(MENAFN- ProactiveInvestors) () – CORP: Directorate change
Market Cap: £7.9m; Current Price: 1p
Michael Zheng appointed CEO Mr Michael Zheng has been appointed CEO. Mr Zhang Qinfu has been appointed Chairman. The Company is continuing its search for a suitable UK based Non-Executive Director.
NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS VIEW: Mr Zheng has been appointed as CEO of having previously served as Chairman. Former Non-Executive Director Mr Qinfu has stepped in the fill the Chairman’s role. Altona is seeking to develop a major coal to methanol (CTM) coal to syngas and coal to chemical project in the Arckaringa Basin of Australia using established technology. The Arckaringa coal assets comprise up to 7.8bn tonnes of coal including 1.3bn tonnes of JORC compliant resources. In November the company announced that it had secured a JV conditional upon regulatory approval that will bring $A33m of financing from two parties Sino-Aus and Wintask intended to progress the project to bankable feasibility study. Altona will jointly manage the JV where it will maintain a 45% interest.
() – CORP*: Potential acquisition
Market Cap: CAD$15m; Current Price: 28c
From Yesterday: Looking to add to the Middle Orange Portfolio
has entered into an agreement to acquire certain alluvial diamond properties and associated plant and equipment from Bondeo 140 CC for $28.5m (ZAR284.2m). These assets are contiguous to Rockwell’s Middle Orange River projects. $12m (ZAR120m) is payable to the vendor for the mineral rights and three fit-for-purpose processing plants on the close of the agreement. Rockwell will undertake a financing on or before the 31/03/15 to raise the $12m. The remaining $16.5m (SAR164m) for the earthmoving fleet and associated equipment will be made up of $3.9m (SAR38.6m) to be paid to the sellers over a period of ten months in equal instalments with the balance to be funded through equipment leases and hire purchases with South African institutions or current equipment supply partners. Rockwell expects the transaction to close in Q215.
(): IMS
Market Cap: £267m; Current Price: 408p
Robust trading in a tough retail environment Total l-f-l UK store sales for 10 weeks to 5 January 2015 were +1.1% and +2% YoY for the 40 weeks of the financial year. The gross margin declined by 50bps over the Christmas period on the back of discounting to ensure competitive pricing and implies the business shifted more volume over the Christmas period compared to last year. The l-f-l sales figures for the 40 weeks however shows a decline compared to the 2.8% l-f-l sales growth in the 1H15 implying a tougher trading environment in the 2H15. There was no reference to 2H15 trading at the time of the interims in November and at the time we alluded to consensus expectations for £290m of sales for FY15 and that given the 1H15 performance the business would have to produce £156m of sales in the 2H15 or 16% 2H/1H sales growth in order to hit consensus forecasts.
NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS VIEW: Encouraging to see sales growth at Majestic in an environment where larger retail businesses are experiencing declining sales. The share price has performed robustly since the time of the interims in November (+11.5%). The stock trades on 13.7x FY15 consensus earnings falling to 12.8x FY16 earnings expectations. The dividend yield of c.4% should attract some interest however investors will be eager to see the investment in future growth producing results.
(): Acquisitions and trading update
Market Cap: £67m; Current Price: 142p
Small acquisitions broaden portfolio and expands geographic reach Acquisition of Alchemic Dream a provider of multi-lingual customer support services for the video games industry internationally for a total consideration of up to CAD$1.25m in cash depending on closing balance sheet adjustments. In the 10 months to 31st October Alchemic Dream had revenue of CAD$4.3m and PBT of CAD$0.5m. At FY13 it had net debt of CAD$1.2m. It employs 38 people in Canada and enables Keywords’ entry into the market for community management services. Acquisition of Reverb Localização - Preparação de Documentos Ltda for a total consideration of up to €300k. Based in Rio de Janeiro and employing five people it provides localisation and audio management services for Brazilian Portuguese for games including World of Warcraft and Magic the Gathering. It represents Keywords’ first office in South America. FY14 performance expected to be in line with expectations with H2 seeing Keywords supporting many games titles where release dates fall in Q1 2015. Increased operational efficiency in recently acquired businesses and demand for higher margin services in H2. Market demonstrating growth with console launches into new territories and the opening of the Chinese market for the first time.
NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS VIEW: Alchemic Dream acquisition broadens the range of Keywords’ services throughout the video game lifecycle and reflects the shift in the industry from packaged product towards games as a service for mobile online or console. Keywords also has an existing base of 1500 game specialists across 12 locations that can be utilised in gamer support. Sector remains highly fragmented and there is good scope for further acquisitions. Trading on a FY14 PER of 21.0x falling to 15.8x FY15 assumes continued growth but Keywords remains a more measured way to gain exposure to the games sector.
(): Shareholder approval for Aegean acquisition
Market Cap: £5.6m; Current Price: 1.2p
Expanding into Turkey Shareholders of Aegean Metals Group have approved ’ acquisition of the Company. Aegean shareholders to receive 1.902 shares in Mariana for every Aegean share held. Closing will occur following regulatory and court approvals.
NORTHLAND CAPITAL PARTNERS VIEW: This positive deal will see expand its exploration portfolio into Turkey as well as acquiring two additional projects in Chile. The high sulfidation epithermal gold-silver Ergama and copper-gold Hot Maden projects located in Turkey are at an advanced exploration stage and are being funded by joint venture partners Ltd and Turkish group Lidya Madencilik respectively. The Chilean projects are the high sulfidation epithermal gold-silver Doña Inés project and Exploradora East copper project. Both are 100% owned but at an earlier exploration stage than the Turkish projects.
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