Bould Opportunities - Half-year Report

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service ("RIS"), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

27 September 2019

Bould Opportunities Plc

Half year results

Bould Opportunities Plc (AIM: "BOU", "Bould", the "Company" or "the Group"), currently an AIM Rule 15 Cash Shell considering new investment opportunities, announces its half year results for the six months ending 30 June 2019.

Operational and strategic overview

As explained in detail in the Group's recent audited annual report for the year ended 31 December 2018, there were some fundamental changes to the Group in 2018 and in the first half of 2019. During this time, all of the Group's trading activities were either sold or closed down.

Fresh capital has been raised in the period and the Group is now moving forward with confidence, unencumbered from any ongoing liability for its past loss making, and cash consuming, activities.

Financial overview

At the start of 2018, in the previous financial year, the Group had three trading segments alongside coordinating activities of the AIM quoted holding company. By the end of 2018, two of the three trading segments had been disposed of and the third segment had substantially reduced its activities.

On 5 April 2019, a General Meeting confirmed the closure of the Group's remaining trading segment, and so the Group became an AIM Rule 15 Cash Shell that is seeking new investment opportunities in a number of business areas including the health sector, as per previous announcements.

Full provision for the estimated total wind down and closure costs were included in the Group's consolidated financial statements for the year to 31 December 2018.

Under IFRS accounting, the results of the Group are separated between continuing and discontinued operations, and prior year consolidated figures have been restated where appropriate.

Consequently, in the Income Statement, the only Continuing Operations for the six months to 30 June 2019 are the corporate expenses of the Group's holding company, as quantified below. Also for this period, under Discontinued

Operations, there were two positive adjustments - with respect to the brought forward year end accruals for all of the closure costs, and a small surplus on the sale of the remaining trading business which has resulted in a profit on discontinued activities of £39,000.

In the reporting period, six months ending 30 June 2019, the company issued shares raising approximately gross proceeds of £1.33m from five placings of new ordinary shares, primarily to provide the Group with adequate working capital for any potential investments or transactions the Group may undertake as a Cash Shell.

The financial results for the six months to 30 June 2019 are summarised as follows:

·      Continuing Operations:

o  Revenues for H1 2019 £nil (H1 2018: £nil)

o  Corporate expenses H1 2019 £189,000 (H1 2018: £209,000)

o  Taxation H1 2019 £nil (H1 2018: £nil)

o  Loss from Continuing Operations H1 2019 £189,000 (H1 2018: £209,000)

·      Discontinued Operations:

o  Profit/(Loss) from Discontinued Operations H1 2019 £39,000 (H1 2018: Loss (£223,000))

·      Total comprehensive loss H1 2019 (£150,000) (H1 2018: Loss ( £432,000)) 

·      Cash balances H1 2019 £843,000 (H1 2018: £47,000)

·      Borrowings H1 2019 £Nil (H1 2018: £355,000)

Allan Syms, Chairman, said:

"The Group is in a good position to achieve its long term investment plans. Discussions are progressing towards reaching a decision soon on the investment and we will keep shareholders updated."

For further information:

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

For the six months ended 30 June 2019

*Prior period figures restated to be comparative to current period continuing and discontinued operations.
 

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

as at 30 June 2019

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

For the six months ended 30 June 2019

*Prior period figures restated to be comparative to current period continuing and discontinued operations.

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the six months ended 30 June 2019 (unaudited)

For the six months ended 30 June 2018 (unaudited)

For the year ended 31 December 2018 (audited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the six months ended 30 June 2019 (unaudited)

1. Basis of preparation

These interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 - Interim Financial Reporting using the recognition and measurement principles of International Accounting Standards, International Financial Reporting Standards and Interpretations adopted for use in the European Union (collectively "Adopted IFRS").

The principal accounting policies used in preparing these interim financial statements are those expected to apply to the Group's Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ending 31 December 2019 and are unchanged from those disclosed in the Group's Annual Report for the year ended 31 December 2018.

The financial information for the six months ended 30 June 2019 and 30 June 2018 is unaudited and does not constitute statutory financial statements for those periods.

The comparative financial information for the year ended 31 December 2018 is not statutory accounts within the meaning of s434 of the Companies Act 2006 but has been derived from the audited statutory financial statements for that year. The statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018 have been reported on by the Company's auditor, delivered to the Registrar of Companies and have been sent to the shareholders.

The auditor's opinion on the Group's financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2018 was unqualified.

2.  Continuing and discontinued operations

2a  Summary

2b Continuing operations

As all the trading activities have been discontinued, there is no ongoing segmental information. The following results for

continuing operations are for the administrative costs of the Group's parent company.

2c  Discontinued operations

The Group's net total loss on discontinued items may be analysed:

2d   Details of the sale of Camtronics Vale Limited

The financial performance and cash flow information presented are for the trading ended 31 January 2018.

Net cash outflow from operating activities:

Details of sale of subsidiary:

The carrying amounts of assets and liabilities as at the date of sale were:

2e Details as a result of the liquidation of Photonstar LED Ltd

The financial performance and cash flow information presented are for the trading ended 18 November 2018.

Net cash inflows and outflows from operating activities:

Details of liquidation of subsidiary:

The carrying amounts of assets and liabilities as at the date of liquidation were:

2f   Details as a result of a liquidator appointed to the immediate parent company of Architectural Lighting and Controls Limited

Architectural Lighting & Controls Limited was a dormant subsidiary, and therefore had no income or expense or cash flows for the relevant reporting periods.

Details resulting from the liquidation of the parent company:

The carrying amounts of assets and liabilities as at the date of liquidation were:

2g   Details of the sale of Photonstar Technology Limited

The financial performance and cash flow information presented are for about trading ended 19 June 2019.

Net cash outflow from operating activities:

Details of sale of subsidiary:

The carrying amounts of assets and liabilities as at the date of sale were:

3. Income Tax

There was no income tax for the six months ended 30 June 2019. For the six months ended 30 June 2018 there was an income tax credit of £60,000, and £169,000 for the year ended 31 December 2018. These income tax credits represent estimated research and development tax credit receivable for that period. Excluding these matters, the effective tax rate for the Group for the year ended 31 December 2019 is expected to be zero, reflecting the availability of estimated brought forward tax losses at 31 December 2018 of about £0.5m.

4. Earnings per share

Diluted earnings per share is calculated by dividing the profit attributable to ordinary shareholders by the weighted average number of ordinary shares outstanding after adjusting these amounts for the effects of dilutive potential ordinary shares.

As the results for the six months ended 30 June 2019 and 30 June 2018 and for the year ended 31 December 2018 are losses, any exercise of share options would have an anti-dilutive effect on earnings per share. Consequently earnings per share and diluted earnings per share are the same as potentially dilutive share options have been excluded from the calculation.

5. Copies of Interim Report

Copies of this interim report are available upon request to members of the public from the Company's registered office, 80 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6EE. This interim report can also be viewed on the Group's website: www.bouldopportunities.com.