UK retail sales declined on-month in December and significantly missed the consensus estimates, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. Retail sales volumes decreased 0.3% month-on-month in December, worsening from 0.1% growth in November and falling far short of the FXStreet-cited market consensus of 0.4% growth.
Comment: Perhaps the taxing for growth strategy is not actually destroying the UK economy as quickly as some have feared, or those politically motivated would like. Nevertheless, today’s retail sales figures remind us that something special will have to happen to turn things around.
Premier African Minerals (PREM) announced a retail offer via BookBuild at an issue price of 0.0275 pence to raise gross proceeds (before fees and expenses) of up to £2.3 million. In addition to the Retail Offer, the Company conducted a placing to raise gross proceeds of £1.2 million. PREM said the net proceeds of the Fundraising are sufficient to commence with the final commissioning and optimisation of the Primary Flotation Plant and purchase of the Secondary Flotation Plant which the Board believes will underpin the full recommencement of operations at Zulu Lithium and Tantalum Project in due course and to address those trade creditors that require immediate full or partial settlement in order to support the initial 3-to-5-day test run.
Comment: PREM continues to double down on its commitment to Zulu, via its shareholders, and should be noted what the relatively large quantum is being raised on this occasion. Presumably this will take the company further than the £550,000 raised in October.
Metals Exploration (MTL) a gold production, exploration, and development company with assets in the Philippines and Nicaragua, announced the initial estimates from internal studies conducted on the La India gold project in Nicaragua. MTL said it was delighted to have completed the acquisition of Condor Gold plc and was now able to share the initial estimates from internal studies on La India following a site visit by the Metals Exploration team in November 2024. It is well advanced with efforts to commence construction production.
Comment: MTL has been one of the better explorers on the London market over the past couple of years, and therefore it was appropriate that it took over Condor Gold, without a fuss, and is now progressing well towards production.
Quantum Blockchain Technologies (QBT), the AIM-listed investment company focused on a disruptive R&D and investment programme within the blockchain sector, announced a breakthrough achievement for its predictive Bitcoin AI model mining tool. QBT said it believes this is a significant milestone, since this proprietary technology has been used in trials to mine Bitcoin with a competitive advantage against the same hardware without the AI Oracle implementation. The material competitive advantage in mining enabled by the AI Oracle may be achieved either by (i) reducing the energy cost of mining by approximately 30%; or (ii), accelerating the mining speed at current energy consumption and costs with approximately a 30% greater hash rate.
Comment: It is clear that in the mining game, where it is dog eat dog in terms of computing power, a 30% greater hash rate is the equivalent of a Ferrari being in a drag race with a Mini. The share price of QBT, already on the front foot of late, should continue to respond.
CAP-XX (CPX), a global leader in supercapacitor and energy management system design, announced the signing of a franchised distribution agreement with JM elektronik sp. z o.o., a Polish-based electronic component distributor. This agreement grants JM Elektronik the rights to distribute CAP-XX’s full range of high-performance supercapacitor products throughout Poland. CPX said this strategic alliance marks a significant milestone for CAP-XX as it continues to grow its international footprint and deliver advanced energy storage solutions for a smarter and more efficient world.
Comment: CPX continues to announce agreements at pace, something which given the present share price levels, should start to be factored in by the market.
Pulsar Helium Inc. (PLSR), a helium project development company, announces that drilling for the Jetstream #2 appraisal well commenced at 3:55 a.m. (CST) on Thursday January 16, 2025, at its flagship Topaz Project in Minnesota. Jetstream #2 is planned to reach approximately 5,000 feet (1,524 metres) depth and is scheduled to reach total depth (TD) around the end of January 2025.
Comment: While it should be the case that the market is looking to PLSR revealing spectacular results by the end of this month, the market has taken a “wait and see” approach thus far, something which anywhere near to the IPO price of 25p seems rather harsh.
Atlas Metals (AMG) said that whilst it was obviously disappointing that we could not conclude the acquisition of CMO, it was very pleased with the quality and breadth of the alternative acquisition opportunities that are being presented. The Atlas Metals strategy remains unchanged and it is fully committed to building a global natural resources business to deliver industry leading returns to shareholders through a consolidation of tier two assets over the next five years. It looks forward to providing further updates in due course as discussions progress.
Comment: After the bolt from the blue last month, shareholders are looking at a share price down 77% . Today’s “watch this space” RNS is reassuring in terms of the company being on the case, but less so if it is looking for bottom fishers as we have a rather open timeline “over the next five years.”
McBride (MCB), the leading European manufacturer and supplier of private label and contract manufactured products for the domestic household and professional cleaning and hygiene markets, today provides a trading update for the six months ended 31 December 2024. The Group expects to report first half adjusted operating profit approximately 8% ahead of the same period last year (on a constant currency basis). Full year adjusted operating profit is expected to be in line with internal expectations.
Comment: MCB is one of those steady stock market performers to date, where it will be interesting to see if it can withstand the pressure of the new Labour government’s growth strategy. This should be counteracted by contract manufacturing volumes rising by 69.0%, driven mostly by the launch of two new multi-year contracts with large FMCG clients over the past six months.
