If you find this podcast useful please give it a rating and review on iTunes by clicking here
Welcome to taking stock on Monday 17th July 2023
It's a look at today's top business news & investment views plus today's winners, losers, the most read & the most followed including:
WINNERS
Gresham House - Searchlight Cap Prtn - Recommended Final Cash Offer for Gresham House PLC #GHE
The Boards of Gresham House and Seed Bidco Limited, a newly incorporated entity formed by funds advised by Searchlight Capital Partners, L.P. and its affiliates for the purposes of making an offer for Gresham House, are pleased to announce that they have reached agreement on the terms of a recommended final* cash offer.
· Under the terms of the Acquisition, each Gresham House Shareholder will be entitled to receive:
For each Gresham House Share held 1,105 pence in cash
· The Acquisition values the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Gresham House at approximately £469.8 million on a fully diluted basis and values Gresham House at approximately £440.6 million on an enterprise value basis.
· The Acquisition Price represents a premium of approximately:
o 63 per cent. to the Closing Price per Gresham House Share of 680 pence on the Latest Practicable Date;
Concurrent Tech - Post-Close Trading Update
Based on its unaudited management accounts for H1 FY23, the Company expects to report revenue of approximately £12M (H1 FY22: £7.4M) and profit before tax of approximately £1M (H1 FY22: £0.1M).
This represents record first half revenues for the business and an increase of 60 per cent compared to the equivalent prior year period. The business is now operationally geared for a higher revenue outturn and is well positioned for future growth.
Order intake remains strong with H1 FY23 intake of £14.5M and an order backlog, as at 30 June 2023, of approximately £29M.
Sovereign Metals - Rio to Invest $40.4m to Become Strategic Investor
Rio Tinto to make an investment of A$40.4 million in Sovereign resulting in an initial 15% shareholding
Investment proceeds will be used to advance the Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project in Malawi
Rio Tinto's investment represents a significant step towards unlocking a major new supply of low-CO2-footprint natural rutile and flake graphite
East Imperial - Funding Update – issue of £2.2m Convertible Loan
East Imperial, the global purveyor of ultra-premium beverages, is pleased to announce that it is proposing to raise in aggregate £2.2 million (before expenses) by the issue of 10% Secured Convertible Loan Notes to strategic investor Wen Hua International, the Company's current Chinese Mainland and Macau distribution partner.
LOSERS
- Trading Statement
Dianomi, a leading provider of native digital advertising services to premium clients in the Business, Finance and Lifestyle sectors, announces the following trading update for the year to 31 December 2023.
As has been widely reported, the decline in traffic volumes has been a key challenge for publishers in 2023. This trend is clear across Dianomi's direct publisher inventory with traffic levels across key publishers down by between 10-30% in the six months to 30 June 2023 vs the same period in 2022.
Reflecting these lower traffic levels, revenue for the six months to 30 June 2023 is expected to show a c.18% decrease on the same period in the previous year which benefitted from a strong Q1 before advertiser caution set in in Q2 2022. As a result, the Group expects revenue for the year ended 31 December 2023 to be lower than market expectations and is providing new revenue guidance of between £30.5 and £32.5 million (2022: £35.9 million).
Most Followed
Sovereign Metals - Rio to Invest $40.4m to Become Strategic Investor
Rio Tinto to make an investment of A$40.4 million in Sovereign resulting in an initial 15% shareholding
Investment proceeds will be used to advance the Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project in Malawi
Rio Tinto's investment represents a significant step towards unlocking a major new supply of low-CO2-footprint natural rutile and flake graphite
Futura Medical - Futura/Haleon Enter US Commercialisation Agreement
Futura Medical plc (AIM: FUM) ("Futura" or the "Company"), a pharmaceutical company developing a portfolio of innovative products based on its proprietary, transdermal DermaSys® drug delivery technology, focused on sexual health, today announces that it has entered into a ground breaking licensing agreement with Haleon plc ("Haleon"), a world leading consumer healthcare Company for the rights to exclusively commercialise the Company's innovative topical, gel-based Erectile Dysfunction ("ED") treatment MED3000, in the USA.
Commercial Highlights:
· Futura to receive:
o an initial upfront payment of $4 million;
o royalty payments on all sales of MED3000 by Haleon; and
o potential commercial and performance-driven sales milestone payments totalling between $5 million and $45 million payable over the course of several years
· Haleon is responsible for the future launch and ongoing regulatory, development, marketing, and commercialization of MED3000 in the USA. Further details will be disclosed in due course
· Upon launch, MED3000 will represent the first OTC topical gel indicated for the treatment of ED
Most Read RNS
Vast Resources - Phase 1 Drill Results at Baita Plai Mine
Vast Resources is pleased to announce that it has received positive drilling results from Phase 1 of an extensive exploration programme, which confirms the potential to extend the mining area. This process is part of the Company's plans to establish a JORC compliant Mineral Resource and in due course an Ore Reserve for its licence renewal in August 2024.
OVERVIEW
· Drilling results, which represent 5% of the total planned exploration programme, include:
o Drill Hole F5 from 44m to 45m 2.18 % Cu;
o Drill Hole F6 from 24.9m to 33m avg. 3.69% Cu; and
o Drill Hole F13 From 33m-34m 2.10% Cu.
· Samples were collected from seven drill holes and based on the assay the ore was intercepted in six holes with a thickness from 1-10 metres and an average of 1.87% Cu.
· Based on the performed economic composite, a total 45 metres were classified as ore with an average of 0.71% Cu.
· From a total of 164 metres that were assayed, 27.4% or 45 metres is ore.
Top Business Stories
The UK will only see the full benefit of a new trade deal with 11 Asia and Pacific nations if we use it, the Business Secretary has said.
Kemi Badenoch's comments came after she signed off the deal with a trade area that covers about 500 million people.
The agreement is predicted to only bring marginal gains to the UK economy.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership - or CPTPP - was established in 2018, and includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Together, the 11 members account for about 13% of the world's income and the UK has become the first European country to join.
Despite this, the government's own estimates indicate being in the bloc will only add 0.08% to the size of the UK's economy in 10 years.
Interest rate rises drive biggest postwar fall in UK household wealth
Rising interest rates have caused household wealth across Britain to fall by £2.1 trillion, the biggest drop since the second world war, a new report from Resolution Foundation has found.
Much of the loss of wealth was due to falling bond prices, which have cut the value of pension assets.
Resolution estimates that total household wealth has fallen to 650% of national income in early 2023 – in the biggest fall as a share of GDP since World War II.
Supermarkets and other fuel retailers have until August to voluntarily share live prices in a government scheme designed to prevent overcharging.
It follows a report that found drivers paid an extra 6p per litre for fuel at supermarkets last year due to weak competition.
Drivers will be able to compare live prices online to find cheaper fuel.
China’s economy has grown more slowly than expected in the second quarter, driven by a slowdown in consumer spending and the ongoing problems in its property sector.
New GDP data released this morning shows that China’s GDP grew by 6.3% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2023, missing forecast of 7.3% growth.
Asking prices for UK homes slip as Bank of England's rates rises bite
Asking prices for residential homes in Britain fell in July as rising mortgage costs and increasing buyer affordability constraints prompted sellers to tempered their price expectations, an industry survey showed on Monday.
Property website Rightmove said average asking prices of homes coming onto the market declined by 0.2% last month, compared with the 0% norm for this time of the year.