(Alliance News) – UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner has a “future role to play” in government. Rayner resigned in September after it emerged she did not pay enough stamp duty on an GBP800,000 flat in Hove. Labour’s former deputy leader remains a popular figure within the party and Starmer said he wanted to bring her back to the front line “at the right point”. Rayner, the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne in Greater Manchester, is viewed as a potential successor to Starmer.
Comment: To get rid of shameless hypocrite and professional inverted snob / class warfare specialist Angela Rayner (admittedly by her own hand) should have been a once and for all win for Keir Starmer. To welcome her back is the equivalent of dragging a wooden horse back into Troy. One wonders what she has on him. Did I say that out loud?
Lift Global Ventures Plc (AQSE:LFT), provided an update on its investment portfolio company, Trans-Africa Energy Limited. TAE is focused on developing energy infrastructure projects located primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, the first of which is in Ghana. Further to its announcement on 31 October 2025, Lift confirms that TAE has held further discussions with a Southern African state-owned investor. TAE has shared with Lift a letter dated 26 January 2026 from the Investor. In support of TAE’s efforts to finalise the investment, the Company has agreed to extend the Redemption Date from 31 January 2026 to 31 March 2026.
Tooru (TOO), an AIM listed company focused on the branded health and wellness sector, provided an update on OAF, its retail-focused free-from brand. The Group’s leading branded gluten free producer, Juvela, launched OAF, last year with initial listings established with TESCO. OAF has continued to make excellent progress since then, growing sales and increasing the number of different products listed by TESCO and the number of stores where they can be purchased. In particular, building on this success, TESCO has confirmed that it will be adding three new OAF products into their free-from aisle after Easter. In addition, another major UK food retailer, ASDA has now confirmed that certain OAF products will be listed in its stores from the beginning of April 2026.
Comment: As is said constantly here, the stock market loves a good rollout story, especially one on a national / international scale. This is what we are seeing for TOO, and the drip-drip of new serious counterparties is good news for OAF, as well as TOO’s shareholders. The run up to ASDA listing OAF adds fresh momentum.
African Pioneer (AFP) the exploration and resource development company with advanced projects in Namibia, Zambia and Botswana, announced a fundraising of £1,800,000 at 0.90 pence to facilitate advancement of its projects focusing on the copper gold projects in Namibia and for working capital purposes. AFP said “We would like to thank existing investors that have supported the company in this Fundraising and welcome new investors. This Fundraising will allow the Company to focus on the technical evaluation on the Ongombo and Ongeama licences in Namibia before proceeding to the feasibility study and if appropriate thereafter, mine construction. The Ongombo project has the advantage of 300,000 tonnes of contained copper with open potential for additional resource. The project is extremely well located, some 25km from the capital city of Namibia, Windhoek and has a mining licence in place. In addition, we have highly prospective copper exploration licences in Northwest Zambia, some 100km from the Ivanhoe Kamoa operating mine.”
Comment: If you cannot raise a decent amount of cash for an explorer / developer in current rampant stock market conditions for the space, when can you? Namibia seems to be becoming the new Nevada, and copper the new gold. So it would appear that AFP is in the right place at the right time.
IFCG Limited (ICFG), the international financial services group, is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Tat Cheung (Stephen) Wong as Chief Financial Officer of the Company, with immediate effect. Stephen is a qualified accountant with extensive experience in international corporate financial reporting, fund services, and corporate structuring. He was previously the CFO of Amicorp FS (UK) PLC, a company listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.
Comment: There are probably around three people who are aware of IFCG outside the circle of shareholders and service providers. I thought it would be good to highlight that I am one of them.
Acuity RM Group plc (ACRM), the software group specialising in cyber-security, which supplies its award-winning STREAM software platform for the Governance, Risk and Compliance market, together with associated consultancy services, is pleased to announce that it has agreed a new multi-year renewal and a 280% increase in fees compared to the original contract with a bank based in North America. Since initial implementation in 2023, the Customer has substantially increased its use of Acuity’s STREAM software. As a result, the Customer renewed for a further three-years with a total contract value in excess of £160,000 – and lifts Acuity’s contracted future revenues to over £2m.
Comment: After a very long gestation period ACRM has actually managed to do what everyone wants to do with a contract / subscription, make the service so useful that the client is happy to / has to pay more to keep it. This could be called the blackmail model of SaaS, or perhaps there is a better term, but not one that comes readily to mind early on a Monday morning?
Blackbird plc (BIRD), the developer of the browser-based collaborative video editing platform elevate.io, today announced the launch of a new tiered pricing structure for elevate.io, alongside the introduction of annual billing options, designed to align more closely with customer needs and usage requirements. BIRD said “For elevate.io, annual billing strengthens revenue visibility and cash flow, while positioning the platform to support larger, multi-user and enterprise-style deployments over time.”
Comment: Has elevate.io become the Adobe Photoshop of its space? The jury may be out on that. In the meantime the company is making the difficult transition from free landgrab mode to charging. It will presumably take a while to find out whether the exercise is successful. In the meantime it is probably best not to look at the share price chart of BIRD.
Conroy (CGNR), the Irish-based resource company focused on advancing its “Discs of Gold” project in Ireland, announced its results for the six months ended 30 November 2025. Net assets of the group were €22,407,969 as at 30 November 2025 and the group made a profit for the six-month period of €278,636 after the effects of the debt write off. CGNR said “The balance sheet repair delivered during the reporting period, including fundraisings involving both new and existing shareholders, is allowing the Company to purposefully advance its “Discs of Gold” project. The first phase of a new drilling programme at the Clontibret gold deposit commenced at the end of the reporting period; the work aims to assess the potential for higher-grade structurally controlled gold mineralization at depth to expand the deposit, as well as testing the antimony-bearing lode system for its potential contribution to project economics. I look forward to seeing the initial results of this work by the end of the current calendar quarter.”
Comment: The highlight here is that the net assets of CGNR were some €22m in November, which would imply even with the latest volatility in gold that we are somewhere over €30m. That said, the company really is a play on the space and its financial rejig, rather than perhaps the prospects of a tsunami of production any time soon.
Rome Resources plc (RMR), the DRC-focused tin and copper explorer, is pleased to provide an update on the initial results from metallurgical testing of ore samples from its Bisie North project in the Democratic Republic of Congo, located just 8 km from the world-class Alphamin Mpama tin mine complex. This update follows the drilling update provided on 16 January 2026. RMR said “These preliminary results are highly encouraging for the potential commercialisation of both the tin and copper at Bisie North. As the copper is developed at shallow depths in the Mont Agoma deposit, recovery and monetisation of this is expected to be highly accretive to the overall project economics. Currently, the drilling campaign at Kalayi continues and we will move to Mont Agoma next month to test further the extent of the tin and copper mineralisation. We will update the market in due course.”
Comment: It feels as if there is a drilling update and an interview with every other platform other than this one ever other day. In fact, the frequency here is every couple of weeks. That said, the easiest rule of thumb here is to say below 0.3p the market is still waiting for RMR to prove itself, above 0.3p again and it is probably on its way. We are currently at 0.24p.
Alien Metals Limited (UFO), a minerals exploration and development company, announced that further to the Company’s announcement on 1 December 2025, it has completed its partial asset sale and joint venture transaction with Australian publicly listed company; GreenTech Metals Limited (ASX: GRE) in respect of the Munni Munni Platinum-Palladium-Copper-Nickel Project and surrounding tenements in the West Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Comment: Shares of UFO were 2.5x trough to peak in January, and while they are back to where they started at the beginning of last month, one can sense that they are on the watchlists of investors, on the basis of the GRE deal and Pilbara postcode.
London BTC Company Limited (BTC), the London Stock Exchange Main Market-listed bitcoin mining and treasury company with operations across North America announced the repayment of loans to its directors, as announced on 30 June 2025, two senior Directors of the Company, Mr Lenigas and Mr Edelman, lent their personal shares to the Company in order that the Company could retire its convertible loan note with its US investor. This was done to protect the Company’s liquid assets and to keep such assets allocated to growing the Company’s operations, the two Directors have agreed to their loans being repaid by the issue of new ordinary shares in the Company shares in lieu of cash.
Comment: There is nothing better in the small cap space to hear of situations where management takes one for the team, or at least shareholders. While this is not necessarily what management might have been looking for in this case, one can be sure that shareholders in this case are truly thankful.
New Frontier Minerals Ltd (NFM) announced that it has met the earn-in requirements and has now secured an 85% interest in a key tenement within the Harts Range Heavy Rare Earths Project. The Harts Range Heavy Rare Earths Project is located 140km north-east of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Comment: Given the way that all explorers / developers have to do these days is simply wake up in the morning, one would assume that today’s announcement from NFM will be enough to move the share price, at least in coming days. That said, the company remains well over most people’s radar.
Neo Energy Metals (NEO), the near-term, low-cost uranium developer, said that the Company auditors in London is in the last stages of their audit review which should be concluded in the next 2 weeks should no material matters arise. While this process may take some additional time to finalise, the Company remains committed to publishing the FY2025 Results during the month of February 2026. As a result, the Company listing will be suspended effectively Monday, 2 February 2026 at 7:30am.
Comment: At first the share suspension may look like a case of NEO and its management being a leopard that cannot change its spots. However, this we are assured is only a minor delay before the recent fightback for the shares resumes.
Goldplat Plc, (GDP) the AIM listed Mining Services Group, with international gold recovery operations located in South Africa and Ghana, servicing the African and South American Mining Industry, announced a positive trading update for the current financial year ending 30 June 2026. GDP said “As a result of higher gold prices, increased volumes and operational agility and improvements, the Board expects that the Group’s results for FY2026 will materially exceed prevailing market expectations. An operational update for the second quarter ended 31 December 2025 is expected to be announced by 10 February 2026 and the release of the interim results for the period ended 31 December 2025 by 17 March 2026.”
Comment: In the present environment it may be said that even Coco The Clown could deliver a result for a gold company, in whatever guise. That said, It would appear that GDP has finessed its position in the current boom with aplomb, with the “operational agility” helping out too.
Blue Star Capital plc (BLU), the investing company with a focus on blockchain, payments and esports, provided the following update related to its investee company SatoshiPay Ltd. The Board is encouraged by SatoshiPay’s operational progress and the momentum achieved across its key growth initiatives. With the continued integration of API partners and the expansion into the United States underway, SatoshiPay is well positioned to deliver further growth in H1 2026. The Company currently has an approximate 50 per cent. shareholding in SatoshiPay.
Comment: People have grown old and died waiting for BLU’s star investment in SatoshiPay to get over the line. Indeed, it has taken so long there is no one around who knows what SatoshiPay getting over the line would look like. Well done on the RNS which is positive, without really saying anything.
Pathos Communications (NEWS), the multiple award-winning technology-enabled, human-led PR company, announced its trading update for the financial year ended 31 December 2025 .The Company had a positive finish to the year and expects to report FY25 ahead of market expectations with revenue of US$13.2 million (FY24: US$11.4 million) and adjusted EBITDA of US$2.9 million (FY24: $1.9 million). This financial performance was underpinned by strong volumes and the continuing evolution of the Company’s product mix that includes an increased focus on securing articles in higher quality publications.
Comment: The main reason for covering NEWS in today’s RNS Hotlist is the in-built irony of covering a PR company that hardly anyone has heard of. That said, I kind of know why. As far as the RNS is concerned it is notable that this is a “human-led” PR company, as opposed to what, a non-human led one?
Various Eateries (VARE), the owner, developer and operator of restaurant, clubhouse and hotel sites in the United Kingdom, announced its results for the 52 weeks ended 28 September 2025. Revenue grew by 6% to £52.4m (2024: £49.5m). Group like-for-like sales growth of 2% (2024: -1.0%), led by Coppa Club (+3%), with H2 Group like-for-like growth of 4%. Record adjusted EBITDA of £1.4m (2024: £0.3m) driven by strong trading performance and operational improvements. Gross profit increased 64% to £5.7m (2024: £3.5m). Cash at bank of £8.0 million (2024: £5.8 million). Net cash of £4.6m (2024: £2.7m).
Comment: Given that the space that VARE is currently more difficult than the north face of the Eiger, and is in the sights of the socialist government who hate people partaking in more than bread and water, the performance of the company is to be commended. However, the running just to stand still metrics are essentially saved by the group’s healthy cash position.
