Broker Upgrades and Downgrades & Key UK Corporate Snapshots 16 July 2015

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Action Hotels Plc (AHCG.L) Announced, in its trading update in for the year ended 30 June 2015, that the company delivered a strong operational performance across its eight operational hotels in the first half of the year. The group’s hotel portfolio maintained occupancy levels above 80%, despite Ramadan beginning in the first half of the year. Operational adjusted gross operating (AGOP) profit grew by 11% to $11.0 million (H1 2014: $9.9 million) and operational EBITDA surged by 14% to $8.7 million (H1 2014: $7.6 million). Total revenue for the period rose by 11% to $21.6 million (H1 2014: $19.5 million). The group saw excellent operational performances during the first half of the year from its two properties in Kuwait; ibis Salmiya Kuwait which achieved 88% occupancy and an AGOP of 66% (up 6% on H114) and ibis Sharq Kuwait achieved 90% occupancy with an AGOP of 62% (up 3% on H1 2014). In addition, the company’s new hotel, ibis Seef Bahrain, performed well in its first six months of trading and made a positive contribution to Group EBITDA. On 1 July 2015, the company announced the acquisition of the business and assets of the 73 room ibis Budget hotel at Melbourne Airport, Australia, which will take the group’s operating hotels to nine and 1,561 rooms, an increase of over 50% operational rooms since its IPO in December 2013. The development pipeline continues to progress and is on track to complete a further three hotels before the end of 2015. The group continues to make strong progress towards its strategic goals and is on track to meet management expectations for the full year ending 31 December 2015.

Big Yellow Group Plc (BYG.L) Announced, in its trading update for the first quarter ended 30 June 2015, that on 1 December 2014, the Group completed the acquisition of the 66.67% of Big Yellow Limited Partnership (the Joint Venture created to build out our regional portfolio) that it did not previously own. The Partnership owns 12 Big Yellow stores in large metropolitan cities outside London. Like-for-like revenue excludes the 12 Partnership stores (acquired December 2014), Oxford 2 (acquired July 2014), Chester (acquired January 2015) and Enfield (opened April 2015). The decrease in closing net rent per sq ft reflects the inclusion of the Partnership stores, which have a lower net rent per sq ft than the Group’s existing stores. The closing net rent per sq ft has increased by 0.7% from 1 April 2015. The 70 stores increased occupancy over the quarter by 146,000 sq ft (3.3% of the MLA at 30 June 2015) compared to a gain of 187,000 sq ft in the same quarter last year (4.4% of the MLA at 30 June 2014). The number of move-ins was up 1% on the quarter to 30 June 2014. In April 2015 the company opened its prominent 60,000 sq ft store at Enfield, North London, on the A10. The store has started strongly and it expects it to break even at the EBITDA level in the current quarter. Meanwhile, the Group completed on the drawdown of the seven year loan from M&G Investments on 29 June 2015 and repaid the £70 million Lloyds bridging facility on that date. Following the drawdown of the M&G loan, the Group’s average cost of debt at current levels of LIBOR is 3.9%.

BrainJuicer Group Plc (BJU.L) Announced, in its trading update for the half year, that overall, the company achieved revenue growth of approximately 4% compared with the same period in 2014. The overall impact of exchange rate movements was not material. Sales of the company’s core quantitative products, approximately 90% of our business, increased by around 7%, with gross profit on these products increasing by 11%. This was partially offset by a decline in revenue from Juice Generation, as we transition these services to new Brand Strategy initiative. The company’s financial position remains strong. At the end of June 2015, the company had a cash balance of £5.3 million (December 2014: £5.3 million), after having returned £0.4 million to shareholders during the half year by way of dividends.

CDialogues Plc (CDOG.L) Announced, in its trading update for the six month period ended 30 June 2015, that it is in line with management expectations. Trading during the period continued to build strongly on the momentum achieved during the previous year allowing the company to increase its profitability, revenue base, cash balances and geographic reach. Growth in all key fundamentals underpinned another period of expansion as the company’s subscription-based recurring revenue model continued to drive growing returns. Revenue for the first half of the current financial year is above €5.3 million (1H 2014: €4.0 million) with EBITDA above €1.6 million (1H 2014: €1.4 million), representing year on year growth of approximately 30% and 15% respectively. Free cash flow for the same period reached approximately €1.4 million (1H 2014: €0.5 million) significantly enhancing the company’s cash position which was at the level of €3.7 million as of 30 June 2015 (31.12.2014: €2.4 million). Looking ahead, the company has identified a pipeline of potential new projects, a number of which are currently undergoing preparations for launch in the coming months. As such, the board remains confident that these will result in further revenue growth opportunities during the second half of the year.

Craneware Plc (CRW.L) Announced, in its trading update for the year ended 30 June 2015, that total value of contracts signed for the year of $72.5 million, building on the previous year’s record sales performance. It expects to report revenues in a range of $44.5 million to $45 million (FY14: $42.6 million) and deliver an adjusted EBITDA in a range of $14.0 million to $14.5 million (FY14: $13.1 million). ther key performance indicators for the Group continue to trend well including renewals in the year above 100% (by $ value) with strong cash generation resulting in cash reserves in excess of $40 million at 30 June 2015 (2014 $32.6 million). The company will announce its full year Results on 08 September 2015.

Dart Group Plc (DTG.L) Announced its preliminary results for the year ended 31 March 2015. The business achieved increased volumes of customers plus a small improvement in yields which contributed to the Group’s 12% increase in turnover to £1,253.2 million (2014: £1,120.2 million). Group achieved a statutory profit before tax of £40.2 million (2014: £42.1 million). Underlying Group EBITDA increased by 11% to £121.9 million (2014: £109.9 million). In consideration of the Group’s improved underlying trading performance, the Board is recommending a final dividend of 2.25p per share (2014: 2.14p). Both Leisure Travel and Distribution & Logistics businesses have got off to a good start to the new financial year, with strong demand for holidays and distribution business wins. Notwithstanding the tragedy in Tunisia and uncertainties in Greece, the company is optimistic that Group performance for the financial year to 31 March 2016 will exceed current market expectations.

Dixons Carphone Plc (DC..L) Announced, in its final results for the 13 months ended 02 May 2015, that its revenue from continuing operations stood at £8,255.0 million, compared to £1,943.0 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £97.0 million compared to £48.0 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 21.2 p, compared to 10.3p.

DX (Group) Plc (DX..L) Announced an update on trading for the year ended 30 June 2015 and the appointment of Numis Securities as Joint Broker. Against a challenging backdrop, the group’s performance in the second half of the financial year has been satisfactory, with cash generation remaining strong. Full year results are expected to be in line with current market expectations. Results for the year are scheduled to be announced on 21 September 2015.

Experian Plc (EXPN.L) Announced, in its trading update for the three months to 30 June 2015, that the overall growth was seen 3% at constant exchange rates and organic revenue also grew by 3%. At actual exchange rates, total revenue from continuing activities declined by 6%. Following recent movements in exchange rates, the company expects the foreign exchange effect on EBIT for the full year of approximately 7%, if current rates prevail. Credit Services segment saw revenue growth of 7% and Decision Analytics segment grew by 9%. Organic revenue in Marketing Services and Consumer Services reduced by 2% and 6% respectively.

Finsbury Food Group Plc (FIF.L) Announced, in its pre-closing update for the full financial year, ended 27th June 2015, prior to entering its close period, that the board is pleased to report that, following the positive half year trading performance, strong trading has continued in the second half and the group will outperform its current EBITDA and profit expectations. Total company sales revenues grew to £256.2 million, an increase of 45.8% on prior year. This includes organic growth of £10.7 million, an increase of 6.1% versus prior year, primarily within Cake. The Fletchers acquisition, completed at the end of October 2014, contributed £69.3 million of additional sales revenue. Consequently the UK Bakery division grew by 52.2%.The acquisition of the assets and business of Johnstones Just Desserts Limited, a supplier of cake to the national coffee shop chains completed on 16th June 2015 and, occurred too late in the year to be material. The overseas division, the company’s 50% jointly owned European business, grew by 1% versus the prior year in sterling terms.

Gateley (Holdings) Plc (GTLY.L) Announced, in its pre-close trading update in for the year ended 30 April 2015, that the business has continued to perform well in the second half of its financial year. Revenues in the second half continued its strong performance in fee income growth and demand for the company’s services and as a result full year revenue for the group is expected to be around £60 million, a 10% increase over 2014 and providing an EBITDA in line with management expectations. The company will announce its Preliminary Results on 15 September 2015.

Great Western Mining Corporation Plc (GWMO.L) Announced in its M2 copper-gold exploration target that its field team has now completed two site programmes on M2 during spring and early summer 2015, one in conjunction with Donald G Strachan, the company’s independent geological consultant. Copper and gold at M2 occur with hematite and magnetite in an increasingly important geologic style known as Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold (“IOCG”). To date the 2015 field programme on M2 has focused on the Northern section of M2, where its recent mapping extended IOCG surface trace from the original inferred resource at M2 for another two kilometres across Bass Mountain. The company’s November 2014 near-surface Inferred Resource occurs within a “stringer zone” of the mineralisation at M2. Upgrading this near-surface M2 copper resource will include drilling bore holes south along extensions towards a thicker, more consistent, and higher grade IOCG core projected beneath Bass Mountain. Meanwhile, mapping and sampling undertaken in the 2015 M2 field programme has further identified that high value silver-copper grades and thicknesses may exist along the M2 IOCG contact in two peripheral areas: 1) M2-North and 2) Southwest Bass. These two more localised high-grade silver-copper targets are projected along the Jd sediment-Kd diorite (M2 IOCG) mineralised contact. The company is planning further mapping and rock chip sampling, leading to follow up drill holes.

Ithaca Energy Inc (IAE.L) Announced, in its second quarter 2015 operations update, that average production in Q2-2015 was 12,667 barrels of oil equivalent per day (“boepd”) resulting in average production for the first six months of the year (“H1-2015”) of 12,578 boepd. Full year guidance is reiterated at 12,000 boepd (95% oil), taking into account planned maintenance shutdown activities in the second half of the year. The company’s producing assets continued to perform well over the course of Q2-2015, with solid operational uptime achieved across the main fields. The tie-in of the Ythan field development well was completed and brought on production at the end of May 2015 prior to the commencement of the planned maintenance shutdown of the Dons facilities and the Sullom Voe Terminal (“SVT”) in mid-June 2015. The initial performance of the Ythan well has been encouraging. The SVT shutdown has now been completed and production has been re-started. Additionally, production in the third quarter of the year (“Q3-2015”) will be below the average guidance level for the year as a result of planned maintenance shutdown activities on the host facilities serving a number of the company’s fields. Continued progress has been made during the quarter on the execution of the Greater Stella Area development programme The development drilling campaign was completed in April 2015 and the majority of the 2015 subsea infrastructure installation activities were also completed during the Quarter. The main remaining subsea activity to be closed out in Q3-2015 is the installation and tie-in of the three kilometre oil export pipeline from the FPF-1 riser base to the Single Anchor Loading structures. During Q2-2015 the company benefitted from 10,187 barrels of oil per day hedged at an average price of $96/bbl, which compares to an average Brent price of $62/bbl. Also, it is scheduled to issue its financial results for Q2-2015 on 13 August 2015.

Magnolia Petroleum Plc (MAGP.L) Announced that, following its announcement on 13 July 2015 drilling operations at the Magnolia operated and 94% owned Shimanek #2 vertical well in Oklahoma are expected to commence imminently. The drilling crew are now on site and the rig has been mobilised. The well is targeting multiple conventional payzones, including the Mississippi Lime/Chat, Redfork Sand and the Lower Skinner. An update will be made to the market once drilling has commenced in the coming days.

NewRiver Retail Limited (NRR.L) Announced in its portfolio update for the first quarter ending 30 June 2015, that the company has started its financial year with an active and successful first quarter. The highlight was in the period was £150 million equity fundraising for which the majority of proceeds are committed. The company also completed a number of acquisitions and one disposal with assets under management at the end of June 2015 totalling £849 million (31 March 2015: £848 million). Furthermore, the company completed a significant number of value-enhancing active asset management and development initiatives. There were post period end exchange of contracts for the £69.10 million acquisition of the Ramsay retail park portfolio at a yield of 8.03%. Exchange of contracts to acquire the remaining 50% of two separate joint ventures (Camel III and Trent) from LVS, a subsidiary of Bravo II. It also completed £7.23 million of acquisitions at an average net initial yield of 8.68%. It also did the disposal of a portfolio of high street assets totalling £6.00 million, acquired in December 2014 for £5.00 million resulting in an IRR of 43.9%. Assets under management totalled £849 million at the end of June 2015 (31 March 2015: £848 million); on completion of the Ramsay portfolio NewRiver’s assets under management will total nearly £920 million. It maintained a stable retail occupancy rate of 96%, at an average retail rent of £12.38 per sq ft (31 March 2015: 96% and £12.36 per sq ft respectively). Weighted Average Lease Expiry (“WALE”) for the retail portfolio stood at 7.5 years (31 March 2015: 7.4 years). It successfully completed 55 new lettings and lease renewals during the period securing a total of £1.37 million per annum in long-term rent. New long-term leasing events achieved a rental income of 2.1% above valuation ERV with an average lease length of 9.4 years. It made significant progress with the pub portfolio conversion programme, submitting a further six planning applications and successfully securing another three consents taking the total number of planning applications submitted to 45 and total planning consents received to 13. The progress continues across the company’s growing development pipeline, comprising a total of 1.25 million sq ft of mixed-use, retail and leisure space which also includes hotels and residential.

Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc (OXP.L) Announced the initiation of dosing in its second pilot clinical study of 400mg OXPzeroTM Ibuprofen (OXP001) to assess a comparable PK profile. OXP001 is an optimised, chewable, 400mg ibuprofen tablet that is expected to reduce the risk of gastro-intestinal (“GI” irritation from the ibuprofen and to taste-mask its bitter taste via the company’s patent protected OXPzero™ technology. The company believes this would lead to improved patient compliance amongst long-term usage patients. The company also reports that headline data from the recently conducted pilot clinical study with OXPzeroTM Naproxen (OXP005) will be available by the end of July 2015.

Premier Oil Plc (PMO.L) Announced that it, together with its joint venture partners Talos Energy (operator) and Sierra Oil & Gas, has been awarded Blocks 2 and 7 in Mexico’s Round 1 held in Mexico City on 15 July. The Blocks contain numerous leads in established and emerging plays, located in the shallow water Sureste Basin, a proven and prolific hydrocarbon province in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L) Announced strong second quarter production results. Iron ore production and shipments in the first half increased compared to last year despite severe and unseasonal weather in the Pilbara throughout the first half. Second quarter production of iron ore was 9% higher than the same quarter of 2014 and was 7% above the first quarter of 2015. Due to the weather disruption in the first half of the year, anticipated shipments were reduced by around seven million tonnes. Accordingly, Rio Tinto now expects 2015 global shipments of 340 million tonnes (100 per cent basis) from its operations in Australia and Canada. Bauxite production was 5% higher than the first half of 2014 and set a new first half record. Alumina production was up by 5% compared with the first half of 2014 (excluding production from the Gove refinery which was curtailed in May 2014), reflecting improved productivity at Queensland Alumina and Yarwun. First half and second quarter aluminium production was in line with the same periods of 2014. Rio Tinto’s expected share of production remains unchanged at 43 million tonnes of bauxite, eight million tonnes of alumina and 3.3 million tonnes of aluminium. At Kennecott Utah Copper, Mined copper production for the first half was significantly lower than the same period of 2014. Mined copper production at Escondida in the first half was 22% higher than the same period of 2014. The second half is expected to be impacted by a decline in grades and water availability. At Oyu Tolgoi, first half mined copper production was 44% higher than the first half of 2014, and higher quarter on quarter, attributable to higher grades and throughput. Mining has started moving to areas of higher grade ore in the open pit. Copper production in the second half of 2015 is expected to be higher than the first half. Hard coking coal production was 13% higher than the first half of 2014. In 2015, as previously announced, Rio Tinto expects its share of mined copper production to be between 500 and 535 thousand tonnes, and refined copper production to be between 190 and 220 thousand tonnes. For coal, Rio Tinto’s share of production is expected to be 18 to 19 million tonnes of thermal coal, 3.0 to 3.4 million tonnes of semi-soft coking coal and 7.1 to 8.1 million tonnes of hard coking coal.

Safestyle UK Plc (SFE.L) Announced a trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2015, in advance of its half year results announcement scheduled for 17 September 2015. The Company has continued to trade well, with revenue for the first half of the year expected to be £74.0 million, an increase of 6.8% on the previous year (H1 2014: £69.2 million). The company expects a continuing strong sales performance in the second half of the year and remain confident of achieving full year results in line with board expectations. Recent order intake has been encouraging. Order intake grew by 7.1% in the first half of the year, compared with FENSA statistics (which relate to orders fitted) which show that the market contracted in the same period by 10.1%. This reported contraction is surprising and one which we will continue to monitor carefully. As a result, the Company’s market share stands at a record 9.5% for the first half of the year.

ServicePower Technologies Plc (SVR.L) Announced, in its trading update for the six month period ended 30 June 2015, that trading for the half-year is in line with management expectations and is also ahead of the same period last year. Total revenues for the six months to 30 June 2015 are expected to amount to £7.0 million, compared to £6.2 million for the same period last year and £6.5 million for the last six months of 2014. The company expects to report a gross profit for the half-year of £3.4 million (H1 2014: £2.7 million), a LBITDA of £0.2 million including £0.1 million in extraordinary expenses and £0.2 million in IT cloud transition costs (H1 2014 LBITDA: £0.7 million) and a net loss of £0.6 million (H1 2014: net loss £0.9 million) including the accrued interest that was converted as of 30 June 2015, as announced on 30 June 2015. Cash at 30 June 2015 was £0.7 million prior to the receipt of the £0.75m short term loan, as announced on 30 June 2015. For the second half of the year, the directors anticipate a return to profit, and given the company’s working capital cycle and the redemption and conversions of the convertible loan notes, this will be accompanied by a significant improvement in the cash position.

Sports Direct International Plc (SPD.L) Announced, in its preliminary results for the year ended 26 April 2015, that revenue stood at £2,832.56 million, compared to £2,705.96 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £295.58 million, compared to £249.13 million. Profit after tax was £241.35 million, compared to £179.61 million. Diluted earnings per share stood at 39.0p, compared to 29.2p.

Ten Alps Plc (TAL.L) Announced that a new Ten Alps television documentary on Japanese-Korean relations was selected as the first programme to be screened by a new current affairs and history channel launched by Niconico, Japan’s biggest digital video streaming service. Chief Executive Mark Wood said “The choice of a Ten Alps programme to launch this important new channel in Japan speaks volumes about the global reputation of our TV brands and creative talent. As we grow our television business we are focussing on international opportunities for our programmes and series, in order to build on our global brand strength. The Niconico programming deal also reflects our focus on working with the new digital on-demand TV programming platforms which are changing the shape of the media market worldwide.”

ValiRx Plc (VAL.L) Announced that it has initiated the process for a late stage (Phase 2b) clinical trial of its lung cancer drug, VAL401, at ValiSeek Limited (“ValiSeek”), its joint venture with Tangent Reprofiling Limited, formed to progress the compound towards Clinical Efficacy trials. A clinical trial contract has been established between ValiSeek and Clinical Accelerator, a UK-based clinical trial management organisation, to manage and execute the Phase 2b Clinical Trial in patients with non-small-cell lung adenocarcinoma. The parameters to be assessed during the trial will include (i) effectiveness of the treatment (as observed by measurements of disease progression, quality of life and survival); (ii) pharmacokinetics of VAL401 and (iii) safety and tolerability of the VAL401 treatment in the patient population. CEO Dr Satu Vainikka said “As the second ValiRx product to enter the clinical trial process, I look forward to seeing the potential of the VAL401 project being crystallised through the collection of a first set of real world patient data. ”

ZincOx Resources Plc (ZOX.L) Announced a fundraising by way of a conditional Placing of approximately 16.1 million new Ordinary Shares at a price of 13p per share with institutional and other investors to raise approximately £2.1 million before expenses and an Open Offer to all qualifying Shareholders to raise up to approximately £1.1 million before expenses.