PageGroup (PAGE), Balanced Commercial Property Trust (BCPT), Mitie (MTO), Renold (RNO), Inchcape (INCH), Audioboom (BOOM), Horizonte Minerals (HZM), Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) and CLS Holding (CLI)
Trading at PageGroup (PAGE) worsened in the first quarter of 2024, with workers still wary of accepting new jobs. Gross profit fell by 12.8 per cent between January and March, but by the end of March gross profit was down by 18 per cent. Management partly blamed this on Easter, but noted a “slight deterioration in job flow towards the end of the quarter”.
“Conversion of final interviews to accepted offers is still the most significant challenge, as candidate and client sentiment remains subdued reflecting the general macroeconomic uncertainty in most of our markets,” said chief executive Nicholas Kirk.
Continental Europe experienced the worst deterioration in activity, but trading conditions in Asia, the UK and the US saw “no improvement” with low levels of confidence continuing to delay the time to hire, particularly in permanent recruitment. Shares in PageGroup fell by 5 per cent in response. JS
Read more: The best recovery buy in the recruitment sector
Reit puts itself up for sale
Balanced Commercial Property Trust (BCPT) has hung up the ‘for sale’ sign, with chair Paul Marcuse saying that despite attempts to reposition its portfolio, its share price continues to trade at “a material discount” to its net asset value (NAV).
The Reit increased its monthly dividend payout by 10 per cent last October but its discount to NAV has only narrowed from 42 per cent to 28 per cent since.
It has therefore launched a strategic review, under which it says the board will consider options that include selling off assets or subsidiaries, returning cash to shareholders, changing its investment strategy or its manager, winding down or an outright sale. The company said it has not received an offer or even held talks with potential bidders.
Analysts at Peel Hunt argued that an outright sale would probably be the best outcome for shareholders, as it would offer a much quicker way of closing the valuation gap than winding down the Reit. MF
Read more: Britain's three best Reits
Renold finds another gear
Chain maker Renold (RNO) said adjusted operating profit for its 2024 financial year will be “materially” ahead of analysts’ expectations. Although sales of £241.5mn were largely flat at constant exchange rates, an improvement in margins meant adjusted operating profit will be around 20 per cent higher than last year’s figure of £24.2mn. Net debt has also been cut by £4.9mn to £24.9mn, the company said. The shares rose by 7 per cent in early trading. MF
Audioboom tumbles on full-year figures
Shares in Audioboom (BOOM) nosedived this morning after it reported an operating loss of $16.7mn for 2023. Management blamed this on a deterioration of the advertising market which began in mid-2022. The podcast publisher noted “positive momentum” in the first quarter of 2024, however, and said it had achieved two successive quarters of adjusted Ebitda profitability. JS
Wildcat Petroleum disappoints again
Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) is a cash shell run by a controlling shareholder who makes wild claims about its impending significant cash flow and oil production. But the few outside investors will be disappointed yet again, after the company will not be inking a deal to operate Sudanese oilfields.
Chair Mandhir Singh had said in November the deal “should lead directly to Wildcat becoming a producing/profitable oil company in 2024”, with first oil “as early as the first quarter of 2024”, depending on the civil war situation. The oilfield deal would have seen Wildcat take on a 4,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) asset.
Wildcat, which had a market capitalisation of over £80mn in 2021, also raised £450,000 from shareholders for working capital off the back of this deal in October. Its shares are down 57 per cent year to date, including a 29 per cent drop on Monday. AH
