Day: 31 January 2017

  • INTERVIEW: Falanx Group Ltd Setting 2017 up nicely

    INTERVIEW: Falanx Group Ltd Setting 2017 up nicely

    Falanx Group Ltd (LON:FLX) CEO Stuart Bladen and Jay Abbott, executive director at Falanx Cyber Defence join DirectorsTalk to talk about the new set up in Birmingham. Stuart explains the 3 announcements made and why Jay was chosen, while Jay explains why the new building was set up in Birmingham, the growth the company is seeing and how he expects to see the company grow further of the year.

     

    Jay is a celebrated key-note speaker who is regularly quoted in the media on the subject of Cyber Security. Over the past 20 years within the industry, Jay has spoken at high profile public and private events on the topics of cyber and information security. His work and thought leadership with the UK Cyber Security Challenge, alongside some of the biggest names within commercial Cyber market and Government, has developed creative solutions to solving the skills shortage in the cyber industry. These innovations include the development of the “PoD online gaming platform” and the “Cyphinx – Immersive 3D Gaming platform”, each an innovation in engaging the next generation of talent to ensure the future of the industry and protect the interest of the country. Jay will continue in his role as the Managing Director of Falanx Cyber Defence while also defining the technology roadmap and innovation.

    Falanx Group Ltd, is a global intelligence and cyber defence provider working with blue chip and government clients. The Group listed on AIM in June 2013 under ticker FLX.

  • Ascent Resources Plc Q&A with CEO Colin Hutchinson: PG-10 Flow Test Results

    Ascent Resources Plc Q&A with CEO Colin Hutchinson: PG-10 Flow Test Results

    Ascent Resources Plc (LON:AST) Chief Executive Officer Colin Hutchinson caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss the results of their PG-10 flow test

     

    Q1: Colin, congratulations on the good results from the completion of your flow test at PG-10, could you explain the results a little bit further and what you’ve actually been doing in this test?

    A1: The test results we announced were very good, they were ahead of anything I’d expected to get from the well, the headline number is that the well floated at 8.8 million cubic feet a day when it was on the largest choke size. We’ve done a range of tests for the last 3 days which will give us lots of other data points about how the well behaves and how the reservoir behaves, how it re-pressures after it gets shut each time so we’ve got a lot of data now which will inform the planning for getting into production. The recompletion and the testing of PG-10 was hugely important because the original well test back in 2011 on PG-10 was particularly short and anyone who’s looked at the company in detail has always pointed out two things to me, firstly that there was no way of getting gas to market and secondly, the flow test on PG-10 was too short. Last year we signed a deal with INA so we can sell the gas now and now we’ve done the extended flow test on PG-10 we can prove that PG-10 does exactly what it did back in 2011 so the results today are hugely important.

     

    Q2: So, what are the next steps that you need to undertake?

    A2: My goal is to sell gas as quickly as possible, we have a flow down, already been laid, it’s about 500 metres from PG-10 across the little CPP plant, ideally, we’ll get that connected up in the next few weeks and hopefully start to sell some gas before the end of March. We have this gas sales agreement with INA where we can send a quantity of gas to Croatia for sale and there are also some other opportunities to sell small volumes of gas locally to some factories and plants there. So, my goal is to get some as sales in before the end of the quarter.

     

    Q3: Now you mentioned the end of March, are Ascent Resources still on track to begin production of gas for then?

    A3: Yes, very much so. The PG-10 recompletion has taken longer than we’d hoped, we started the work at the very end of November, beginning of December, so it’s taken a bit longer to do the PG-10 recompletion but we’re still on track to sell gas before the end of March. Whilst the recompletion’s been going on we’ve been working on the flow line, the flow line has been put into the ground and we’ve been working on the other work streams, the other pipeline connections and the CPP refurbishment that we need to start selling gas so we’re still on track for the end of March.

     

    Ascent Resources Plc (LON:AST) is an independent oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) company. The Company’s portfolio consists of European onshore projects. The Company operates through two segments: Slovenia and UK. 
  • Ceres Power Holdings plc Q&A with Zeus Capital’s Dr Tom McColm: Positive Trading Update

    Ceres Power Holdings plc Q&A with Zeus Capital’s Dr Tom McColm: Positive Trading Update

    Zeus Capital Research Director Dr Tom McColm caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss Ceres Power Holdings plc (LON:CWR)

     

    Q1: Tom, what are your thoughts on what looks like a positive trading update released by Ceres Power this morning?

    A1: Yes, it was positive as you say. I think the update is to remind the market just how well Ceres’ commercialisation plan is going and how well they’re executing it by aggregating the last year’s news flow and comparing it to sort of what they said they’d do and showing that they’ve done that and I think it does that quite well. I think in particular they think the latest OEM partnership that they signed in a new vertical for a large CHP product, they announced that just before Christmas, they couldn’t announce the actual partners name because of commercial sensitivities. It was clearly a very big deal for Ceres and it was announced just before Christmas and I think they thought maybe it didn’t get fully recognised by the market due to its timing so this update just gave them a chance to flag that deal again.

     

    Q2: What do you think is the biggest risk that would lead Ceres Power Holdings to failing to achieve its commercialisation objectives?

    A2: I think all the risks are diminishing, I’ll say that upfront, a few years ago there was plenty of risk in this, I think they’re all diminishing with time. However, still for me with regard to the platform, the longevity of the platform, particularly in more aggressive operational applications, is what the OEM partners will be really focussing on most as they move through their development, trialling and potential launch programmes. I mean the efficiency footprint, fuel versatility, all these sorts of things are excellent, it’s what sort of gives the technology its really genuine USP and I think if these partners really can get comfortable with the fact that this platform will also last for the requisite time to make it commercially viable then that’s the biggest risk. What’s very positive in this regard, towards this risk, is that the core partners that they have been engaged with for some time now continue to move forward in these joint development programmes and in the case of a couple, particularly Honda, they’ve actually signed new joint development contract extensions. So, it sort of indicates that these big companies, who are baiting some pretty advanced programmes on this technology are finding the longevity performance sufficient to continue investing.

     

    Q3: What news flow should investors be looking out for over the next 6-12 months in terms of driving the share price up?

    A3: They should be looking for one or two further OEM partnerships, they have a target of five by the end of 2017, they’ve already got four in the bag so certainly one more maybe one or two more of those. New territories as well, they’re an international company, they’re all over the place but deals in new territories to look for but probably most importantly I’d say look for the progression of their existing OEM partnerships into further down the commercial road into full development contracts, commercialisation contracts and in the medium-term first product launches.

  • Deltex Medical Group plc Q&A with CEO Ewan Phillips (LON:DEMG)

    Deltex Medical Group plc Q&A with CEO Ewan Phillips (LON:DEMG)

    Deltex Medical Group plc (LON:DEMG) Chief Executive Officer Ewan Phillips caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss the increased range of medical conditions for which South Korea will reimburse the cost of using ODM, what this means for the company, other international markets and whether 2017 will be a good year

     

    Q1: You announced that the Korean health authorities have decided to increase the range of medical conditions for which they will reimburse the cost of using ODM, can you give us a bit of background to what this means?

    A1: Well we’ve had reimbursement, as in the authorities will pay money to the hospital towards the cost of each time they use our device, and then in Korea for over a dozen years but originally when it was set up it was very limited so there were certain types of cardiac surgery procedures, a couple of other types, at least half of which are ones our product isn’t commonly used. The new reimbursement code, which our distributors worked very hard with the authorities to put in place, is much much more general, essentially it covers any patient suspected of having hemodynamic instability and that’s pretty much everyone having an anaesthetic put in them or critical care so it’s very broad which is excellent.

     

    Q2: What does all this mean for Deltex?

    A2: Well that means the opportunity to grow in Korea look very interesting. This means there’s a real fiscal incentive or certainly an absence of a fiscal barrier to use the device where it should be used which is in all patients having major and high risk surgery and quite a few specialist applications such as in intensive care so much much broader. Without the reimbursement, it’s very difficult, the South Korea healthcare system is not hugely wealthy so they do depend on the reimbursement, the way that tends to work, once they set up a price, that is the total price of the use of the device, the government pays 70-80% and then the other 20-30% gets billed onto the customer so having that contribution from the government makes a huge difference.

     

    Q3: Which other international markets are you focussed on at the moment?

    A3: The big ones are the same they have been for a long time, France we think we’re probably market leader in France or very close to it, Scandinavia, particularly in Sweden we’ve been doing very well but also bit and pieces in Denmark and Norway, we are trying to make things happen in Spain but it’s very small for us, Peru has been strong and remains strong and there are a few others where we’re at earlier stages but those are the big ones where we hope to generate the majority of our export revenue excluding the States.

     

    Q4: Now, you’ve had some other positive news already this year, do you think 2017 is going to be a good year for Deltex Medical Group?

    A4: Well, we very much hope so., we’ve did a lot of work last year to get some difficult things done which sets us up very nicely for this year. Our biggest problem in the last 3 years has been the UK market which has been very difficult but clear signs in the second half of sales for our core product levelling off, cautious optimistic we can bring that back to growth this year. The export growth has remained pretty steady on the probe consumables, that’s running at 15-20% increases, we’ve got good traction coming through in France, Scandinavia, Peru, Korea and quite a few other places, the States, which is the biggest market we’re focussed on, that’s gone from flat 5 years ago to growth of around 40% last year and that’s set to hopefully take another step up in growth this year. So, that’s all good, we come into the year with much much lower rates of cash burn than we had, cross that threshold and start to generate our own cash for in the year, we’re taking costs out, we’ve got the high-margin US sales growing strongly and we’ve done some margin improvements which really kick in from January onwards which is pretty substantial, worth of £30,000 a month on top of the £80-90,000 we took out of costs the previous year. So, looking pretty good on all these things, as long as the trends continue that will go well and there’s opportunities to improve the trends.

  • Toople Plc H2 Revenue up 38% with its “Right first time” customer service strategy

    Toople Plc H2 Revenue up 38% with its “Right first time” customer service strategy

    Toople Plc (LON:TOOP), a provider of bespoke telecom services to UK SMEs, has today announced its final results for the year ended 30 September 2016.

    Highlights:

    – Launch of the Toople brand in May 2016
    – Strong growth in the second half of the year, driven by consolidation of the wholesale business and acquisition of the Company’s first SME customers
    – Revenue for the year to 30 September increased to £957,749 (2015 £36,799)
    – Revenue grew to £555,140 in H2; representing a 38% increase on H1
    – Gross margin was £77,641 (8.1%)
    – Loss before Taxation of £1,733,578
    – Cash at 30 September 2016 of £743,824, following one-off costs of listing, repayment of debt, launch of the brand and expansion of the Group’s services

    Post period highlights:

    – Orders across channels steadily increasing, reaching over 200 new orders on average per month since market entry up to 31st December2016
    – Finessed digital marketing strategy resulting in consistent new customer growth
    – Expect to achieve a 30% margin over the contract life of a typical customer
    – Breadth of portfolio driving additional “bolt-on” product sales
    – Increased 4G capabilities with the addition of O2 and Vodafone to the offered networks, complementing its existing EE services
    – The launch of Toople’s new broad cloud business telephony service is expected to be a key driver for new customer acquisition with attractive margins
    – The Group is now able to offer a unified communications package
    – Accredited by more than 30 of the UKs biggest B2B cashback and comparison sites, with the most notable listings on; uSwitch, Quidco, Topcashback, and Broadband Genie
    – Achieved an average customer satisfaction score of 8.5 out of 10 via Trustpilot with its “Right first time” customer service strategy

    Andy Hollingworth, CEO, Toople Plc, said, “Since our Standard Listing on the Official List in May 2016, our focus has been to validate the Toople concept and opportunity, and asses the market’s willingness to accept a new brand. The Company remains at an early stage and performance thus far has been encouraging, with consistently increasing customer numbers, new product launches and high customer satisfaction scores.

    The foundations are in place for us to continue on this positive trajectory, with a scalable platform and experienced Management team. As such, the Company is on course towards its strategic ambition of becoming the UK’s leading provider of bespoke telecom services to UK SMEs.”

     

    Chairman’s Statement

    I am pleased to announce the maiden annual results of the Company following its successful admission to the Main Market on 10 May 2016.

    The year to 30 September 2016 saw the formation of the Toople Plc Group of companies, following the acquisition of the business of Toople.com in April 2016. This initial period has very much been about validating the Toople concept and the market opportunity, together with assessing the market’s willingness to accept a new brand. We are pleased with the results of this process, which has given the Board confidence that there is a real opportunity for a Company such as Toople to build a profitable and cash generative business in the Small Business Sector. Furthermore, the experience gained during the period endorses the Board’s belief that the business can deliver strong growth without significantly increasing its direct cost base.

    As a result of this activity, it is pleasing to note that the Company delivered strong trading growth in the second half of the year, with revenue growth of 38% compared to the first half of the year. This growth was driven by both the consolidation of the wholesale business and the acquisition of the first SME customers.

    Following admission to the market, the initial phase of targeted digital marketing proved to be too competitive and so far, more expensive than anticipated. Management enacted a number of demand generation campaigns in order to determine the most effective method to balance customer acquisition costs relative to the investment and customer lifetime value. The Board is highly cognizant of the need to balance customer acquisition against upfront cash investment and long-term sustainable profitability.

    Since the year end, our finessed digital marketing strategy has resulted in consistent new customer growth. The breadth of our portfolio is also driving additional “bolt-on” product sales, which is expected to lead to further half on half revenue growth during 2017.

    The year under review has involved a huge amount of sustained activity from management and staff alike. We have gained admission to the Main Market, built the capability of the business, launched the brand, and acquired customers. The Board would therefore like to thank everyone involved for their hard work and contribution during this time.

    Richard Horsman – Non-Executive Chairman

     

     

     

    Chief Executive Officer’s Review

    Introduction

    During the course of the year, the Group has progressed towards its strategic ambition of becoming the UK’s leading provider of bespoke telecom services to UK SMEs.

    Since going live in the market less than six months ago, progress has been encouraging, and gives the Board confidence that the Company will deliver further growth in the coming months. Revenue grew to £555,140 in the second half of the year, representing a 38% increase on H1, with customer numbers continuing to grow during H1 of 2017.
    As at February 2016, there were around 5.4 million SME businesses in the UK. Of these, more than 5 million (96%) fall into the category of having less than 50 employees: this group represents the Group’s Target Market. BT are the largest telecoms provider, receiving nearly 50% of the total market fixed line revenues. The Board believes that this market size and share represents a significant opportunity, with early trading suggesting that Toople’s brand, price, and approach can be successful.

    Strategy and business overview

    The Group provides a range of telecoms services primarily targeted at the UK SME market. Its services offered include business broadband, fibre, data services (Ethernet First Mile and Ethernet), business mobile phones, cloud PBX and traditional services (calls and lines), all of which are delivered and managed through Merlin, the Group’s proprietary software platform.

    The Directors believe that the Merlin platform is a key differentiator for the Group. Merlin provides an end-to-end automated process that allows customers to place orders easily, and enables the business to grow its customer base, without the need to scale expensive resources.

    As a result of the in-house Merlin capability, Toople can be very agile in the market. The business had initially assumed that its margins would largely be driven by customers purchasing broadband and calls. Whilst this remains true, the business has also recognised the high-growth, profitable market opportunity that Hosted telephony is fast becoming. Accordingly, the Company has recently brought its global Broad cloud platform to market, with its first customers already signed up.

    The market opportunity for Hosted telephony is supported by the latest forecasts from Gartner, Inc., which projects the worldwide public cloud services market to be worth $208.6 billion in 2016*. *Gartner, Inc.: Forecast Analysis: Public Cloud Services, Worldwide, 2Q16 Update Report.

    Financial summary

    The financial results for the year ended 30 September 2016 include the full year financial results for the operating companies acquired by Toople Plc in April 2016. Revenue for the year ended 30 September 2016 was £957,749, which generated a Gross Margin of £77,641 (8.1%), recognising the predominance of wholesale revenues across the full year period. Operating Losses were £1,714,559 and Losses before Taxation of £1,733,578. Loss per share was 2.76p. This includes pre-admission costs in the subsidiaries.

    At 30 September 2016, the Group had cash balances totaling £743,824. Cash raised on admission was £2m: this funded the one-off cost of admission to the market, £0.343m (including £0.080m recognised in share premium in the year); the repayment of a short-term loan to David Breith, £0.065m; and the repayment of the overdraft in the subsidiary businesses, £0.103m. The residual cash balance of £1.489m has been utilised in the business to fund working capital and to make investments in building the brand, acquiring customers and increasing the capability of the business.

    At 30 September 2016, the Group was partially financed by loans from David Breith, a major shareholder. The loans cannot be recalled until the third anniversary of the agreement, and after this date only if the Board consider the Company to be in a position to service the debt.

     

    Operational update

    Henry Howard Finance Agreements

    In May, the Group announced an agreement with Henry Howard Finance plc (“HHF”), to facilitate the launch of its mobile phone offering, without the need for a large, and risky, cash outlay to fund handsets. Since then, the favourable commercial terms the Company has with its suppliers, has changed the funding model, so that the Company retains the risk and cashflow benefits, without the need to use the HHF facility.

    Increased mobile network propositions

    Also in May, the Company added both O2 and Vodafone to the networks supporting its mobile offering on 4G capability, to complement its existing EE services. This was 5 months ahead of the original target date, allowing the Company to launch its mobile propositions earlier than planned. The Company’s mobile propositions are aligned with Toople’s values, offering highly competitive fixed price calls, texts and data bundles, to SMEs.

    Post period update

    Customer numbers

    Since launch, the Company has been steadily increasing the number of customers it attracts to its platform, with orders across all its channels steadily increasing, reaching over 200 new orders on average per month, since market entry up to 31st December 2016. The Directors are targeting an increased average monthly order rate during 2017.

    As the business grows, absolute customer numbers will become a less relevant metric due to the increase in the number of customers taking more than one product. Going forward, the Company believes it is appropriate to report on Revenue Generating Units (“RGUs”), which will represent the number of individual services that result in recurring billable revenue and margin. This can encompass telephone lines; broadband lines, data lines, sim cards and hosted seats. This performance measure is in line with industry standards.

    Marketing opportunities

    The management team continues to use its telecoms experience to identify marketing opportunities that it considers to offer the best return on investment. The current cost of customer acquisition ranges between £40 and £91 per customer. The Company expects to achieve a 30% margin over the contract life of a typical customer. The majority of customer contracts are 24 months on broadband and mobile and 36 months on hosted telephony

    Comparison site recognition

    Toople has been accredited by more than 30 of the UKs biggest business-to-business cashback and comparison sites, with the most notable listings on; uSwitch, Quidco, Topcashback, Money Supermarket and Broadband Genie. Orders online and over the phone have already started to be received through these websites. Brand presence on these sites will also drive overall brand recognition for the Company resulting in organic brand search achieving lower customer acquisition costs overall.

    Customer service

    Customer service is central to Toople’s strategy and Toople.com aims to attract and retain its customers by delivering “right first time” UK based customer service. It is therefore pleased to have achieved an average customer satisfaction score of 8.5 out of 10 via Trustpilot, which is significantly higher than the average scores achieved by the leading companies operating in the sector. Customer experience is critical to delivering best in class retention rates: and as customer contracts mature, provides the Company the best opportunity to sell more than one product to re-contracting customers.

    Wholesale customers

    In addition to its SME customer base, the Group provides telecoms services (minutes, lines, broadband, cloud PBX) and billing functionality, through the Company’s bespoke telecoms platform, Merlin, to a number of wholesale customers. These services are provided on a license fee and provision agreement.

    There continues to be a number of orders for these services, and whilst the wholesale market is not the strategic focus of the Company, it will continue to monitor and review potential opportunities for revenue and margin growth going forward.

    Senior management changes

    On 21 November, 2016, Mark Evans was appointed Chief Operating Officer, having joined Toople shortly after admission. Mark had been leading the Company’s digital channel sales and contact centre strategy since launch.

    With more than 14 years’ industry experience and having previously held senior positions at O2, Mark now leads the Toople customer engagement functions both from a people, software and channel marketing perspective. Mark and the team are focused on ensuring the Group’s back office process is best in class and delivering a great customer experience to small businesses.

    Telephony Service Launch

    In H1 2017 the Company launched a new cloud business telephony service for its SME target market, and wholesale customers. The two simple propositions: Toople.com Classic and Toople.com Premium, provide an efficient way for small businesses to have a reliable, maintenance free phone system that requires minimum capital expenditure and no advance payment.

    These products can be ordered on line or over the phone, with unlimited calls bundles for a fixed monthly fee and come with the handset included in the seat price. Toople.com Premium provides customers with full phone system functionality and mobility via an additional IOS or Andriod app on their mobile, tablet or laptop. Customers will be able to take their office with them on any device, ensuring they never miss a call.

    The services also offer the added ability to cross sell and up sell into the existing customer base, which the business is already seeing early signs of success with.

    The launch of Toople’s business phone systems enables the Company to deliver complete unified communications to its small business customers. The Company believes this service will become an increasingly important part of its proposition mix, being a great value-add for existing customers, and a key driver for new customer acquisition with good margin and cash generation for the Company.

    Merlin platform

    The integration of the Group’s proprietary bespoke telecoms platform, Merlin, into the business has been completed. Toople continues to own the full Intellectual Property Rights for the platform.

    EU Referendum / Brexit

    Whilst the process to leave the EU will provide a period of uncertainty for UK small businesses, the Company believes that Toople’s transparency, fixed prices and service levels will continue to appeal to business owners.

    Ofcom regulation

    Ofcom’s plans to close the gap in fibre deployment between the UK and some continental European countries, in order to ensure everyone has the right to request service of 10 megabits per second by 2020, is fully supported by the Board. The Board considers the proposed changes to BT Group Plc’s network to ease access for competitors, to be an opportunity for a new company to enter and establish itself in the UK market. Toople believes it will give transparency for infrastructure investment, R&D and a cost base equitable to all service providers. However, there is still a way to go to guarantee the speeds that countries such as Spain and Japan deliver.

    Toople will remain a strong voice within the UK SME regulatory and legislative environment, its core customer segment.

    Prospects

    While it is still early days for the Company, its performance thus far is encouraging. The upward trend in orders and revenue demonstrates that the SME market is prepared to accept a new brand and Toople remains well placed to take advantage of the market opportunity that exists, with its competitive propositions in broadband, mobile, and increasingly, Hosted telephony. The Toople brand and its associated values is now successfully launched in the market, and the Board believes it will generate future growth. The Company will always follow a profitable market share growth strategy rather than just market share at all costs.

    My thanks go to customers, shareholders, and most importantly the team here at Toople for what has been delivered so far.

    Andrew Hollingworth – Chief Executive Officer

  • Wey Education PLC AAB recognises commitment to quality

    Wey Education PLC AAB recognises commitment to quality

    Wey Education plc (LON:WEY), the education services group providing online independent education for students in the UK and overseas, announced today the establishment of an Academic Advisory Board (“AAB”). The AAB will consist of a number of senior individuals across the educational world who have wide experience of modern best practice.

    The AAB’s main focus is to ensure that the company’s educational standards and operating methods are appropriate, challenging and reflect good practice with a focus on achieving quality outcomes for students and teachers alike.

    The AAB is expected to meet a minimum of four times per year. The initial Chair will be Dame Erica Pienaar, a non-executive director of the Company and she is joined as a board member by Dr Elizabeth Sidwell CBE, the former Schools’ Commissioner for England. Additional appointments are expected in due course. Further information on the individual members are included below.

    David Massie, Chairman of Wey Education Plc commented, “The establishment of the AAB allows the Group to be provided with independent insight and guidance as to how our schools can deliver teaching to all our students in today’s changing environment effectively whist maintaining high educational standards. While we operate commercially, we are committed to providing students with the very best education and the establishment of the AAB recognises our commitment to quality.”

  • FinnAust Mining PLC Strengthens Management Team to support the Development of the Pituffik Titanium Project

    FinnAust Mining PLC Strengthens Management Team to support the Development of the Pituffik Titanium Project

    FinnAust Mining plc ORD 0.01p (LON:FAM) the AIM and FSE listed company with projects in Greenland & Finland, is pleased to announce that it has finalised two senior appointments to strengthen the development team as it continues to evaluate commercialisation of the Pituffik Titanium Project in Greenland (‘Pituffik’ or the ‘Project’), where metallurgical test work has demonstrated the potential for commercial production of an ilmenite product from a pure, high-grade mine concentrate.

    Hans Jensen (‘Hans’) has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer. Hans has more than 30 years of experience managing and operating Greenland wide logistical, transport and resupply chains, as well as international shipping. Hans has previously held senior roles in the largest Greenland transportation and logistics companies such as Royal Arctic Line AS and Leonhard Nilsen & Sønner AS where he was Vice-President in charge of Projects and Transportation. Hans is also familiar with permitting regulations required by the various Ministries of Greenland regarding these types of activities.

    In addition, the Company has also engaged Eric Sondergaard (‘Eric’) as Manager of Geology. Eric is a graduate of the University of Calgary, has extensive experience in Greenland and has worked on similar sedimentary type projects in Canada. Eric also managed the exploration team that uncovered the super-giant Kvanefjeld Rare Earth project in Greenland.

    FinnAust Mining plc ORD 0.01p CEO Roderick McIllree said, “Today’s appointments continue to demonstrate our commitment to the Project. Hans is one of the most experienced supply chain experts in this part of the world. Eric is an experienced Greenlandic operator having executed several large-scale projects prior to this. I expect their appointments to have an immediate positive impact on the work programmes currently being designed and implemented as we continue to develop Pituffik. We look forward to the maiden JORC resource for Pituffik and further additions to the team in the medium term.”

  • Motif Bio PLC Clinical trial finishes patient treatment phase

    Motif Bio PLC Clinical trial finishes patient treatment phase

    Motif Bio plc (LON: MTFB), the clinical stage biopharmaceutical company specialising in developing novel antibiotics, today announced that the last patient has finished the treatment phase in REVIVE-1, the Phase 3 clinical trial investigating the safety and efficacy of iclaprim in patients with acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI).

    REVIVE-1 is a 600-patient double-blinded, global, multicentre trial, in patients with ABSSSI that compares the safety and efficacy of an 80mg intravenous dose of iclaprim with 15mg/kg intravenous vancomycin. Treatments were administered every 12 hours for 5 to 14 days. Data read-out is expected in the second quarter of 2017. Data read-out for REVIVE-2 is anticipated in the second half of 2017. Successful completion of the two REVIVE trials is expected to satisfy both US FDA and EMA requirements for regulatory submission for intravenous iclaprim in the treatment of ABSSSI.

    Commenting on this milestone, Graham Lumsden, CEO of Motif Bio plc, said: “Thanks to the patients and investigators who participated in REVIVE-1, we remain on track to be able to share the first data from our Phase 3 clinical trials in Q2 17. We believe that iclaprim, if approved, can be an important option for patients hospitalised with ABSSSI who also have kidney disease with or without diabetes. It is estimated that up to 26% of the 3.6 million ABSSSI patients hospitalised annually in the U.S. have kidney disease.”

    Zeus Capital said:

    Motif Bio, a late clinical stage antibiotic development company, has announced that the treatment phase has finished for the last patient in REVIVE-1, the first of two phase III clinical trials of iclaprim for the treatment of acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI). With this news Motif Bio is firmly on-track to report headline results from the trial in Q2. We believe iclaprim remains a highly valuable new antibiotic and take the rapid enrolment of patients in this trial as an indicator of the strong clinical need for a product with its performance characteristics, particularly for patients with renal impairment (some 26% of the estimated 3.6m hospitalized ABSSSI patients in the USA annually). Our fair value estimate for Motif Bio stands at 107p.

    • As a reminder, REVIVE 1 and 2 are the names given to two identical phase III clinical trials in ABSSSI in which the company is evaluating the performance of its antibiotic, iclaprim. These international, multicentre trials began in March 2016 and are being conducted by the CRO Covance. Each trial will treat 600 patients, randomised to receive either iclaprim or vancomycin (standard of care) intravenously every 12 hours for 5 to 14 days. Iclaprim has been designated by the FDA as a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) for ABSSSI providing an additional 5 years of Hatch-Waxman market exclusivity post approval (giving a total of 10 years market exclusivity) and Fast Track designation for regulatory submissions and review. We continue to expect REVIVE -2 results in H2 2017.
    • The completion of treatment phase for the last patient in REVIVE-1 is a significant milestone for the company. Treatments for patients in the trial continued for a minimum of 5 days up to a maximum of 14 days. Each patient is followed for a total of 28-32 days from the initiation of treatment. This time span includes the day 21-28 ‘Test-of-cure’ evaluation for the EMA primary endpoint and a final follow-up phone call. The FDA primary endpoint is the early response (day 2-3) reduction in lesion size of >20%.

    Comment: If this last patient was treated for only 5 days there will be a further maximum of 27 days until the final follow-up phone call is completed, taking us to the end of February for the trial to be concluded. Several weeks are ordinarily required for further data processing including unblinding and statistical analysis but the company is confident of being able to report headline results in Q2. As REVIVE-2 is still ongoing, we expect only headline safety and efficacy results from REVIVE-1 will be reported (too much detail could potentially compromise the blinding of REVIVE-2). We remain confident of a positive outcome for the study based on prior efficacy and safety data obtained using iclaprim in earlier phase III trials.

  • Conviviality Plc Revenue up 211%, Profit before tax up 285%, Interim dividend up 100%

    Conviviality Plc Revenue up 211%, Profit before tax up 285%, Interim dividend up 100%

    Conviviality Plc (LON:CVR), the UK’s leading independent wholesaler and distributor of alcohol and impulse serving consumers through its franchised retail outlets and through hospitality and food service, announced today its results for the 26 weeks to 30 October 2016 (H1 FY16: 27 weeks to 1 November 2015).

    Diana Hunter, Chief Executive Officer of Conviviality Plc, said: “These strong results demonstrate our competitive advantage, the broad customer base we have developed and the robust nature of Conviviality as the UK’s leading drinks wholesaler, distributor and solution provider to our Customers. We have successfully restructured to create three business units Conviviality Direct, Conviviality Retail and Conviviality Trading, each providing our customers and Franchisees with unrivalled range, expert service and advice to meet their customer needs whilst providing our suppliers with unmatched access to routes to market across both the on and off trade.

    “The recent acquisitions have resulted in Conviviality being well positioned in its market with a resilient business model that provides unique positioning for its suppliers and customers. We are also pleased to report that the Group continues to trade in line with expectations for the full year”

    There will be a presentation for analysts at the offices of FTI Consulting (200 Aldersgate, EC1A 4HD) at 9.30am today, 30 January 2017.

    Zeus Capital said:

    Positive H1, delivery of organic growth during integration and confident outlook

    We flag this morning’s announcement and note that the amendment to the interim EPS calculation as announced yesterday in the accounts does not affect our forecasts which remain unchanged. We calculate EPS on a fully diluted basis, and reiterate our EPS forecasts of 20.2p and 23.8p for FY17 and FY18 respectively. Our view remains that the business is considerably undervalued trading on the resultant P/E multiples of 12.6x to March 17 and 10.6x to March 18.

    CVR today issues a positive set of results for the H1 period to the end of October 2016. The company also reports strong trading during the Christmas period across all of its businesses, with Group sales +6.1% in November and December, including record sales at Matthew Clark, and a 2.1% increase in retail like for like sales. Overall, the business continues to perform in line with full year market expectations. Management remain confident in the outlook and the plan to deliver significant synergies following the transformational acquisitions of Matthew Clark and Bibendum, with integration plans on track. Despite the shares being up c.27% over the past three months, our view remains that the risks still lie to the upside in terms of more synergies emerging over time. The size and influence of CVR in the UK drinks market is not fully reflected in the valuation and the shares continue to trade at a significant discount to the peer group. Despite the Booker takeover premium of 24x P/E to December 17, in our view CVR trading on 10.6x to April 18 is too cheap. If were to trade on 16x would imply a price of 380p.

    * Strong financial performance in H1 with organic growth delivered, on track to meet FY expectations. Revenue increased 211% to £782.5m and was 4.4% above the corresponding prior period with each business unit trading well. Gross margin improved 2.5% to 12.5, adj. EBITDA increased 252% to £22.9m while adj. PBT increased 295% to £15.4m. The interim dividend has doubled to 4.2p, which is one third of the expected full year dividend of 12.5p.

    * Christmas trading gives good momentum into H2. Group sales in November and December were 6.1% above prior period. Retail like for like sales in the 6 weeks ending 1 January 2017 grew 2.1%, with overall sales +6.9%. Conviviality Direct sales increased 6.2% and Conviviality Trading grew 3.1%.

    * New organisational structure in place that allows the business the opportunity to benefit from scale, with three clear business units established. These are: Conviviality Direct, the UK’s largest independent wholesaler to the on-trade serving 25,000 outlets; Conviviality Retail, the UK’s largest franchised off-licence and convenience chain with 358 Franchisees and over 700 stores; and, Conviviality Trading, a full-service brand and wine agency with activation capability including festivals and events.

    * Outlook and significant valuation opportunity. Following on from the good start to the year, it is very encouraging to see strong trading over Christmas and that integration of Matthew Clark and Bibendum is on track as Conviviality Plc confirms trading in line with FY expectations. The proposed Tesco-Booker deal values Booker on a CY17 P/E of 24.1x and EV/EBITDA of 16.5x. This should have positive read across for CVR which continues to trade at a significant discount. Applying a 25% discount to the FY18 P/E multiple of the average of Booker and Majestic, i.e. 16.0x, we see an intrinsic value of 380p, a premium of 46% to the current share price.