Feedback (FDBK) is a critical Healthcare communications technology developer announced a collaboration with a specialist clinical IT firm with offices in the UK, UAE and South Africa, Vertex. The agreement enables the companies to work together and outlines the key terms which will form the basis of definitive commercial agreements for multiple collaborations. Feedback shares tumbled in April from 130p on a profits warning because of delays in the NHS procurement process. Consequently, its May 2023-24 revenues will be lower than expected at £1.2m and at the Interims EBITDA losses increased 36% to £1.6m. Since then, a contact worth £0.5m was closed for its Bleepa with an NHS Foundation Hospital and management these delayed contracts will be secured before the 2025. There was around £4.3m in the bank at the end of April 2024.
Comment (Jon Lev): The shares are back to 65.5p with a £8.73 mkt cap and if this non NHS collaboration leads to more positive news flow then the price should recover.
Corero (CNS), the distributed denial of service protection specialists, is pleased to announce that the Company has received significant new orders for its market-leading SmartWall ONETM DDoS protection solutions to close out Q2 2024, continuing Corero’s robust 2024 customer acquisition momentum. The Orders have a total contract value of $2.2 million. CNS said securing these significant new mandates completes a successful half-year period for the Company and provides a strong base from which it can further grow its global market presence and enhance its service offering in the remainder of the year and beyond.
Comment: CNS shares are already up well over 100% this year, and the magnitude of the new contract wins should ensure that this remains the case. Indeed, the company has proved that it can build momentum and scale.
KEFI (KEFI), the gold and copper exploration and development company focused on the Arabian-Nubian Shield, with a pipeline of projects in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the most advanced being the shovel-ready, high-grade Tulu Kapi Gold Project in Ethiopia. KEFI said excellent progress is being made with the intense Early Works programme following Project launch in May 2024 to take Tulu Kapi through to September 2024, and provide the basis for full financial close and commencement of Major Works in October 2024, ahead of commissioning of production in mid-2026.The US$320 million full Project funding package remains as previously announced.
Comment: One wonders whether for this classic jam tomorrow stock, the arrival and size of the jam are getting closer to realisation? One has to trust that the project funding means that there is a light at the end of the tunnel for patient investors here.
UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) announced that it has successfully raised gross proceeds of £0.5 million by means of a placing at a price of 0.015 pence per share. The Placing Price represents a discount of approximately 28% per cent to the Closing Price of 0.021 pence per Ordinary Share on 09 July 2024. The Placing’s proceeds will firstly be employed to repay in full the balance of the convertible funding facility with RiverFort Global Opportunities PCC Limited and YA II PN Ltd. UKOG said this Placing permits the full removal of the convertible loan, which should then enable the significant progress it has made in delivering its material hydrogen storage projects to be more fully reflected and sustained in our share price. The two recently announced Letters of Support from major infrastructure players in the UK hydrogen space, Sumitomo and SGN, demonstrate our project’s credibility, with SGN stating our Dorset project as “essential for decarbonising the Solent Cluster and Southern England”.
Comment: Just when you thought that shares of UKOG were too low to get a placing over the line, the company has achieved it. One wonders what is going on in the minds of the placees? Perhaps this will be 30th time lucky (a guess on the number of placings in recent years) in terms of a rebound in the stock off the back of saying goodbye to Riverfort.
Artemis Resources (ARV) provided results from a recent soil sampling program which aimed to build upon previously identified and recorded rock chips at the Osborne JV project. ARV said these soil results continue to demonstrate the high-grade nature of the mineralisation across the Osborne South trends. As this is the area where it has received high grade Li2O assay results, it is especially pleasing that it continues to record high value results which could point to a large envelope of lithium resources.
Comment: ARV has clearly been under the radar for an extended period of time, something which hopefully today’s soil sampling news will change. Nevertheless, there will probably need to be a series of such updates to really get the kind of rallies in the stock we saw last summer and in February.
Tirupati Graphite plc (TGR), the specialist flake graphite company and the supplier of a critical mineral for the global energy transition, announced the development strategy for its current projects to achieve its aim of reaching production capacity of c.400,000 tons per annum of flake graphite to serve c.8% of forecast global demand in the next decade, subject to ongoing and future financing requirements and market demands over the course of the next few years. TGR said the Company has developed a detailed strategy to execute its ambition of producing c.8% of forecast demand by the turn of the decade. Subject to current and future financing efforts, this strategy update is key for defining the path for the evolution of TG on the upstream side of the business and has been shared with interested prospective strategic partners to demonstrate how the Company plans to achieve its upstream ambition.
Comment: The potential of TGR was never in doubt, it was all about the execution. The key now is clearly news regarding what will hopefully be the finally funding required before the company ramps up to its production target.
Afentra (AET), the upstream oil and gas company focused on acquiring production and development assets in Africa, provides the following update for the 6 months ending 30 June 2024. AET said its liquidity position will be further strengthened by the next scheduled lifting which it expects to occur in August, and it has taken measures to mitigate downside risk through our hedging policy. It is pleased to report on steady operational progress at 3/05 as the field responds positively to the optimisation activities and it hopes to maintain this momentum through the second half of the year and beyond. Finally it is delighted to announce the award of the Kwanza onshore license KON 19, a further demonstration of our successful efforts to expand our business in Angola.
Comment: AET has been and remains one of the best small cap companies in its class, something which the ongoing extended bull run underlines. The new license news today should maintain the momentum the shares have already had for months.
Aterian (ATN), the critical metal-focused exploration and development company, announced the successful completion of a metal concentrate Off-take Agreement by its Rwandan subsidiary, Eastinco Limited with a major international trading house. This key strategic partnership allows for the sale and distribution of Eastinco’s tantalum-niobium and tin concentrate secured from Rwandan-based artisanal and small scale mining companies and cooperatives, significantly enhancing the company’s ability to generate revenue from aggregating and upgrading ASM concentrate supplies. ATN said it is delighted to announce these significant milestones for Aterian. The off-take agreement not only validates the quality of its relationships in Rwanda but also ensures a reliable sales channel with zero price risk. Coupled with the secured trade finance facility which offers the investor a fixed price conversion feature at a significant premium of £1.00 per share.
Comment: Presumably the investor who went in at £1 is now kicking themselves, with the shares at 58p. It does not help that so far ATN has failed to get its message across regarding the merits of its business and revenue model however meritworthy they may be. On this basis today’s “milestone” will probably not move the dial either.
Ariana Resources (AAU), the AIM-listed mineral exploration and development company with gold project interests in Africa and Europe, announced the completion of revised in-pit JORC 2012 Measured and Indicated Resources for both Dokwe North and Dokwe Central, which contain a combined 1.2Moz of gold. Ariana recently acquired 100% of the Dokwe Project in an all-share merger with Rockover Holdings Ltd. AAU said yet again it has demonstrated the considerable value presented by the Dokwe Project. The latest pit optimisations run at higher gold price scenarios underscore the opportunity for over 1Moz of gold to be mined from two open pits at North and Central. This provides an exceptional platform for the Company as we proceed to take our 100%-owned Dokwe Project through to the feasibility stage.
Comment: While the merger with Rockover may not have been everyone’s cup of tea, it is clear that Dokwe is a flagship project, and one of significant size. This is something which should in itself allay the fears of those who raised eyebrows at the Rockover deal.
Dekel Agri-Vision (DKL), the West African agriculture company focused on building a portfolio of sustainable and diversified projects, provide its half year production update for the period ending 30 June 2024 for the Ayenouan palm oil project in Côte d’Ivoire (and the cashew processing plant at Tiebissou, Côte d’Ivoire. DKL said it expects to deliver another strong H1 financial performance from the Palm Oil operation with the continued sustained period of robust production levels and relatively high historical CPO prices.
Comment: While DKL has certainly progressed operationally, as the latest results have shown, the company is yet to inspire the market or its share price. One wonders how this could be done, apart from DKL scaling up production significantly.
Union Jack Oil (UJO), a UK and USA focused onshore hydrocarbon production, development and exploration company reported that it has been informed by the Operator, Reach Oil & Gas Company Inc that the Andrews 2-17 well, located in Seminole County, Oklahoma, USA, has been spudded. UJO said that the Andrews 2-17 well has a high chance of success and if proven commercial could be in production within weeks from spudding. Similar low-cost development wells nearby demonstrate that rapid pay-back can be achieved within six months. The rate of progress from generating a drillable prospect, obtaining permission to drill and spudding in Oklahoma is remarkable.
Comment: It was suggested even before UJO got its feet on the ground in the USA that progress there as compared to the NIMBY controlled UK would be much faster, and this has certainly proved to be the case in Oklahoma.
Capital Metals (CMET), a mineral sands company approaching mine development stage at the high-grade Eastern Minerals Project in Sri Lanka, announced it has now received all necessary consents to commence the drilling programme, focusing on increasing the resource as well as obtaining greater certainty in the proposed initial mining area. The drilling programme will commence shortly. CMET said it has glimpsed the upside potential from 2018 and 2021 drilling which produced grades above our current MRE. Multiples of the current MRE are possible when drilling to the alluvial basement with an average anticipated depth of 10 metres compared to the current average of 1.6 metres for the MRE. Material resource extension is also likely from drilling the whole marine sand package, inland of the beach and foredunes. The Project economics estimated in the 2022 Preliminary Economic Assessment have already demonstrated a high margin operation. CMET is finally be in a position to test the upside with a view to expanding the Project’s current 10-year mine life and throughput, with the subsequent result of materially enhancing the NPV of the Project.
Comment: Despite recent jolts regarding funding, it is clear that the merit of CMET’s economics in Sri Lanka are second to none, and this aspect can be regarded as a formality, ahead of the company proving up the MRE significantly.
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