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The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Friday and not separately reported by Alliance News: ---------- Unicorn AIM VCT PLC - Teignmouth, England-based venture capital trust - Says it ends financial 2025 with a net asset value per share of 90.3 pence at September 30, up from 88.0p at the end of March, but down from 104.7p a year earlier. Notes that NAV declined 1.8% during the year, underperforming the firm’s comparator, the FTSE AIM All-Share index, which had a total return of 7.9%. Cites ‘a narrow group of cyclical stocks’ and struggling smaller businesses for the ‘disappointing’ result. Declares a final dividend per share of 3.5p, bringing the total ordinary dividend to 6.5p per share. Notes that it also paid out a special dividend per share of 6.0p, back in February, and that it plans a new £25.0 million buyback scheme, with further details to come in January. ‘The broader environment for AIM VCTs remained poor. Risk appetite for early-stage businesses remained constrained, IPO activity was limited, and fundraising conditions remained subdued,’ the company says. Stresses that its investees are in a position ‘to benefit should market conditions stabilise.’ Chair Tim Woodcock adds: ‘While challenges remain, the board is hopeful that conditions will improve.’ ---------- SkinBioTherapeutics PLC - skin health-focused life science company - Revenue multiplies to £4.6 million in the year ended September 30 from £1.2 million a year earlier. Pretax loss narrows to £715,116 from £2.9 million, ‘despite an increase in costs of operations and headcount,’ the firm notes. Points to contributions from AxisBiotix direct sales and royalty revenues, as well as a full year’s trading for Dermatonics Ltd, a topical wound and skincare business which it had acquired in 2024. Also, it cheers nine months’ sales for personal care product seller Bio-Tech Solutions Ltd, its second acquisition, announced in 2024, which it considers complementary to Dermatonics. Sees revenue growth in financial 2026, as trading for the new year so far matches expectations. Emily Bertram officially takes up her promotion to Chief Financial Officer on January 1. Bertram and CEO Stuart Ashman are managing duties of former Chief Operating Officer Simon Hewitson, who stepped down last month, as the search for a successor continues. The firm maintains its ‘ambition to be a consolidator in the market,’ and Chair Martin Hunt calls 2025 ‘a year we will look back at with great pride.’ Hunt says the shift from ‘one technology company, albeit with multiple pillars, to a more integrated, diverse group with multinational distribution, a high street presence and manufacturing capabilities, continues to progress.’ ---------- Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC - London-based investment company focused on bitcoin mining research & development - Says it has started to garner ‘high levels of trust’ with manufacturers of application-specific integrated circuit chips, as it touts the novelty of its bitcoin software offering. Notes non-disclosure agreements with three ASIC chip makers, ‘each of which has developed its own Bitcoin mining rig.’ Expects to access each of the three companies’ source codes in order to install and test the software version of Method C AI Oracle. According to the firm, Method C offers a ‘higher quality hashing rate’ for encryption activities. QBT had started testing the hardware version of its product with one of the three ASIC companies back in May, but says it could take up to 18 months to produce a commercial chip. It has switched to the software version instead, ‘as a commercial roll-out is expected to be achieved much faster with this approach.’ After a roll-out has taken place, further design partnerships with ASIC companies will represent ‘the second phase’ of a ‘commercial relationship’, QBT notes. It has also signed an NDA with a bitcoin mining pool, researching ways for ‘the nodes of the pool to help miners generate better quality hash rates, leading to more Bitcoin being mined.’ The firm is ‘optimistic’ as it works with US and European patent examiners, and about a collaboration with a bitcoin mining startup, which is helping QBT test its Method A, B and C technology. ---------- Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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