Close Combat Trainers (DCCTs). The upgrade supports next-generation virtual military training systems and Meggitt’s growing inventory of simulated weapons. Additionally, the company announced that it has been awarded a $42.1 million contract by Lockheed Martin UK (Ampthill) to produce 40mm Case-Telescoped linkless Ammunition Handling Systems (AHS) for the Scout armoured vehicle programme.

Mortice Limited (MORT.L) Announced that it, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tenon Facility Management UK Limited (“Tenon UK”), have entered into a conditional agreement to acquire the entire issued share capital of UK based property service company Office & General Group Limited (“O&G Group”) for a total consideration of up to £6.5 million (subject to certain potential adjustments) to be satisfied in cash and shares. Completion of the acquisition is conditional upon, inter alia, shareholders’ approval to allot the consideration shares at an extraordinary general meeting of the company (“EGM”) to be held on 31 August 2015; delivery of O&G Group’s consolidated audited accounts for the financial year ended 31 March 2015 and such accounts not being materially different in any respect from the unaudited consolidated results of O&G Group for the financial year ended 31 March 2015; and the preference shares of £1 each in O&G Group having been cancelled.

NetScientific Plc (NSCI.L) Announced that ProAxsis, its medical diagnostics subsidiary, launched its proprietary first-in-class ProteaseTagT immunoassay kits to research labs while the company bagged its first two customer orders, including a major pharma company. ProAxsis is developing a range of products for the capture, detection and measurement of active protease biomarkers of diseases. This test measures Neutrophil Elastase, a leading indicator of infection in patients with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and an important drug target. ProAxsis is also developing a point-of-care (PoC) NEATstikT test to measure active proteases in CF and COPD which will enable the proactive management of these diseases with the aim of improving patient outcome and reducing hospitalisations.

NWF Group Plc (NWF.L) Announced its audited final results for the year ended 31 May 2015. Revenue fell 8.4% to £492.3 million from £537.7 million in the previous year. The Group delivered an underlying operating profit of £8.6 million (2014: £8.5 million) and a headline profit before tax up 5.2% to £8.1 million (2014: £7.7 million). The Board is recommending a final dividend of 4.4p per share (record date: 30 October 2015, payment date: 4 December 2015) (2014: 4.1p), giving a total dividend of 5.4p per share (2014: 5.1p), a 5.9% increase on the prior year. Chief Executive Richard Whiting said “Progress to date in the current financial year has been in line with the Board’s expectations.”

Old Mutual Plc (OML.L) Announced, in its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2015, that headline earnings grew 15.7% to R5,323 million (June 2014: R4,599 million.). Diluted headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased 14.1% to 1,101 cents (June 2014: 965 cents). Net interest income increased 3.7% to R11,675 million (June 2014: R11,263 million). Net asset value per share increased by 6.1% to 14,428 cents. The board declared a gross interim dividend of 537 cents per ordinary share.

Physiomics Plc (PYC.L) Announced that it has appointed Professor Mark Middleton to its Scientific Advisory Board.

Rex Bionics Plc (RXB.L) Announced the successful demonstration of REX directed by Mind Control technology at the 2015 Meeting of Robotics: Science and Systems, Rome, Italy. The Mind Control technology is an application of electroencephalography (EEG) – the recording of electrical activity along the scalp. The EEG application records the precise brain patterns of the REX user thinking about the process of walking; so that when the REX user, fitted with the robotic device linked to the EEG, initiates the thought of walking, a command is issued to the REX, which then responds by moving forward. In a related development, the REX robot has been upgraded with enhanced RexLink software that allows researchers and therapists to precisely record all of the movements of the REX automatically and in real time.

Rotork Plc (ROR.L) Announced, in its 2015 half-year results, that its reported revenue stood at £274.2 million, compared to £278.5 million in the preceding period. Profit after tax was £41.4 million compared to £44.7 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 4.76p, compared to 5.13p. Additionally, it also announced the acquisition of M&M International Srl (“M&M”), a subsidiary of Spirax-Sarco Engineering Plc. The enterprise value of the acquisition is €9.7 million payable in cash. The purchase will be funded from existing committed bank facilities. In 2014, based on audited accounts, M&M generated operating profit of €1.5 million on turnover of €8.9 million.

Sirius Minerals Plc (SXX.L) Announced results from soybean trials completed at Texas A&M, and the University of Sao Paulo, plus results from a corn study carried out at North Dakota State University. Trials demonstrate that polyhalite is an effective fertilizer on both of these major crops and continue to underpin the value of balanced fertilization. The US and Brazilian soybean markets account for 32% and 30% respectively of an estimated global market worth $119 billion. The equivalent K2O consumption of polyhalite would be 72 million tonnes in the US and 38.2 million tonnes in Brazil. With regard to corn, the US accounts for 29% of the global corn market, equating to US$265 billion annually and consumes 89kg K2O per hectare of corn, equating to 22.3 million tonnes of polyhalite. Key findings from the soybean trial in Brazil revealed that polyhalite can deliver equal yields using 66% less K2O, saving farmers $31 per hectare. Trials in Texas also included a potential cost saving by using 50% less K2O and saw yields increase by up to 15%. Furthermore, there was improved bean protein content; an important quality factor for achieving a higher value crop.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering Plc (SPX.L) Announced the disposal of M&M International Srl (M&M) on 3rd August 2015 to Rotork Plc for a total cash consideration of €9.7 million (£6.8 million) on a debt free, cash free basis.

Standard Life Plc (SL..L) Announced, in its half year results for the six months ended 30 June 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £5668.0 million, compared to £6159.0 million in the preceding period. Profit after tax was £1,245.0 million compared to £285.0 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 3.2p, compared to 8.2p.

Travis Perkins Plc (TPK.L) Announced, in its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2015, that revenues rose to £2,943.0 million from £2,730.5 million recorded in the same period a year ago. Profit after tax widened slightly to £126.8 million from £123.2 million. Diluted earnings per share stood at 50.1p, up from 49.0p. The board proposed an interim dividend of 14.75p per share.

Walker Greenbank Plc (WGB.L) Announced, in its pre-close trading update for the half year ended 31 July 2015, that the board is pleased to report another successful six month trading period, with sales performing well in UK and overseas markets. Total brand sales were up 8.4% in reportable currency, 9.1% in constant currency, in the six months to 31 July 2015 compared with the corresponding period last year. The company’s manufacturing operations performed well in the half year, with digital printing continuing to grow rapidly. The board remains confident in the outlook for the full year. The company intends to issue its half year results on Wednesday 14 October 2015.

Xtract Resources Plc (XTR.L) Announced that the company has intersected a second high grade gold reef system (‘Reef system B’) at the Colin Mining area at the Chepica Gold and Copper Mine in Chile (‘Chepica’). This discovery follows the update on 15 July 2015 in which the company announced that development at the Colin Mining area had intersected a new reef system that graded at 4.2g/t over a 3.5m width (‘Reef system A’). Development is now underway on Reef system B on 5 level (approximately 150m below surface).