Broker Upgrades and Downgrades & Key UK Corporate Snapshots 16 March 2016

UK Broker Upgrades / Downgrades

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Accesso Technology Group Plc (ACSO.L)  Announced, in its audited preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenue stood at $93.17 million, compared to $75.09 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at $7.71 million, compared to $5.47 million. Profit after tax was $5.37 million, compared to $3.79 million. Basic earnings per share stood at 24.47c, compared to 18.49c. Diluted earnings per share was 23.49c, compared to 18.16c.

Advanced Medical Solutions Group Plc (AMS.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenues rose to £68.6 million from £63.0 million posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s profit before tax stood at £17.0 million, compared to a profit of £15.2 million reported in the previous year. The basic earnings per share stood at 6.78p compared to earnings of 6.2p reported in the previous year. The company further stated that the board has proposed a final dividend of 0.55p per share, subject to shareholders’ approval.

Alba Mineral Resources Plc (ALBA.L)  Announced that Manuel Lamboley has been appointed to the board as a Non-Executive Director with immediate effect. Also, Chade Van Hatch, previously Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary, has resigned from the Board with immediate effect. The company’s registered office has been changed to One America Square, Crosswall, London EC3N 2SG and the Company’s phone number has been changed to 0207 264 4366.

Allied Minds Plc (ALM.L)  Announced that it has launched a new subsidiary, iâeCa Therapeutics, to license proprietary compounds from NYU School of Medicine that target the Wnt signalling pathway. The Wnt pathway plays a key role in the development and progression of a number of cancers affecting large numbers of patients. iâeCa Therapeutics will focus on further discovery and development activities needed to identify candidates for human clinical testing.

Augean Plc (AUG.L)  Announced that Rod Holdsworth will join the Board as a Non-Executive Director with effect from 23 March 2016. The Group also announces that Rory Macnamara, Non-Executive Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee, has notified the Board of his intention to step down from the Board at the next Annual General Meeting, to be held on 2 June 2016. It is intended that Mr Holdsworth will become Chairman of the Audit Committee upon the departure of Mr Macnamara from the Board.

BGEO Group Plc (BGEO.L)  Announced that its healthcare subsidiary, Georgia Healthcare Group PLC (GHG) has signed a binding Memorandum of Understanding to acquire a 100% equity stake in JSC GPC (GPC), one of the top three pharmaceutical retailers and wholesalers in Georgia, subject to relevant regulatory approvals.

Cambridge Cognition Holdings Plc (COG.L)  Announced, in its trading update, that in November 2015, the Company announced that it expected to end the financial year to 31st December 2015 by announcing three new major pharmaceutical clinical trial contracts totaling $4.5 million with upfront payments and revenues to be recognised through to 2017. During 2015 the Company secured an increased number of clinical trial contracts in both the pharmaceutical and academic businesses whilst also making an increased investment in sales and marketing operations. In addition, the Company incurred one-off costs in late 2015 related to the potential expansion of the healthcare technology platform. The impact of the above is that the loss incurred in 2015 is now expected to be approximately £0.6 million, before the exceptional costs of £0.2 million. The preliminary results for the year will be released towards the end of April 2016.

EMIS Group Plc (EMIS.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £155.90 million, compared to £137.64 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £5.37 million compared to £22.82 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 7.2p, compared to 35.2p.

Fairpoint Group Plc (FRP.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenues rose to £54.1 million from £38.3 million recorded in the previous year. Loss after tax stood at £6.3 million compared to a profit of £2.9 million. The board recommended an increase in the final dividend of 6% to 4.35p (2014: 4.10p).

FinnAust Mining Plc (FAM.L)  Announced that it has appointed NIRAS Greenland A/S and Orbicon A/S to support the completion of various permitting and regulatory work at the Pituffik Titanium Project in Greenland. Both consultants are Danish companies with proven operating experience in Greenland. Orbicon will support FinnAust in its completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment at Pituffik, which will be prepared in accordance with guidelines published by the MRA. This will be a requirement ahead of the Company’s proposed initial bulk-sampling proof-of-concept operation targeted for 2017.

Finsbury Food Group Plc (FIF.L)  Announced, in its unaudited interim results for the 26 weeks ended 26 December 2015, that revenue stood at £156.59 million, compared to £107.57 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £8.00 million, compared to £4.51 million. Profit after tax was £5.87 million, compared to £2.09 million. Basic and diluted earnings per share stood at 4.4p, compared to 4.2p. The board of directors is announcing an interim dividend for the year ending 2 July 2016 of 0.93p per share (H1 2014: 0.83p per share).

Firestone Diamonds Plc (FDI.L)  Announced, in its interim results for six months ended 31 December 2015, that loss from operations before tax widened to $4.6 million from $4.4 million reported in the same period previous year. The basic and diluted loss per share stood at 1.5c compared to loss of 1.4c reported in the last year. The company’s cash and cash equivalents stood at $14.2 million (2014: $47.3 million).

Forbidden Technologies Plc (FBT.L)  Announced that it has agreed a deal with Microsoft to enable the US corporation to sell Forscene through its Azure Marketplace. Azure is Microsoft’s flagship cloud computing offering and Azure Marketplace is the associated online store providing pre-configured software applications, developer services and data for use on the platform.

Hikma Pharmaceutical Plc (HIK.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenues fell to $1440 million from $1489 million recorded in the previous year. Profit after tax narrowed to $254 million from $282 million. The board recommended a final dividend of 21c per share (approximately 14.6p) for 2015, bringing the total dividend for the full year to 32c per share (approximately 22.3p per share), in line with total dividend paid in 2014.

Igas Energy Plc (IGAS.L)  Announced, in its final results for the nine months ended 31 December 2015, that revenues fell to £25.1 million from £58.2 million recorded in the previous year. Loss after tax stood at £44.8 million compared to a profit of £5.2 million.

India Capital Growth Fund Limited (IGC.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £5.0 million, compared to £21.2 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £4.7 million compared to £20.8 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 6.38p, compared to 27.79p.

John Laing Infrastructure Fund (JLIF.L)  Announced, in its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its operating income stood at £58.4 million, compared to £77.7 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £46.9 million, compared to £67.2 million. The company’s basic and diluted earnings per share was 5.78p, compared to 8.61p.

Kier Group Plc (KIE.L)  Announced that, with immediate effect, Justin Atkinson has been appointed as its Senior Independent Director.

London Stock Exchange Group Plc (LSE.L)  Announced that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended all-share merger of equals of LSEG and DBAG to form the “Combined Group” (the “Merger”). The Merger will be implemented via the establishment of a new UK holding company (“UK TopCo”) which will acquire LSEG by way of a scheme of arrangement (the “LSEG Acquisition”) and will acquire DBAG by making a securities exchange offer to all shareholders of DBAG (the “DBAG Offer”). The LSEG Acquisition is governed by the City Code and the DBAG Offer is governed by the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (Wertpapiererwerbs-und Übernahmegesetz, WpÜG) and applicable regulations supplementing it. Under the terms of the Merger, LSEG Shareholders will be entitled to receive 0.4421 UK TopCo Shares in exchange for each LSEG Share and DBAG Shareholders will be entitled to receive one UK TopCo Share in exchange for each DBAG Share. Assuming 100% acceptance of the DBAG Offer, the Merger will result in LSEG Shareholders owning 45.6% of UK TopCo and DBAG Shareholders owning 54.4%. of UK TopCo on a fully diluted basis.

Microsaic Systems Plc (MSYS.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £0.7 million, compared to £1.1 million in the preceding year. Net loss after tax was £3.5 million compared to loss of £3.0 million. The company’s diluted loss per share was 5.39p, compared to loss per share of 5.47p.

Mirland Development Corporation Plc (MLD.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at $86.2 million, compared to $86.2 million in the preceding year. Operating loss stood at $57.0 million, compared to profit of $108.7 million. Net loss after tax was $157.4 million compared to $62.8 million. The company’s diluted loss per share was $1.48, compared to loss per share of $0.69.

Modern Water Plc (MWG.L)  Announced, in its final results for year ended 31 December 2015, that revenues rose to £3.2 million from £2.7 million posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s loss before tax stood at £4.0 million, compared to a loss of £17.7 million reported in the previous year. The basic loss per share stood at 4.75p compared to loss of 22.24p reported in the previous year. The company’s cash and cash equivalents stood at £3.2 million (2014: £6.8 million).

Paternoster Resources Plc (PRS.L)  Announced the sale of 6 million shares in Metal Tiger plc at an average price of 2.77p per share for a total consideration of £166,500 before expenses. This represents a 3.0x return on company’s investment in Metal Tiger and the company continues to hold 21.0 million shares in Metal Tiger, equating to a shareholding of 4.7%.

Pathfinder Minerals Plc (PFP.L)  Announced that the company continues to await information from the Mozambique Courts on pending judgments and, while the directors remain confident of their outcome, the company has no visibility on the timing of such judgments. It will continue to update shareholders whenever it is notified of any material developments in the legal proceedings. The company continues to hold discussions with regards to the raising of a small amount of additional working capital in order to help it address its financial situation. It is currently envisaged that such working capital will be provided by way of a subscription, which will include a director of the company and would accordingly constitute a related party transaction under the AIM Rules for companies. A further announcement will be made in due course.

Paysafe Group Plc (PAYS.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenues rose to $613.4 million from $365.0 million recorded in the previous year. Profit after tax narrowed to $7.4 million from $57.7 million. The Board is not recommending the payment of a dividend in respect of 2015.

Plant Impact Plc (PIM.L)  Announced a new wheat-focussed research collaboration alongside Rothamsted Research, The University of Nottingham and Lancaster University. Wheat yields across the world are adversely affected by high temperatures and current estimates suggest that for wheat, barley and maize, the combined annual losses caused by recent global warming are about $5 billion annually. With the support of Innovate UK, scientists from Plant Impact, Rothamsted Research, the University of Nottingham and Lancaster University will work together to investigate heat stress in wheat and the underlying plant physiology involved. Alongside scientists from the Plant Impact R&D team, academics from the world’s oldest and leading agricultural research institute, Rothamsted Research, will play a central role in the collaborations. The project will take the form of two distinct workstreams, a three-year Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Lancaster University and a DTP iCase PhD studentship with the University of Nottingham.

Produce Investments Plc (PIL.L)  Announced, in its interim results for 26 weeks ended 26 December 2015, that revenues fell to £78.5 million from £80.8 million posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s loss before tax stood at £0.198 million, compared to a profit of £1.9 million reported in the previous year. The basic loss per share stood at 0.79p compared to earnings of 5.28p reported in the previous year. The company further stated that the board has approved an interim dividend of 2.44p per share, payable on 22 April 2016 to shareholders on the register at close of business on 8 April 2016.

Rare Earth Minerals Plc (REM.L)  Announced the grant of additional mining licenses over the Yangibana Project inclusive of licenses owned by the joint venture. In addition, on 11 March 2016, Hastings Rare Metals Limited released their Interim Financial Report for the period ending 31 December 2015 which contains information in relation to the licenses owned by the joint venture. The Hastings releases also contains information on areas and licenses which REM has no interest. Additional Mining Leases (“ML”) were granted to covering resources and targets at Bald Hill North and Yangibana prospects. Also the Pre-Feasibility Study that commenced in early 2015 is nearing completion. Additionally, Mine designs based on optimised open pits and waste dumps have been designed on ML N/159 (Yangibana North).

Redefine International Plc (RDI.L)  Announced that it will report its results for the 6 months ended 29 February 2016 on Tuesday, 26 April 2016. There will be a presentation and a live webcast for analysts at 9.00am (UK time), 10.00am (SA time) on 26 April 2016, which can be accessed via the homepage of the company’s website: www.redefineinternational.com.

Rex Bionics Plc (RXB.L)  Announced, in its trading update, that the unit sales will be higher in the second half of the year to 31 March 2016 than the three units sold in the first half year. The company will continue to support the registration process in China, where an initial training program has recently been successfully completed. US and China have been be the company’s main areas of focus, however, sales enquiries outside these territories will be pursued. The company recently, focused its R&D resources on upgrades to its quality systems and is currently in a position to implement plans designed to secure FDA approval for home use and deliver a variety of product upgrade projects.

Smiths Group Plc (SMIN.L)  Announced, in its interim results for the six months ended 31 January 2016, that revenue stood at £1,372 million, compared to £1,416 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £183 million, compared to £164 million. Profit after tax was £130 million, compared to £87 million. Diluted earnings per share stood at 32.5p, compared to 21.6p. The board has declared an interim dividend of 13.25p per share (2015: 13.00p per share).

Snacktime Plc (SNAK.L)  Announced, in its final audited results for the year ended 27 March 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £16.2 million, compared to £18.8 million in the preceding year. Loss net of tax was £4.1 million compared to £7.7 million. The company’s diluted loss per share was 16.92p, compared to 47.35p. Subsequently, it also announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £7.9 million, compared to £8.5 million in the preceding period. Loss net of tax was £0.69 million compared to £0.70 million. The company’s diluted loss per share was 2.1p, compared to 3.47p.

Sterling Energy PLC (SEY.L)  Announced that following its previous announcement of 29 January 2016, its wholly owned subsidiary Sterling Energy Mauritania Limited has completed its withdrawal from Block C-3, offshore Mauritania. The holders of the production sharing contract for Block C-3, located offshore in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania are now Tullow Mauritania Limited (Operator) (90%) and Société Mauritanienne des Hydrocarbures et de Patrimoine Minier (10%).

Stilo International Plc (STL.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £1.5 million, compared to £1.2 million in the preceding year. Operating profit stood at £0.25 million, compared to £0.08 million. Profit after tax was £0.3 million compared to £0.1 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 0.28p, compared to 0.13p.

Surgical Innovations Group Plc (SUN.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenue stood at £5.47 million, compared to £4.03 million in the same period last year. Operating loss stood at £1.98 million, compared to a loss of £9.78 million. Loss after tax was £2.03 million, compared to a loss of £9.46 million. Diluted loss per share from total and continuing operations stood at 0.42p, compared to a loss of 2.19p.

Taptica International Limited (TAP.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at $75.83 million, compared to $63.12 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was $2.15 million compared to $6.10 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was $0.033, compared to $0.102.

Tritax Big Box REIT Plc (BBOX.L)  Announced, in its full year results for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2015, that Net rental income stood at £43.78 million, compared to £18.60 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £142.69 million, compared to £46.67 million. Total comprehensive income was £133.98 million, compared to £41.84 million. Basic earnings per share stood at 21.56p, compared to 15.10p. Diluted earnings per share was 21.54p, compared to 15.10p. On 27 January 2016, the Company announced the declaration of a fourth interim dividend in respect of the period 1 July 2015 to 31 December 2015 of 3.00p per Ordinary Share which was payable on 9 March 2016 to Shareholders on the register on 12 February 2016.

Tullow Oil Plc (TLW.L)  Announced that the Cheptuket-1 well in Block 12A, Northern Kenya, has encountered good oil shows, seen in cuttings and rotary sidewall cores, across an interval of over 700 metres. Cheptuket-1 is the first well to test the Kerio Valley Basin and was drilled by the PR Marriott Rig-46 to a final depth of 3,083 metres. The objective of the well was to establish a working petroleum system and test a structural closure in the south-western part of the basin. The strong oil shows encountered in Cheptuket-1 indicate the presence of an active petroleum system with significant oil generation. Post-well analysis is in progress ahead of defining the future exploration programme in the basin. As previously advised, the PR Marriott Rig-46 will now be demobilised. On the back of the encouraging Cheptuket-1 and successful Etom-2 results further exploration activities are being evaluated. The company operates Block 12A with 40% equity and is partnered by Delonex Energy with 40% and Africa Oil Corporation with 20%.

WANdisco Plc (WAND.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at $10.9 million, compared to $11.2 million in the preceding year. Net loss after tax was $29.9 million compared to loss of $38.3 million. The company’s diluted loss per share was $1.04, compared to loss per share of $1.59.