Hybridan Small Cap Feast

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Banquet Buffet

Distil 0.5p £3.8m (DIS.L)

The owner of premium drinks brands provides a trading update on the third quarter of its current financial year ending 31 March 2023: Unaudited third quarter revenues decreased 48% year-on-year to £411k (December 2021: £789k), primarily due to a one-off reduction in UK market stock cover associated with removal of UK distributor  and a significant one-off reduction in stock availability during the Christmas period within a major retailer. Full-year revenue will be significantly below market expectations but the expected full year EBITDA loss of c£0.6m will be in line with previous market guidance. Cash reserves at period end was £277k, net of receivables and payables £840k.

Forward Partners Group 41.5p £55.9m (FWD.L)

The investment firm specialising in supporting high-growth, early-stage technology businesses, announces that it has made a £1.0m investment into Dines, a hospitality management platform. Forwards Partners led this £1.6m seed round, with other investors including Ascension. Dines enables businesses to run their operations through a single, powerful, omnichannel platform. Clients include the Delfont Mackintosh Theatres estate across the London West End, the Underbelly Group which runs large-scale events including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and the Shard’s skyline bar and viewing gallery.

IQGeo Group 207p £127.2m (IQG.L)

The developer of geospatial productivity and collaboration software for telecoms and utility network operators, provides a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2022. Revenue for the year is expected to be not less than £26m (2021: £13.8m) representing strong growth of 88%, including organic growth in the core IQGeo business of around 65% (2021: 51%) at approximately £22.8m (2021: £13.8m). The Group had a cash of £8.1m (no borrowings) at the year-end (2021: £11.5m) after the completion of the EUR13m acquisition of Comsof during the period.

Likewise Group 20.5p  £50.0m (LIKE.L)

The fast growing UK floor coverings distributor, announces that revenue for the year ended 31 December 2022 increased by 103.9% to £124.4m. Like-for-like sales improved by 26.6% in Q4. Valley Wholesale Carpets Limited, acquired in January 2022, has performed to original expectations in the challenging market. The Group has made significant progress in the last two years through investment in the infrastructure with new operations being established in Leeds, Newcastle, Birmingham and Newbury. The Group is on target to achieve the current market expectations and is confident in reaching its medium term objectives.

Merit Group 32p £7.7m (MRIT.L)

The data and intelligence business announces that it has completed the disposal of the trade and assets of Le Trombinoscope, a French language directory service publication focused on the French political landscape. In the year to March 2022 Le Trombinoscope had revenue of £0.3m and made a small loss at an EBITDA level. At 31 March 2022 the division had net assets of £0.1m and the consideration on sale is £0.1m. The disposal is not expected to have a material impact on the financial performance of the Group.

Mission Group 51p £46.4m (TMG.L)

The creator of Work That Counts, comprising a group of digital marketing and communications agencies, issues a trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2022. The Group continued to see a resilient underlying performance from its Agencies in the second half of the year. The exposure to more sectors and geographies and investments in capabilities and services underpinned the 10% year-on-year growth, slightly ahead of expectation. Despite inflationary headwinds and higher finance costs, the Group expects to report profit before tax of not less than £7.6m, ahead of the prior year.

Portmeirion Group 377.5p £52.8m (PMP.L)

The designer, manufacturer and worldwide distributor of high quality homewares, updates on full year trading for the 2022 financial year, after a strong Christmas trading period. As a result, FY22 sales are now expected to be at least £110m, 4% ahead of 2021 and 4% ahead of market expectations. FY22 profit before taxation is expected to be 10% above the prior year, with improved operating margins and in line with market expectations. Management continues to improve operating margins further in 2023 towards the longer-term target of more than 13%.

Tern 8.75p £34.0m (TERN.L)

The company focused on value creation from Internet of Things (I0T) businesses, notes that Wyld Networks AB (41.2% owned by Tern) announced that it has received an approximately SEK 12.6m (c.£1m) purchase order for its satellite IoT Wyld Connect module. This contract is for a four-year period, starting in April 2023. The Wyld Connect solution deploys IoT sensors in the agricultural sector to collect data directly from Low Earth Orbit satellites.

Virgin Wines UK 55p £30.7m (VINO.L)

The UK’s largest direct-to-consumer online wine retailers, provides a trading update for the six months ended 31 December 2022. Total revenue during the period was £33.7m, down 17% year-on-year, due to inflation and cost-of-living, the passing of the Queen (with an estimated impact on sales of circa £1.7m), postal strikes and the bad weather in the lead-up to Christmas, etc. The Group remains debt free with a net cash balance of £7.8m at 31 December 2022 . The Board expects revenue for FY23 to be around £63m and full year EBITDA margin to be between 4% and 5%, and expects underlying EBITDA margin excluding exceptional factors to be 2% higher, in the range of 6-7%.  

Windward 57.5p £49.3m (WNWD.L)

The maritime AI company, provides a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2022. The Company expects to report revenue growth of 23% to approx. $21.3m (2021: $17.3m) and an EBITDA loss of approximately $12.2m (2021: $8.6m), reflecting investment in headcount to support R&D, sales and marketing. Windward also announces a three-year enterprise contract win, signed in late 2022, with one of the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies. The customer becomes the latest blue-chip energy firm to use Windward’s platform, validating the application of the Company’s solution within the maritime market.

What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?

Celsius Resources intends to join AIM. Currently ASX listed, Celsius is a natural resources exploration and development company principally seeking to explore and develop potential world-class copper-gold assets in the Philippines and a cobalt asset in Namibia. Amount planning to raise and anticipated market cap TBC. Expected late January 2023. 

Conviction Life Sciences, a newly established closed-ended investment company managed by Plain English Finance Limited, is seeking to list on Premium Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, to invest in a conviction portfolio of life sciences and medical technology businesses, primarily in the UK, Europe and Australasia. The Company will invest in both publicly traded and private companies – c. 70% and c. 20% of the total portfolio value respectively. The Company will target an annualised Total NAV Return of 20% over the long-term. Targeting to raise c.£100m. Delayed to 3rd February 2023.

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