Market valuations improving in UK and Europe
There are risks, but valuation risk is slowly receding, with the exception of the US
October’s equity market volatility may already be in the rear-view mirror despite the evident risks of Brexit and lingering concerns over Italian debt sustainability. If markets stabilise close to current levels, the recent volatility may in hindsight be seen as a helpful correction towards aligning equity market prices to normalised interest rates and bond yields. Following the recent market declines, but following solid earnings growth and ROE in 2018 to date, median non-financial price/book levels, with the notable exception of the US, are now close to long-term averages. While there may be concerns over the sustainability of current profit margins, rising bond yields or geopolitical events, valuations can now move down from the top of investors’ lists of risks.
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Merlin Entertainments (MERL); issues strong trading statement
Resort theme parks reported 9% organic revenue growth
Theme parks and Madame Tussauds operator Merlin Entertainments, has issued a trading update showing a 4.7% rise in like-for-like revenues in the first 40 weeks of its financial year, driven by its large theme parks and Legoland resorts.
Read more...Drax Group (DRX); to buy Scottish Power’s portfolio
Drax Group Makes £702m Acquisition From Scottish Power
Drax Group, the Yorkshire power station company which generates about 6% of Britain’s electricity, is to buy Scottish Power’s portfolio of pumped storage hydro and gas-fired generation from Spain’s Iberdrola for £702m.
Read more...Nanoco Group (NANO); preliminary results: loss after tax narrows to £6m
Stock down 6.18% to 31.90p at 08:29
The company announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 July 2018. Billings increased to £6.5m from £1.1m in 2017. Revenue and other operating income more than doubled to £3.5m from £1.6m in 2017.
Read more...Scottish Oriental Smaller Companies Trust (SST); NAV/sh falls 2.4% for FY18
Stock down 1.84% to 852.0p at 8:22
For year ended 31 August 2018, NAV per share has fallen 2.4% y-o-y in total return terms. This compares to the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Index and the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan Small Cap Index, which rose 2.2% and 1.3%, respectively.
Read more...Gear4music (G4M); sticking to its full-year EBITDA guidance
Gear4music's market is expecting 41% growth to £4,9m
Gear4music, the international online musical instrument retailer, has battled competition in its first half to August and is starting to reap the benefits in the second, crucial for the important Christmas trade.
Read more...Kape Technologies (KAPE); acquires ZenMate for €4.8 million
Kape hopes to leverage ZenMate’s 50,000 premium customers, through cross-selling
KAPE announced the acquisition of ZenGuard GmbH and ZenMate, a multi-platform security software business, for total consideration of €4.8m. The company expects the acquisition to be earnings-accretive in the first full year of ownership.
Read more...appScatter Group (APPS); issues around 1.4m new ordinary shares at 70p each
Dealings in the new share expected to commence at 8am on 22 October 2018.
appScatter Group announced that it has raised £968,445 before costs through the placing of nearly 1.4m new ordinary shares at an issue price of 70p per share.
Read more...Mercia Technologies (MERC); invests £0.5m in Locate Bio
Mercia now holds a 6.0% equity stake in Locate.
Mercia Technologies announced a new direct investment of £0.5m in Locate, a specialist regenerative medicine and medical device company based in Nottingham. Mercia’s third party managed funds already have investments in Locate, and following this investment Mercia now holds a 6.0% equity stake in the medical device company.
Read more...Premier Technical Services Group (PTSG); places nearly 12m in ordinary shares
Placing price represents a discount of 2.2% to the closing price of 161p on 15 October 2018
The company announced the successful completion of the placing announced on 15 October 2018. Nearly 12m in new ordinary shares of 1p each have been placed in the company by Numis Securities at a price of 157.5p per placing share (placing price), raising proceeds of £20m before expenses.
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