What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?
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 £20.13m. Expected late Jan 2018
Volex (LON:VLX) —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 Specialist Fund Segment
Sure Ventures –Raising up to £50m at £1. Focus on FinTech, IoT and Augmented/Virtual Reality. Postponed to 22 Jan.
Main Market Premium Listing
Press speculation that iconic luxury car builder of James Bond fame, Aston Martin is considering a London IPO with a valuation of up to £5bn
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
Petards Group* (LON:PEG) 20.4p £11.37m
Petards, the developer of advanced security and surveillance systems, provided an update on trading following the end of its financial year on 31 Dec 2017.
The Group's PBT for the YE 31 Dec 2017 is expected to be above market expectations due to the positive net effect of exceptional items arising in the year. The Group expects to report 2017 revenues to be up year on year to £15.6m. However, some delays in programmes to develop additional software functionality for eyeTrain systems has resulted in approximately £1m of revenues being deferred into 2018. These relate to scheduled deliveries of both software and equipment and accordingly PBT from trading operations will be lower than previously expected.
Set against this, the 2017 results include two exceptional items. First, the Group has received and accepted an offer to settle a historic matter, unrelated to the current trading activities of the Group, which arose over ten years ago. Under the settlement the Group will receive a total of £0.7m in cash comprising an amount of £0.36m plus compensatory interest of £0.34m.
The second exceptional item is also unrelated to the current trading activities of the Group. The Board has decided that any future activities that the Group may undertake in the US will not be conducted through its present US subsidiary which has been dormant for several years. In accordance with International Accounting Standards, the £0.21m deficit on the Group's currency translation reserve will be reclassified from equity to income and shown as an expense. The reclassification has no impact on the Group's net assets or cash.
Primorus Investments (NEX & AIM: LON:PRIM) 0.195p £5.5m
Primorus Investments reported that Stream TV Networks have entered into a partnership to develop 8K screens with a large Chinese screen manufacturer, BOE Technology. In 2017 Primorus invested $0.2m in Stream TV on a fully-diluted valuation of $336m.
Stream TV and BOE have announced their joint cooperation to combine the high-resolution panels of BOE with Stream TV's Glasses-Free 3D technology. With panel sizes ranging from mobile phones to PC monitors to large screen televisions, the project will enable development of devices across the entire consumer electronics industry.
Stream TV's Ultra-D solution uses advanced optics and powerful rendering algorithms to create a 140-degree viewing angle that gives everyone in the room a crisp, clear, vibrant, and adjustable 3D experience without the need for glasses or goggles.
"BOE Technology is a large global supplier of screens and displays to numerous international customers and generated sales of over $8bn in 2017. In partnering with BOE Technology, we believe Stream TV is now close to full commercialization of its IP in the form of new 8K glassless 3D screen technology that is the subject of this partnership with BOE."
Lighthouse Group (LON:LGT) 22.8p £29.2m
Lighthouse Group, the financial adviser of choice for Middle Britain, announced that for its financial YE 31 Dec 2017 it expects to report revenue, EBITDA and PBT ahead of market expectations. This performance was driven by both an increase in business derived from the Group's affinity connections and from higher levels of average annualised revenue production per adviser across all of the Group's divisions.
The Group will report its full audited results for the year ended 31 Dec 2017 on 20 Feb 2018.
"The anticipated results for 2017 reflect the continuing and increasing importance of the valuable relationships the Group has developed with its affinity partners, with 15,000 new client engagements undertaken during the year, as well as the on-going professionalism and effectiveness of the advisers across the Group's operations. I look forward to reporting in full on the Group's results for 2017 in due course."
Escher Group (LON:ESCH) 132.5p £24.9m
Escher Group, a provider of outsourced, point of service software for use in the postal, retail and financial industries, publishes a trading update for the year to 31 Dec 2017.
Group revenue is expected to be marginally ahead of the figure published in the Trading Update on 14 Nov 2017 and adjusted EBITDA is expected to be in the order of $2.8m.
As previously indicated, the Group will have exceptional costs in the order of $0.3m, incurred to complete the restructuring commenced in 2016.
The Group finished the year in a net positive cash position, despite the absence of any major one-off licence sales in 2017 and the costs incurred from the exploration of routes to market for the Group's Licensing and Permitting technologies.
Escher expects to publish its full year results in the week commencing 6 Mar 2018.
FFI Holdings (LON:FFI) 76.5p £120.1m
FFI Holdings, the leader in the provision of completion contracts to the entertainment industry for films, television, mini-series and streaming product, announced that its subsidiary Reel Media, LLC, has acquired the motorsports entertainment insurance book of business from All Risks Ltd, the largest U.S. independent wholesale brokerage in the U.S.
The motorsports entertainment business is led by Tim Troester and Don DeWitt providing specialty and commercial coverages to race teams, racetracks, sanctioning bodies, associations, road courses, and motorsports special events & activities. As part of the transaction, Jerid Schmickle has joined the firm as President of the newly created International and Motorsports division. Reel Media paid $1.83m in cash at closing. The motorsports entertainment business is expected to generate $0.6m in annualised EBIT.
Goldplat (LON:GDP) 7.9p £13.37m
Goldplat, the gold producer with international gold recovery operations located in South Africa and Ghana and a gold mine in Kenya, provided an update on its dispute with Rand Refinery. Further to the operational update on 11 Dec, in which Goldplat announced that Rand Refinery and Goldplat Recovery Limited ('GPL') had formally agreed on an arbitration process for the settlement of the dispute between the two parties, the Company reported that the parties have signed a MOU regarding a proposed full and final Settlement Agreement. The MOU contains terms agreed to for inclusion in a Settlement Agreement, including agreement on an undisclosed amount to be paid by Rand Refinery to GPL in full and final settlement of the dispute. It is intended that the settlement be made the award in the ongoing arbitration process.
Prospex Oil & Gas (LON:PXOG) 0.62p £6.2m
Prospex Oil and Gas, the investment company, announced that it has been advised by the operator Po Valley Energy Limited ('PVE') that isochronal flow testing operations on a rig-less basis have commenced at the Podere Maiar-1d appraisal/redevelopment well, onshore Italy. The operator anticipates the flow test results will be available within the next seven days, at which point Prospex will provide a further update to the market.
Prospex holds a 17% interest in the Well (PVE 63% Operator; United Oil & Gas Plc 20%), which is located on the Podere Gallina Exploration Permit in the Po Valley region, a proven hydrocarbon province where over 5,000 wells have been drilled historically. Podere Maiar was drilled in Q4 2017 into the Selva Gas-Field (previously operated by ENI), which historically produced 83Bcf of gas between 1960 and 1984. As announced on 20 Dec 2017, two gas-bearing reservoirs, C1 and C2, were encountered by the Well in the Medium-Upper Pliocene sands of the Porto Garibaldi Fm. Log analysis, including data from pressure testing, indicates a total gross pay of 62m and a net pay of 41m.
Ferrum Crescent (LON:FCR) 0.1p £2.9m
FCR, the European lead-zinc explorer, announced that Mr Colin Bird has been appointed to the Board of the Company, as a NED and Chairman, with immediate effect. Mr Grant Button, interim Non-Executive Chairman, will resume his former role as NED.
The appointment of Mr Bird continues the process of strengthening the FCR Board as the Company progresses its wholly owned Toral lead-zinc and associated metals project in the Province of Léon, Spain. As Non-Executive Chairman and a supportive shareholder of FCR, Mr Bird brings a wealth of experience of successfully developing natural resource companies through value realisation from both transactions and production. The Board welcomes his valuable input and guidance as it seeks to cost effectively advance its European asset portfolio.
The Company remains on schedule to publish a maiden independent JORC (2012) resource estimate for Toral by the end of Jan 2018.
7digital Group (LON:7DIG) 5.8p £23m
7digital Group, the leader in B2B digital music solutions, announced new contracts with MediaMarktSaturn (MMS), Europe's biggest electronics and entertainment retailer, and 8tracks, a popular digital music service based in the US.
7digital confirmed that it has signed a further agreement with its largest individual shareholder and one of its biggest customers, MediaMarktSaturn, to cover the migration of the existing "Juke" music service in Germany onto the 7digital platform. The contract involves a significant setup fee for work done in 2017 and ongoing monthly recurring revenues.
In addition, the Company announced it has signed a contract with 8tracks, a popular digital music service based in the US. 8tracks was founded in 2008 and focuses on music discovery through crowd-curated playlists. The deal has a one-year minimum term and is expected to contribute to 7digital's revenues for 2018 and beyond.
Progress continues to be made with regards to publicly launching other client services.
Arricano Real Estate (LON:ARO) $0.45 $47m
Further to the announcement on 6 Dec 2017, the Company announced that the High Court of Justice in London has dismissed an application made by Stockman Interhold S.A. for permission to appeal the High Court's earlier judgement in which it dismissed Stockman's various challenges to the Fourth, Fifth and Seventh Awards (the "LCIA Awards") rendered in the London Court of International Arbitration proceedings between Arricano and Stockman (the "LCIA Arbitration").
This High Court judgment is to be treated as the final in the long-lasting dispute between Arricano and Stockman in respect of the exercise of a call option of shares of Assofit Holdings Limited, a company that earlier owned Sky Mall Shopping Center (Kyiv, Ukraine). This ruling brings an end to Stockman's challenge proceedings in respect of the LCIA Awards as Stockman has now exhausted all legal remedies available to it bring such challenges.