Hybridan Small Cap Feast

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Corero Network Security 8.5p £42.5m (CNS.L)

A leading provider of real-time, high-performance, automatic Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) cyber defence solutions, provides a trading update for the year ended 31 December 2022. Order intake, which reflects revenues recognised over the lifetime of each of the contracts, was $23.9m for the year ended 31 December 2022 with growth of 13% over the prior year (2021: $21.2m). Annualised Recurring Revenues (ARR) increased to $14.4m as at 1 January 2023, an increase of 13% over the prior year (ARR at 1 January 2022: $12.8m), driven by strong demand for Corero’s subscription-based and DDoS Protection as-a-service (DDPaaS) products, which underpins higher levels of earnings predictability for the Company going forward. Notwithstanding the growth in order intake and ARR, revenue for the year ending 31 December 2022 is expected to be approximately $20.1m (2021: $20.9m), and therefore below market guidance. Adjusted EBITDA for the year ending 31 December 2022 is now expected to be in the range of $1.4 – $1.8m.

hVIVO 15.4p £103.3m (HVO.L)

The growing specialist contract research organisation and world leader in testing infectious and respiratory disease products using human challenge clinical trials, announces its consultancy services division, Venn Life Sciences, has signed a contract with a major global pharmaceutical client worth EUR3.2m over 2 years.  The contract commences in January 2023, with the Venn team in Breda providing dedicated complex clinical pharmacokinetics (PK) consultancy and programming services to this global pharmaceutical client on a number of drug development programmes across multiple therapeutic areas, to study the absorption, distribution and excretion of drugs within the body.

Kibo Energy* 0.14p £4.3m (KIBO.L)

The renewable-energy-focused development company announces its decision to potentially produce synthetic oil from non-recyclable plastic waste at its 7 MW plastic-to-syngas power plant, which sits within the 65%-owned Sustineri Energy. This can potentially enhance the project’s profitability, generate revenue much earlier than initially anticipated and make the project more attractive to a wider spectrum of interested funders. As a result of this decision, the project will be divided into two phases. Phase 1 will involve the installation of a materials preparation system, a pyrolysis chamber and condensers that will produce synthetic oil product(s). In Phase 2, the pyrolysis chamber temperature will be elevated to produce syngas that will be fed to newly installed gas engines for electricity generation.

N4 Pharma 2.15p £5.0m (N4P.L)

The specialist pharmaceutical company developing Nuvec®, a novel delivery system for cancer treatments and vaccines, provides an update on its ongoing Australian Research Council grant work with the University of Queensland, investigating the oral delivery of Nuvec® loaded with DNA. The Company has now completed two in vivo studies demonstrating that Nuvec® loaded with OVA m-cherry DNA and encapsulated within an acid protective polymer can be dosed orally, penetrate the mucus layer and successfully express the OVA m-cherry locally in the intestine epithelial cells. In the first study Nuvec® was formulated together with the OVA and the whole formulation was coated with the polymer as a capsule. In the second study the nanoparticles, once loaded with OVA, were individually encapsulated with the polymer and administered via an oral gavage.

Naked Wines 133p £98.4m (WINE.L)

The wine retailer provides a trading update for the quarter ended 26 December 2022. As a result of a solid Q3 trading performance with flat reported revenue vs prior year, improved year-on-year repeat customer contribution margins and tightly controlled SG&A expenses, FY23 adjusted EBIT outlook increased to £13-17m, from previous guidance of £9-13m. However, the consumer and marketing environment remains challenging and opportunities to invest in new customer recruitment at attractive payback levels continue to be limited. The Company expect to spend £20-24m on new customer investment in FY23, around 40% below FY22 levels. This is below the run rate necessary to maintain current scale and therefore a modest decline in revenue in FY24 is likely.

Pressure Technologies 39.5p £15.3m (PRES.L)

The specialist engineering group, announces the appointment of Steve Hammell as Chief Financial Officer. Mr Hammell will join the Company and Board in the second quarter of this calendar year. Steve is currently CFO of Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd, a world leader in the manufacture of ultra-heavy forgings and castings that serves a wide range of industry sectors, including UK and international defence markets.

Ramsden Holdings 216.5p £68.5m (RFX.L)

The diversified financial services provider and retailer, announces its annual results for the year ended 30 September 2022. Revenue increased from £40.7m to £66.1m. Revenue in Ramsden’s four core business segments of foreign currency exchange, pawnbroking loans, precious metals buying and selling and retailing of second-hand and new jewellery increased throughout the period. Profit before tax increased to £8.3m (FY21: £0.6m). Profit for the Group has been driven primarily by the strong recovery in foreign currency gross profit to £12.6m (FY21: 3.3m) as international travel returned to a reasonable level. Q1 FY23 trading update (October to December 2022): Jewellery retail gross profit increased by over 15%; Q1 volumes of foreign currency exchange remained at approximately 70% of pre pandemic levels; The pawnbroking loan book has grown further from the year-end balance of £8.6m to £9.1m and the purchase of precious metal volumes and its other services have continued to perform in line with expectations.

Renold 26.2p £59.1m (RNO.L)

A international supplier of industrial chains and related power transmission products, announces that Renold Couplings, part of the Company’s Torque Transmission division, has been awarded a contract worth £8.7m. The award, to be delivered over the 7 years, is for the supply of flexible couplings for the Royal Australian Navy’s Hunter class frigates. The flexible couplings, which are an important component of a ship’s propulsion system, are part of Renold’s Hi-Tec range of couplings, which are supplied worldwide for large marine and industrial projects. Production of the couplings is expected to commence in early 2023, and will be machined on a new machining centre which was installed in Renold’s Cardiff facility in 2022, specifically for naval programmes. The first manufacturing programme is scheduled to complete in 2030.

Revolution Bars 5.45p £12.5m (RBG.L)

A leading operator of 90 premium pubs and bars, trading mainly under the Revolution, Revolucion de Cuba and Peach Pub brands, announces a trading update for the 26 weeks ended 31 December 2022. In the 5 weeks to 31 December 2022 like for like (LFL) sales for the group were up 17.3% compared to the same period in 2021 despite the period being affected by industrial action. When compared to the same period in 2019, the last Christmas period not affected by Covid 19, group sales are down 9%. Overall in H1, the 26 weeks ended 31 December, compared to the same period in 2019, LFL sales in the Group were down 9.4%. The Board has reassessed its expectations of the Group’s FY23 that the IAS 17 EBITDA outturn for the year, including rental costs, is likely to be lower than previously guided and is estimated to be at the bottom end of the range of market expectations, of £6.7-10.5m.

Quiz 16.275p £20.2m (QUIZ.L)

The omni-channel fashion brand, announces an update on trading for the period between 1 December 2022 to 31 December 2022 and its current cash position. Total Group sales in the Period increased by 11%, year on year to £9.8m. This performance reflected strong customer demand for QUIZ’s trademark dressy occasionwear in the first Christmas period in 3 years not impacted by COVID-19 related social restrictions. Group revenues in the 9 months to 31 December 2022 totalled £75.2m, representing a 23% increase on the £61m generated in the equivalent period in the previous year. As at 16 January 2023, the Group had total liquidity headroom of £12.7m, being a cash balance of £9.2m and £3.5m of undrawn bank facilities. The Board remains confident it will deliver profits for the full year to 31 March 2023 at least in line with its expectations and is well positioned to achieve further profitable revenue growth in the longer term.

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.

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

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