Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (ECO), the oil and gas exploration company focused on the offshore Atlantic Margins, said the company and its partners are applying for Environmental Authorisation to undertake exploration activities in Block 3B/4B in the Orange Basin off the Northern Cape/South-West Coast of South Africa. ECO said it is excited about 3B/4B and the inventory prospective resource targets on the Block as recently announced in the Operator’s Competent Persons Report. This creates an “outstanding” resource exploration and development opportunity for the Joint Venture partnership and South Africa.
Comment: Eco continues to prove that it should not be judged on the hiccough it delivered last year, and continues to regroup well.
On 13 March 2023, Hydrogen Utopia International PLC (HUI) announced that it had been granted an option to take a 25 year lease of a greenfield site at Fisherstown Energy Park in County Longford, Ireland to build a waste plastic to hydrogen plant. HUI announce that it has agreed payment and HoTs with Powerhouse Energy Group (PHE) for the joint development of the Longford Project.
Comment: In many ways the JV with PHE and HUI is the perfect way to progress the waste plastic to hydrogen journey, and something which could have been done well before now. The synergies are great in terms of resources and the technology, meaning the JV is certainly worth more than the sum of the parts. In addition, being in Ireland / the EU, the JV will have access to all the EU grants gravy train that UK companies now miss out on. Investors will be hoping for “ever closer union” between HUI and PHE, if today’s news is anything to go by.
Fusion Antibodies plc (FAB), a contract research organisation, announced that it has filed a patent application for a panel of antibodies that bind to an important target for cancer therapeutics. These antibodies have the potential to inhibit the pro-tumourigenic activity of their target in cancer, which is supported by pre-clinical data. The company said it is exploring options to out-licence these antibodies to a clinical development company to progress them into Phase I clinical trials.
Comment: FAB’s patent news is massive of course, although one would of course be highly surprised if there was an immediate positive reaction, given current stock market conditions, and the ongoing attitude to the company.
Graft Polymer (UK) (GPL), a business focused on the development and commercial production of modified polymer solutions, noted the announcement by MCG Pharmaceuticals Ltd (MXC) on 21 March 2023, further reinforcing the importance and acceptance of Graft Polymer’s drug delivery systems. MXC said this is a major milestone for MGC Pharma and the NDC listing for over-the-counter sales of ArtemiC™ provides significant access to the largest healthcare market in the world. The order from their US based distribution partner, AMC, endorses the importance of the ArtemiC™ product, and with GraftBio’s® drug delivery platform plating a crucial role it its manufacture.
Comment: A debut mention for Graft Polymer, which so far remains under the radar and under-appreciated, despite having a serious niche in the area of drug delivery systems.
Boku (BOKU), a provider of mobile payment solutions, announce its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2022. The company said 2022 has been a breakout year. Boku’s growth became primarily driven not by DCB, but by mobile wallets and account-to-account/real time payments. By the end of the year, nearly 7% Monthly Active Users and more than double that percentage of revenue came from these newer payment methods. Trading in January and February 2023 was strong and with new customer wins and launches, such as the new multi-year Amazon LPM contract, Boku is well set for further progress into the Big Pond.
Comment: Another company which is flourishing on its performance alone, rather from any general appreciation in the market. Perhaps it is better this way in current stock market conditions.
Renalytix (RENX) announced that the review process with the FDA for the KidneyIntelX De Novo marketing authorization application continues at an advanced stage. As part of the De Novo process, and pending a successful outcome of the review, the FDA will prepare a reclassification order and pursue certain internal processes for this class of test prior to communicating the final decision. The FDA has indicated to the company that in order to provide sufficient time for the completion of the process the Agency is working towards a decision date by the end of Q2 2023. Previous indications from the FDA were for a completion of the process before the end of Q1 2023.
Comment: Renalytix shares have already factored a lot of strong news from the FDA, but it should still be that there is upside, when the “man from Del Monte” finally says yes.
Manx Financial Group (MFX), the financial services group, presented its audited final results for the year ended 31 December 2022. Jim Mellon, Executive Chairman, commented: ” The year’s financial performance sets a record despite the continued economic uncertainty in the Isle of Man and the UK throughout 2022. Profit before tax payable increased by £2.2 million to £5.2 million, an increase of over 70%. As a result, we are well-positioned to support the growth in profitability for 2023.
Comment: Another winner from billionaire Jim Mellon and his team.
Tissue Regenix (TRX), the regenerative medical device group, announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2022. The company said it has delivered on its strategy for growth whilst achieving strong commercial traction. Across the period Tissue Regenix has improved margins, recorded over 20% revenue growth and reported positive Adjusted EBITDA for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2022, illustrating it is well positioned to drive profitable and sustainable growth.
Comment: TRX is a company which has managed to be the exception that proves the rule as far as being an outperformer in an underappreciated sector of the stock market.
East Star Resources (EST) which is defining mineral resources in Kazakhstan announced an independent JORC-compliant Exploration Target conducted by leading resource advisors AMC Consultants on the Verkhuba Copper-Zinc-Lead Deposit on the Rudny Altai VMS belt. The company said this Exploration Target validates the statement that the Verkhuba Deposit is a game changer for East Star. The Exploration Target is based on 42,178 m of historical diamond drilling which should require a limited twin drilling programme to upgrade to JORC-compliant resources. The Exploration Target of 19-23 Mt @ 1.4% – 1.9% Cu equivalent is already significant, with potential for additional tonnage in some of the orebodies. East Star has provided an updated general investor presentation on its website at https://www.eaststarplc.com/presentations
Comment: East Star has produced a game changer today, which should feed into the stock markets rather conservative valuation and attitude towards the company. 2023 should be the year when investors wake up to the magnitude of what the company is sitting on.
Caracal Gold (GCAT), the East African gold producer, announced the discovery of a new high-grade zone above the current underground workings and above the areas drilled as part of the Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) on the Kilimapesa Hill deposit. The company said Caracal and Kilimapesa exploration teams have always believed that significant high-grade zones exist within the Kilimapesa Hill deposit. As it open and expand the open cast mining pits, to support the expansion project, it expects to find more of these zones.
Comment: The latest discovery for GCAT is good timing as far as the recent recovery for the stock, something which should allow a retest of the 0.4p zone.
Actual Experience (ACT), the analytics-as-a-service company, announced that, in conjunction with its partner Vodafone UK, it has secured its first contract for its newly launched Digital Workplace Management Platform. The two year contract has been awarded by a UK central government department following a procurement process that it reported was underway at the time of the Company’s 2022 final results issued on 27 January 2023.
Comment: As we are aware, while the Government can have issues with paying public sector workers, there is usually plenty of cash available for its own departments.
Future Metals NL (FME), announced results from its deep drill hole at its wholly owned Panton Project. The company said its 2022/2023 drill programme has successfully redefined the Panton project as an intrusive complex with significant potential for a nickel sulphide discovery and enabled the Company to focus in on the most prospective areas for drilling a potentially large accumulation of sulphide mineralisation.
Comment: Interestingly, ahead of today’s news there has been plenty of huffing and puffing regarding the merits of FME on Twitter. Presumably, there could now be at least an intermediate rebound for the stock off year lows.
United Oil & Gas (UOG), the full-cycle oil and gas company, announced an update on the ASH-8 development well in the Abu Sennan licence, onshore Egypt. The company said it was very happy with the results from the ASH-8 well, and it is pleasing to see the well being brought on stream at a stabilised production rate of over 2,900 bopd some six weeks ahead of schedule. This is the fifth well in the highly productive ASH field, which has so far produced in excess of 4 million barrels of oil.
Comment: UOG continues to get on with the job in Egypt, despite the stock market’s relative indifference to the company. Underlining the 4 million barrels produced to date, is a helpful anecdote to investor cynicism.
Disclaimer:
Zakmir.com is a purely journalistic website – Zak Mir is a member of the National Union of Journalists. There is no intention here of providing financial advice. It is recommended you seek an independent professional opinion before deciding whether or not to take any action with regard to anything written or said here.
Author
