EARNINGS AND TRADING: MedPal strong trading; MediaZest backs outlook

The following is a round-up of earnings and trading updates by London-listed companies, issued on Monday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Arc Minerals Ltd - copper exploration company focused on mines in Africa - First half loss narrows to £1.7 million from £2.3 million as administrative expenses decline to £965,000 from £2.1 million a year ago. Cash and cash equivalents total £1.9 million at June 30, up from £682,000.

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Aura Renewable Acquisitions PLC - London-based acquisition vehicle for businesses operating in the renewable energy sector - First half pretax loss narrows to £36,838 from £63,685. Reports no revenue, unchanged. Chair John Croft says: "During the first half of 2026 your directors reviewed a number of potential acquisition targets from different market segments. However, none of these developed into realistic opportunities to list on the LSE." Adds: "Although your board was not able to recommend a suitable transaction to its shareholders, I have been encouraged by an observed increase in potential acquisition targets emerging for engagement. I believe this to be a result of two factors: Firstly, it is clear that there is a noticeable, if still minor, resurgence in interest in London as a public market, particularly from companies with an international footprint. Secondly there is a reducing number of available listed shell companies remaining as potential sources of [reverse takeover] transactions, which improves the chances of negotiating a transaction that will deliver value to our shareholders."

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ZCCM Investment Holdings PLC - Lusaka-based mining investor - Expects first half earnings per share to be around 89% higher than that of the period-year period. Says this is due to "the significant turnaround in the contribution from equity-accounted investees of ZCCM-IH." Profit from equity-accounted investees amounts swings to ZMW370.49 million, USD19.66 million, from a loss of ZMW129.43 million a year ago. As a result, group net loss narrows to ZMW89.86 million from ZMW129.43 million. Expects to publish half year results on September 22. ZCCM advises shareholders "to exercise caution when dealing in the company's securities until the financial results are published."

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Borders & Southern Petroleum PLC - London-based oil and gas exploration company - First half pretax loss widens to USD726,000 from USD441,000 a year ago. Administration costs rise to USD730,000 from USD608,000. The company operates three production licences in the South Falkland Basin covering an area of nearly 10,000 square kilometres. It has acquired 2,517 square kilometres of 3D seismic and drilled two exploration wells, "making a significant gas condensate discovery with its first well." Says amid geo-political tensions between Argentina, the Falkland Islands and the UK it was "delighted" to receive a letter of support from the UK Foreign Office, which read: "The United Kingdom Government fully supports the right of the Falkland Islanders to exploit their natural resources, including hydrocarbons, for their own economic benefit." CEO Harry Baker comments: "The company has a close working relationship with Falkland Islands Government and we have been guided to expect to see the licence extensions signed before year end." Adds: "We remain extremely optimistic about the outlook for our company and look forward to updating the market in due course."

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MedPal AI PLC - London-based digital health and AI company - Conditionally raises gross proceeds of £5 million through the issue of 100.0 million new ordinary shares at 5.0 pence each. Proceeds will go towards working capital for medication stock and investment in advanced automation on the dedicated GLP-1 pick and pack line at its Runcorn hub, increasing capacity to 14,000 orders a day, equivalent to £2 million of orders a day. Additionally, says growth in August accelerates compared to September. Further, based on trading from September 1 to September 19, the annualised revenue run rate is now over £35 million, up from £28 million in August and £8.6 million in July. Says GLP-1 weight management clinic New Health has generated revenue of over £1.5 million in the first 19 days of September from more than 12,000 orders, a daily rate 35% higher than August, which was itself up over 800% on July. Chief Executive Jason Drummond says: "This is only the beginning. We are seeing encouraging early repeat ordering and every reorder comes at no acquisition cost. Further, our proprietary dispensing facility, our platform and our AI take the cost out of serving them. This is what the Health OS was built for."

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Contango Holdings PLC - Zimbabwe-focused metallurgical coal producer - Following the receipt of the £5 million subscription in August, says all outstanding investor loans have now been settled. "The working capital position of the company has been greatly improved, and the company is now sufficiently funded to meet its working capital obligations through to mid-2027," Contango says. Is scheduled to receive USD2 million for the next royalty payment by the end of 2026, "upon which the company expects to be in a position to pay a maiden dividend to shareholders," company adds. Contango intends to file audited 12-month accounts for the year to May 31 by the end of September.

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MediaZest PLC - Woking, England-based provider of audio-visual solutions - Provides trading update. Celebrates "continued strong trading". Says this underpins its "confidence in delivering double digit revenue and profit growth for the full year and continued positive momentum thereafter." Summer trading reflects the continued conversion, of its "growing orderbook, with ongoing roll outs for blue chip customers including Pets At Home Group PLC, Kia Corp, Hyundai Motor Co Ltd, lululemon athletica Inc and Arc'Teryx. Adds: The group continued to deliver a successful roll out and support services to First Rate Exchange Services for the supply of digital currency boards into UK post offices, recently hitting a milestone of 1,000 screen installations. This will grow to approximately 1,500 screens, originally expected for summer 2026 and now anticipated to complete during [fiscal 2027]. " Says recurring revenue continues to grow, as several customer renewals are signed and new sites added during the second half of its fiscal 2026. "These contracts are of varying lengths, typically lasting from one to five years and are worth in aggregate a minimum of £700,000 and up to £1.1million, dependent upon certain criteria attached to one particular contract, which will be determined in future years," MediaZest says. The company "continues to identify and evaluate potential complementary acquisitions". Says the board is "actively engaged in ongoing discussions with suitable targets and is making very good progress and looks forward to providing further updates in the near future." Chief Executive Geoff Robertson comments: "It has been an exciting and busy Summer for MediaZest as we have continued to deliver for our existing customers and have also added a number of new recurring contracts. I am delighted to report that we hit the 1,000 screen installation milestone for First Rate Exchange Services, one of the largest ever installations for MediaZest by volume. We are in discussions with several potential clients which are expected to reach successful conclusion in [the first half of 2027] and I look forward to providing shareholders with further updates in the coming weeks."

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Anglesey Mining Plc - UK-based mineral exploration and development company - Announces exploratory geospatial analysis results at its Parys Mountain copper-zinc-lead-silver-gold volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit in North Wales. Says four areas of interest are identified "where combinations of geological, geophysical and Earth observation datasets further justify additional exploration." Adds: "The highlighted areas broadly align, as expected, with those already identified in the company's ongoing technical reviews, providing additional data to support the analysis and further de-risk costly exploration at Parys Mountain."

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Pennant International Group PLC - Cheltenham, England-based provider of systems support, technical services and training with focus on defence sector - Enters into a short-term unsecured shareholder loan agreement with existing major shareholder Brett Gordon for a loan of up to £600,000 at 10.0% per annum, payable monthly. Pennant had secured a temporary increase to its bank overdraft facility to £1.4 million to support working capital fluctuations through the third quarter. "This new loan agreement enables the company to reduce its bank overdraft to £1.0 million and to provide continued flexibility as it manages forecast working capital peaks through the remainder of the financial year. This facility bridges a period of delivery against our contracted order book which is expected to result in contracted milestone payments during [the fourth quarter of 2026] and early 2027," Pennant says, adding: "The loan agreement further supports the continued execution of the group's ongoing cost reduction and restructuring programme, which is currently forecast to deliver sustainable, annualised cost savings in excess of £500,000 starting from 2027." It plans to draw down £400,000 of the loan with immediate effect. Additionally, says it "remains on track to meet full year 2026 market expectations."

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By Aidan Lane Alliance News reporter

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