Tufton Assets Limited (SHIP)

(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of earnings for London-listed companies, issued this week and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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National World PLC - Leeds, England-based owner of the Yorkshire Post and the Scotsman - Reports pretax profit of GBP4.5 million in 2024, up 45% from GBP3.1 million in 2023. Revenue rises 9.1% to GBP96.0 million from GBP88.0 million. Digital revenue grows 6.5% to GBP19.6 million from GBP18.4 million. The firm says results benefited from annualised cost savings of GBP2.9 million. National World says digital subscribers in its portfolio increased by 17% in 2024. It does not propose a final dividend for 2024 and does not give an outlook, due to an active takeover offer from Media Concierge Holdings Ltd. "National World has again increased profits while widening its footprint and its content offering across all platforms," Chair David Montgomery says. "Acquisitions and launches, including the development of TV, events and social media are driving a new sustainable model for local and national publishing. Revenue growth, particularly in digital, has been propelled by local video advertising, across our new World online metropolitan brands and nationalworld.com." National World shares were up 1.3% at 22.59 pence in London on Friday morning.

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Helium One Global Ltd - Tanzania-focused helium exploration company - Says pretax loss widened to USD1.9 million in 2024 from USD1.1 million in 2023. The firm generates no revenue, unchanged from the previous year. Notes that it completed an extended well test on Itumbula West-1 which flowed up to 7.9% helium to the surface. Says helium is an "irreplaceable technology commodity in a very dynamic market" and expects the year ahead to be "another busy and very significant period for the company". Chair James Smith said: "This has been a very exciting and significant period for the company...We now have a portfolio containing two development opportunities in two jurisdictions which diversifies the risk profile of the company and provides us with the opportunity, in Colorado, to realise near-term revenue streams which will support our future investment requirements across the portfolio." Shares in Helium One Global were up 3.0% at 1.01 pence in London on Friday afternoon.

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Crystal Amber Fund Ltd - invests in small and mid-cap UK equities - Says net asset value increased by 2.4% to 178.08 pence at the end of December 2024 from 173.90 pence six months earlier. Compares to a 3.8% increase in the Numis Small Cap Index over the same period. The trust says its largest shareholding, Morphic Medical Inc, has "continued to make encouraging commercial and regulatory progress". No dividend was declared for the half year. The trust says it will now start a consultation to seek shareholder approval on the future strategy of the company.

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Tufton Assets Ltd- Guernsey, England-based investor in commercial sea vessels - Says NAV increased 9.7% to USD1.59 per share at the end of 2024 from USD1.45 in December 2023. NAV total return per share for the six months to December 31 was 6.0%, down from 9.6% in the previous six months. Says the NAV total return was primarily driven by operating performance. "2025 looks set to have several geopolitical avenues for disruptive change," says Non-Executive Chair Rob King. "Disruption of traditional trade patterns often plays out to the benefit of shipping in terms of effect on tonne-mile trade demand growth. Nevertheless, the industry (like most others) also remains dependent on global GDP and trade growth. The board and investment manager continue to monitor geopolitical developments."

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Centaur Media PLC - London-based business consultancy group - Swings to pretax loss of GBP8.5 million in 2024 from a profit of GBP6.1 million in 2024. Revenue falls 6.1% to GBP35.1 million from GBP37.3 million. The firm maintains a final dividend of 1.2 pence per share, leaving its total dividend unchanged from the prior year at 1.8p. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 39% to GBP5.9 million from GBP9.7 million. Says performance in its marketing brands was impacted by reduced client spend during 2024. "2024 was a difficult year for Centaur, due to the challenging macro-economic environment that faced some of our customers, driving caution and impacting marketing budgets," Chair Martin Rowland says. "Looking ahead, we have started the year conducting a review of Centaur's business units and brands. We are focused on defining our future strategy and enhancing the reputation of the brands within Centaur to maximise shareholder value while remaining our customers' partner of choice for business intelligence and learning in the marketing and legal sectors."

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By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter

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