What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?
AIM
Hydrominer GmbH, An Austrian cryptocurrency miner, is considering an initial public offering (IPO) on the London Stock Exchange AIM during 2018 according to an article on Bloomberg.
Block Energy—a NEX Listed UK based oil exploration and production company whose main country of operation is the Republic of Georgia, looks to join AIM end of February 2018. Offer TBC
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. Offer raising £30 at 165p with market cap of £100m
Main Market Premium Listing
IntegraFin provides platform services to UK clients and their financial advisers through its award-winning platform, Transact. Due Mar 18. FYSep2017 PBT up 44% to £29.9m.
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
Physiomics* (LON:PYC) 8.56p £5.03m
The “provider of technology-based solutions to predict the effects of cancer treatment regimens for the biopharma industry, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a contract by a new major pharmaceutical client. The project, which is expected to be completed during the Company's current financial year involves the use of Physiomics' Virtual Tumour technology in a pre-clinical setting and its value is approximately £35k.
Physiomics' Virtual Tumour is a sophisticated computer model that simulates tumour cell division and predicts the effect of different anti-cancer regimes to support pre-clinical and clinical oncology development programs. Virtual Tumour helps customers to balance efficacy and toxicity and to prioritise the most effective drug combinations while reducing time and cost.
Jim Millen, CEO said: "We are delighted to be working with a significant new client. If this initial project is successful, we would hope to develop a longer-term relationship."
SolGold (LON:SOLG) 23.83p £404m
Update from the Company's Cascabel Project in Northern Ecuador, where drilling is currently focussed on targeting high grade extensions to the Alpala resource.
HIGHLIGHTS:
* 12 rigs now onsite and operational at Alpala.
* An additional 13,384m of drilling completed since release of Alpala Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate cut off (published on 3 January 2018 Refer Table 1 and Table B in Notes to Editors attached). Over 120,000m of drilling scheduled for the next 12 months.
* Alpala drill hole targeting high grade extensions to the current Alpala resource.
* Hole 33 high-grade mineralisation extension: 824m @ 0.80% CuEq, incl. 576m @ 0.93% CuEq.
* Drilling cost reduced to $530/m from $1,100p/m.
* Aguinaga modelling nearing completion and drilling expected to commence in the March quarter.”
Ingenta (LON:ING) 134p £22.67m
The “software and service provider to the publishing and media industry, provides the following trading update for the year ended 31 Dec 2017.
The Group is pleased to confirm that it has continued to see further margin improvements during the year with adjusted EBITDA increasing to at least £1.4m. Revenues for the year were also in line with management expectations, and the Group had net cash balances at year-end of £2.1m.
The Board confirms its intention to pay a dividend of 1.5p per ordinary share for the 2017 financial year and intends to notify its final results for 2017 in March.
David Montgomery, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "We are pleased by the significant progress on operational efficiency and profitability that we have seen over the course of the year and are confident we have the right team and product offering to propel the business through the next stage of its growth.” FYDec17E rev £16.35m, EPS 5.2p, div 1.5p.
Jaywing (JWNG.L) 24.5p £21.29m
“Data science specialist Jaywing, has launched Archetype, a new technology product that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate statistical models. The product can be used for almost any predictive modelling purpose, including predicting customer behaviour or credit risk. It has also launched a new consulting service to help clients implement AI into their processes and operations. Archetype generates more powerfully predictive models, while significantly reducing the time and effort needed to create them. In particular, Archetype overcomes regulatory transparency concerns that have until now prevented the use of AI in credit scoring, a significant advancement in the risk technology market and for which Jaywing has applied for a patent. Organisations looking to make their first steps into AI-based modelling can make use of Archetype supported by Jaywing's AI consulting practice, or sign up to use the product themselves through an easily-accessible web-based interface. ” PE c.15x.
Palace Capital (LON:PCA) 337.2p £154.6m
New “5-year £40m bank facility with Barclays Bank. At the time of the acquisition of RT Warren (Investments) Limited ("RT Warren"), the Company stated that it had assumed an existing loan from Barclays Bank of £14.5m. This bank facility was due to expire on 31 January 2018.
In discussions with Barclays Bank, the Company has taken the opportunity of not only agreeing a new, increased 5-year facility secured on the RT Warren commercial properties, but also to repay the Company's £12.7m facility with Nationwide, which was due to expire in November 2020. The new facility with Barclays Bank carries a margin of 1.95% over LIBOR, which further reduces the Company's average cost of debt to below 3% and extends the average debt maturity to 4.7 years.” Last reported NAV/share 451p.
easyHotel (LON:EZH) 108p £108.5m
“The owner, developer and operator of super budget branded hotels, today announces that it has conditionally acquired a 125-year leasehold of part of Norfolk House on Silbury Boulevard, a central site in Milton Keynes. The development has already received planning permission and the acquisition will be completed subject to planning being finalised at the end of the judicial review period. Norfolk House is centrally located in the town centre, just 200m from the main shopping centre and just 0.3 miles from The Hub Milton Keynes, a major leisure scheme. The Group intends to convert its part of the building into a 124-bedroom hotel, which is expected to open by mid-2019 at a total cost of approximately £8.7m.” Pipeline has seven owned hotels comprising 941 rooms. 517 rooms should all open in the summer of 2018.
Scientific Digital (LON:SDI) 27.99p £25.09m
The group focused on the design and manufacture of scientific and technology products for use by the life science, healthcare, astronomy, consumer manufacturing and art conservation markets, announced HYOct17 results. Revenue increased by 34% to £6.55m. Revenue growth driven by organic and acquisitions; the organic revenue growth was delivered by Sentek and Atik Cameras with the growth from acquisitions delivered by Astles Control Systems and Applied Thermal Control. Adjusted PBT increased by 140% to £1.1m.
“The Board is hopeful SDI will add another company to the Group during 2018 as we continue to pursue our strategy of organic and acquisitive growth.” FYApr18E PE c.14x.
Arena Events Group (LON:ARE) 61p £72m
“Underlying trading for the year ended 31 Dec 2017 has been in line with market expectations. In the last quarter of 2017 a number of significant projects were successfully delivered in each region. In the UK, a temporary TV studio was constructed and handed over to ITV for the relaunch of its Dancing on Ice show, in Asia the Group won a two year contract for the CJ golf trophy in South Korea and in the US a number of major events were delivered including the temporary facilities for the Bryant Park ice rink in New York. During the second half of 2017, the Group increased capital expenditure to support various projects, which is anticipated to improve profitability in the current year. In addition, working capital increased slightly and net debt is expected to be around £11.5m at the period end. The current financial year has started well.” We could see no forecasts.
MayAir Group (LON:MAYA) 96p £40.3m
Recommended £50m cash offer by Poly Glorious Investment Co at 120p for the manufacturer, developer and provider of air filtration equipment and clean air solutions. The Offer Price represents a premium of approximately:
* 25% to the Closing Price per MayAir Share of 96.0 pence on 25 January 2018
* 44.6% to the Closing Price per MayAir Share of 83.0 pence on 16 November 2017 (being the last Business Day prior to Poly Glorious' approach to the MayAir Directors regarding the Acquisition)
"MayAir announced on 18 September 2017 its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2017, a copy of which can be found at www.mayairgroup.com. Since 30 June 2017, the Company has continued to trade in line with management's expectations.” We could see no forecasts.
Watchstone Group (LON:WTG) 102p £47.4m
FYDec17 update from the provider of technology solutions and other services primarily to the insurance, automotive and healthcare industries. “During 2017, we substantially completed the work to simplify and rationalise the Group involving the closure or disposal of loss making businesses and reducing the size and cost of the central overhead. The central team now comprises just three full time staff to assist Stefan Borson and Mark Williams, (the Executive directors) and the Board has been reduced in size. The full benefit of these changes will only be seen in 2018 but are expected to reduce the central costs by approximately 50%. Overall net losses and expenses of over £6m suffered in 2017 have been extinguished.” Cash & term deposits totalled £62.8m (excluding £50.1m in escrow re the High Court claim issued by Slater and Gordon (UK) 1 Limited. Total revenue £44.1m vs £43m.