TT Electronics PLC (LON.TTG) has responded to a jump in its share price by giving an update on Virolens, a rapid COVID-19 screening device.
The device, for which TT is the exclusive manufacturing partner, uses microscopic holographic imaging and artificial intelligence software technology, developed by British start-up iAbra, to detect the presence of the virus from a saliva swab test in around 20 seconds. In September the device had a successful three week trial at Heathrow airport.
In its statement TT said it believed the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority was in the final stages of registering Virolens for use and sale in Great Britain.
It added: "Revenues to TT from the sale of Virolens following final MHRA registration would be dependent on iAbra's potential end customers in Great Britain converting expressions of interest into firm orders."
Much of the interest in Virolens so far has been outside Great Britain, it said, and these regions would also have to give regulatory approval.
"There continues to be a wide range of potential commercial outcomes and hence no certainty as to the financial impact on TT," it concluded.
Despite this caveat, TT shares are up 26p or 12.26% at 237p, only marginally off the high of 238p.
2.05pm: Housing group expects recovery
Mears Group PLC (LON.MER), the housing services specialist, has issued an upbeat trading statement despite the impact of lockdown on its business.
It said it expected to report full year revenues of £811m, down by £73m, and a loss of £3.5m compared to a £31.8m profit, excluding any second half contribution from sold-off businesses.
Current trading is strong, and the company said it was confident of a full recovery as lockdown restrictions are lifted.
Chief executive David Miles said: "Notwithstanding the fact that much of the energy and focus in 2020 was expended in reacting to the operational challenges brought by Covid-19, it is pleasing that the Group made strong progress against all its key strategic objectives. These were to refocus on housing activities, significantly to reduce indebtedness and to improve the returns which we obtain on our invested capital. Notwithstanding the headwind of a third national lockdown, I am delighted at how well the Group has started the new year."
Its shares are up 7p or 3.7% at 196p.
10.01am: Bike group overcomes supply issues
Tandem Group PLC (LON.TND), whose products range from Claud Butler bikes to Spiderman and Peppa Pig toys, has seen its shares accelerate after a positive update.
Revenues fell by 4.6% for the year due to retailers being cautious about buying toys and stock availability. Even so pretax profits rose from £2.5m to £4m, helped by strong growth in the cycling market.
The company said: "The impact of COVID-19 led to a material change in the bicycle market. Consumers were keen to cycle which was very positive for the business. From Quarter 2 onwards, revenues were at exceptional levels with significant growth with both independent bicycle dealers and national retailer customers."
Stock availability for bikes improved towards the end of the year although there are still some issues.
It said: "The freight issues which we reported on in February are showing signs of improvement. There is now more capacity in the system to fulfil demand, ports are reporting being less congested and consequently container costs are reducing. We have continued to import products during this period to ensure stock availability although in some cases, due to these costs, we have chosen not to.
"We are, however, still paying much higher shipping rates than we were paying last year but we believe that rates will settle further in forthcoming months. Clearly this has and will continue to have an impact on margin as we are not able to pass all these costs on to our customers albeit we are maximising the opportunities to mitigate the situation."
In the toy sector, the COVID-19 restrictions on travel mean the company is unable to exhibit at various trade shows around the world, while it is also more difficult to source new products in the same way as before.
But its order book is substantially greater than at the same time last year, while its new licences include Brandelised Banksy's Graffiti and Baby Shark.
It said: "We remain mindful of macro-economic uncertainties and the challenges that we have highlighted but with an excellent start to 2021 and a very strong order book we expect to achieve turnover growth and we continue to be confident that we will deliver another year of profitability to our shareholders."
The shares are among the day's biggest risers, up 10.44% or 60p to 635p.
8.55am: Window maker sees bright future
In a rather mixed day for markets so far, home improvement group Safestyle UK PLC (LON.SFE) has built up a good rise despite increased losses.
The retailer and manufacturer of PVCu replacement windows and doors has been hit, like many others, by the lockdown closures due to the pandemic. Full year losses rose from £3.8m to £6.2m following a 10.3% fall in revenues.
But with a good start to the current year and high demand for its products, it expects the outcome for 2021 to be significantly ahead of market expectations.
Chief executive Mike Gallacher said: "Having taken decisive action to support the business during the period, we saw a strong recovery in the second half of the year with good order intake growth and a step up in operational capacity, as customer demand remained robust. By the end of 2020, our order book was 83% larger than 2019's closing position, which has given us a strong platform to maintain momentum at the beginning of the current financial year in spite of the external disruption."
Its shares are 12.95% or 6.35% higher at 55.4p.
8.36am: Mobile group takes stake in technology partner
Mobile Streams PLC (LON.MOS), which provides entertainment content such as ringtones and video clips to mobile devices, is in demand after it tidied up arrangements with a key partner.
It is paying £735,000 for a 49% interest in KrunchData Limited with the option to acquire the rest at any time in the next two years for £765,000.
The two formed a partnership in November 2019, with Krunch providing the expertise, software and systems under licence to enable the company to build a second, complementary, revenue stream. The subsequent venture, Streams Data, started producing revenues last October and earlier this month signed a contract with Quanta Media Group Holdings.
The existing agreement means Mobile Streams pays Krunch for client set up costs, the costs of data clean-up and agreed software development at cost . But Krunch can terminate the agreement at 90 days' notice, leaving Mobile Streams without the systems, software and IP licensed to it by Krunch and therefore unable to carry on the Streams Data business without significant further investment.
The new deal solves that problem, while the existing revenue share agreement, under which the company currently receives 100%, reducing to 50% from January 2022, of the revenues from Streams Data, will be terminated immediately.
There is a wrinkle, in that Mobile Streams chief executive Mark Epstein is a 33.5% shareholder and director of Krunch. But Mobile Stream's non-executives have backed the deal.
One of them, Nigel Burton, said: "[This agreement] removes a significant risk by securing access to and the rights to full ownership of the Krunch platform and intellectual property, as well as removing the potential future costs of the revenue share arrangement, whilst fully aligning the interests of the Krunch team with the Company. Based on the expected growth of the Streams Data business, the terms agreed are highly attractive to the Company, with the aggregate initial consideration below the level of the revenue share expected to be paid to Krunch under the existing arrangements in 2022 alone."
The company's shares are up 4.54% or 0.012p at 0.27p.
Sabien Technology Group PLC (LON.SNT), a specialist in the heating, cooling and transportation sectors, is also on the way up. Its shares have added 0.01p or 4.35% to 0.12p after it reported a reduced half year loss of £310,000, down from £561,000
It suffered a setback when a proposed reverse takeover by PHD came to nothing, but it is on the lookout for further acquisitions to supplement its organic growth.
Chairman Richard Parris said: "Trading for the existing Sabien business was encouraging in the six-month period, with sales close to that reported for the full 2020 financial year with continuing limited impact on the group from COVID-19. Post year end, it was pleasing to win a further significant order, worth approximately £400,000, from one of Sabien's major public sector customers.
"The Board remains confident in the future success of the Sabien business. We have weathered the storm of 2020, emerging more focused strategically and better able to enact our strategy."
Proactive news headlines
Open Orphan PLC (LON:ORPH) said the first three volunteers taking part in the world’s first COVID-19 characterisation study have successfully completed the quarantine phase.
Medica Group PLC (LON:MGP) confirmed that its acquisition of RadMD LLC, announced earlier this month, has now completed.
NextEnergy Solar Fund Limited (LON:NESF) celebrated as it hit a key milestone, reaching its subsidy-free development target of 150 megawatts peak (MWp) generation.
CMC Markets PLC (LON:CMC) said net operating income in the year to the end of March is set to be slightly above market forecasts.
Learning Technologies Group PLC (LON:LTG) has said it expects a “strong recovery” in its content & services division as it began its current year trading in line with expectations.
Genedrive PLC (LON:GDR) said it looks at the remainder of the financial year with optimism considering the contract with Beckman Coulter Life Sciences and the ongoing opportunity with the ministry of health of a European country.
Filta Group Holdings PLC (LON:FLTA) has hailed the “resilience” of its model despite the disruption caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic as it said it had maintained positive earnings in 2020.
Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON:FARN) said in its full-year results statement that it is becoming increasingly confident in bexmarilimab, its Clever-1 targeting precision immunotherapy. The company rapidly expanded its clinical development programme for Clevegen in 2020, resulting in the loss for the year widening to €16.95mln from €13.26mln in 2019.
Induction Healthcare Group PLC (LON:INHC) announced that a London-based NHS trust has chosen its Induction Switch platform to support its 8,000 clinicians and staff over a three-year contract.
Ncondezi Energy Ltd (LON:NCCL) said positive tariff negotiations continue as part of its plan to sell all power generated by its 300MW coal fired power project and coal mine in the Tete Province to Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM).
Jubilee Metals Group Plc (LON:JLP) posted a four-fold jump in interim pretax profit on higher PGM production and prices and said it expected 2021 to be another transformational year.
Ceres Power Holdings has appointed one of the founding members of ARM Holdings, one of the UK’s great tech success stories of the past two decades, to its board as independent director.
Tirupati Graphite PLC (LON:TGR) has appointed a world-leading graphene scientist and mineral processing technology expert, Dr S. K. Biswal, and strengthened its team across its three business units to support the company’s rapid growth.
Guild Esports PLC (LON:GILD) told investors it has signed a two-year multi-million-pound sponsorship deal with the Subway sandwich chain covering 55 markets in the EMEA region.
Primary Health Properties PLC (LON:PHP) announced that the second quarterly interim dividend in 2021 of 1.55 pence per ordinary share of 12.5 pence each will be paid as a Property Income Distribution. The payment will be made on 21 May 2021 to shareholders on the register on 6 April, with a scrip alternative being offered.
Capital Limited (LON:CAPD) executive chairman Jamie Boyton purchased 225,000 ordinary shares in the company on 24 March 2021 at a price of 65p apiece.
Accesso Technology Group PLC (LON:ASCO) chief executive Steve Brown purchased 13,000 ordinary shares on 23 March 2021 at an average price of 575p per share.
Oncimmune Holdings Plc (LON:ONC) has launched a £9mln equity funding to support the growth of its ImmunoINSIGHTS business, in Dortmund, which is in-demand and has a growing pipeline of commercial prospects.
Polarean Imaging PLC (LON:POLX) announced that that it received notification from a warrant holder to exercise warrants representing 358,713 ordinary shares, for which the exercise price was 15p apiece.
LoopUp Group PLC (LON:LOOP) notified that it will announce its unaudited preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2020 on Tuesday 30 March 2021.