What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?
NEX Exchange
Whetstone Capital No raise. Due 5 January 2018. Mkt Cap £1.6m. Investment Vehicle for small and mid sized private and public companies.
AIM
Cradle Arc—holding company of a group of companies focused on the exploration and development of precious and base metals projects in Africa. Offer raising £2.4m with market cap of £20.25m. Expected 10 Jan 2018
Volex VLX.L—The global provider of cable assemblies is proposing to move from the main market to AIM on 19 January. £75m market cap. FYMar18E rev £241.5m and £7.19m PBT.
OnTheMarket—Intention to float on AIM to raise c.£50m which will be used to fund the growth of the OnTheMarket.com portal, already the third biggest UK residential property portal provider. Expected valuation £200m to £250m.
Main Market Premium Listing
GEMS Education—report by Reuters that the private schools group is seeking a $4.5bn to $5bn London float in 2018. FYAug17 rev $926.2m and adjusted EBITDA $261.6m.
Vivo Energy—The Africa-focused company, which operates around 1,800 Shell forecourts across 16 countries reported by City A.M. to be preparing for a London float next year
Breakfast buffet
Futura Medical (FUM.L) 37.6p £45.43m
Futura Medical, the healthcare company focused on advanced transdermal technology, announced the publication of positive data from its Phase II clinical trial of MED2002* in erectile dysfunction ("ED") in the peer-reviewed Journal of Sexual Medicine.
The positive headline results of the Phase II trial were announced in Sept 2016 and showed that MED2002 has met its primary endpoint in showing a statistically significant improvement in erectile function in men with confirmed ED compared with placebo. The rapid onset of action of MED2002 means that it has the potential to be the world's fastest-acting treatment for ED.
The Journal of Sexual Medicine article includes further data from the Phase II study including details of positive secondary outcome measures. These show significant improvements with MED2002 in orgasmic function (p=0.012), sexual desire (p<0.0001), intercourse satisfaction (p=0.0055) and overall satisfaction (p=0.001) compared with placebo. These improvements are in standard measures used in the International Index of Erectile Function questionnaire (IIEF). The IIEF is considered the ''gold standard' measure for efficacy assessment in clinical trials of ED. The data includes the result that 70% of participants on average experienced onset of erection within 10 minutes.
Walker Greenbank (LON:WGB) 140p £99m
Walker Greenbank, the luxury interior furnishings group, provided an update following the announcement on 6 Dec 2017 regarding a machine fire at the Company's Loughborough wallpaper factory, Anstey Wallpaper Company.
The manufacturer of the fire-damaged embossing machine has been progressing its repair and the machine is expected to be back in production during the first quarter of the Company's new financial year ending 31 Jan 2019. The embossing machine is one of six production lines at the factory; the other five lines were unaffected by the fire. Orders that were planned to be printed on the machine will now be delayed into the new financial year.
As previously announced, the maximum potential impact on profitability in the current financial year is expected to be less than £0.5m. The repair to the embossing machine, and fire damage to a small amount of stock, is covered by the Company's comprehensive insurance policy.
CyanConnode (LON:CYAN) 18p £22.96m
CyanConnode, the in narrowband radio mesh networks published a trading update for the year ending 31 Dec 2017. During the course of the year, the Company has continued its positive momentum with significant orders from a range of customers across different jurisdictions.
At the end of the financial year, the Company had an order book of in excess of $100m and an identifiable global pipeline of approximately $320m, which the Board believes provides the Company with a strong platform to significantly grow the business.
However, the Company has been notified by a significant customer that deployment for one of these larger contracts has been delayed, owing to circumstances outside the Company's control, and that deployment is now expected to commence in the H1 of 2018. As a result of this delay, revenue for the 12-month period to 31 Dec 2017 will be significantly below market expectations at £1.2m.
The Company ended the year with more than £5.5m of net cash, with further inflows of in excess of £1.3m expected over the near-term from R&D tax credits and funds yet to be received from the issue ordinary shares as announced at the time of the fundraising in Sept 2017.
The Company remains confident that the hardware element of its current order book will be fulfilled over the course of the next 18-24 months. Further significant orders are also expected during 2018, including further roll outs in India and expansion into new territories.
SDX Energy (LON:SDX) 51.3p £104m
SDX Energy, the North Africa focused oil and gas company, provided an update on its operations in Morocco.
The KSR-16 well has been connected to the sales line and flow testing is expected to commence early next week. The Company will update the market on the results in due course.
In addition, SDX has been granted a four-month extension to its Lalla Mimouna permit, through to July 22, 2018. This will allow the Company sufficient time to evaluate the results of its upcoming exploration drilling campaign on the permit, which is expected to take place in March 2018.
Following the recent announcement of its spud, the ELQ-1 well in the Gharb Centre permit has been drilled to a total depth of 1484 meters and has encountered 22.6 net meters of reservoir interval and two meters of marginal net conventional gas pay, in the Hoot formation. Management are of the view that the intervals are not sufficiently commercial to complete the well. As such, the well will be plugged and abandoned and the drilling rig will move to the ONZ-7 development location.
Symphony Environmental (LON:SYM) 15.4p £23.4m
Symphony Environmental Technologies, a specialist in products and technologies to "make plastic smarter", provided a trading update following the update made on 27 Oct 2017 and the end of the financial year.
The Board expect revenues for the year to 31 Dec 2017 to be approximately £8.2m (2016: £6.8m) which is marginally above market expectations. Due to the operational gearing of the Group, the Board expects that PBT will be significantly higher than current market expectations, and not less than £0.4m for the full year (2016: £0.123m).
The Group had net cash in the bank of £0.62m as at 31 Dec 2017 (31 Dec 2016: net borrowings of £0.37m.
Churchill China (LON:CHH) 1,181p £129m
Churchill China, the manufacturer and distributor of performance ceramic and related products to hospitality and retail markets worldwide, announced the following trading update for the year to 31 Dec 2017.
They have continued to make solid progress against their long term objectives throughout 2017. Revenue growth has again been good in export markets. As a result the Board now expects that operating performance will be slightly ahead of current market estimates. Additionally, cash and deposit balances are also expected to exceed current market expectations.
Sopheon, the international provider of software, expertise, and best practices for Enterprise Innovation Performance, announced an initial indication of the Group's performance in 2017.
In their interim report issued on 24 Aug 2017, they highlighted continued building of momentum and enhanced market recognition of the Company's product set. They have now reported that this has again translated into solid growth, with particular strength in the closing quarter of the year. As a consequence, early indications are that revenues, EBITDA and pre-tax profits for the year ended 31 Dec 2017 will all exceed market expectations. In addition, they expect improved recurring revenue and visibility into 2018.
Financial expectations noted above are preliminary, and subject to year-end financial close and audit processes. Further information will be provided towards the end of January, and in line with our normal reporting schedule, Sopheon plans to issue its 2017 results on 22 Mar 2018.