City round-up: HSS Hire Group; Strix Group
Manchester-based tool and equipment hire group, HSS, has suffered a blow to its prospects for the current financial year following the announcement of a key customer ending its relationship with the business.
In a stock market announcement this morning (June 12) HSS revealed that, following a re-tender process, it has been notified by Amey Plc of its decision to move to another supplier for the provision of its equipment rental managed service contract.
It said the supplier agreement will end in early December 2024 subject to any transitional services that HSS may agree with Amey.
The agreement, which began in December 2015, accounted for approximately seven per cent of group revenue and 10% of group adjusted EBITA in 2023.
HSS said it will provide an update on trading alongside its AGM on June 26, 2024.
The group announced its annual results for 2023 last month which showed improved revenues of £349.1m, but a dip in pre-tax profits from last year’s high of £18.9m, to £11.8m, which the company said was still a ‘solid trading performance’ that outperformed the market.
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Strix PLC
Approximately £8.7m has been raised in a Placing by Strix, the AIM-listed Isle of Man-based group, focused on kettle controls, appliances, and water purification and disinfection solutions.
Following an announcement late yesterday (june 11), the group successfully placed a total of 10,935,700 Placing Shares with investors at a price of 80p per Placing Share, which represents a nil discount to the closing price on June 10, 2024.
The gross proceeds from the Placing are approximately £8.7m. The Placing Shares represent circa five per cent of the issued share capital of Strix.
Stifel Nicolaus Europe and Zeus Capital acted as joint bookrunners in relation to the Placing.
Application has been made for the 10,935,700 Placing Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM. It is expected that Admission will occur at 8am on or around June 14, 2024.
Following Admission of the Placing Shares, the company’s issued ordinary share capital will comprise 229,859,938 ordinary shares.
Therefore, following Admission the total number of ordinary shares with voting rights in the company will be 229,859,938 which may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the company under the Financial Conduct Authority’s Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
