WHI First Light: Watchstone (WTG) - Proposed disposal of ingenie

Watchstone has this morning announced the proposed disposal of its last remaining operating business, ingenie, to A-Plan Group. The initial cash consideration payable upon completion is reported to stand at £3.0m, with up to a further £2.5m due, dependent upon the 2021 financial performance. Watchstone will also retain its subsidiary ISL, which is seeking repayment of overpaid VAT of in excess of £2m from HMRC. As a result of the size of the ingenie business relative to the overall company, the

WHI First Light: Watchstone Group (WTG) - Interims

Watchstone has this morning released interim results to 30 June 2020. During the first six months of the year, the group returned a total of £50.5m/110p per share in cash to shareholders, with a further £18.4m/40p per share post period end in July. The H1 2020A underlying EBITDA loss stood at £1.4m, which excluded Watchstone's only remaining operating business, ingenie, held within discontinued operations. Encouragingly, ingenie saw a much improved trading performance in the six month period, wi

WHI First Light: Watchstone Group (WTG)

Watchstone has this morning announced a proposed second return of cash to shareholders, totalling a further £18.4m/40p per share. The rationale for this second tranche relates to the Board having previously allocated a cash buffer of £20m for any possible fines or penalties arising from the now lapsed SFO investigation. Subject to shareholder and court approval, this further return is anticipated to be made on or around 31 July 2020. Shareholders approved the first £50.5m/110p per share return o

WHI First Light: Watchstone Group (WTG)

Watchstone has this morning released full year results to 31 December 2019, illustrating the previously reported progress made during the year, as well the notable achievements in the four months since year-end. Key points of note during this period have included: 1) the resolution of the Slater & Gordon litigation, 2) disposal of the group's Healthcare Services business, 3) notification of that Watchstone will not be liable to prosecution from the SFO investigation and 4) confirmation, subject

WHI First Light: Caledonia Mining (CMCL) & Watchstone Group (WTG)

Caledonia today provides an update on production from the Blanket mine in Zimbabwe with 14.2koz gold produced in Q1 2020 – an increase of 19% over the same period in the prior financial year. A focus on development rather than production in the final quarter of 2019 means that Caledonia should be able to balance production over the remaining quarters of the year and hit its production target of between 53-56koz for FY 2020. Following on from the updates to the market provided on 10 Februar

WHI First Light: Caspian Sunrise, Watchstone Group & Water Intelligence

Caspian Sunrise (CASP) – Corporate – Operational Update Market Cap £140m Share Price 7.7p Caspian Sunrise announced that the Deep Well A5 sidetrack has flowed for a period of 40 days and management stated it continues to believe that the well is capable of producing at a rate of at least 1,500 b/d. The company is focusing on ensuring flow is maintained by adjusting the wells choke size to maintain a constant reservoir pressure. The company stated it is planning to optimise the well through

Small Cap Feast

Intention to float by Gemfields Group. No Capital Raise. Currently listed on JSE. (GML:JNB) at circa £122m. The Group's key producing assets, the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia (believed to be the world's single largest producing emerald mine) and the Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique (one of the most significant recently discovered ruby deposits in the world), are both expected to have long mine-lives with potential for expansion. Also owns the Faberge brand. Due Valentines Day 2020.

Small Cap Feast

The Pebble Group, a provider of products, services and technology to the global promotional products industry, announces its intention to seek admission of its shares to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, which is expected to take place in early December 2019.The Group delivered revenue of £99.8m in the year ended 31 December 2018.No mention of bottom line and a suggestion that funds raised would provide an exit to private equity shareholders and the repayment of debt. Offer

First Light

Watchstone Group (WTG) – Corporate – Settlement with Slater & Gordon | Croma Security Solutions (CSSG) – Corporate – Good start to FY2020E, sustainable growth prospects | Ashley House (ASH) – Corporate – Sale of interest in Morgan Ashley – refocus on health and modular sectors

Small Cap Breakfast

Avast, global cybersecurity provider with 435m users worldwide. In 2017, the Group's Adjusted Billings was $811 million, Adjusted Revenue was $780 million, Adjusted Cash EBITDA was $451 million. Seeking to raise $200m. Due in May | Fundamentum Supported Housing REIT. Raising £150m. Focussed on UK Social Housing assets. Due 2 May | Vivo Energy—retailer and marketer of Shell-branded fuels and lubricants in Africa, Due in May. 100% secondary sell-down of existing Shares by Selling Shareholders, No

Small Cap Breakfast

Hydrominer GmbH, An Austrian cryptocurrency miner, is considering an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange AIM during 2018 according to an article on Bloomberg. Block Energy—a NEX Listed UK based oil exploration and production company whose main country of operation is the Republic of Georgia, looks to join AIM end of February 2018. Offer TBC OnTheMarket—Intention to float on AIM to raise c.£50m which will be used to fund the growth of the OnTheMarket.com portal, already t

AIM Breakfast

7DIGITAL GROUP PLC (7DIG LN) | AMRYT PHARMA PLC (AMYT LN) | GATELEY HLDGS PLC (GTLY LN) | REAL ESTATE INVESTORS (RLE LN) | STATPRO GROUP (SOG LN) | STRIDE GAMING PLC (STR LN) | TERRA CAPITAL PLC (TCA LN) | WATCHSTONE GROUP PLC (WTG LN)

UK Tech Sector: Sleeping giant or hibernating bear?

Investors can be forgiven for getting excited about the global tech sector with the recent news from the NYSE that another company has gone flying out the tech IPO gates; this time it was internet domain behemoth, GoDaddy. The company raised $460 million as part of the IPO and with the shares rallying more than 30% on their first day, reached a valuation of around $6 billion. Considering the company lost $143 million last year it shows us the US tech boom is far from over.

Technology review and outlook

2014 was an active year for tech stock trading. Turnover by value for the broader sector doubled, though technology hardware and equipment showed relatively little activity.

An excellent win, momentum rebuilding

Made Tech has won a material expansion (worth up to £19.5m/2yrs) with a long-standing customer, The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (“DLUHC”). Coming off the back of a soft H1 bookings performance, we expect this win to materially boost investor sentiment and reassure how notwithstanding a tough backdrop (given an impending general election) MTEC continues to outcompete legacy providers and in-so-doing, grow its share of wallet with large/strategic customers. Landing near FY

Eleco - FY23 recurring revenue growth of +22%, EBITDA +2% ahead

Eleco’s FY23 results show robust organic recurring revenue growth of +17% with recurring revenue +22% to £20.7m, adj EBITDA +2% ahead of the January update, and a confident outlook with Q1 ARR already at £24.5m vs £22.6m at FY23. At this point, the excellent start to FY24 leads us to reiterate our FY24-26E revenue, adj EBITDA, EFCF, and DPS, and we include the April 2024 acquisition of Vertical Digital in our FY24-26E net cash, as we explain below. As Eleco builds upon the successful acquisition

LIBERUM: Cerillion: Continued strong trading in 1H

Morning Note – 23 April 2024

To infinity…

Cerillion has announced a very solid update, as H1 sales and EBITDA are both up 10% y/y to £22.5m and £10.9m respectively, notwithstanding the exceptionally strong base period (sales and EBITDA +27% and +38% resp.). Results therefore point to continued strong customer demand, reflecting how Cerillion’s out-of-the-box product continues to resonate and gain adoption, particularly in a ‘budget conscious’ environment, by offering faster time to market, greater configurability and at a lower cost. Me

In-line H1, strategic initiatives advancing at pace

As reported in March, underlying EBITDA profitability improved to record levels despite FX headwinds. Further platform and proposition developments were completed, key steps on its digital roadmap, and it has already won 7 contracts YTD. Alongside planned growth in private membership, this will at least offset the loss of one contract. Forecasts are left unchanged today and, as member engagement throttles back up, FX headwinds ease, and proof points of digital efficiency emerge, markets should b

itim - Further professional services contract secured with The Entertainer

itim is a disruptive SaaS-based platform that enables store-based retailers to implement a proven Omni-channel solution. This morning, the group has announced an additional professional services contract with its long-standing client, The Entertainer. Following a year-long trial, The Entertainer is opening in over 800 Tesco stores across the UK & Ireland, alongside a supplier agreement for Tesco stores across Central Europe. Under the contract, The Entertainer will extend its use of itim's Unify

Intelligent Ultrasound Group - GE Healthcare launches new Voluson Signature with

GE Healthcare has announced the launch of the Voluson Signature 20 and 18 ultrasound systems, with the related press release noting these systems ‘comprehensively integrate artificial intelligence’ to improve the ultrasound procedure for clinicians and the women being scanned. These ultrasound systems include SonoLyst, the AI which incorporates Intelligent Ultrasound’s ScanNav Assist and ScanNav AutoCapture AI software. The launch of additional Voluson systems including the SonoLyst suite of AI

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 22 April 2024

22nd April 2024 * A corporate client of Hybridan LLP ** Arranged by type of listing and date of announcement *** Alphabetically arranged **** Potential means Intention to Float (ITF) has been announced Dish of the day Admissions: Delistings: What’s baking in the oven? ** Potential**** Initial Public Offerings: Reverse Takeovers: 16 April 2024: Electric Guitar (ELEG.L) Concurrent with its Admission to trading on AIM, Electric Guitar is proposing to acquire the entire issued share capital of 3radi

Alphawave Semi: FY23 trading update, amended forward guidance

Alphawave Semi has reduced guidance for FY23 and prospectively citing lower revenues from China, changes in expected revenue recognition from long-term contracts, and continuing investment in R&D. The share price has reacted negatively, giving up most of the gains since the trading statement at the end of January. Current consensus, which is a good match for pre-existing guidance, should be reduced, most likely following release of the FY23 results and full 1Q24 trading update due on 23 April. H

Morning Note – 26 March 2024

Devolver Digital (DEVO LN) - Rebuild year

Devolver Digital encouragingly delivered 2023 results slightly ahead of expectations and provided a steady medium-term outlook that leads us to reiterate our 2024 Adjusted EBITDA estimates. Longer term, the company is now planning to further develop its two major planned titles, Human Fall Flat 2 and System Era's next major new release. We now expect those major titles to be released in 2026 rather than 2025, meaning we lower our 2025 Adjusted EBITDA forecast to $10.6m from $17.6m but introduce

It’s not what you sell, it’s the way that you sell it

This report is intended to help UK small- and mid-cap investors gain a better understanding of software companies’ routes to market, and to highlight how one of the most important facets of the way in which they grow and deliver value is routinely ignored.  We examine sales processes for six UK-listed companies and one that has recently been taken over, and consider why they have followed their respective paths.

Hybridan Small Cap Feast - 14 Mar 2024

Banquet Buffet*** Abingdon Health 9.25p £11.3m (ABDX.L) The lateral flow contract development and manufacturing organisation announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2023. Revenue increased 117% to £2.4m (H1 2023: £1.1m). The Adjusted EBITDA loss decreased 47% to £1.2m (H1 2023: £2.2m). Furthermore, reduction in operating loss of 50% to £1.2m (H1 2023: £2.4m). The Board therefore expects that H2 2024 revenue will be significantly improved compared with H1 2024

Morning Note – 8 April 2024