Bodycote (BOY), the provider of heat treatment and specialist thermal processing services, issues a trading update covering the four-month period from 1 January to 30 April 2024. BOY said it enjoyed a good start to the year with constant currency revenue growth of 3.9% excluding surcharges (2.7% excluding Lake City acquired in January 2024). This demonstrates the strength of its Specialist Technologies businesses and the resilience provided by its diverse customer base, against a mixed market backdrop and some challenging prior-year comparators. Its expectations for the full year remain unchanged.
Comment: Given the acquisition of Lake City for £52.2m announcement of. £60m buybacks scheme which has begun in earnest and integration of new CEO Fairbairn, the. Company look well poised to obtain further market share in the coming months and continue the rally from the lows of early 2023. This morning’s investor call will be eagerly anticipated.
EnQuest (ENQ) announced an Annual General Meeting – Operations update. Group production for the first four months of 2024 averaged 43,595 Boepd, with continued top quartile production uptimes across the operated portfolio maintaining full year average 2023 production levels and partially offsetting the impact of natural field declines.
Comment: With a reduction in the debt balance, a healthy capital stack and board reshuffling the company have demonstrated their tactical abilities which on the surface belies the current valuation. One would expect a similar performance to translate for eagle eyed holders of the stock. Watch this space.
Ananda Developments (AQUIS: ANA), the company whose ambition is to be a leading provider of cannabinoid-based medicines for the treatment of chronic, complex inflammatory pain conditions, announces its unaudited Company management statements for the quarter ended 30 April 2024. During the period Ananda Developments Plc opened a bank account with Barclays plc. It also continues to use subsidiary bank accounts for operational reasons. ANA said the team has been focused on advancing the two Phase II clinical trials during the period under review. This has involved work on ensuring the supply chain for the manufacture of the investigative medicines are robust, writing the Investigator Brochure for the patent pending MRX1 CBD formulation, obtaining quotes for pharmacokinetic studies, liaising with the clinical trial teams at the University of Edinburgh and discussing strategy with regulatory and market access advisors. It wants to ensure the clinical trials progress in a way that is most likely to lead to marketing authorisation and NHS uptake.
Comment: As well as opening an account with Barclays, something that only concern someone with a serious problem, it can be seen that ANA is and has been heading in the right direction for the all important NHS goal. It should be remembered that health authorities approached ANA to develop treatments, and the momentum is clearly gaining.
Arc Minerals (ARCM), an exploration company forging partnerships to discover and develop Tier 1 copper deposits, announced encouraging results from the IP geophysical survey over its PL135/2017 licence at its Virgo Project within the highly prospective Central Structural Corridor of the Kalahari Copper Belt in the Republic of Botswana. ARCM said the IP survey has delivered very encouraging results. It is incorporating these results into its modified drilling programme which is to commence w/c 17 June 2024, with the contractor mobilising next week. It is also expanding our drilling programme to test a large, previously unknown, deep anomaly of high chargeability and low resistivity that was identified by the survey.
Comment: If only one had a penny for every speculative mention of ARCM over recent months. But at least with commodities prices going the right way the shares have finally turned around of late.
Insig AI (INSG), the data science and machine learning solutions company announced Colm McVeigh will be stepping down from the Board and his role as CEO to pursue other opportunities. Richard Bernstein has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer with immediate effect to devote more time to engaging with asset managers, prospective customers and commercialising Insig’s product offering. The company also said it has acquired a 5.45% equity interest in ImpactScope OÜ.
Comment: City big beast Richard Bernstein takes the helm at INSG, and some might argue that he could / should have done so sooner. But one would expect the company to now be very much on its way.
MicroSalt (SALT) a company commercialising a patented technology to produce full-flavour low-sodium salt, announced its first set of full year results following the successful admission of the Company to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in February 2024. FY 2023 revenue of US$ 0.6m (2022: US$ 0.6m) and net loss of US$ 3.5m (2022: US$2.5m) reflecting efforts focused on R&D and preparation for the launch of the first two major food manufacturing customers within the Company’s B2B solution.
Comment: Given the P/L and work in progress at SALT, the share price performance since IPO is quite a result. Today’s announcement gives the impression that the company is still something of a science experiment with the R&D mention.
Premier Miton Group plc (PMI), the AIM quoted fund management group, announces its half year results for the six months ended 31 March 2024. PMI said the Group’s AuM ended the Period at £10.7 billion, an increase of 9% on the opening position for the financial year. It is pleasing to have seen this improvement continue during the current quarter both in terms of assets under management but also, more recently, in terms of an improving flow environment. Additionally, it is encouraged that shorter term investment performance is on an improving trend as market breadth improves and mid and small cap stocks recover.
Comment: Since the merger between both Premier and Miton, the small cap environment has been a more than tricky landscape to navigate therefore most avid followers of the London small caps will be pleased to wash down their Pan aux Raisin with the news of further consolidation in the sector alongside a share price which should continue to follow the rising trend channel and could be positive for the year by the end of Summer.
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