Edison Investment Research

ReNeuron Group (RENE); trading update: continues to progress clinical development of hRPC

ReNeuron Group provided a trading update ahead of its annual general meeting this Thursday. The company continues to progress the clinical development of human retinal progenitor cell (hRPC) therapy candidate in the blindness-causing disease, retinitis pigmentosa (RP). A Phase 1/2a open-label clinical trial is continuing to evaluate the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of hRPC stem cell therapy candidate in patients with advanced RP.

Mercia Asset Management (MERC); announces £7.5m syndicated investment

Mercia Asset Management has announced a £7.5m syndicated round for one of its portfolio companies, Voxpopme. Mercia invested £2.0m alongside two new investors, Chicago-based Origin Ventures and NVM Private Equity. Voxpopme was Mercia’s 10th largest holding and the valuation of the round was at the 31/3/19 carrying value of £13.9m pre-money, £21.4m post-money.  Mercia’s direct equity stake is now 23.7%.

KEFI Minerals (KEFI); issues 4,825,423 new ordinary shares

KEFI has received notice from one of its working capital providers to convert £40,000 of the Loan Note issued on 5 August 2019 and associated costs of £2,000 into new KEFI ordinary shares of 0.1p each at a price of 0.87p per share.

Vietnam Enterprise Investments (VEIL); NAV per share increases 0.4%

Vietnam Enterprise Investments announced its reviewed interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2019. A share buyback programme was initiated in mid-May, along with the repurchase of 697,398 shares until June-end to manage the discount level to offer a share price that reflects the Fund’s fundamental value.

Tissue Regenix Group (TRX); group sales increases to £6.1m

Tissue Regenix Group announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2019. Revenue increased to £6.1m and operating loss improvements to £4,220K. The company witnessed EBITDA loss of £3.6m, while the cash balance stood at £10.1m.

Civitas Social Housing (CSH); obtains new £60m term loan

The facility is based upon a competitive margin over 3-month LIBOR that has been fixed by way of a 5-year swap.

Civitas announced that it has agreed to a new £60m term loan facility from National Westminster Bank. The facility has a five-year maturity with extensions for further two years and the option of an additional £40m accordion.

Duke Royalty (DUKE); announces £30m Credit Facility

New credit facility is a five-year term agreement expiring in September 2024

Duke Royalty announced a new £30m revolving facility agreement with Honeycomb Investment on improved terms. This will replace the current facility of £15m. The new facility could increase up to £50m with the uncommitted accordion facility, subject to a loan value threshold.

Petro Matad (MATD); announces Heron-1 well results

Petro Matad announced today the result of Heron-1 well, drilled in Block XX in Mongolia, the first well of a three-well exploration and appraisal campaign. Heron-1 was drilled to a total depth of 2,960 metres, and oil and gas shows were recorded between 2,803 and 2,880 metres. Wireline logs were acquired and analysis supports c 77 metres gross interval of potential oil reservoir. Within the three zones with a total gross thickness of 22 metres (14 metres net) were identified. The reservoir interval seems to be similar to the productive reservoirs immediately north of Heron-1 in Block XIX.

ICG-Longbow Senior (LBOW); enters into £24.6m loan commitment to an affiliate of RoyaleLife

ICG-Longbow Senior Secured UK Property Debt Investments has entered into a new £24.6m loan commitment to an affiliate of RoyaleLife. The company is participating in a larger £142.7m loan facility, along with two other funds managed by the Investment Adviser, in line with its investment criteria.

Plant Health Care (PHC); provides update on commercialisation of PREtec peptides

The company intends to commercialise PREtec peptides in markets worth more than $5bn.

Plant Health Care announced that it has signed agreements with CSL Behring Fermentation Facility at Pennsylvania State University to scale up the commercial production of PREtec peptides.