Pulsar Helium (PLSR), the helium project development company, announced that it has conditionally raised £3.875 million. Total gross funds raised by the Company pursuant to the Fundraising and the £1.125 million pre-IPO cornerstone investment as first announced on 21 August 2024, therefore amount to £5 million. The net proceeds of the Fundraising are expected to be used primarily to accelerate the development of the Company’s flagship Topaz helium project in Minnesota, USA through undertaking further drilling to deepen the Jetstream #1 well, acquire further seismic studies and complete a preliminary economic assessment, undertake additional (as yet uncommitted) Topaz Project related activities, and for general working capital uses. PLSR said it was extremely pleased with the outcome of the fundraising and its admission to AIM, which represents a significant milestone for the Company. The fundraising itself was oversubscribed by more than 50%, reflecting the strong support and confidence from new and existing shareholders. As the funds raised are sufficient for its near-term work programmes, it decided not to accept the additional funding offered as it felt it didn’t want to incur any further dilution ahead of what it expects to be an exciting period for the Company.
Comment: It is interesting how some bears can write about a stock not only for shorting purposes, but personal gripes, or off the back of plain ignorance. It can be seen from today’s RNS that with £5m in the kitty (and having rejected more), the accusation that PLSR will be cash strapped, and that the IPO is not a great success is totally fallacious. This is important to note at a time when AIM and the London market need all the support they can get, not school playground level sniping from ill-informed bad actors seeking clickbait.
Rome Resources (RMR), the DRC-focused tin explorer, updated on its current drilling operations at the Kalayi Prospect and the Mont Agoma Prospect located in the North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. RMR said it was very pleased with overall drilling progress and the team’s professionalism on the ground, evident from a management site visit earlier in the month. The team are pushing ahead as fast as possible, with each drill hole so far showing promise on both the tin front and, notably in Mont Agoma, on the copper front as well.
Comment: We have seen a textbook run of updates from RMR since it came to market, and one would suspect that the cumulative effect here will feed through to the company’s share price, given the high grade assets being drilled.
Strix Group (KETL), a company in the design, manufacture and supply of kettle safety controls announced that it has achieved a major milestone, having surpassed the manufacture of 3 billion products worldwide. KETL said it was very pleased to have reached another significant milestone for the Company, achieving 3 billion products manufactured is a clear demonstration of the ongoing demand within our core business. It continue to invest in our kettle control division, bringing to market innovative products for our customers around the world.
Comment: Who knew that kettle controls were so numerous? It would appear that KETL is a significant player in the field, with the kind of world domination any James Bond villain would be proud of.
Altona (LSE: REE), a resource exploration and development company focused on critical raw materials in Africa, announces that a new research note has been published. It can be accessed by using the following link: https://www.optimocapital.co.uk/library-2
Comment: It would appear that anyone can write a research note these days. Such considerations aside, REE remains one of the more promising of the London market’s rare earth plays, with the possible short-term production of fluorspar, another critical mineral from Monte Muambe as recently announced, a worthy kicker for the stock.
Audioboom (BOOM), the global podcast company, provided a trading update for the quarter ended 30 September 2024. Record Q3 revenue of US$18.8 million, up 34% on Q3 2023 (US$14.0 million).
Comment: A great performance, and improvement for BOOM. But unfortunately what appears to be a permanent seller in the stock, and ironically, rather aloof comms from the company mean that we may have to see many more updates such as today’s to move the dial as far as share price is concerned.
Avacta Group (AVCT), a life sciences company, announced the appointment of Michelle Morrow, PhD as Chief Scientific Officer with effect from November 4, 2024. Dr. Morrow brings nearly 20 years’ experience in oncology therapeutics and antibody research at both biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
Comment: Thankfully a RNS where one does not need a PhD in oncology to understand what is going on. Hopefully Dr Morrow will be part of the demystification process, as well as driving the company’s drugs suite forward.
IQ-AI (IQAI) a developer and manufacturer of medical image processing platforms and therapies for cancer, released a letter to shareholders on behalf of Michael Schmainda, CEO of IQ-AI’s wholly owned subsidiary Imaging Biometrics. The letter said that early in 2025 it will obtain summary results of the phase 1 trial. Those results, and the Real-World Data that will be accumulated via the EAP, will give great insights into its commercialization pathways. As it communicated, RWD is significant because it represents the general population and, therefore, may be more informative than tightly controlled clinical trial data.
Comment: Thankfully, IQAI has not gone for the Avacta (AVCT) blinding with science routine. But that said, a little more work may be required to get an understandable message across.
ProBiotix Health (AQSE: PBX) the life sciences business announced that today it will be publishing a circular to Shareholders containing details of a requisitioned general meeting of the Company. The Directors of ProBiotix, other than Stephen O’Hara, unanimously recommend that Shareholders VOTE AGAINST ALL THE RESOLUTIONS being proposed at the Requisitioned General Meeting. Stephen O’Hara is a Non-executive Director of the Company and is also Chief Executive of OptiBiotix Health plc. As such, he has a conflict of interest and has not been involved in the considerations of the Independent Directors.
Comment: PBX holds the record in the recent past as being one of the best performing companies to be requisitioned, something which normally happens when things have gone wrong. Perhaps the powers that be at OPTI should focus their energies on addressing its cash burn and revenues issues, rather than raining on PBX’s parade.
Tern (TERN), the investment company, announced that it has raised £625,000, at a price of 1.25.
Comment: Yes, the recent share price rise was too good for the company not to raise money. The 41.9% discount certainly on the harsh side though.
EnSilica (ENSI), a chip maker of mixed signal ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), announce that it has been awarded a design and supply contract for a mixed signal controller ASIC to be used in automotive and industrial motorised actuators. The total value, including non-recurring engineering and supply, is projected to exceed US$31m over 7 years.
Comment: It has been said (admittedly only here) that ENSI could be the UK’s Nvidia. While this may be a big ask, at least today’s news shows the company is on the right track.
Wise (WISE) a money transfer platform issued a Q2 Trading Update. It said progress towards its long-term aim to become the network of choice for moving the world’s money continues at pace with the number of active customers using Wise growing by 23% YoY to 8.9m in Q2, driven primarily by existing customers recommending Wise.
Comment: The latest improvement here is clearly nothing to be sniffed at, and may be a testimony to such factors as the ongoing de-banking and corporates being able to open a bank account crisis that the media seems to have forgotten about because it is no longer fit for purpose.
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