The FCA is to consult on a compensation scheme for motor finance customers. We will consult on an industry-wide scheme to compensate motor finance customers who were treated unfairly. Any redress scheme must be fair to consumers who have lost out and ensure the integrity of the motor finance market, so it works well for future consumers. We will publish the consultation by early October and finalise any scheme in time for people to start receiving compensation next year.
Comment: Apparently the victims of the motor finance scandal are to get less than £950 each. Instead, the FCA gets into the limelight as a Robin Hood figure. All the toing and froing around the legal system, including the (unnecessary) Supreme Court (why is it involved anyway?) makes our friends in the legal profession rather more than a grand each. Indeed, one can be sure that all the costs of the legal shenanigans are passed onto the hapless consumer who has to wait until next year to get any cash anyway.
Valereum (AQSE: VLRM) announced that the Company has raised a total of £0.4 million via the firm subscriptions as announced on 01 August 2025, comprised of £0.2 million each from its Chairman, James Bannon and its CEO, Gary Cottle at £0.031. the proceeds (along with the recent partial sale of VLRM’s holding in London BTC Company) are intended to be used to: Scale existing operations within VLRM Markets and expand onboarding capacity for new tokenised issuer. Advance technology development, including looking into exploiting opportunities for the Company’s proprietary Digital Financial Market Infrastructure (DFMI) platform. Explore and expand regulatory approvals in new target jurisdictions to facilitate cross-border tokenisation Support commercial and ecosystem growth initiatives, including crypto advisory services, BTC initiatives, GATE Token and other opportunities.
Comment: It would appear that the powers that be at VLRM are keen on rolling their sleeves up, leading from the front. This is not only in terms of sacrificing the cost of a Ferrari each, but also looking to make the company a vertically integrated services provider in its space. One presumes that the company is no longer on the London BTC Company’s Christmas card list after the recent share sale.
Capital Metals (CMET), a mineral sands company approaching mine development stage at the high-grade Taprobane Minerals Project in Sri Lanka, announced the appointments of Aravinda De Silva and Savanth Sebastian as Non-Executive Directors of the Company with immediate effect. CMET said “It gives me great pleasure to welcome two respected Sri Lankan business leaders to the Board of Capital Metals as we work together to develop the first major modern mineral sands operation in Sri Lanka, and one of the highest-grade mineral sands projects globally.”
Comment: These new appointments continue to beef up CMET, which has already been on the front foot in the aftermath of the ongoing proving up of its high-grade Taprobane Minerals Project in Sri Lanka.
Hamak Gold Limited (HAMA), a company combining traditional gold exploration in West Africa with a Digital Asset Treasury Management strategy, announced the appointment of Nicola Horlick as a Non-Executive Director. Nicola will also join both the Audit Committee and the Remuneration Committee of the Board. Nicola Horlick is a prominent figure in the UK investment industry, with over 35 years of experience in institutional fund management, corporate governance, and financial innovation.
Comment: Hot on the heels, so to speak, of Dr Arthur Laffer, we have another public figure arriving at HAMA. As well as being an appointment that turns heads, we are reminded that HAMA is intent on being a serious company, hiring those with the most experience of the markets. One wonders who else will be tapped from the company’s Rolodex?
ACG Metals (ACG) announced that it has submitted an application for its ordinary shares to be cross traded on the OTCQX Best Market in the United States. This step supports ACG’s strategy to broaden its international shareholder base and enhance visibility among U.S. institutional and retail investors. The OTCQX Best Market, operated by OTC Markets Group, is the highest tier of the U.S. OTC markets and is designed for established, investor-focused companies that meet high financial and governance standards. Subject to regulatory approvals, trading on the OTCQX Market is expected to commence in Q3 2025.
Comment: ACG is certainly on the front foot at the moment, in the wake of upping guidance last month, and news it is advancing sulphide expansion at its project at Gediktepe, set to be commissioned in Q1 2026. All of this means that the company is clearly keen to bring in a fresh pool of investors from the U.S.
Premier African Minerals (PREM) provided an update on the plant status at the Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project following the announcement on 25 July 2025. The second phase of the plant test run is now expected to commence on Monday, 4 August 2025, with all necessary OEM’s present. Operating parameters will be finalised and agreed with the Zulu team and OEM suppliers, to meet the required spodumene concentrate specifications. By operating within these parameters and optimizing the remaining areas in the plant with guidance from the relevant OEM’s, the plant should reach a sustained steady-state of operation. This would also enable Zulu to target the overall plant availability of 22 days per month as was originally projected as the required availability to meet target production levels. George Roach, CEO, commented, “At present the OEM and Zulu personnel are conducting inspections, normal maintenance, and a minor change to flow control in the spodumene float section in advance of this second test run.
Comment: Of course, every day we see George Roach’s name on a PREM RNS is a bonus, especially when he is the bearer of good news. He seems to be keen to take the company to the Promised Land / steady state of operation as far as Zulu is concerned before he heads off into the sunset.
Europa Oil & Gas (EOG), the AIM quoted West Africa, UK and Ireland focused oil and gas exploration, development and production company, announced that its associated company, Antler Global Limited, has entered into detailed commercial discussions and has signed a non-binding Heads of Terms with a major energy company to farm-out an interest in the EG-08 production sharing contract (“PSC”) in offshore Equatorial Guinea. Europa has a 42.9% equity interest in Antler which in turn holds an 80% working interest in the EG-08 PSC, with the remaining 20% held by GEPetrol (Guinea Equatorial de Petróleos), the national oil company of Equatorial Guinea, representing the State’s interest.
Comment: It would appear EOG has delivered a humdinger of a farm out, something which explains the soaring share price so far this morning. It will be interesting to see whether there is further upside as the ink dries on the deal.
Tasty (TAST), the owner and operator of restaurants in the casual dining sector, has raised £9.25 million (before expenses), in aggregate, via the placing of 1,699,400,000 new Ordinary Shares by way of the Placing and 150,600,000 new Ordinary Shares by way of the Subscription, each at the Issue Price of 0.5 pence per new Ordinary Share.
Comment: It would appear that even the thought of bigwigs of Pizza Express and Fulham Shore fame has been enough to raise over £9m. Indeed, TAST has raised so much cash, it could probably progress itself on its own. But there would be no fun in that.
ECR Minerals (ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, provides the following update on its operations and total voting rights. ECR is leasing a percussion drill rig which will move later in August to the Company’s Lolworth gold and rare earths project in Queensland, Australia. The Company is carrying out some reconnaissance drilling at the Blue Mountain project in Queensland, Australia. This strategy has paid dividends. With holes circa 6m deep and around 5m apart and drilling time at around 20 minutes per hole, including movement of the drill rig and set up, the Company has been able to quickly drill and assess prospective areas at the Blue Mountain Project.
Comment: Doc Holiday (a.k.a Mike Whitlow) may not be Managing Director anymore, but one can still sense his enthusiasm for ECR, something which underlined by the progress reported at Blue Mountain.
The Smarter Web Company (AQUIS: SWC) announced a Placing with a well-known institutional investor and a Subscription with a high-net-worth individual investor at the closing bid price on 01 August 2025. The Placing has raised £5,250,000 (before expenses) and the Subscription has raised £2,867,860 at £2.05 per share.
Comment: Another day, another placing. There are a couple of points of interest. The first is that in the bad old days before the birth of Bitcoin Treasury Strategy it was seen as good form to raise cash at increasingly higher levels. The second is that for new shareholders coming to the party, some line of sight as to how much the company is seeking to raise in total might be useful. Alternatively, just raise the whole amount once and for all…
bp (BP.) announced an oil and gas discovery at the Bumerangue prospect in the deepwater offshore Brazil. bp drilled exploration well 1-BP-13-SPS at the Bumerangue block, located in the Santos Basin, 404 kilometres (218 nautical miles) from Rio de Janeiro, in a water depth of 2,372 metres. The well was drilled to a total depth of 5,855 metres.
Comment: We have a reminder as BP makes its largest discovery in 25 years, that oil is abundant, and even with all the tax on it, cheaper per litre than most bottled water. How does that sit with the electric vehicle phenomenon?
Cobra Resources (COBR), the mineral exploration and development company advancing a potentially world-class ionic Rare Earth Element (“REEs”) discovery at its Boland Project (“Boland”) in South Australia, announced initial results from re-analysis of historical, uranium-focused rotary mud drilling from a recently acquired tenement (EL 6742) that covers over 750km2 of the prospective Yaninee Palaeochannel system (part of the package of tenements acquired from Tri-Star Group announced on 27 May 2025). Results indicate the presence of a REE system with characteristics reflective of Boland on the Narlaby Palaeochannel 10-20km to the northeast.
Comment: COBR continues to be on a roll, not only on a macro basis given the aftermath of the tariff wars, but also on an exploration basis, as it continues to expand its resource footprint. Today’s announcement represents an additional welcome bonus to its portfolio, underlined by the way that the shares are at a 3 year high.
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