Edison Investment Research

De La Rue (DLAR); secures contract worth £3.5m with HMRC

De La Rue signed a five-year contract worth £3.5m with Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC), to implement a track and trace system for all tobacco products sold in the UK.

De La Rue signed a five-year contract worth £3.5m with Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), to implement a track and trace system for all tobacco products sold in the UK.

The group will implement a digital solution to track and trace the c. 1.7bn cigarette and hand rolling tobacco packs sold in the UK each year through a unique identifier. As per the contract it will also manage the service for HMRC with all tobacco manufacturers, importers and relevant economic operators serving the UK tobacco products sector.

Osirium Technologies (OSI); announces two contract wins

Both the contracts are set to run for an initial period of 12 months.

Osirium announced two contract wins with a UK travel & transport company and the UK division of a global financial services provider. The initial customer license from travel and transport services is for over 500 devices and set to run for 12 months. The initial customer license for financial services is for 150 devices and set to run for 12 months.

Air Partner (AIR); reports good trading

Air Partner achieves stand-out results in circumstances of international emergency

Air Partner reports good trading both from both its charter and consulting divisions. It expects pre-tax profit before tax of not less than £5.8m for the year to January 2019, a downgrade of around 5% against the previous expectation.

Hotel Chocolat (HOTC); profits from temptation

The chocolatier opened 14 stores in the UK and Ireland

Hotel Chocolat has again profited from temptation, with revenue up 13% to £80.7m and pre-tax profit up 7% to £13.8m. In fact, had it not been for its US and Japan start-ups, pre-tax profit would have been up 11% at £14.4m.  The interim dividend has been held at 0.6p per share (H1 FY18: 0.6p).

Standard Life UK Small.Co’s Tst (SLS); posts NAV total return at -19.5% for H119

The Board is declaring an interim dividend of 1.60p per share (2017: 1.50p per share)

Driven by the impact of macro-economic factors in the wake of US/Chinese trade wars and uncertainty surrounding Brexit, NAV total return decreased 19.5% for the six months ended 31 December 2018, compared with -15.5% for the benchmark index. However, the performance has improved so far in 2019 with a 7.4% increase in NAV per share, as of 22 February 2019.

TR European Growth Trust (TRG); posts NAV/sh total return of -21.6% for 1H19

Declared Interim dividend of 7.50p per ordinary share (2017: 5.00p)

TR European Growth Trust announced its unaudited results for the half-year ended 31 December 2018. The share price total return stood at -22.9%, compared to the sector average of -17.9%. NAV per share total return was -21.6%, compared to the benchmark of -13.2%.

Lighthouse Group (LGT); PBT increases 5% to £2.64m for the year ended 31 December 2018

Revenues stood at £53.42m (2017: £54.11m)

Lighthouse’s underlying EBITDA grew 7% to £3.42m in FY18. Average annualised revenue production per adviser was maintained at a record level, £122,000, whereas recurring revenues generated from clients increased 10% to £26.77m. Operating cash flow generation stood at £2.87m after investments of £0.55m in customer solution development.

Allied Minds (ALM); portfolio company successfully commissions Pathfinder satellite cluster

The next cluster of satellites should be launched later this year

HawkEye 360, a portfolio company of Allied Minds, successfully commissioned the three Pathfinder satellites launched in December 2018. The company is using the satellites to perform data verification and strategic demonstrations with select customers.

Town Centre Securities (TOWN); H1 results show EPRA PBT down to £3.7m

Overall occupancy levels increasing to 96%

In the six months ended 31 December 2018, TOWN’s net assets decreased 6% and net assets per share decreased to 361p, due to unrealised valuation movements and a loss on the sale of an investment property of £8.7m. The portfolio decreased 2.2%, on an like-for-like basis, while EPRA earnings per share were at 6.9p vs. 7.6p in 2017. Gearing fell to 88% and the loan to value ratio was 46.8% vs. 47.0% in 2017.

ICG-Longbow Senior (LBOW); new £15m loan advanced to Bliss Hotels

Of the total loan facility, £12.5m has already been advanced by a subsidiary of the company

ICG-Longbow senior, Gurneys domiciled closed-ended fund, advanced a loan of 15m to Bliss Hotels. With initial LTV of 59.5%, the loan is secured by a first ranking charge over a hotel and leisure complex in Southport, Merseyside.