(Alliance News) - The following is a round-up of updates by London-listed companies, issued on Wednesday and not separately reported by Alliance News:

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Westminster Group PLC - London-based provider of security services, for sensitive places such as ports, airports and commercial buildings - Says it will change its financial year end to June 30 from December 31, effective immediately. Says the reason for the change is to better align its reporting periods with the "financial dynamics" of long-term contracts its managed services business has signed, with the new end date "in the best interests of the group". Also notes that it has received USD500,000 in a full and final settlement of its dispute with Scanport over operations in Ghana. Says it believes the settlement terms are favourable.

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Seeing Machines Ltd - Canberra-based developer of transport operator-monitoring technology - Says US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issues advanced notice of proposed rulemaking, which sets out groundwork for standardising impaired-driving prevention technology in new vehicles. Adds that the announcement specifically mentions driver monitoring systems as a solution that will be considered. Says the notice is the first step in implementing a federal motor vehicle safety standard. Chief Executive Paul McGlone says: "We are eager to continue our conversations with NHTSA and others who support reducing traffic fatalities and, as with Europe, have been delighted to be part of a small ecosystem of industry experts assisting this process. Euro NCAP and European Commission's General Safety Regulations will require all cars, vans, trucks and buses to be equipped with technology like ours to stop distraction and drowsiness beginning next year. It is clear that regulatory momentum around driver safety is building around the world."

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Jade Road Investments Ltd - Hong Kong-based investment company backing small and medium enterprises worldwide - Says it is mulling strategic alternatives for its whole legacy portfolio, as part of its effort to dispose of non-core assets. Says alternatives include transfer of the assets to a special purpose vehicle to be owned by the company's shareholders. Adds that it has made progress with the proposed sale of Future Metal Holdings, and has sold 50% of its stake in Heirloom Investment Fund SPC for USD235,000 to manage its short-term capital requirements. Chair John Croft comments: "We continue to deliver on our strategy of providing investors exposure to the alternative assets sector whilst disposing of our non-core legacy Asian assets which would allow more cash to be invested into our new strategy."

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Tekcapital PLC - London-based intellectual property investment company - Says its portfolio company Innovative Eyewear Inc has updated it Lucyd app to include a ChatGPT voice interface. Innovative Eyewear develops smart eyewear under the Lucyd, Nautica, Eddie Bauer and Reebok brands. Says the update adds a ChatGPT toolbox to allow the writing of text from a voice prompt, translation, readability improvement and email generation via a prompt, amongst other additions. Adds that it is in the final stages with Google to enable hands-free Google Voice access to ChatGPT on Lucyd eyewear. Chief Executive Harrison Gross says: "We are excited to launch the new version of the Lucyd app for Android, which powers seamless voice access to ChatGPT on Lucyd eyewear. We believe this will deliver more functionality to our community and foster the development of an additional revenue stream from users of other "hearables" that want seamless voice access to ChatGPT."

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By Harvey Dorset, Alliance News reporter

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