European Green Transition (EGT), a company developing green economy assets in Europe which aims to capitalise on the opportunity created by the green energy transition, announced the admission of its entire issued ordinary share capital to trading on AIM, a market of the London Stock Exchange. The commencement of trading of the Company’s ordinary shares of £0.0025 each in the capital of the Company will become effective at 8:00a.m. under the ticker “EGT”. On Admission, the Company will have a market capitalisation of approximately £14.5 million.
Comment: While the mainstream media and City establishment are moaning about the state of the stock market, a state of affairs they arguably caused / allowed to happen, others like EGT are leading the fightback through action, and not words.
ECR Minerals (ECR), the exploration and development company, provided additional results from its drilling programme at the Kuboid Hill site in its Creswick tenement. Significantly, this drilling campaign has demonstrated quartz/gold mineralisation continuity in the Creswick area with results having the hallmarks of a potential future small scale operation. ECR said these results point to a significant breakthrough at Creswick where the geological features demonstrate a distinct difference from the challenges historically faced in the region which we have previously understood to be predominated by the sporadic or random nature of coarse nuggety gold.
Comment: Shares of ECR are still churning through the recent fundraise, so an update regarding Creswick is welcome, and should get the stock back over the pivotal 0.3p zone.
Audioboom (BOOM), the podcast company, announced the hiring of two key sales executives to expand the Company’s revenue operations. BOOM said its network flywheel is generating record levels of advertising inventory and it is investing in its sales operation to ensure it extract maximum value from it. Molly and Shaun are highly skilled and experienced sales executives, and they will play a key part in the growth of Audioboom’s monetisation engine.
Comment: If one did not know better the recent series of upbeat, fluffy RNSs with no mention of financial performance would give the impression that a fundraise is on the way. But that could not be possible, could it. Instead, we look forward to how the company’s “monetisation engine” delivers.
Windar Photonics (WPHO), a technology group, announced that it has received a significant new order with a gross value of US$1.27m for delivery to the North American market in the first half of this year. The year ended 31 December 2023 closed with revenue of c.€4.8m, reflecting growth of over 150% on the prior year’s revenue of c.€1.9m. The 2023 EBITDA of c.€0.4m delivered the Company’s first positive EBITDA.
Comment: Although WPHO sounds like a company name from the mid 20th century, it does appear that that it is doing rather well in the early 21st century, a point underlined by the newly positive EBITDA.
Contango Holdings (CGO), a company focused on the development of the +2 billion tonne Muchesu coal project in Zimbabwe, provided details of an equity placing as well as an update on current operations. The Company has raised gross proceeds of £940,000 through a placing at a price of 1p. CGO said it understand shareholders’ disappointment at the need for the Company to undertake an equity raise at this time. The Board had tried to defer this until such time as several new offtakes had been crystalised and potentially some positive developments from its ongoing corporate discussions.
Comment: Ironically, there is probably little need for the company to be apologetic regarding the latest fundraise. The failed rally last month gave the hint that it was on its way, and most are / were aware that “positive developments” have not arrived on time.
Bango (BGO) the finals to December take some unbundling from this acquisitive provider of monetization technology that opens online payments to mobile phone users worldwide. Revenue increased 79% to $32.7m, a 29% increase in EBITDA to $6.4m (£5m) can be claimed but the Loss before Tax shot up to $8.8m from $2.1m and missed the original target by a mile. The report moves swiftly onto the strong Q1 24; Bango’s Digital Vending Machine (DVM) technology, is used by 3 out of the top 5 US telcos and it has a web of partnerships and merchants including Amazon, Google and Microsoft. The acquisition of Docomo Digital was at a seemingly cheap $4m at the end of August 2022, and at last the problems are reported to be solved. The excited expectation originally set was that the combined groups would deliver a substantial increase in EBITDA which would seem delayed not cancelled. There is an opportunity for its Digital Vending Machine technology to become the standard industry platform for subscription bundling, as the building blocks of the product, partners and customers, are firmly in place. The cash flow is strong so the net debt of $3.9m is not a key concern although further funding to support the growth ambitions seems likely.
Comment: The mkt cap of £82m at 106.5p gives an EBITDA /EV of 17x seems a bit dear, but the management and opportunity are likely to get a another chance to deliver.
Union Jack Oil (UJO), a UK and USA focused onshore hydrocarbon company, announced a positive drilling update in respect of the Andrews 1-17 well. UJO said its first well in the United States looks to be a major success subject to testing, and an excellent start for the Company in its recent drilling partnership with Operator, Reach Oil & Gas Inc. Reach and its drilling and ground team conducted activities with precision, below budget and of key importance, safely and incident free.
Comment: As suggested when UJO made its initial USA foray, it was likely that without UK Nimbys and Just Stop Oil hypocrites, progress there would be far quicker than in the UK. It can be seen that Bramhill in the team are going into full JR Ewing mode.
Emmerson (EML), the Moroccan focused potash development company, updated on its activities in Q1 2024 in relation to its 100% owned Khemisset Potash Project, and has announced it has raised US$2.175 million from strategic investors. In addition, the Company will shortly launch a retail offer to existing shareholders on the REX platform. EML said this cornerstone funding has strengthened its balance sheet, thus allowing it to continue its work advancing the KMP towards Feasibility Level, while it works with the authorities to obtain the approval for the EIA.
Comment: EML has taken advantage of recent strength in the shares, and the availability of strategic investor funding. It is all about things accelerating in Morocco from now, and the Feasibility Level.
Intercede (IGP), the cybersecurity software company, announced a trading update for the financial year ended 31 March 2024. The Group is pleased to announce that revenues for FY24 are expected to be approximately £20m (2023: £12m), 65-66% higher than FY23 and 66-67% higher on a constant currency basis.
Comment: The revenues upgrade is all the more significant given the way that even to this date cybersecurity companies listed on the London stock market do not get the love they deserve.
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