07:00 Thu 12 Nov 2020
Primorus Investments - Quarterly Update
Primorus Investments plc
("Primorus" or the "Company")
Quarterly Investor Update
Primorus Investments plc (AIM: PRIM, AQSE: PRIM) is pleased to provide the quarter ending
Executive Director's Quarterly Comment -
It is with a great deal of pleasure that I write to shareholders to report on the Company's Q3 progress in what will be my, and
Highlights
- Fully exited its investment in Greatland Gold PLC ("Greatland"), as announced on
4 November 2020 , via a recently completed programme of sales of the remaining 20m Greatland shares for gross proceeds of approximately£4.6m to compliment the 6m Greatland share sale announced on1 October 2020 which grossed£0.888m . Total gross proceeds have been received in the Quarter of circa£5.5m .
- Total Greatland investment was approximately
£633k giving a gross return over investment of approximately£5.9m or a 933% ROI over the life of the investment.
- Invested
A$1.86m (approximately£1.1m ) in 2m Zuuse shares as part of a now complete circaA$50m capital raise alongside IFM Investors Pty Ltd ("IFM"), a leading Australian fund manager with overA$150bn under management, andLeigh Jasper , co-founder of Aconex construction software which was bought by Oracle in 2018 forA$1.6bn .
Jeremy Larkin andAdrian Kerley , both of IFM, have joined the Board of Zuuse as non-executive directors alongsideLeigh Jasper who has also become a non-executive director.
- Fresho annualised Gross Order Volumes have rebounded to over
A$500m which is approaching pre-COVID levels. B2C gains over 75k sign-ups and Fresho retains a significant cash balance.
- The Company finishes the Quarter debt-free with significant cash reserves.
Update on Investments
Greatland Gold Plc ("Greatland") (AIM: GGP)
Greatland's shares began the Quarter at 12p and closed on 30 September at 20.1p representing a quarterly increase of some 68%. Post-period, we sold our remaining stake of 20m Greatland shares for gross proceeds of approximately
Our full exit from Greatland in no way reflects a pessimistic view towards Greatland and its prospects. Having invested in Greatland in late 2018 and early 2019 at an average price of 1.71p per share, the Company is simply realising substantial profits. This has been an outstanding investment for Primorus.
Zuuse Limited ("Zuuse")
Zuuse is a
Following discussions with Zuuse, an opportunity was identified to invest alongside IFM as part of a funding package to accelerate growth. Following the recent capital raise, Primorus now holds 2,057,205 fully paid shares in Zuuse and 1m options, representing circa 1.7% per cent. of Zuuse's fully diluted enlarged share capital.
Zuuse's underlying construction payments software businesses continue to perform extremely well despite the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, with only a small dip in revenues in the Quarter to 30 June and has seen a renewed upward trajectory since. Revenues and EBITDA are on track to surpass those of FY 2019 whilst the platform itself processes in excess of
By investing now as part of a substantial growth accelerator financing, the Company gains significant exposure to a potentially high-growth, highly profitable business that is already scaling aggressively across the US,
Fresho Pty Ltd ("Fresho")
Fresho reports that it is in many ways returning to business as usual with B2B annualised Gross Order Volumes picking up significantly as the hospitality sector re-opened across much of
Engage Technology Partners ("Engage")
Engage recently raised
Whist hiring and business operational freezes associated with the first COVID-19 lockdowns impacted on Engage's monthly revenues significantly, we are pleased to learn that, as with Fresho, the business is rebounding strongly and approaching pre-COVID levels. Interestingly, the number of live corporate customers has now exceeded its previous peak.
Engage recently signed its largest ever client, G4S, to initially provide services to management controls at their national COVID-19 testing facilities. This also presents opportunities with their other business units, with the potential of achieving significant national and international scale. Despite the recent challenges, Engage has remained steadfast in the execution of its business plan which is to become a pure SaaS (software as a service) offering, thereby delivering exceptional products and service from a very low cost base. Further, Engage has now made remote working permanent [in its own operations] to improve productivity and reduce recurring costs.
With Engage now well-funded for the next 24-36 months and on a path to break-even, Primorus looks forward to watching Engage's business flourish. We believe the most likely exit scenario remains a secondary or trade sale to a complimentary sector provider who will acquire Engage to augment their own business model. Given the scale and depth of the industry we believe there should be no shortage of potential suitors.
WeShop Limited ("WeShop")
WeShop raised
TruSpine Technologies plc ("TruSpine")
TruSpine's shares were admitted to trading on the Aquis Exchange (the AQSE Growth Market) on 20 August and whilst the price performance has been poor on very tight liquidity, we view the next few months as an exciting time for the company as it awaits its fast-tracked FDA approval for its Faci-LOK device. If granted, we would expect the share price to recover strongly as this should provide the necessary impetus for TruSpine to be in a position to market and sell its products.
Sport:80 Services Ltd ("Sport:80")
Prior to March, Sport:80 had said that 2020 was shaping up nicely with a forecasted revenue increase on 2019 and a second consecutive year of profit. However, with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic taking hold from March, transactional revenues fell dramatically as events planning and delivery ground to a halt. Sport:80 adjusted its forecast revenue downward by 25% for the year and advised that revenues are largely in line with this revised forecast. Despite this, Sport:80 continues to add new clients and expects revenue to recover well when clients' sales activity increases through 2021 and 2022. Management indicates that despite these downgrades, Sport:80 does not need to raise capital in the short-term.
Seecubic Inc./StreamTV Networks, Inc. ("StreamTV")
StreamTV, now Seecubic Inc. has been the subject of an ongoing shareholder action to remove the previous management. This was instigated by the largest shareholders and supported by us in the form of joining a Shareholder Action Group. Given we are a very small shareholder compared to the very large family offices and hedge funds leading the group our financial contribution to bring about change was minimal (
SOA Energy ("SOA")
SOA has already advised shareholders that drilling at the Ofek oil discovery shall resume as soon as border restrictions are lifted in
Nomad Energy ("NOMAD")
Elsewhere in our energy investments, Nomad remains a concern. Political gridlock in the
Corporate Update
We mentioned in our half year report that we would explore the possibility of the Company buying back, where appropriate, up to 10% of its issued share capital via a share buy-back programme. However, upon further review, the Board has concluded not to proceed with a share buyback programme at present.
This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.
Forward Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements relating to expected or anticipated future events and anticipated results that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, such as general economic, market and business conditions, competition for qualified staff, the regulatory process and actions, technical issues, new legislation, uncertainties resulting from potential delays or changes in plans, uncertainties resulting from working in a new political jurisdiction, uncertainties regarding the results of exploration, uncertainties regarding the timing and granting of prospecting rights, uncertainties regarding the Company's ability to execute and implement future plans, and the occurrence of unexpected events. Actual results achieved may vary from the information provided herein as a result of numerous known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors.
For further information, please contact:
Primorus Investments plc: |
+44 (0) 20 7440 0640 |
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Nominated Adviser: |
+44 (0) 20 7213 0880 |
Cairn Financial Advisers LLP |
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James Caithie / |
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Broker: |
+44 (0) 20 3657 0050 |
Turner Pope Investments |
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