Broker Upgrades and Downgrades & Key UK Corporate Snapshots 11 March 2016

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Avanti Communications Group Plc (AVN.L)  Announced its first pre-launch contract for capacity on the HYLAS 4 satellite. Avanti will supply Bentley Walker, one of its key existing customers, with capacity on HYLAS 4 across Sub-Saharan Africa in a $1 million + commitment. HYLAS 4 is on-track to be launched in the first quarter of 2017. It is a 28GHz satellite and will complete Avanti’s coverage of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Avanti is the first mover in high throughput satellite data communications in EMEA. It has rights to orbital slots and Ka-band spectrum in perpetuity that covers an end market of over 1.7 billion people. The Group has invested $1.2 billion in a network that incorporates satellites, gateway earth stations, datacentres and a fibre ring.

Circassia Pharmaceuticals Plc (CIR.L)  Announced, in its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenue stood at £10.8 million. Operating loss stood at £66.4 million, compared to £45.8 million. Loss for the year was £50.0 million, compared to £35.1 million. Basic and diluted loss per share stood at £0.20, compared to £0.21. It also announced that its Asthma management products achieved strong growth last year, while it also achieved progress in allergy clinical programmes. Its Lead asthma product targeting substitution of GSK’s Flixotide pMDI was approved in UK under European Decentralised Procedure.

Computacenter Plc (CCC.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £3,057.0 million, compared to £3,107.0 million in the preceding year. Operating profit stood at £85.1 million, compared to £76.6 million. Profit after tax was £103.1 million compared to £55.1 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 82.1p, compared to 40.0p.

Digital Globe Services Limited (DGS.L)  Announced that it will pay the interim dividend of $0.026 per share, amounting to $0.7 million, on 5 April 2016 with a record date of 18 March 2016 and ex-dividend date of 17 March 2016.

FinnAust Mining Plc (FAM.L)  Announced that Mr. Dan Lougher will retire from the board as Non-Executive Director with immediate effect.

Forbidden Technologies Plc (FBT.L)  Announced the company has agreed a deal with an existing client, a global leader in digital services, for it to supply a South African Government authority with Forscene in order to address the demand for video editing staff from the public broadcast sector. This deal demonstrates that the company can successfully extend the reach of its ground breaking Forscene product by selling through international intermediaries and systems integrators.

Global Petroleum Limited (GBP.L)  Announced, in its unaudited interim financial results for the six months to 31 December 2015, that loss after tax was $1.29 million, compared to $2.32 million. Basic and diluted loss per share stood at 0.65c, compared to 1.16c.

Infrastrata Plc (INFA.L)  Announced that wellsite construction has commenced for the Woodburn Forest-1 well in Northern Ireland. The drilling of the well is expected to commence in May 2016. Andrew Hindle, CEO of InfraStrata, stated that the well will target three conventional sandstone reservoir intervals, the Triassic Sherwood, Permian Lower Permian Sandstone and Carboniferous Sandstones and that if the well encounters petroleum it would confirm the wider prospectivity of the Larne-Lough Neagh Basin within the area licenced to InfraStrata and partners.

Just Retirement Group Plc (JRG.L)  Announced, in its interim results for six months ended 31 December 2015, that gross written premium rose to £989.0 million from £625.9 million posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s profit before tax stood at £26.1 million, compared to a loss of £9.2 million reported in the previous year. The basic earnings per share stood at 4.27p compared to loss of 1.66p reported in the previous year. The company further stated that the board has declared an interim dividend of 1.1p per share, payable on 1 May 2016.

LightwaveRF Plc (LWRF.L)  Announced, in its preliminary results for the year ended 30 September 2015, that revenue stood at £2.10 million, compared to £3.04 million in the same period last year. Loss from operations stood at £0.40 million, compared to £0.25 million. Loss for the year was £0.23 million, compared to £0.14 million. Basic and Diluted loss per share stood at 1.73p, compared to 1.20p. Further, the company added a thermostatically controlled electric panel switch to its heating solutions range and launched a LightwaveRF Building Management Solutions software for single and multisite operations.

Marshalls Plc (MSLH.L)  Announced, in its final results for year ended 31 December 2015, that revenues rose to £386.2 million from £358.5 million posted in the same period preceding year. The company’s profit before tax stood at £35.3 million, compared to a profit of £22.4 million reported in the previous year. The basic earnings per share stood at 14.32p compared to earnings of 10.13p reported in the previous year. The company’s board has recommended a final dividend of 4.75p per share, subject to shareholders’ approval. The company separately announced that Alan Coppin will retire as a Non-Executive Director of the company following the Annual General Meeting on 18 May 2016. Janet Ashdown, Senior Independent Director, will succeed Alan as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee.

Next Fifteen Communications Plc (NFC.L)  Announced that it has acquired the entire issued share capital of Publitek Limited, a specialist technical content marketing business that services customers in the global semiconductor and electronic component market. The initial consideration for the acquisition is approximately £6.2 million, of which approximately £5.7 million is to be satisfied in cash with the balance to be satisfied by the issue to the vendors of 228,704 new ordinary shares in the company.

Old Mutual Plc (OML.L)  Announced, in its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenue stood at £13,695 million, compared to £15,478 million in the same period last year. Profit after tax was £945 million, compared to £902 million. Diluted basic earnings per share from continuing operations stood at 12.6p, compared to 12.5p. The Directors of the company have declared a second interim dividend for the year ended 31 December 2015 of 6.25p per share, which will be paid on 29 April 2016. The company also announced its Group Solvency II position as at 1 January 2016. The Group Solvency II ratio at 135% (representing a Group Solvency II surplus of £1.6 billion) is conservative as it as it uses a standard formula approach, excludes £0.9 billion of surplus due to fungibility and transferability constraints, allows for only limited diversification benefits between entities, and places no reliance on transitional arrangements. The Group Solvency II ratio is highly resilient to market stresses. The group’s economic capital ratio at 31 December 2015 is 229%.The company also announced that further to the previous announcement dated 15 September 2015, the board of confirms that Paul Hanratty, Chief Operating Officer, will step down from the board on 12 March 2016. On 26 February 2016, Nedbank Group Limited, the majority-owned South African banking subsidiary of the company, announced that Mr. Hanratty would also cease to be a non-executive director of Nedbank Group and Nedbank Limited with effect from 12 March 2016. Nedbank Group Limited, released a SENS announcement today regarding the company Strategic Review and withdrawal of the Nedbank Group cautionary issued on 7 March 2016. The company has been engaging with the board of directors of Nedbank Group regarding its intention to carry out the Old Mutual Managed Separation. The company has decided that the long-term interests of the company shareholders and other stakeholders will be best served by the company separating its four businesses – Old Mutual Emerging Markets (OMEM), Nedbank Group, Old Mutual Wealth (OMW) and Old Mutual Asset Management (OMAM)- from each other.

Petrofac Limited (PFC.L)  Announced that the company has been appointed as Duty Holder to support Anasuria Operating Company Limited, a UK joint venture formed between Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad and Ping Petroleum Limited. The arrangement is effective today in line with Ping and Hibiscus taking over as owner and Anasuria as license operator of the Anasuria cluster. The initial five-year contract, which has additional options to extend, is worth in the region of $250 million and secures 65 jobs, with most of the offshore personnel currently supporting the asset transferring to the company.

Rex Bionics Plc (RXB.L)  Announced that the company that entered into a Materiel Transfer Agreement with the United States (US) Army Medical Research and Materiel Command. The agreement is the prologue to a program of design modifications to the REX robotic mobility aid that will allow its use for early ambulation of patients with lower limb loss. Through the proposed modification of the harness system within the REX device, soldiers with limb loss could benefit from being upright while awaiting prosthetic fitting and from improved access to early and aggressive standing rehabilitation; offering the prospect of shorter rehabilitation time and decreased complications of prolonged immobility. Further updates on the REX program will be provided as it develops.

Safestore Holdings Plc (SAFE.L)  Announced that the company entered into a put and call option agreement to acquire Space Maker, the ninth largest self-storage portfolio in the UK with 12 stores. It involves an initial consideration of £43.0 million and £1.4 million deferred consideration to be funded from existing group debt facilities. At the initial consideration price, the Space Maker portfolio has an implied first year net operating income yield of c.8.7%. This acquisition will reinforce Safestore’s position as the leading operator in the UK by number of stores with a combined total of 109 stores2, 63 of which will be in London and the South East.

Scancell Holdings Plc (SCLP.L)  Announced that it has entered into a strategic research collaboration with scientists at the Rheumatology Unit at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, to further explore the scientific and clinical role of citrullinated proteins in the treatment of cancer. The research will be led by Professors Lars Klareskog and Vivianne Malmström.

Tlou Energy Limited (TLOU.L)  Announced, in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2015, that revenue stood at $19,849, compared to $ 78,955 in the same period last year. Loss after tax was $1,993,250, compared to a loss of $1,142,049. Diluted loss per share stood at 1.05c, compared to a loss of 0.01c.

Wetherspoon (JD) Plc (JDW.L)  Announced, in its interim results for 26 weeks ended 24 January 2016, that revenue after exceptional items stood at £790.25 million, compared to £744.37 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £49.43 million, compared to £55.39 million. Profit after tax was £30.80 million, compared to £27.82 million. Basic earnings per share stood at 26.6p, compared to 23.5p. Diluted earnings per share was 25.9p, compared to 22.6p. The board declared an interim dividend of 4.0p per share for the current interim financial period ending 24 January 2016 (2015: 4.0p per share). The interim dividend will be paid on 26 May 2016 to those shareholders on the register at 29 April 2016.