Musk / Twitter
One of the interesting aspects of the stock market and business in general is that whether you are running BP (BP.) or the smallest company on Aquis, the much of the wins and losses are the same. The intrigue, the highs and lows, and the dynamic of management. Indeed, the egos seem to be even worse at the low end of the market cap scale than they are with the big companies. Also as the latest episode with the world’s richest man Elon Musk and Twitter is concerned, being the world’s richest man seems to make no difference to the way he has been treated. Indeed, it seems to make it worse. This week we saw how California jurors decided Musk had caused the Twitter share price to fall after making disparaging the company to make it cheaper to buy. There are a few takeaways from this. What do most jurors know about the stock market? Next to nothing one would suppose. Second, what is the difference between telling the truth about a company and manipulating the share price. And finally, was / is a California jury ever going to find Musk innocent of anything.
All of this does rather remind me of my experiences of the stock market over the past 40 years, and especially over the past 4 years as a listed company CEO. It would appear that the odds are stacked negatively, not only in terms of the cost and red tape of being listed, but also perhaps rather like the California jurors, one’s peers, service providers, and even random bystanders simply wanting one to fail. Would I recommend the experience to my worst enemy? Probably not. What is interesting above all, is that despite the plethora of rules and regulations, bad actors are always (with the collusion of their mates) able to ride roughshod over any principles they wish, to the detriment of the righteous, and of course, investors.
Time For The TACO Trade
The FTSE 100 was done 3% this week on the Iran fallout. The small caps a similar amount, and the AIM All Share over 5%. It felt even worse. We are now down 10% off February peaks (remember my buy Bonfire Night, sell Valentine’s Day rule), and anyone going short on Valentine’s Day would now be enjoying great bear profits. The question now is whether President Trump has bitten off more than he can chew and / or opened a Pandora’s Box in Iran / Middle East, which will be not only difficult to close, but even more difficult to contain? This is especially the case given the way that Crude Oil anywhere near $100 is simply unsustainable for most economies. The pattern we have learned since Trump’s first Presidency is that he always chokes, and all stock market dips should be bought into. The best example was last April with the tariffs induced sell off. One wonders whether from Monday we are looking at a situation where we should sell oil, buy gold and buy stocks, reversing the mode of the past three weeks? If this is not the turning point – a positive one, things could get rather painful.
The Week’s Risers
It has been noticeable that even some of the year’s biggest and best stock risers have come well off the top, and in recent days there are fewer and fewer big percentage winners. That said, Karelian (KDR), the diamond and natural resources exploration company focused on Finland and Ireland rocketed on Friday as it announced a fundraising of £290,000. The fundraise has been undertaken via an issue of unsecured convertible loan notes to a combination of new investors and existing shareholders in the Company. The market also liked the £1.15m fundraise and board change at Botswana Minerals (BMIN), a stock we have been charting before this announcement on a technical / charting basis. Afentra plc (AET), an upstream oil and gas company focused on acquiring production and development assets in Africa, said it noted the recent media speculation and confirms that it has engaged with a limited number of counterparties with regard to a potential sale process in respect of the entire issued, and to be issued, share capital of the Company. Clearly, given the company’s day job and the spike in commodities prices, this is the right thing to do at the right time.
Strategic Minerals (SML) remains one of the few stocks whose shares have not come off the top, as this week it announced a near £5m raise from a “strategic” investor, as well as unveiling a metallurgical study that delivered a 19.2% relative increase in WO3 overall recovery, up to 85.8%; confirmed silver recovery; and identified pathways to further improve tin and copper recovery. Funny how the company has revealed its best at a time when the metals it has under its belt are hotter than July. Sancus Lending Group Limited (LEND) announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2025, with the result that the shares were up 37% on the week. Highlights here were the way that housing undersupply is supportive of its alternative financial services offering. System1(SYS1) the marketing decision-making platform updated on trading for the financial year ending 31 March 2026 and the outlook for FY27. The Company said it has continued to trade strongly in the final quarter and, as a result, expects to report record H2 revenue and a performance for FY26 in line with guidance. Perhaps more importantly, it remains supported by Brave Bison’s (BBSN) 28% stake in the company.
One of the situations which has been bubbling under of late is Active Energy (AEG) whose shares added another 13%, to post a 30% rise for YTD. This is not too surprising given the way that the company is piling on those megawatts. Indeed, the goal here appears to be creating a perpetual money machine in the already hot micro data centre space. The sizzle here is how cheap the energy supply is, and how strong the demand for high-performance compute and digital infrastructure hosting. It is currently focused on scaling rapidly in the UAE by acquiring already energised grid connections—assets that are often overlooked but incredibly valuable. These sites may require only modest upgrades, and by overlaying our modular, low-cost data centre infrastructure, we can deploy and generate revenue far faster than traditional builds. AEG is targeting around $350,000 of gross profit per megawatt deployed. On its current 13MW footprint, that equates to approximately $4.5 million per annum once fully operational. The ambition is to reach 100MW within the next 18 months, which would take AEG to over $35 million in annual gross profit. Given that the company’s current market cap is £3.3m, we can look forward to it continuing to expand, and for the share price to act accordingly.
Next Week:
There are a couple of points of interest in terms of the coming week’s company news. Roadside (ROAD) has been one of the small cap heroes of the past couple of years. We shall be treated to its AGM, Recent newsflow has been significant in terms of last month’s proposed placing and subscription to raise approximately £20 million to fund acquisition of Gardner Retail Ltd, as well as the proposed Acquisition of D.A. Roberts Fuels Limited. ROAD’s land grab continues and already has the company at a £100m plus market cap. We shall also be treated to the General Meeting of Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT), in terms of the proposed move from the main market to Aquis. If the company’s new gold processing business gets underway after relisting to Aquis, requires minimal financing, and can get going in weeks rather than months, the current £1.5m would appear to be very modest indeed.
Zaks Traders Café Interviews:
Apart from the non-financial parts of Saturday’s Financial Times, I find the publication absolutely useless, apart from gauging what the liberal, metropolitan elite may be thinking. Certainly, reading the FT for anything financial, is like consulting The Beano for insight into nuclear physics. That said, I did spot an article in the FT suggesting that airlines are scrambling to source jet fuel in the wake of the Iran crisis. This is something which should obviously help the cause of Hydrogen Utopia (HUI) and its prospects of turning waste plastic into aviation fuel in Saudi Arabia and beyond. I spoke with Howard White, Chairman HUI regarding how it feels to finally be on the verge of greatness, as indeed, am I.
A company which is not entirely unrelated to HUI historically, is Powerhouse Energy (PHE). I caught up with CEO Paul Emmitt, about recent progress at the company pioneering integrated technology that converts non-recyclable waste into low carbon energy with a revenue generating engineering consulting division. We discuss PHE’s proven technology, its projects and newsflow drivers.
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