City round-up: St Modwen; Nanoco; TalkTalk

Developer St Modwen, which has a Warrington operation, said it has delivered strong operational results for 2020 in a trading update today.

Chief executive Sarwjit Sambhi said: “Our underlying performance has been in line with the board’s expectations.

“While the near-term economic outlook remains uncertain, momentum has continued to build, so with a strong forward order book in housebuilding, sustained demand for industrial and logistics space and a solid capital base, St Modwen is well positioned going into 2021.”

On current trading he said industrial & logistics completed 1.2m sq ft of developments during the year, up from 0.9m sq ft last year.

Customer demand remains strong and the group said its 18m sq ft overall pipeline provides a significant opportunity to further accelerate development beyond 2021 and, reflecting this, it recently agreed to deliver a 200,000 sq ft build-to-suit development in 2022.

In St Modwen Homes the group has sold 948 units, compared with 1,060 last year, although demand has remained strong, with an average sales rate of 0.92 since May, so this reduction in volume solely reflected the 9-10 weeks of lost production in Spring when the group temporarily closed its sites during lockdown.

The private forward order book is strong at 368 units (£99m), up 53% versus this time last year.

Should current conditions persist, the group would expect volumes to grow by up to 25% and margins to recover substantially in 2021.

In strategic land & regeneration the group has continued to monetise the value in its existing portfolio and has agreed a revision of the NCGM development agreement, which unlocks £25m of cash – the group’s share – held in the joint venture’s development account.

Since the publication of the half year results in July, St Modwen has sold or exchanged contracts for the disposal of a further £96m of assets.

Reflecting significant disposals and tight cost control, see-through net borrowings have reduced from £395m at the end of May to £277m at the end of November, against £291m last year. This leaves £288m of headroom under existing facilities, while none of the group debt matures until December 2023. These numbers exclude the £25m of cash in the NCGM joint venture, which will benefit net borrowings as of December 2020.

Full year results will be announced on February 9, 2021.

::

Dr Christopher Richards

Nanoco, the Manchester technology business which develops materials used in the manufacture of monitors and TV screens, is holding a virtual annual general meeting this morning.

Ahead of the AGM chairman, Dr Christopher Richards, offered an update on the first four months of the financial year ending July 31, 2021, saying: “We continue to deliver R&D services under a number of development programmes with different customers in the sensing and display markets, the most significant of which is the work with ST Microelectronics NV.

“Good progress has been made on this project during the period and we are now negotiating its potential next phase.

“On 25 November 2020, we also announced that we had successfully secured a project grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to develop a heavy metal-free quantum dot testing kit for the accurate and rapid visual detection of SARSCoV-2 (COVID-19).

“This funding creates a potential third opportunity for future revenue, on top of the group’s activities in sensing and display, whilst maintaining Nanoco’s cash runway.

“Financial performance in the period has been in line with the board’s expectations. The board remains focused on new commercial revenues to sustain the group’s organic activities in H2 FY21 and beyond, with contingency plans in place if needed.”

Regarding the group’s patent infringement litigation with Samsung, he the case is proceeding in line with expectations.

“A trial date has been set for October 2021, but this may experience delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

::

TalkTalk’s offices in Salford

TalkTalk, the Salford-based communications group, has again extended the deadline for discussions regarding a possible takeover by Toscafund Asset Management (TAM).

It follows an announcement by the group, on October 8, that it had recently received a preliminary and non-binding proposal from TAM on behalf of funds advised by it, regarding a possible cash offer to be made by a newly-formed company.

An extension to allow further discussions was announced on November 5, expiring today, and the group has now confirmed that the deadline has now been extended to December 17, when TAM should either announce a firm intention to make an offer for the company, or announce it does not intend to make an offer.

TalkTalk said there can be no certainty that a firm offer will be made by TAM.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close