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19 Nov 20

Somero Enterprises - Positive update – trading ahead of expectations

The group has released a positive trading update, signalling a strong H2 and performance ahead of expectations. The new guidance points to a 6.7% upgrade to revenues and a 10.5% upgrade to EBITDA. Cash generation has been notably strong, at about $26m, which will drive an increase in supplemental dividends with a dividend yield of 7.1%. We raise our TP from 255p to 285p, based on a target P/E of 14x, giving decent upside to the current 11.6x.

Companies: Somero Enterprises, Inc.

20 Nov 20

Cenkos: Venture Life Group Plc -- Maintaining the momentum

Venture Life has developed significant momentum through 2020, reflected in the strong share performance over the year. Building on this momentum, the company has announced it is conditionally raising £34m via an equity raise to help it secure additional M&A opportunities. At this time, Venture Life has identified three opportunities, which we estimate could deliver significant earnings accretion if all are completed. We have updated our forecasts to reflect the raise but at this time have left our underlying assumptions unchanged. We expect Venture Life to maintain the momentum it has developed, supported by the proposed raise and M&A opportunities; we re-iterate our Buy recommendation.

Companies: Venture Life Group Plc

25 Nov 20

D4T4 Solutions - Switch to recurring revenue builds a platform for growth

The H1 results are as announced in the October update; COVID delayed several new contracts until earlier this month, leaving H1 revenue at £5.1m. However, management remained comfortable with a FY sales forecast of £21.7m on the basis of a strong pipeline and the substantial tranche of annually renewed revenue billed each H2. Reassuringly, the new contracts have now been signed for both the Celebrus Customer Data Management (CDM) solution and the Celebrus Customer Data Platform (CDP), and they cover a range of verticals from financial services to automotive manufacture and ecommerce provision. With significant net cash, D4t4 is in a strong position for long-term sustainable growth on the back of rapidly growing global demand for CDP/CDM. It remains confident on prospects in new geographies (N America and APAC) and new use markets (fraud, risk analysis and healthcare) plus a high level of recurring revenue. Our forecasts and target price remain unchanged save for a tweak to cashflow and raised dividend expectation. We reiterate our 310p target price.

Companies: D4t4 Solutions plc

23 Nov 20

Rude Health - finnCap Life Sciences quarterly sector note

Oxford University and AstraZeneca announced the first interim analysis from the Phase III study of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, which was found to be 70% effective in preventing COVID-19. This follows similar announcements from Moderna, and Pfizer/BioNTech in the previous two weeks, and the caveats we mentioned at the time remain the same. While all of these results have been highly encouraging, we reiterate that they do not diminish the urgent need for COVID-19 treatments and testing, which will be required for years to come. We consider Synairgen, Avacta, genedrive, Omega Diagnostics and Open Orphan to offer good buying opportunities.

Companies: AVCT ODX SNG GDR ORPH

19 Nov 20

Macfarlane Group* - Strong Trading Update – Earnings Upgrades

Macfarlane has released a strong trading update for the 4 months to October 31 2020 highlighting second half revenue and PBT to date being ahead of 2019 and the expectation that 2020 PBT will be broadly in line with 2019, a strong recovery from the uncertain position at the interim results. Separately, the Group has announced that CFO John Love will be stepping down from his role and the Board to be replaced by Ivor Gray, current Group Financial Controller and Company Secretary. We expect this to be a seamless transition given Ivor's experience in the Group and represents very well managed succession planning by the Board. Reiterate buy rating.

Companies: Macfarlane Group PLC (MACF:LON)Macfarlane Group PLC (5K6:FRA)

24 Nov 20

Appreciate Group - Initiation Note

Appreciate is the UK's leading voucher, gift card, and e-code provider, working with brands from Iceland to Halfords to Boots. It sells its pre-paid products to corporates as well as directly to consumers. It also runs the UK's largest Christmas Savings scheme, having helped some 2.7m families put money aside for Christmas expenses over the years. In Appreciate, we see a business that's undergone significant change and modernisation since 2018. Under its highly competent and dynamic management team it has transformed from a Christmas savings business that physically produced hampers, to a pure play financial services business with material growth prospects in the longer term.

Companies: Appreciate Group plc

24 Nov 20

Intercede - Interims: gaining momentum

Interims, in line with the October trading update and unchanged forecasts, follow a second (November) purchase order from the new US Department of State contract, highlighting momentum. The 5Cs that form management’s measure of strategic development have all generated positives: colleagues, with employee NPS rising, and no furloughs or paycuts; new & renewing customers, high-profile names and sectors; a broadening channel including generating new clients; code increasing with the addition of FIDO and increased reach through MyID Enterprise/ MyID Professional; and cash of £8.1m with £4.8m debt all in the form of in-the-money December 2021 convertibles. Strong 1H performance and cashflow derisks full-year expectations. Target raised to 125p (100p).

Companies: Intercede Group plc

25 Nov 20

IQE - Outperformance in both wireless and photonics

IQE has announced that the strong performance in H120, which resulted in record first-half revenue, has continued into the second half. It has updated FY20 revenue guidance from at least £165m to over £170m, with adjusted EBIT guidance remaining at the mid-single-digit million level. We have updated our FY20 and FY21 forecasts accordingly, giving adjusted PBT upgrades of 34% and 10% for FY20 and FY21 respectively.

Companies: IQE plc

04 Nov 20

Cenkos: Calnex Solutions plc - Standing the test of time

Calnex Solutions is a leading provider of test and measurement hardware and software solutions that enable performance validation and standards conformance of critical infrastructure associated with telecoms and high-speed data networks. 5G network evolution is a significant, long-term driver of growth for the business along with the continued expansion of hyperscale datacentre enterprises and their increasing participation in telecoms infrastructure markets. Calnex has established a trusted reputation worldwide, launching multiple first to market testing solutions. We have initiated coverage with very conservative forecasts given the strong financial track record with historical revenue CAGR of over 27.7% between FY18 and FY20. Calnex is profitable, cash generative and entered FY21E with a record order backlog.

Companies: Calnex Solutions Plc

20 Nov 20

Trackwise Designs - £11m placing for new IHT site and scale up

The group has announced it has successfully raised £11m in an equity placing to help accelerate capex on a new IHT manufacturing site based on guaranteed minimum production volumes and ahead of anticipated customer orders. It is expecting a significant ramp up in production in FY21 following a multi-year £38m production order from a UK-based EV manufacturer. Strong progress is being made with its customer trials for the medical catheter market, which together with other expected new business requires additional capacity to be put in place.

Companies: Trackwise Designs Plc

24 Nov 20

Robust H1, US SecPay driving growth

Eckoh’s fast growing US SecPay business and robust UK business model have minimised the impact of lockdowns with u/l H1 revs down just 3% yoy and profits flat. ECK reintroduces FY21 guidance, expecting H2 revenues comparable to H1 and FY21 AOP comparable to FY20. US SecPay is now a meaningful >30% group revs, growing 80% in H1 and with larger customers now re-engaging. We expect growth to continue in FY21 and beyond; the opportunity is multiples of current sales (FY21E $13m- +60% yoy). We similarly expect the cash cow UK business to continue to recover and return to c. 5% secular organic growth over time. It is especially continued success with US SecPay that is likely to lead to group FCF exceeding that of £5-6m achieved in FY20/19 over time and a FCF yield well above 5%. That’s attractive.

Companies: Eckoh plc

24 Nov 20

FY’21 interims and fundraising of up to £17.5m

ReNeuron, a UK-based stem-cell therapy developer, has announced today a fundraising of up to £17.5m (gross) through the means of a placing, subscription and open offer. The Company has also announced its FY’21E interim results as well as the latest data from its lead candidate hRPC in the ongoing Phase I/IIa clinical trial for Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP). The additional funding aims to provide liquidity for the next 18 months, and through key clinical development milestones for the hRPC programme and exosome collaborations. **** As joint broker to ReNeuron, we are restricted and can therefore provide factual comment only. Shareholder approval for the transaction will be sought at the General Meeting to be held on the 11th December 2020 ****

Companies: ReNeuron Group plc

24 Nov 20

Contracts Win with Barrick Showcases Capital Ltd Growth Potential

Less than a fortnight after a major new contract announcement in West Africa, Capital has announced the expansion of its operations at Barrick Gold’s Bulyanhulu Gold Mine in Tanzania. The contracts include a five-year laboratory services contract for MSALABS, together with a two-year underground grade control drilling contract. Capital commenced operations at Bulyanhulu in February 2020, undertaking a deep hole delineation drilling program. The successful execution of this resulted in an expansion of services, with two underground rigs added to operations from May. The new contract will expand the underground fleet to four, utilising two rigs from the existing fleet and including the acquisition of a further two rigs.

Companies: Capital Limited

20 Nov 20

Trackwise Designs - IHT capacity to be quadrupled

Trackwise has announced a placing and open offer, potentially raising up to £12.0m (gross). This is to fund a new manufacturing facility that is expected to quadruple IHT production capacity. The additional capacity is required to support the up to £38m electric vehicle (EV) contract announced in September and potential volume orders from electro-surgical catheter manufacturers and aerospace OEMs and suppliers.

Companies: Trackwise Designs Plc

20 Nov 20

Parkmead Group - An E&P for all seasons

Parkmead’s portfolio has evolved to the point where it is now a full-cycle E&P company with a low-cost Dutch production base and a broad spectrum of high-quality UK growth opportunities, encompassing material development projects and an attractive range of risk/reward exploration. Recently, it has diversified into renewables, future proofing its equity story and opening up a new ‘investor-friendly’ avenue of growth. A core strength of this management team is its commercial acumen and portfolio-driven approach to optimising value. Parkmead has been in portfolio construction mode to date but is now well positioned to start crystallising its intrinsic value. We initiate with a risked-NAV based price target of 155p/sh. Investors would do well to get on-board with a management team that has a strong track record of delivering shareholder value.

Companies: Parkmead Group PLC

25 Nov 20

Renewing its fleet while beating estimates

Q3/20 EBITDA of USD 5.4m vs ARCe of USD 4m Fleet renewal strategy continues, one sold and one bought during Q4/20 Five containerships (out of 26) for renewal in Q4/20, seven more in Q1 Bonds still offer ~9% yield for 62% LTV

25 Nov 20

Vox Royalties' snaps up Bushvelds' Brits Vanadium Project as second acquisition this month

25 Nov 20

Focus on Ghana as Tullow goes sober

While a three-year plan would have been more than enough, the new CEO delivered a roadmap for the next ten years. The idea is to show how Tullow’s existing assets can generate sufficient cash for the next decade. Discipline is key, with deleveraging as top priority. Spending is on a tight budget ($2.7bn for the next ten years) with 90% of it going to develop the West African assets. The quest to regain investors’ trust continues.

Companies: Tullow Oil plc

25 Nov 20

Highlight Therapeutics aim to extend the benefit of immunotherapies for patients

25 Nov 20

Acquiring royalty on Bushveld's Brits Vanadium Project

Hot on the heels of the acquisition of a portfolio of royalties in North America earlier this month, comes Vox Royalty's (CVE:VOX) latest acquisition - a 1.75% gross sales royalty (GSR) on Bushveld Minerals Limited's (LON:BMN) Brits Vanadium Project, located within the North West Province of South

Companies: Vox Royalty Corp.

25 Nov 20

Rolling up the slope on large diameter tyres

A recovering demand for High Value tyres and the early OEM volume rebound in China both led to Q3 growth, while Europe/Turkey (42% of sales) and North America’s (20% of sales) sales were slow to resume, down respectively 19.7% and 26.3% ytd. However, in the FY20 outlook, the EBIT margin has been downgraded to 11.5%-12%, while the net debt position has been maintained at €-3.3bn. The latter is still overly optimistic in our view.

Companies: Pirelli & C. S.p.A.

25 Nov 20

DORE Trust says 'diversification is at the very heart of what we do'

25 Nov 20

Pixium Vision - ANSM approval to start PRIMAvera pivotal study

Pixium Vision announced on 20 November that it has received approval from the French regulatory health authority, ANSM, to start its PRIMAvera European pivotal study of its Prima Bionic Vision System (BVS) in patients with dry age-related macular degeneration with geographic atrophy (GA-AMD), a largely unmet market indication. This is an important milestone for Pixium as we believe the PRIMAvera European registration study may provide top-line 12-month data in H222, supporting our estimate of potential CE mark and European launch in H223.

Companies: PIXEUR PXH ALPIX

25 Nov 20

ImmuPharma’s partner Avion set to meet FDA in December to discuss Phase 3 lupus clinical trial

25 Nov 20

Ncondezi Energy oversubscribed £750,000 placing is part of 'wider strategy'

25 Nov 20

Cenkos: Calnex Solutions plc -- Interim results and forecast upgrade

Calnex Solutions has announced very strong maiden interim results, with H1/21 revenue up 37% to £7.7m and adjusted PBT up 90% to £2.3m. Calnex has firmly established a trusted reputation worldwide, launching multiple first to market telecoms and network testing solutions. The exponential growth of data creation and secular migration of industries to cloud computing along with the long-term transition of the telecoms industry to 5G is driving demand for high value test instrumentation. Given the strength of H1/21 reported today we have upgraded our revenue forecasts for FY21E and FY22E by 10.6% and 12.2% to £15.4m and £16.4m and increased forecast EPS up 24.1%. and 14.3% respectively. Calnex is accelerating its growth investment plans, ahead of our previous expectations, expanding both R&D and sales capacity to capture increased market share within a substantial and growing global market.

25 Nov 20

H1 20/21: reported profit up yoy due to non-operational reasons

United Utilities posted its H1 20/21 (closing in March) result with revenues down by 4.3% due to the new pricing regime and the pandemic, with an underlying operating profit decline (-18%). Net profit, however, was supported by lower net financial expenses and the underlying movement in the share of joint-ventures. For FY 20/21, the company expects revenue to be £1.75-1.8bn vs £1.86bn recorded last year. Additionally, it expects an ODI reward of around £10m.

Companies: United Utilities Group PLC

25 Nov 20

Positive revenue restoration but further margin improvements are awaited

The French-based contract caterer reported its FY20 results, which were in line with its pre-release in early November and surprised the market with better-than-expected efficient cost control at that time. FY21 outlook seems reassuring in terms of revenue, but the market would expect further margin improvements at Elior to make it more competitive in the sector.

Companies: Elior Group SA

25 Nov 20

SP Angel Spec Sits: Half Year Results (LTHM)

H1F21 revenue was £107m, down 14.8% y/y (H1F20: £125.6m) and down 11.9% sequentially (H2F20: £121.5m). Q2F21 revenue was up 5.3% y/y, indicating a trend to recovery in the post-lockdown period across both, Ireland and the UK. The strength of LTHM's business model is supported by the diversity of its customer base and the expanse of its product offering, allowing it to withstand fluctuations in demand across market sectors. We believe LTHM stock is a relatively low risk investment given the strong cash position (131.6p/share), no debt and a stable yield. The stock trades at 8x EBITDA, compared to its peer average of ~11.1x, on what are more compelling metrics.

Companies: James Latham Plc

25 Nov 20

Cranswick - Another strong performance

Cranswick’s H121 results underscore the company’s strength and broad-based positive momentum. Revenues were up an impressive 17% on a like-for-like basis, adjusted operating profit was up 31% to £62m with margins up +50bp, and adjusted EPS was up 30% to 93p, with reported EPS up 12%. The interim dividend was up 12% to 18.7p, and net debt (excluding IFRS 16 lease liabilities) was £54.6m. Cranswick has made a strong start to the year. Management is understandably cautious given uncertainty surrounding both the pandemic and Brexit, but the outlook for the current year remains unchanged.

Companies: Cranswick plc

26 Sep 19

Volex PLC 'a resilient, diversified business' delivering strong cashflow

07 Jan 20

Volex PLC Investor Presentatiion

30 Jan 20

Equals Group PLC chief 'phenomenally bullish' about prospects as revenues rise 20%

19 May 17

Leading UK fund manager, Gervais Williams, discusses investing, his outlook and two companies he's excited about

21 Oct 19

Avacta Group PLC boss sees a huge opportunity with new version of cancer treatment

01 Jul 20

Powerhouse Energy CEO updates on commercial development and plans for future rollout

30 May 18

Executive interview - Banca Sistema

07 Feb 20

Morning Report: Novacyt reports 'unprecedented interest' in its coronavirus diagnostic

21 Mar 18

Bitesize briefing – Vermillion Energy

18 Nov 19

CentralNic's acquisition of Team Internet to be 'significantly earnings enhancing'

23 Jan 20

Executive interview - Sureserve

06 Feb 20

Morning Report: Touchstone Exploration confirms potential of its Cacadura-1 well

13 Feb 20

Futura Medical kicks off process for its ED gel to be approved as medical device

01 Oct 20

Immotion Group launch at-home, educational, fun family product 'Let's Explore Oceans'

13 Jul 15