QuotedData’s Real Estate Monthly Roundup – January 2023

Performance - 2022 ended with another difficult month for property companies as the sector continues to get to grips with the impact of higher interest rates. There were several funds that performed well during December, however, with secondary shopping centre landlord Capital & Regional top of the pile. For a second month on the trot Home REIT saw its share price tank after it came under attack from a short seller in November. Valuation moves - It was a mixed bag for valuations, with six-month

QuotedData’s Real Estate Monthly Roundup – January 2023

Performance - 2022 ended with another difficult month for property companies as the sector continues to get to grips with the impact of higher interest rates. There were several funds that performed well during December, however, with secondary shopping centre landlord Capital & Regional top of the pile. For a second month on the trot Home REIT saw its share price tank after it came under attack from a short seller in November. Valuation moves - It was a mixed bag for valuations, with six-month

Palace Capital* - 1HFY23 results – under pressure

Palace Capital has released interim results to the end of September reporting adjusted profit before tax of £3.5m (1HFY22 £4.0m) and adjusted EPS of 7.9p (1HFY22 8.7p), mainly reflecting rising financing costs. The dividend was maintained at the current quarterly run rate of 3.75p and net debt was held broadly flat. EPRA NTA per share fell 8.7% to 356p. The sale of the industrial portfolio remains paused but smaller commercial sales continue together with the sale of apartments at Hudson Quarter

Hybridan Small Cap Feast 10/10/22

Dish of the day Joiners: No joiners today. Leavers: No leavers today. What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?** OTAQ plc, (OTAQ.L) the technology company with three divisions: Aquaculture, Geotracking Devices and Offshore intends to delist from the Main Market and join the AQSE Growth Market.. OTAQ is developing adjacent technologies to take advantage of a number of growth initiatives that will broaden the Group’s current product portfolio in the global marine aquaculture sector and facilitate entry

Palace Capital* - 1H23 trading update – disposal programme paused

Palace Capital has published its interim trading update to the end of September ahead of the results due on 24 November. Rent collection and occupancy remain high with multiple lease events ahead of ERV. Annualised cost savings of £1.2m have been achieved and the company was net cash positive prior to the impact of the £6m share buyback. Since YE22 four investment properties have been disposed of realising £4.8m, 25% ahead of book value, and apartment sales at Hudson Quarter continued to progres

Hot Off The Wires - The Day Ahead

Today's news and views, plus announcements from: FLTR, GSK, 888, PCA, IQG, & JSE.

Palace Capital* - Further Board changes

Palace Capital has announced that Richard Starr, Executive Property Director, is to step down from the Board with immediate effect and leave the company at the end of September. This continues a period of Board change which accelerated after the company revised its new strategy. The current strategy is essentially one of liquidation which may have the effect of putting the company into play, in our view. In revising its new strategy, Palace Capital noted that it was mindful of consolidation in t

The Hardman & Co Monthly: August 2022

Feature article: Utility regulation – Changes afoot - Patching up a tainted model While the gas supply crisis – and its price implications – have dominated the UK price regulated sectors in recent months, other issues have arisen that have seriously tainted the price regulation system itself. Indeed, it is fair to ask whether it is ‘’fit for purpose’’. Back in 1984, price regulation, via an unsophisticated RPI-x formula, was introduced to prevent the privatised British Telecom (BT) from abusin

Hardman & Co Monthly: July 2022

Feature article: Punching above their weight? The contribution of small- and mid-cap quoted companies to markets, employment and tax revenues Back in May 2019, Hardman & Co and the Quoted Companies Alliance jointly published a paper looking at the importance of small and mid-size quoted companies (SMQCs) to the markets, and their contribution to tax revenues and employment in the UK. This is a poorly researched area, and that paper helped frame the debate; it has been quoted from by bodies such

Hybridan Small Cap Feast 04/07/2022

Joiners: Re-admission of 888 Holdings to the Main Market following the reverse takeover of William Hill. Leavers: Umuthi Healthcare Solutions has left the Main Market. What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen? Immediate acquisitions (IME.L) is to re-join AIM via a Reverse Takeover of Fiinu Holdings Limited. Once complete the Company is proposing to change its name to Fiinu Group plc. Fiinu intends to be a provider of a consumer banking product, the Plugin Overdraft ®, which is designed to provide custo

Palace Capital* - Strategy sharpened, 5% buyback commences

Further to its strategic review, Palace Capital intends to focus on becoming an ESG driven, regional office market specialist. To that end the company has announced a new £46.5m property disposal programme including its entire industrial property portfolio with the proceeds to be reinvested into the office sector. Palace Capital has also announced a buyback for up to 5% of its shares and continues to review its cost base. The outcome of the strategic review is to sharpen the focus on themes mana

Palace Capital* - FY22 results – Well placed, TP to 350p

Palace Capital reported adjusted results ahead of our forecast and the FY22 final EPRA NAV was 5% higher than we expected at 390p prompting an increase in our Target Price to 350p. Steven Owen has been appointed Interim Executive Chairman. Management expects to complete the strategic review by the AGM in July. The portfolio transformation and robust financial performance delivered by Palace Capital during FY22 underpinned a 26% increase in dividend, saw LTV fall to 28% from 42% delivered a 14.8%

Morning Note – 22 April 2024

Frenkel Topping - Resilient with strong growth potential

FY 2023 was a challenging year for Frenkel with higher interest rates encouraging clients to place money into lower margin money market funds. Despite this, sales grew +32% (supported by recurring revenue +9% and +51% in non-recurring), EBIT margins remained strong at 22% and adj. EPS grew +17% (taking into account the higher number of shares). FY 2024 has seen a solid start to transactional business and there is a strong pipeline of new FUM opportunities both of which support further growth. Wi

Benefits of scale set to materialise

S&U - PBT ahead, encouraging volume trends

S&U reported FY24 PBT of £33.6m, down from £41.4m in FY23 on higher funding and regulatory costs and higher impairments in Advantage in H2. PBT was 2% ahead of our forecast as stronger revenues – up 12% to £115.4m – and better costs offset higher-than-expected impairments. Net receivables grew to a record at both Advantage and Aspen and management noted particular strength in Q4 and a good trading environment in the current year. Having absorbed a significant rise in funding cost as well as addi

LIBERUM: PayPoint: On track for £100m of EBITDA in FY 26

Hardman & Co Insight: 2023 was an annus horribilis for Quoted UK Infrastructure and Renewable Energy

The focus of Hardman & Co Research is on the nine quoted Infrastructure Investment Companies (IICs) and on the 22 Renewable Energy Infrastructure Funds (REIFs): the stocks analysed are all members of the Association of Investment Companies (AIC). We are updating our publication of January 2023, assessing both the lacklustre share price performances during 2023 and the key issues, including interest rates, inflation and power prices. As a 31-strong group, its combined market capitalisation is no

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

Regional REIT - Performing as expected ahead of refinancing

In a challenging market, Regional REIT’s (RGL’s) FY23 operational and financial performance was robust, in line with expectations and previous guidance. Investor focus remains on the company’s loan to value (LTV) reduction and bond refinancing plans, explored in detail in our previous note and RGL will provide an update on this in due course.

Foxtons Group (FOXT LN) - 1Q24 IMS shows real momentum

Foxtons Group plc first quarter revenue rose 9% to £35.7m (1Q23: £32.9m) with growth delivered across all business segments. Trading is in line with management's expectations.

LIBERUM: Speedy Hire: Weakness in FY 24 but recovery in FY 25

Jupiter Green

The Hardman & Co Monthly: April 2024

Feature article: Steady as she goes, but could be better: A review of investment company liquidity since 2016 Liquidity is the lifeblood of equity markets. The measurement of liquid asset availability to a market or company is a way of gauging a market’s health. This article builds on our previous work, which analysed the liquidity data for non-financial trading companies, by applying the same analytical techniques to the investment companies (IC) space. We analyse liquidity for ICs as a whol

Morning Note – 29 February 2024

Hardman & Co Insight - Asset managers had a poor 2022

Asset managers had a poor 2022: the S&P Composite 1500 Asset Management Index was down 22% and, according to the Investment Company Institute (ICI), worldwide mutual funds fell by 20%, from $76tr to $60tr. When bond and equity markets fall, the results are unlikely to be pretty: with revenues trending down and multiples contracting, there is a double whammy to contend with. So how do valuations shape up now, after a bullish start to the new year? The first chart is my favourite chart of asset m

PCI Pal - +25% FY23 revenue growth, FY24 growth of +28% reiterated

PCI Pal’s FY23 results show revenue growth of +25% to £14.9m, gross profit growth of +31% to £13.1m at a margin of 88%, and an outlook confirming robust momentum in H1 24. The FY23 results are as expected following the August trading update, and FY23 Total Annual Contract Value (TACV) is +23% yoy to £16.4m, with ARR +14% yoy to £12.6m due to £3.1m of contracts in deployment. We expect ARR will increase +35% and +31% to £17.0m and £22.2m in FY24 and FY25, as management lands and expands following