ABZA Final Results, ATQT New Contract, BOOM Update on KPIs, CGNR Drilling Results and New Discovery*, CRE Full Year Results, FDEV Preview Release, GFIN View Count and Board Change, MJW Full Year Results, MARL Agreement and Preliminary 3D Model*, MDZ Award Win*, MXO Update on Mexico*, OPTI Alliance*, SND Interim Results, SVR Partnership, TRAK Acquisition, VENN Contract Win
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The Hybridan Small Cap Wrap is a weekly review of some of the most interesting small cap stories of the past week. Our review will usually be of those companies whose market capitalisations are less than £50m although we may occasionally cover larger companies.
Abzena, a life sciences company providing services and technologies that enable the development of better biopharmaceutical products, announced its results for the year ended 31 March 2015. The group successfully completed the IPO and Admission to AIM on 10 July 2014, raising £20m for the company. The company also launched Abzena brand in May 2014 to provide Group identity whilst maintaining the two individual brands of Antitope and PolyTherics. Three more therapeutic antibody candidates derived from Antitope's Composite Human Antibody™ platform enter clinical development, bringing the total to eight and have completed 129 service projects for more than 80 customers and entered into eight agreements with the potential to generate future milestones and/or royalty payments. Revenues were up 50 percent to £5.7m compared to £3.8m in March 2014, with R&D expenditure of £3.0m compared to £2.0m in March 2014. This led to a reported loss of £4.7m compared to £3.9m in March 2014, though cash and cash equivalents were at £15.8m up from £2.8m at 31 March 2014.
ATTRAQT (LON:ATQT)
ATTRAQT, a leading provider of eCommerce site search, visual merchandising and recommendation technology, announced that it has been appointed by Bonmarché, one of the UK's largest women's value retailers, to deliver its Freestyle Merchandising (FSM) platform. ATTRAQT's FSM platform will upgrade the visual merchandising, site search & navigation and product recommendation functionality of the Bonmarché web site. Major retail players continue to use ATTRAQT's sophisticated merchandising software to improve their conversion rates and customer retention and to increase the average value of orders. As at the full year ended 31 December 2014, ATTRAQT announced a total client number of 87, with new customers in the period including Kate Spade, Ben Sherman, Fat Face, Heals and Warehouse.
Audioboom, the leading spoken-word audio on-demand mobile platform, announced at the time of its 2014 annual results in February that it would provide quarterly updates on its key performance indicators (KPIs). The following KPIs cover the company's second financial quarter from March to end May: Content partners - over 3,000 active content partners at the end of May. Approximately 650 new content partners were added during the quarter, with recent notable additions including the hit US podcast Undisclosed: The State Vs Adnan Syed, Baseball America, SNY.TV, ARU (Australian Rugby Union), Epsom racecourse, 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, BBC Hindi, MCM Comic Con and the Bob Harris Legend Series. Registered users- over 4m at the end of May, with almost 0.6m new registered users signing up in the quarter (including c. 0.21m in May, a new monthly record). App downloads- over 1.28m total mobile app installs during the quarter, with more than 0.55m added in May alone, another monthly record. Although not currently a reported KPI, the number of "listens" (that is, the number of times users consume Audioboom content through the website, the iOS and Android apps, and via the embeddable content players) will become an important metric in the coming months as it will ultimately drive advertising revenue. Total listens for the quarter exceeded 75m, taking the total lifetime listens for Audioboom content past the 500m mark.
Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (LON:CGNR)*
Conroy Gold and Natural Resources, the gold exploration and development company focused on Ireland and Finland, announced further results from its infill drilling programme in relation to the mining plan for the development of its Clontibret gold and antimony project in County Monaghan, Ireland. The drilling results include an intersection in one hole of 1 metre of 20.05 g/ t gold, at a depth of 94.5 metres, 1.5 metres of 3.5 g/t gold at a depth of 40.5 metres, 1 metre of 3.4 g/t gold at a depth of 36.5 metres, 1.5 metres of 2.16 g/t gold at a depth of 27 metres and 1 metre of 2.4 g/t gold at a depth of 138.5 metres. In a further drill hole 0.25 metres of 14.1 g/t gold at a depth of 119.5 metres, 0.25 metres of 8.44 g/t gold at a depth of 36.75 metres, 1.25 metres of 1.67 g/t gold at a depth of 42.25 metres and 2 metres of 1.88 g/t gold at a depth of 75 metres were intersected. Drilling in one of these holes was continued in order to intersect the stock work zone at depth. The results within the stock work zone included a series of five, one metre intersections of gold at a grade of approximately 1 g/t gold, or over, down to a depth of 340.5 metres. This is the deepest level to date at which gold has been intersected at Clontibret and confirms that the gold orebody at Clontibret remains open at depth. It is also open along strike. The results provide evidence of continuity of gold mineralisation at depth and enable the existing geological orebody model to be confirmed and the gold mineralisation zone to be extended. The company also announced the discovery of an extensive gold-in-soil anomaly near Rockcorry in County Monaghan. The discovery lies approximately 7Km Southwest of the company’s Glenish gold target in Co. Monaghan and 14Km southwest of Clontibret where the company proposes to develop its first gold mine in the area. The discovery is located within the 30 mile gold trend that the company has outlined and its position, southwest of the company’s Glenish gold target and Northeast of the company’s Slieve Glah gold target, adds further evidence as to the continuity of this gold trend. This gold trend runs from County Armagh in Northern Ireland across Counties Monaghan and Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. The trend lies along the major geological structure known as the Orlock Bridge Fault. Four gold-in-soil samples in the anomaly were above 20ppb gold and a further five above 10ppb gold. The anomaly will be further investigated but from the Company’s experience such levels of gold-in-soil samples have tended to be associated with gold-in-bedrock. The anomaly remains open on its Northern side.
Creston, the marketing communications group, announced its full year results for the year ended 31 March 2015. Revenue was up 3 percent to £76.9m (2014: £74.9m); like-for-like revenue was up 2 percent to £76.6m (2014: £74.9m). Headline PBIT was up 2 percent to £10.0m (2014: £9.8m), with headline PBT up 2 percent to £9.9m (2014: £9.6m) and headline DEPS up 11 percent to 13.07p (2014: 11.79p). Proposed full year dividend up 8 percent to 4.20p per share (2014: 3.90p per share) and net cash of £8.3m (2014: £7.5m). The company launched a new strategy including a new group brand and offer, Creston Unlimited, alongside the rebranding of group companies, with an international partnership with Serviceplan Gruppe to extend the Group's European offer. Digital and online revenue were up 7 percent in absolute terms representing 55 percent (2014: 53 percent) of group revenue.
Frontier Developments (LON:FDEV)
Frontier Developments, the independent developer of video games, released the Elite: Dangerous Game Preview for Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft. Microsoft announced the release as part of their keynote presentation at the E3 games industry trade show in Los Angeles. Elite: Dangerous becomes the first ever game to be offered to consumers as part of Microsoft's new Xbox One Game Preview Program (GPP). Elite: DangerousGame Preview for Xbox One became available via the Game Preview Program on Xbox Live from 5.30pm Pacific Standard Time, for the special price of$30.99 (£24.99, €30.99) for Game Preview early adopters. The Game Preview program is a new way for Xbox fans to preview and purchase work-in-progress digital titles, participate in the development process and help developers make Xbox One games the best they can be. The Game Preview release of Elite: Dangerous for Xbox One is trailblazing "early access" content on consoles, bringing the complete Elite: Dangerous experience to Xbox One without compromise.
Gfinity (LON:GFIN)
Gfinity, a leading eSports business, announced that having reached the halfway point of its 2015 eSports championship series, it has generated more than 30m online views. The online views were achieved in the three months up to the midpoint of the season, which runs from March to September. This performance has exceeded management expectations set at the time of Gfinity's admission to AIM in December 2014. As a result of the strong growth, the company is on track to exceed its target of 50m views for the entire 2015 season. Known as the 2015 Gfinity Championships, this year's fixtures comprise 25 weekly tournaments held in front of hundreds of fans at the Gfinity Arena in Fulham, London. These matches are also streamed live on internet TV channels including Twitch, Gfinity.net and MLG.tv. The events over the first half of the year have been broadcast in ten languages and have been viewed across more than 25 countries. The current season has also seen a significant increase in the number of professional teams and top players competing in Gfinity tournaments for up to $50,000 in total prize money per event. Gfinity also announced the appointment of Jon Varney as a Non-Executive Director of the company with immediate effect. Jon Varney is a Founder Partner of Pitch International Commercial LLP and has been involved with the company since Pitch was appointed to sell commercial rights on the company's behalf in December 2014. Pitch owns a 5 percent stake in Gfinity.
Majestic Wine (LON:MJW)
Majestic Wine, the UK's largest wine specialist with 213 stores and which recently acquired Naked Wines, a customer funded international online wine business, announced its full year results for the 52 weeks ended 30 March 2015. Revenue was up 2.3 percent to £284.5m (2014: £278.2m), with like for like sales in UK retail stores up 1.9 percent (2014: -0.1 percent). Adjusted profit before tax excluding exceptional items declined to £20.9m (2014: £23.8m), with group profit before tax also declining to £18.4m (2014: £23.8m). Majestic Wine Calais profit before interest and tax was £1.4m (2014: £1.5m) and Lay & Wheeler loss before interest and tax was £0.1m (2014: £1.0m). However, number of active customers who made purchases during the year was up 5.4 percent to 678,000 (2014: 643,000), with the average spend per transaction unchanged at £129 (2014: £129). The average price per bottle of still wine purchased increased to £8.00 (2014: £7.94) and online sales increased 12.4 percent to £31.1m (2014: £27.7m), now representing 12.1 percent of UK retail sales (2014: 11.4 percent).
Mariana Resources (LON:MARL) *
Mariana Resources, the exploration and development company with projects in South America and Turkey, reported further high grade gold-copper intercepts from the ongoing drill program at the Hot Maden Project, eastern Turkey. Assays have now been received for drill holes HTD-10 and HTD-11, with highlights including: HTD-10 intersected 100.2m at 5.6 g/t Au + 1.3 percent Cu from 81.8m, including 43m at 11.7 g/t Au + 2.2 percent Cu from 98.7m and additional intercepts of 47m at 0.82 percent Zn (23m-70m) immediately to the west of the Au-Cu zone; 44m at 0.7 percent Zn (195m-238m) and 40m at 0.56 percent Zn (264m-284m) immediately to the east of the Au-Cu zone. HTD-11 intersected 107.7m at 4.2 g/t Au + 0.9 percent Cu from 255.3m, including 14.2m at 27.0 g/t Au + 0.94 percent Cu and additional intercepts of 11m at 1.99 percent Zn (147m-158m) and 18.5m at 1.17 percent Zn (183.5m-202m) immediately to the east of the Au-Cu zone. Drilling to date indicates a corridor of higher Au grades (>10 g/t Au) may be correlated from the sections with holes HTD-04, HTD-10, HTD-05, and HTD-11. Mariana Resources also announced that it has signed a subscription and option agreement with Asset Chile Exploración Minera Fondo de Inversión Privado to advance the Doña Ines Gold-Silver and Exploradora East Copper-Molybdenum-Gold projects, in northern Chile. The Properties which are held by AMG Chile SpA were acquired by Mariana under the Aegean Metal Group Inc Scheme of Arrangement in January 2015. The Phase I work program will involve further target generation and first-pass reverse circulation (RC) drill testing of priority targets at both Doña Ines and Exploradora East. The (optional) Phase II program would contemplate resource definition drilling on any potential discovery identified during Phase I. Previous geochemical sampling has identified potential for the discovery of an oxidized, high sulphidation epithermal Au-Ag system at Doña Ines and a porphyry Cu-Mo-Au system underlying thin, post mineralisation, ignimbrite cover at Exploradora East. Mariana Resources also provided an update to the preliminary 3D mineralisation model in animated form following the latest high grade Gold-Copper drill results from the ongoing 10,000m drill program at the Hot Maden Project, eastern Turkey. The 3D model incorporates all holes to date drilled by Mariana's JV partner, Lidya, who have now completed the first 7 holes (HTD-08 to HTD-14) of the Phase II drill program at Hot Maden. Assay results from hole HTD-10 confirm the continuity of the Au-Cu mineralised zone between the original two scissored discovery holes (HTD-04 and HTD-05, collared 100m apart), whilst hole HTD-11 extends the Au-Cu zone to the south to a current total length of 225m in a north-south orientation. The 3D animation indicates the gold-copper mineralisation at Hot Maden currently remains open both up and down dip of HTD 5 & 13, 10 & 15 and 11 & 12 as well as importantly to the south of HTD-11 & 13.
MediaZest (LON:MDZ)*
MediaZest, the creative audio-visual company, received the Digital Store of the Year Award along with Dalziel and Pow at the prestigious BT Retail Week Tech & Ecommerce Awards. The two companies won the award jointly for the ground-breaking work on the Rockar Hyundai dealership at Bluewater Shopping Centre, completed in November 2014.
MX Oil, the oil and gas investment company focused on the re-opening Mexican energy sector, noted that both the company and its local partner Geo Estratos have been formally listed as interested parties in Phase III of Bid Round 1 by the National Hydrocarbons Commission (CNH). By being formally recognised as two of 16 interested parties in Phase III, MX Oil and Geo are expected to access the relevant data rooms imminently in order to undertake due diligence on concessions of interest. This process is already underway. MX Oil has made significant progress with regards to this potential investment and has received a draft CPR on the underlying asset which is in the process of being finalised. Due diligence on this asset looks favourable and subject to completing this work and finalising the CPR, MX Oil could be in a position to complete on this investment in the next three weeks. MX Oil also announced it has agreed a number of amendments to its Joint Venture Agreement with its local partner Geo Estratos, which include an increase in MX Oil's interest in any concessions or E&P Contracts to 55 percent from 51 percent and the removal of MX Oil's obligation to fund Geo's share of costs from the point of award of the contract thereby significantly reducing the cost burden to MX Oil. In return for the improved terms, MX Oil has agreed that, once a minimum of two assets have been delivered by Geo under the JVA, Geo will no longer be required to work alongside MX Oil on an exclusive basis. Geo and MX Oil still intend to bid for up to five blocks in the current bid round.
OptiBiotix Health (LON:OPTI)*
OptiBiotix Health, a life sciences business developing compounds to tackle obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes announced that it has signed a letter of intent to enter a Strategic Development and Commercial Alliance with Venture Life, the international consumer products group addressing the self-care needs of the ageing population. The alliance brings together OptiBiotix's research and development expertise in developing microbiome modulators to improve health and Venture Life's formulation, manufacturing and international distribution capabilities. The alliance will cover the following key activities: the development by Venture Life of products from existing OptiBiotix intellectual property (microbiome actives or ingredients) in the form of registered food supplements or other over-the-counter products; the development by OptiBiotix of new microbiome actives specific to disease areas agreed between the two parties, which would then be developed by Venture Life into products in the form of registered food supplements or other OTC products; and the marketing and commercialisation of the developed products by Venture Life through its network of international distribution partners. The two parties will enter a definitive legal agreement which sets out the commercial and financial terms of the alliance.
Sanderson Group, the software and IT services business specialising in multi-channel retail and manufacturing markets in the UK and Ireland, announced its interim results for the six month period to 31 March 2015. The Group has made further progress during the period with revenue increasing to £9.09m (2014: £7.94m) and operating profit rising to £1.37m (2014: £1.21m). Pre-contracted licence and ongoing support services recurring revenue grew to £4.76m (2014: £4.41m) representing 52 percent of total revenue in the period. Gross margin has been maintained at a robust 85 percent (2014: 87 percent), reflecting our continuing emphasis on the supply of Sanderson 'owned' proprietary software and services. The Group's order book at the period end was very strong and stood at £2.84m (2014: £2.47m). Operational highlights included strong trading momentum, complemented by increased levels of new business with five new multi-channel retail customers during period, including Anzac Wines & Spirits; number of large orders from existing customers including Superdry; 8 new customers added by manufacturing including Nutrifresh; several large projects with existing customers including Cook Trading.
ServicePower Technologies (LON:SVR)
ServicePower Technologies, a market leader in field service management technology, announced that it has signed a strategic partnership with Qton Solutions, the metering industry's leading field service management software provider in the United Kingdom. Qton's platform, hosted and managed in the cloud by Qton, provides drag-and-drop scheduling of jobs, mobile dispatch with real-time status updates, and fully customisable industry compliant workflows which facilitate on-site data capture. By including the ServiceScheduling solution into the Qton platform - incorporating the latest optimisation algorithms from ServicePower - Qton's work order management and mobile dispatch technology will now offer the benefits of intelligent, intra-day, schedule optimisation. Work orders will be created in Qton, optimised, and continuously re-optimised in ServiceScheduling, and dispatched to the metering field technicians.
Trakm8 Holdings (LON:TRAK)
Trakm8, the telematics and data provider to the global market place, announced it has acquired the business and assets of DCS Systems Ltd for a cash consideration of £3.3m. DCS specialises in the design and distribution of camera systems for the motor vehicle, bicycle and security markets. DCS trades under 3 main brands: RoadHawk, Dogcam and Lawmate. The acquisition is in line with Trakm8's strategy of augmenting its organic growth with selective acquisitions that expand its telematics offering to both insurance and fleet customers. Cameras are being increasingly used in a wide range of applications, including a significant demand for forward facing vehicle cameras to record driving incidents and to mitigate the risk from 'crash for cash' accidents. Trakm8 has an existing relationship with DCS, supplying some Trakm8 customers with its RoadHawk cameras. DCS's last unaudited accounts for its financial year ending 30 April 2015 reported revenues of £2.8m and profit before tax of £0.6m. Trakm8 funded the acquisition from its existing cash and bank facilities. Trakm8 has also obtained a further debt facility from HSBC Bank of an additional £2m taking the total debt facility to £5.7m, of which £3.7m is now drawn down following the acquisition.
Venn Life Sciences (LON:VENN)
Venn Life Sciences, a growing Clinical Research Organisation (CRO) providing clinical trial management and resourcing solutions to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic and medical device clients, announced the signing of a €2m contract with a leading European Biotechnology company. The Phase III study, in the area of Rheumatology, will cover multiple European countries, commences immediately and will run over four years with a high concentration of activity in year one. Venn has extensive experience in the management of Phase III trials with an excellent track record of multi-site and multi-cultural clinical trials. The contract win comes on the back of Venn reporting a 140 percent revenue increase in 2014 and €4.1m of new contracts in March of this year with a US based Biotechnology company.