Broker Upgrades and Downgrades & Key UK Corporate Snapshots 17 March 2016

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Arbuthnot Banking Group (ARBB.L)  Announced, in its audited final results for the year to 31 December 2015, that operating imcome stood at £126.7 million, compared to £92.05 million in the same period last year. Profit for the year was £27.82 million, compared to £17.31 million. Basic earnings per share stood at 86.3p, compared to 58.6p. Diluted earnings per share was 83.3p, compared to 52.8p. The disposal of Everyday Loans is proceeding as expected. Once it has completed, the Board is proposing a special dividend for 2016 of 25p, of which details will be announced later.

Brooks Macdonald Group Plc (BRK.L)  Announced, in its report for the six months ended 31 December 2015, that revenue stood at £38.70 million, compared to £37.50 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £5.86 million, compared to £4.94 million. Profit after tax was £4.37 million, compared to £3.56 million. Diluted earnings per share stood at 32.28p, compared to 26.51p. The board has declared an interim dividend of 12p (2014: 10p).

C4X Discovery Holdings Plc (C4XD.L)  Announced, in its interim results for the six months ended 31 January 2016, that its reported revenue stood at £0.1 million, compared to £0.1 million in the preceding year. Operating loss stood at £3.4 million, compared to loss of £1.2 million. Net loss after tax was £2.7 million compared to loss of £1.0 million. The company’s diluted loss per share was 8.76p, compared to loss of 3.86p.

Cello Group Plc (CLL.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenues fell to £157.3 million from £169.9 million recorded in the previous year. Profit after tax widened to £3.0 million from £2.3 million. The Board proposed a final dividend of 2.02p per share (2014: 1.80p), giving a total dividend for the year of 2.86p per share (2014: 2.60p) representing an increase of 10.0%.

Clarkson Plc (CKN.L)  Announced that it has received notification that on 17 March 2016 a number of former shareholders of RS Platou ASA sold 2,034,416 ordinary shares in the capital of the Company in London at a price of 1840p per ordinary share pursuant to the secondary placing announced on 16 March 2016. Peter M. Anker, a PDMR of the Company, has sold 169,000 Placing Shares as part of the Placing. Post transaction, Peter M. Anker holds 357,477 existing ordinary shares and 2,667 conditional awards in the capital of the company, equivalent to 1.2% of issued ordinary share capital.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK.L)  Announced that Sir Andrew Witty, CEO, has indicated to the Board his intention to retire from the company in early 2017. The Board has agreed that he will retire on 31st March 2017. The Board will now conduct a formal search for a successor and will consider internal and external candidates for the role. Separately, the company announced that Sir Deryck Maughan, Dr Stephanie Burns, Dr Daniel Podolsky and Hans Wijers would not stand for re-election to the Board at GSK’s Annual General Meeting on 5 May 2016 (the “AGM”).

Hurricane Energy Plc (HUR.L)  Announced that Alistair Stobie has been appointed as a Chief Financial Officer and Director of the company with immediate effect.

Imperial Innovations Group Plc (IVO.L)  Announced that TopiVert Pharma Ltd stated that the phase I study results for TOP1288, its lead compound for the treatment of ulcerative colitis (UC), showed positive results. The company has 30.6% interest in TopiVert Pharma Ltd as on 31 July 2015. TopiVert now plans to start a Phase II proof of concept study with a rectal formulation of TOP1288 in UC patients in mid-2016, for which the company is anticipating the results by mid-2017. TopiVert is also planning to start a Phase I study of an oral formulation of TOP1288 in the second half of this year.

Keras Resources Plc (KRS.L)  Announced that it has completed its first blast at the Anomaly 22 project, located in the Grants Patch Gold Tribute lease area in the prospective Western Australian goldfields. The company expects the mining to commence by 21 March 2016 which will be a part of its initial bulk sample of up to 10,000 tonnes to confirm grade continuity, mining practices and ore delivery mechanisms to the Paddington Mill.

Kier Group Plc (KIE.L)  Announced, in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2015, that Group revenue stood at £2032.4 million, compared to £1561.7 million in the preceding period. Profit after tax was £15.1 million compared to £22.3 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 15.4p, compared to 31.6p.

LondonMetric Property Plc (LMP.L)  Announced that it has acquired three distribution warehouses for £21.8 million, totalling 212,600 sq ft and reflecting a NIY of 6.6%, which contractually rises to 6.9% within two years. The warehouses are located in Castle Donington, Royston and Hemel Hempstead and are let to toy retailer Hamleys, Howdens and Goodrich respectively for a total rent of £1.5 million pa and an average WAULT of 12.4 years.

Marshall Motor Holdings Plc (MMH.L)  Announced, in its annual results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2015, that revenue stood at £1,232.76 million, compared to £1,085.89 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £18.25 million, compared to £15.24 million. Profit after tax was £11.71 million, compared to £9.94 million. Diluted earnings per share from continuing operations stood at 19.2p, compared to 282.6p. The board is pleased to recommend a final dividend of 2.40p per share, which, with the pro-rata interim dividend of 0.58p per share gives a total dividend for the year of 2.98p per share.

ONESAVINGS BANK Plc (OSB.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that total income rose to £162.5 million from £118.9 million recorded in the previous year. Profit after tax widened to £84.1 million from £51.5 million. The Board recommended a final dividend of 6.7p per share in line with our stated dividend policy. This gives a total dividend per share for the full year of 8.7p.

OptiBiotix Health Plc (OPTI.L)  Announced that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with The University of Manchester and has acquired the exclusive rights of the intellectual property developed by the University in skin health. The joint venture will be called SkinBiotix Limited in which the company holds the majority stake. Under the terms of the agreement, the company has invested £260,000 into the JV and will own 52% of SkinBiotix Limited, with the remaining 48% owned by the University of Manchester and key researchers.

Port Erin Biopharma Investments Limited (PEBI.L)  Announced, in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2015, that its operating loss stood at £0.18 million, compared to £0.14 million. Loss net of tax was £0.18 million compared to £0.14 million. The company’s basic and diluted loss per share was 0.79p, compared to 0.42p.

ProPhotonix Limited (PPIX.L)  Announced an extension to its UV LED Curing systems, the COBRA Cure FX2, which provides more intense UV curing critical to the printing industry, coatings industry, 3D printing, and other applications.

Rio Tinto Plc (RIO.L)  Announced that the company’s chief executive Sam Walsh will retire from the business on 01 July 2016 and will be succeeded by Copper & Coal chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques. To ensure a smooth transition, Jean-Sébastien, will join the board and become deputy chief executive with immediate effect.

Safestyle UK Plc (SFE.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £148.9 million, compared to £136.0 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £13.9 million compared to £12.8 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 17.3p, compared to 15.9p.

Secure Trust Bank Plc (STB.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its net interest income stood at £78.9 million, compared to £49.2 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £19.3 million compared to £13.9 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 154.8p, compared to 119.9p.

Serica Energy Plc (SQZ.L)  Announced, in its Erskine Operations Update, that strong production performance through January and February, averaging 3,228 boe per day net to the company, March Erskine production has been impacted by a pipeline blockage. The overall impact is to reduce Q1 average production to approximately 2,100 boe per day net to the company, compared to previous guidance of 2,500 to 3,000 boe per day. Reservoir performance since acquisition last June continues to provide significant encouragement with little observed pressure decline and peak production rates still well over 4,000 boe per day to the company.

Snacktime Plc (SNAK.L)  Announced that the Annual Report for the period ended 27 March 2015 has been despatched to shareholders as is available at www.snacktime.com. On page 6 of the Annual Report reference is made to the expectation that trading in the company’s shares on AIM will resume on 16 March 2016. At this point the company is continuing to discuss timing for restoration of trading in its shares with its advisers. A further announcement will be made in due course.

Sopheon Plc (SPE.L)  Announced, in its final results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that revenue stood at $20.89 million, compared to $18.30 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at $1.55 million, compared to a loss of $1.10 million. Profit after tax was $1.13 million, compared to a loss of $1.52 million. Diluted earnings per share stood at 13.90c, compared to a loss of 20.87c.

Spire Healthcare Group Plc (SPI.L)  Announced, in its results for the year ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £884.8 million, compared to £856.0 million in the preceding year. Profit after tax was £60.0 million compared to loss net of tax of £6.0 million. The company’s diluted earnings per share was 14.9p, compared to loss per share of 1.9p.

Ted Baker Plc (TED.L)  Announced, in its annual results for the 52 weeks ended 30 January 2016, that revenue stood at £456.2 million, compared to £387.6 million in the same period last year. Operating profit stood at £59.37 million, compared to £49.76 million. Profit after tax was £44.24 million, compared to £35.85 million. Basic earnings per share stood at 100.6p, compared to 82.0p. Diluted earnings per share was 99.3p, compared to 81.0p. The proposed final dividend of 34.6p per share will make a total for the period of 47.8p per share (2015: 40.3p per share), an increase of 18.6% on the previous year.

Tern Plc (TERN.L)  Announced that at the Annual General Meeting to be held today, Chairman, Angus Forrest, will state that since the publication of the annual results for the year ended 31 December 2015, it has raised £1.1 million in a placing despite the uncertainty surrounding capital markets for investment in accordance with the company’s investing policy. He will also mention that the company and its portfolio have continued to make progress towards achieving the agreed objectives, primarily increasing commercialisation and monetisation of the assets.

Ubisense Group Plc (UBI.L)  Announced new contracts in North America for its Geospatial division, valued at a combined $2.9 million, are with Tier 1 broadband communications and entertainment providers and one of the largest power companies in the United States. The company will provide managed services for its flagship myWorld product and other systems used to manage and visualise the network assets of both customers. Moreover, these wins will provide a solid contribution to the Group’s planned revenues in the current year with the potential for additional revenue as the customers’ use of the products expands. The company will announce its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2015 on Thursday 7 April 2016.

ULS Technology Plc (ULS.L)  Announced that it has launched its Will Writing comparison and introduction service through two major partners. The new exclusive agreements, one with a leading property group and the other with a leading mortgage network, will allow more than 400 mortgage advisers to compare will writing and other estate planning services through ULS for both existing and new customers.

Vernalis Plc (VER.L)  Announced, in its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2015, that its reported revenue stood at £6.12 million, compared to £5.70 million in the preceding period. Loss net of tax was £7.62 million compared to profit after tax of £1.68 million. The company’s basic and diluted loss per share was 1.7p, compared to earnings per share of 0.4p.