Welcome to our new product “Friday Takeaway”
This will delve a little deeper on individual companies and focus on non-house stocks under £200m market capitalisation to help raise awareness
Friday Takeaway from UK Small Caps
This will delve a little deeper on individual companies and focus on non-house stocks under £200m market capitalisation to help raise awareness
30th May 2025
Alphabetically arranged
Share prices and market capitalisations taken from Alpha Terminal from the current price on the day of publication.
Top three shareholders are taken from the websites of the companies that we are writing about, unless there is a more up to date TR-1 notification RNS announcement.
News from these companies show signs of recovery
DIAL Dispute Resolution
GENI FDA Rebound
S247 AI Earnings
Diales Group 24.00p £12.55m (DIAL.L)
Financial Calendar:
Year End September, Finals reported 3 December 2024, Interims to end March to be reported on 10 June 2025
Top Three Shareholders:
AB Traction (Stockholm) 27.61%, Gresham House Asset Management 20.27%, Mr. Adrian J Williams 9.03%
Key Investment Points:
Restructuring on target, Increasing Enquiries, Net Cash and high yield
The global specialist in dispute avoidance and resolution consultancy is to report its Interims to the end of March on Tuesday 10th June. The Group (formerly Driver Group) is on a transformation journey following its steep losses of £2.9m for the Y/E September 2022. A four-year transformational strategy was launched in December 2023 and is delivering efficiency gains and enhanced competitiveness.
Diales, established in 1978, provides a range of Expert and Advisory Services from offices in 15 countries, with four reporting regions (Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, and Asia–Pacific) and 250 employees. The services support sectors such as building, energy, infrastructure, mining, oil & gas, industrial and transportation. The new governments, particularly in the UK and US, are setting out to invest significantly in infrastructure and industry and there could also be a surge of enquires when the current destructive European and Middle Eastern conflicts are resolved. Additionally, the Group’s strategic guidance on supply chain challenges and cost escalation claims could benefit from the turmoil caused by the impact of tariffs. Diales seems well positioned for these opportunities.
The 24th April trading update reported continuing profitable trading across its key markets in the UK, Europe and the Middle East. The Board expects to report H1 revenue and underlying Group profit before tax similar to last year: revenues of £21.7m and based on current trading, the Group expects to deliver FY25 results in-line with expectations. The FY September 25 is expected to report a PBT of £1.3m, compared to £0.9m for an EPS of 1.5p, giving a prospective P/E of 15x. The FY dividend should be maintained at 1.5p for a 6.25% yield. The current net cash balance is lower at £3.0m (H124 £3.6m), but that is after paying a £0.4m dividend, buying back shares, and increasing receivables. The expected EBITDA of £2.13m for FY25 shows growth from last year’s £1.8m and we calculate an EBITDA /EV of 4.46x.
Hybridan Comment: The restructuring and trading momentum are positive, and the Group seems moderately rated.
GENinCode 1.55p £4.45m (GENI.L)
Last Reported in Friday Takeway, 21 February 2025 at 3.55p
Financial Calendar:
Year End December, Reported 4 June 2025, Interims to June Report before end of September
Top Three Shareholders:
Octopus Investments Ltd 18.43%, Maven Income and Growth VCT 13.03%, Santi 1990 SL 12.41%
Key Investment Points:
US Expansion, Funded in February, FDA Recovery
The genetics Company focused on the prevention of cardiovascular disease is to report Finals to December 2024 on Wednesday 4th June. The price fell back sharply at the end of April when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) provided full feedback on the De Novo (fast-track) application for CARDIO inCode (kit/device). There were outstanding elements that needed to be addressed, including deficiencies in clinical validation. The CARDIO inCode test for the prevention of coronary heart disease has been included in the US Centres for Medicare service and the Board believe the FDA elements can be addressed.
In February 2025, £4.1m was raised at 3.7p with directors investing £0.74m and the funds to be used to accelerate commercialisation and the CARDIO inCode was launched in Catalonia, Spain.
The Interims to June 2024 reported revenue increasing 46% to £1.39m, and the Adjusted EBITDA loss decreased to £2.16m from £3.37m, with administration expenses 24% lower at £2.2m. The operating loss declined 31% to £2.5m and gross profit margins were steady at 52%.
Hybridan Comment: There is no certainty with the FDA, but the Company is funded, and the chances are that the sell-off has been overdone, and the shares could recover.
Smarttech247 Group 8.5p £9.65m (S247.L)
Last Reported in Friday Takeaway 14 February 2025 at 8.63p
Financial Calendar:
Year End July, Report before end of November, Interims to January, Report before end of April
Top Three Shareholders:
Amplified Technologies Limited 60.0%, Plumtree Capital Limited (acting as trustee for Amplified Technologies Limited) 9.77%, Ocorian Trustees (Jersey) Limited 8.50%
Key Investment Points:
Cyber Threat Market Growing, Invested in Operations, ARR Growth
An AI-enhanced cybersecurity services Group providing automated Managed Detection and Response(MDR) for a range of international clients announced a series of contract renewals and expansions this week. The new contracts are worth a total of $4.2m and are for between 1 and 3 years so will add to Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR). The largest at $2.87m is a three-year MDR renewal from a global pharmaceutical customer. The other contracts are also muti-year and helping the ARR growth strategy.
S247 has invested in expanding operations: developing new AI enhanced products, and hiring staff which has increased costs. The Interims to January 2025 reported on 28 April showed a 21.4% increase in revenues to EUR6.49m and a 32% in ARR compared to last year. The EBITDA was positive at EUR128k but little changed from H123 and the consensus for the FY July 2025 is a EUR1.2m EBITDA (FY23 EUR1.35m.) is the Group has no debt, and the balance sheet cash of EUR 1.9m did not include the EUR1.8m proceeds from the sale of a shareholding in Visibility Blockchain Ltd.
Worryingly, cyber-attacks are increasingly frequent and can have devastating consequences. The sales pipeline continues to grow helped by new risk management features, and by enhancing the value proposition to enterprise clients seeking comprehensive, AI-powered cybersecurity solutions.
Hybridan Comment: The investment in operations and ARR revenue growth should lead to an increase in sustainable profits. We estimate that the EBITDA/EV for FY25 is 6.5x which we believe is not demanding.
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