SECTOR – MINING
RATING – CORP*
MARKET CAP – £7.5m
CURRENT PRICE – 0.4p
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Keras Resources is an exploration company with interests in gold projects, located in Australia, a manganese project and a cobalt-nickel project, located in Togo.
Cobalt and Nickel Licences Awarded
NORTHLAND VIEW
Keras Resources has been awarded five exploration licences coving, 854.3km2 in Togo. The licences cover Kamina Zone I to Kamina Zone V.
The licences have an initial term of three years, which can be renewed twice for a period of two years each.
These license contain sericite schist, chlorite sericite schite and quartzite injected by ultramafic rocks with numerous gossans and gossaniferrous schist outcrop that surround the mafic and the ultramafic bodies. Previous work in the area discovered cobalt (Co) and nickel (Ni) mineralisation.
Initial mapping, sampling and trenching alongside historical data compilation is due to commence immediately.
Keras Resources has expanded its portfolio it Togo, where it has an 85%-interest in the Nayega manganese project. These licences have known areas of mineralisation, where average rock chips samples returned results of 0.82% Ni and 0.19% Co, with highs of 1.4% Ni and 0.25% Co. This equates to a 4.5g/t equivalent gold grade based on current metal prices
BILBY (LON:BILB)
SECTOR – SERVICES
RATING – BUY*
MARKET CAP – £23.8m
CURRENT PRICE – 60p
TARGET PRICE – 75p
COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Founded as P&R in 1977, Bilby PLC is the holding company for four building services and utilities providers: P&R Installation Company Ltd.; Purdy Contracts Ltd; Spokemead Maintenance Ltd; DCB (Kent) Ltd. Bilby currently maintains over 300,000 commercial and residential properties for local authorities, housing associations and the private sector.
Trading Update – strong progress backed by reputational excellence
NORTHLAND VIEW
In a March 2017 Trading Update Bilby reports that number of existing clients broadened the scope of work to be undertaken by Bilby companies in advance of the Group's year end. The company notes its “continued focus on operational excellence”. In addition customers who had awarded work to Bilby set to start in the current financial year requested the Group commence work earlier than previously anticipated.
As a result, for the year ended 31st March 2017, Bilby expects to achieve EBITDA of not less than £3.6m, whilst investment in operational systems and improved efficiency result in a year end cash balance of £2.1m (unaudited). Bilby retains a £2.25m working capital facility.
Bilby will report audited financial results for the year ending 31 March 2017 before the end of June.
The Trading Update indicates strong progress and ongoing demand for Bilby’s services. Bilby is well-known for the high quality of its social housing and building maintenance services, a factor which has contributed to the contract extension and demand from clients it reports. FY17 (March) EBITDA indicated at £3.6m is 20% ahead of our estimate, as is cash. On our current FY18 outlook Bilby is trading at 5% EV/EBITDA discount to a weighted average of its peers, and 16% PE discount.