- After being kicked, punched, ridiculed, called a scam, a Ponzi scheme, with people jailed, purged by regulators and otherwise disrespected, Bitcoin is over $100,000.
Warpaint London (W7L), the specialist supplier of colour cosmetics and owner of the W7 and Technic brands, announced a retail offer to raise £1 million at an issue price of 510 pence, as well as a placing of £14m and an acquisition.
Comment: Three separate RNS updates for the book build, the placing and the acquisition. Not great in terms of the potential of investors missing one of them, or them having to go from one another to get the full picture. One hopes that this acquisition is not an over expansion / forcing the pace of the business.
Marula Mining (AQSE: MARU) an African focused mining and development company, confirmed that mining operations at its Blesberg Lithium and Tantalum Mine in South Africa are anticipated to move to a contract mining basis in February 2025. MARU said that with the planned development of the larger open pit mining operations in Q1 2025, the Company’s move to appoint a mining contractor in 2025, is an important one and needed to achieve the planned mine production rates and deliver the necessary run-of-mine material to the planned higher value processing facilities.
Comment: The market may be being a tad unfair to MARU given what is set to happen in H1 2025. But perhaps in current conditions investors do not give companies the luxury of a forward-looking share price.
Cooks Coffee Company, (AQUIS:COOK), the international coffee focused café chain, announced that it has entered an agreement between Dairygold Agri Business Limited (Dairygold) and Esquires Coffee House Ireland Ltd (Esquires) for Esquires to operate and manage four cafés within Co-Op Superstores owned by Dairygold, in Ireland. COOK said it looks forward to building the partnership with Dairygold and to sharing Esquires great food, coffee and hospitality in the Co-op cafes that it will operate with pride.
Comment: Fresh from a punching above weight mention in the papers, we see COOK grabbing the chance to expand in Ireland. One would expect the company to become increasingly appreciated, underpinned by its franchise model.
ITM Power (ITM) said that ahead of our interim results, which are due to be released on 30 January 2025, it was providing a summary of our financial performance for the 6 months to 31 October 2024. The expected unaudited financial results for the half year are as follows: Revenue of £15.2m. Adjusted EBITDA loss of £17.1m. Net cash at the end of the first half of the year of £203m.
Comment: The ongoing losses may not be a good look, but it should be remembered that a green company is invariably able to raise money against / get grants for. With over £200m in the kitty ITM can continue not making money for at least the next ten years, and afford the “go woke, go broke” cliché.
SDI Group (SDI), the buy and build group, announced its interim results for the six months to 31 October 2024. Adjusted operating profit of £3.9m (H1 FY24: £4.4m) and reported operating profit of £2.4m (H1 FY24: £3.4m). SDI said whilst conditions in the life sciences and biomedical markets were challenging in early H1, we have seen improvements from September onwards. Its diverse portfolio has delivered stronger performances in some other sectors.
Comment: A combination of a recovery in the shares since October, and the latest results should ensure that shares of SDI start to get the love they deserve.
Synectics (SNX), a company in advanced security and surveillance systems, announced that it has been awarded four separate contracts from customers in the gaming sector totalling US$2.7 million. SNX said today’s announcement demonstrates its positive momentum in the gaming market, and the continued demand for its innovative, market-leading surveillance and security technology. It was delighted to be collaborating with two new customers in the Philippines, further expanding its footprint in the region.
Comment: A splash of new contracts from SNX, and from a company which is still perhaps more off the radar than it should be given its current fortunes.
CoTec Holdings Corp. and Mkango Resources (MKA) announced the initiation of a “Request for Proposal” process EPCM providers to complete the detailed engineering design, procurement and construction management phase for HyProMag USA LLC. (state-of-the-art rare earth magnet recycling and manufacturing project in the United States.) MKA said momentum continues on the Project following the positive results from the feasibility study announced last week, and it was very excited to be pushing forward with the EPCM selection process. This important Project will help catalyze further development of a robust domestic ecosystem for rare earth magnet recycling and manufacturing in the United States, and will be underpinned by rigorous design and engineering standards.
Comment: Shares of MKA are up over 50% over the past month, with today’s announcement underlining the way that the market is warming to its recycling offering.
AJ Bell (AJB), one of the UK’s largest investment platforms, announced its final results for the year ended 30 September 2024. Record financial performance, with revenue up 23% to £269.4 million (FY23: £218.2 million) and profit before tax (PBT) up 29% to £113.3 million (FY23: £87.7 million). Another year of strong growth across AJ Bell’s dual-channel platform, with 66,000 customers added to close at 542,000, up 14% in the year. Record assets under administration (AUA) of £86.5 billion (FY23: £70.9 billion), up 22% in the year driven by net inflows of £6.1 billion (FY23: £4.2 billion) and favourable market movements of £9.5 billion.
Comment: For a company that may have once appeared to be a poor person’s Hargreaves Lansdown, AJB has grown its business in a mercenary fashion, and convince the punters to pay for a first class service, whether it is first class or not (massive margins). The knock out performance here contrasts with the current exodus of listed companies from the stock market, something that underlines the fundamental success here. The share buyback though, hints that we may be witnessing the high water mark of the company’s fortunes.
Sunrise Resources (SRES) said that its CS Project, located in south central Nevada, is “mine-ready” with key operating permits already in place covering 14.5 million tons of pozzolan and 1.3 million tons of perlite. An additional area, the Northeast Zone, presents a large additional target for natural pozzolan. Pozzolan extraction from the CS Project is aimed at the cement and concrete markets of southern California.
Comment: Although perhaps being “mine ready” does not mean that much, it is at least something which can allow some investors to gravitate toward the shares.
Aptamer Group (APTA), the developer of novel Optimer® binders to enable innovation in the life sciences industry, provided a technical update on the Group’s multiple strategic programmes. This includes the ongoing partnership with Unilever, the development of an Alzheimer’s disease diagnostic test with Neuro-Bio, and the collaboration with AstraZeneca. APTA said all of the programmes, from fast-moving consumer goods to therapeutics, continue to show excellent results with increased validation and progression towards commercial products that will deliver a value inflection point for Aptamer Group.
Comment: APTA remains something of a dark horse from the market’s perspective, something which is undeserved given the quality of its counterparties, such as AstraZeneca.
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