EARNINGS AND TRADING: Afentra goes it alone; Vertu revenue edges up
The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:
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Afentra PLC - Africa-focused oil and gas company - Pretax profit in 2025 falls 79% to $13.8 million from $65.6 million in 2024, while revenue declines 37% to $114.4 million from $180.9 million. ‘The year under review saw Afentra further consolidate its position as a fast-growth independent E&P company in Angola,’ Chief Executive Officer Paul McDade says. Afentra concludes a strategic review, which could have resulted in a sale of the company. It received ‘expressions of interest’. ‘The oil price volatility, coupled with the significant appreciation in the Afentra share price between initial outreach and the proposal deadline caused a number of parties to withdraw from the process. Ultimately a number of actionable proposals were received and considered by the board. The board’s assessment of these proposals was that they did not recognise the significant upside value potential within Afentra’s current business and therefore concluded that given the change in macro environment and the refinancing announced today that greater value potential is offered by Afentra pursuing the next phase of growth as an independent E&P listed company. All discussions with potential acquirors have been terminated,’ the firm says. It is no longer in an offer period. Afentra secures a $125 million pre-payment facility with Gunvor Group, which replaces its existing reserve base lending facility and working capital Facility with Trafigura and MCB. The move lowers the cost of debt and provides ‘long-term funding to support the company’s investment programme’.
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Vertu Motors PLC - Gateshead, England-based automobile retailer - Pretax profit in year ended February 28 falls 18% to £20.3 million from £24.8 million, Revenue, however, edges up 1.5% to £4.83 billion from £4.76 billion. Vertu maintains its dividend at 2.05 pence per share. ‘The group has delivered solid results against the backdrop of sector pressures from the government’s ZEV mandate on new car profitability, as we have focused on controlling the controllables, such as aftersales and cost. The group is benefiting from stable management, a highly trained and committed workforce, strong cashflows funding a maintained dividend, another £12 million share buyback and significant asset backing,’ Chief Executive Officer Robert Forrester said. Vertu says trading profit for March and April 2026 was ahead of the prior year. It adds: ‘The impact of the Middle East conflict driving fuel price volatility, pressuring consumer confidence, disposable income and vehicle demand is being monitored. No material adverse consumer trends are visible today. BEV and hybrid vehicles are showing higher interest from customers as expected. A prolonged conflict could drive up inflation.’
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itim Group PLC - London-based retail software solutions provider - itim swings to a 2025 pretax loss of £464,000 from profit of £175,000 in 2024, as revenue edges down 2.2% to £17.5 million from £17.9 million. ‘With encouraging sales opportunities, continued innovation and growing interest in AI-led solutions, we enter 2026 with renewed confidence,’ Chief Executive Ali Athar says.
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Inspecs Group PLC - Bath, England-based producer of eyewear solutions - Swings to pretax loss in 2025 of £241,000 from £1.6 million profit in 2024, as revenue declines 0.9% to £191.7 million from £193.3 million. Chief Executive Officer Richard Peck said: ‘During the year we took further actions to simplify the group, including the closure of the Norville lens business and the completion of key integration activities. These steps were taken deliberately to reduce complexity, strengthen focus on our core Frames and Optics activities, and improve long?term capital allocation. Inspecs has entered 2026 with a simpler structure, a clearer strategic focus and a more resilient operating platform. While external uncertainty remains, the actions taken in 2025 provide a strong foundation for operational improvement, margin recovery and sustainable long?term value creation.’
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KRM22 PLC - London-based investor in technology and software companies, focused on risk management for capital markets - Pretax loss in 2025 widens to £2.1 million from £1.4 million, though revenue increases 9.9% to £7.4 million from £6.8 million. An unrealised foreign exchange loss of £883,000 hits its bottom line. ‘2025 was a year of strategic progress, operational execution, and strengthened financial foundations,’ it says. ‘While we have experienced some delays in conversion of the sales pipeline with only £100,000 of new contractual ARR signed since the start of 2026, the delays have been driven by extended vendor onboarding and internal governance processes; a reflection of heightened market volatility following the geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East, with many firms prioritising their core trading and risk operations.’
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Public Policy Holding Co Inc - Washington, DC-based group of advisory firms, specialising in government affairs and public relations - Says first quarter of 2026 is its ‘strongest quarter to date’ for revenue and adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. Adjusted Ebitda rises 30% on-year to $11.2 million, with revenue climbing 28% to $50.1 million. Chief Executive Officer Stewart Hall says: ‘The US listing has further increased PPHC’s visibility and strengthened our pipeline of opportunities, both for acquisitions and senior talent. In a complex political, regulatory, and reputational environment, clients are increasingly seeking integrated counsel across multiple spheres of influence, and we believe PPHC is uniquely positioned to meet that need.’
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Mercia Asset Management PLC - alternative asset manager focused on regional UK small and medium enterprises - Mercia has received around £1 million of realisation proceeds in the last six months, from three former direct investments. They are Impression Technologies Ltd, LM Technologies Ltd and Fortis Frontier PLC. ‘Whilst these receipts are not material individually, collectively they do represent positive cash inflow to Mercia and reflect the group’s focus on realising value from the direct investment portfolio,’ it adds.
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Lowland Investment Co PLC - invests in small, medium and large UK businesses - Net asset value per share at March 31 half year end amounts to 174.2 pence, up 27% on-year from 137.2p and rising 5.0% from 165.8p. The NAV total return is 7.1%, underperforming the FTSE All-Share Index which returns 8.9%. Lowland adds: ‘Towards the end of the six months, the Iran War led to sharp falls in equity markets globally. At a portfolio level this was positive for oil companies, which are well represented in both the UK market and in Lowland, but more generally the rising price of oil has had a knock-on effect on inflation and hence interest rate expectations, with analysts now predicting that rates will rise, rather than fall, over the coming months. This in turn has impacted the more cyclical companies in the portfolio such as housebuilders. Against a volatile and uncertain backdrop your fund managers continue to focus on the quality, resilience and valuation of the portfolio companies.’
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Enwell Energy PLC - Ukraine-focused oil and gas exploration and production company - It says 2025 was a ‘difficult year’, amid ‘regulatory actions of the Ukrainian authorities resulting in the suspensions of our MEX-GOL, SV and VAS production licences, coupled with the challenges of the ongoing war in Ukraine’. Enwell swings to a 2025 pretax loss of $2.5 million from profit of $30.4 million in 2024, as revenue slumps to $3.3 million from $44.9 million. Aggregate production volumes for the year were 48,962 barrels of oil equivalent, down markedly from 722,753. Enwell says: ‘The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has had, and continues to have, a significant impact on all aspects of life in Ukraine, including the group’s business and operations. The scale and duration of disruption to the group’s business continues to be difficult to predict, and there remains significant uncertainty about the outcome of the war in Ukraine.’
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EnergyPathways PLC - West Sussex, England-based energy infrastructure project company - Signs agreement with Associated British Ports to evaluate the Port of Barrow on Cumbria’s south west coast as a location for the Marram energy storage hub project. ‘The MESH project is expected to be Britain’s largest integrated energy storage project and will bolster Britain’s energy security and lower consumer bills,’ EnergyPathways adds. ABP is the UK’s leading and largest ports group.
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Orosur Mining Inc - South America-focused minerals explorer and developer - Orosur says drilling at Pepas West ‘continues to show positive results’. ‘A number of holes have now been completed into this zone, from various positions and in various directions, in order to gain some understanding of the nature, orientation and controls upon this zone. Results thus far are highly encouraging with thick intersections of shallow gold mineralisation being recorded,’ Orosur adds. It says hole PEP090 is ‘particularly encouraging’. The hole demonstrates ‘extension potential’.
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