The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Friday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Nostrum Oil & Gas PLC - Kazakhstan-focused oil and gas development, production and exploration company - Revenue for 2023 comes to $119.6 million, down from $199.7 million. The average Brent price is $82 per barrel, down from $101 per barrel. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation decrease to $42.1 million from $115.7 million, with the Ebitda margin reducing to 35.2% from 57.9%. Company however swings to pretax profit of $836.3 million, compared with a $81.8 million loss for 2022. It also incurs some one-off gains, including a $174.4 million fair value adjustment on recognition of debt instruments; and a $769.6 million gain on debt-to-equity exchange. Nostrum declares no dividend, and says it has not done so since 2015. Chief Executive Officer Arfan Khan says: ‘As we transition into 2024, I am enthusiastic about the future and the forthcoming commercial opportunities.’
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Castelnau Group Ltd - Guernsey-based closed-ended investment company - Net asset value is 72.58 pence per share as of December 31, down from 75.02p one year prior. Delivers a negative 3.25% NAV total return for 2023, compared with the positive 7.92% return delivered by the benchmark FTSE All-Share Index. Company declares no dividend, unchanged from the year before. Pretax loss narrows to £7.8 million, versus £34.1 million the prior year. Income rises to £2.0 million from £548,767. Chair Joanne Peacegood says the performance ‘was clearly disappointing, albeit we believe only temporary and should be considered in the context of the long-term nature of our investment strategy’. She adds that ‘we hope that 2024 will be a year of delivery’ and that Castelnau is ‘rolling out a range of initiatives with a view to fostering the best environment for our businesses to perform’.
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Albion Development VCT - London-based venture capital trust - NAV as of December 31 is 88.70 pence per share, up from 88.65p one year prior. Says dividends for 2023 totalled 4.51p per share, down from 4.71p for 2022. Company also declares a 2.22p first dividend for 2024. Net gains on investments total £7.3 million, versus the previous year’s £636,000 loss for 2022. Total shareholder return is positive 5.14% for the year, versus negative 1.71% for the prior year. Chair Ben Larkin says Albion ‘is pleased with the positive return for the year and the portfolio remains well diversified with companies at different stages of maturity and targeted at sectors such as healthcare, software and FinTech, with minimal exposure to consumer expenditure. Therefore, the board is confident that the company is well placed to grow value for shareholders over the long term.’
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