Active Energy Group (LON:AEG) – CORP: £2.05m Placing
Market Cap: £18.5m; Current Price: 3.18p
£2.05m placing to support expansion strategy in Ukraine
Active Energy Group, the vertically-integrated renewable energy, forestry management and timber processing business, announces that it has raised £2.05m (gross) through the issue of 77,358,491 shares at 2.65p per share, representing a discount to the closing price on 2nd August of 16.53% .
Proceeds will be used to increase woodchip processing capacity at its Ukraine operation by approximately 33%, and provide Active Energy with additional working capital.
New funds will be allocated primarily to developing AEG WoodFibre, one of Active Energy’s three standalone but complementary divisions, the others being AEG TimberLands and AEG CoalSwitch
Projected short-term cap-ex at AEG WoodFibre’s Yuzhny Port (Ukraine) facility includes implementation of a new softwood line, involving addition of a de-barker and a stationary chipper, and acquisition of log handling equipment and mobile chippers. This will increase woodchip production capacity by approximately 33% to circa 4,000 tonnes of raw material per day.
As a result of the placing the percentage holding of significant shareholders will be as follows:
Active Energy CEO, Richard Spinks said, “Having raised gross proceeds of £2.05 million, we will continue with our strategy to enhance shareholder value by implementing our expansion plans, which will focus on increasing revenues and building on our current operations in Ukraine. Specifically, we plan to complement the fully-automated hardwood production line, which is already capable of processing approximately 3,000 tonnes of raw material per day, with the installation of a new 1,000 tonne per day softwood production line by the end of 2016. We are delighted to have received such a positive response to this Placing. I would like to thank our long-standing shareholders who participated in the Placing for their continued support; in addition we welcome several new shareholders to AEG. I look forward to providing all our shareholders with further updates regarding our progress with AEG WoodFibre in the coming months, in addition to updates from the Company’s other divisions; AEG TimberLands and AEG CoalSwitch.”
Connemara Mining Company (LON:CON) – CORP: Inishowen update
Market Cap: £1.3m; Current Price: 2.3p
Drill results include 4.82m at 5.48g/t Au (16-MR-07)
Connemara Mining Company reports the assay results from the third and fourth holes completed during the second drill programme at Inishowen.
Results include 4.82m at 5.48g/t Au from 8.13m (16-MR-07) and 0.53m at 0.7g/t Au from 143.77m (16-MR-07).
The next phase of drilling will be designed to follow the high-grade zone detected in 16-MR-07 and in the previous hole 16-MR-03.
NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS VIEW: Drilling by Connemara Mining Company at its Inishowen Gold Project has defined another high-grade intercept. Drill hole 16-MR-07 contained 5.48g/t Au over 4.82m, and was located below 16-MR-03 that contained 3.05m at 5.8g/t Au from 23.05m. The Company’s next drill programme will focus defining potential along strike and down dip extensions to this zone of higher-grade gold mineralisation.
TechFinancials (LON:TECH) – Buy*: Trading update
Market Cap: £5.8m; Current Price: 8.5p; Target Price: 27p
Strong 1H16 trading performance
The business produced a strong 1H16 performance where revenue was +30% YoY to US$9.6m (US$. The B2B software licensing business continues to perform strongly and the B2C trading platform business is bearing the fruits of management initiatives.
The operating performance of the business improved significantly YoY and as a result EBITDA increased by over 80% in excess of US$1m (US$0.55m) in the 1H16.
No changes to our forecast for now but clearly given the strong 1H16 performance our US$1.6m EBITDA forecast for FY16E looks very well underpinned. Furthermore, the healthy net cash position on the balance sheet places the stock on an undemanding EV / EBITDA multiple of 2.1x FY16E falling to 1.2x FY17E EBITDA, which significantly undervalues the business.
NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS VIEW: Highly encouraging news from TechFinancials today and we alluded to the B2C trading platform business turning the corner at the time of the AGM statement in early July. Today’s trading update demonstrates this turnaround where the business looks well placed to outperform expectations. We reiterate our Buy rating and 27p price target.