Yesterday Power Metal Resources (POW), the London listed exploration company with a global project portfolio, announced a commercial update from its 100% owned Tati Gold Project located on the Tati Greenstone Belt near Francistown, Botswana. POW said it was delighted to announce this exciting Agreement for Power Metal shareholders. Tati is a very important Project and it is great to be able to take it forward with a partner which is able to make such a substantial financial investment, giving Power shareholders a significant share of the upside without the additional cost. This further validates its successful business model and it looks forward eagerly to the progress that we are confident this Agreement will create.
Comment: Upside without cost is clearly what all investors are looking for, and in Tati this is what they are currently been treated to via POW.
Light Science Technologies (LST) revealed the latest change of shareholdings in the company, with Intuitive Investments Group plc going down from 5.99% to 0% on the shareholder register.
Comment: With the seller out and overhang cleared, it should now be the case that the market will be able to fully appreciate yesterday’s PFP contract win announcement worth £750,000. That said, the stock was up 16% yesterday to 2.97p. The charting target is as high as 4.75p by the end of next month.
ECR Minerals (ECR), the exploration and development company focused on gold in Australia, announce its unaudited half-yearly financial results for the six months ended 31 March 2024 for the Company, along with a review of significant developments during and post period. ECR said that in the nine months since Mike Whitlow and Nick Tulloch joined ECR, it has sought to implement a step change in the pace of its operations, coupling increased activity in its Australian projects with a prudent approach to cash management. It has always viewed ECR’s project portfolio as a potential sleeping giant, and now with the results and developments reported across its tenements in recent months, it believes the Company is well on the way to realising the value of these assets.
Comment: The hair shirt approach appears to have paid off as far as the presence of Whitlow / Doc and Tulloch. The question is whether ECR has assets of size and scale to win where many other explorers struggle due to cash and development considerations?
OptiBiotix Health (OPTI), a life sciences business, noted the latest results from the human studies carried out at Roehampton University, London on OptiBiotix’s SlimBiome®. OPTI said it was delighted to see these study results which continue to prove the efficacy of Slimbiome® to reduce hunger and food cravings which changes the amount and type of food people eat leading to sustainable weight management. The current anti-obesity drugs available on the market are not suitable for everyone, and Slimbiome® represents a natural alternative that can be widely used with no adverse side effects.
Comment: Fatties everywhere can chew on a celebratory doughnut in the wake of the latest SlimBiome® news from OPTI. But it remains to be seen whether the latest news is enough to overturn the drift from 40p on last summer’s sweetener news, to 16p now.
Blackbird (BIRD), the technology licensor, developer and seller of market-leading cloud native video editing platform, Blackbird, and developer of the multiplayer video editor in a browser, elevate.io, held its 2024 AGM on Tuesday, 18 June 2024. BIRD said that with a market size of US$250 billion in April 2023 set to double by 2027, the creator economy market opportunity is huge and growing fast; the Serviceable Addressable Market for elevate.io is US$6.9 billion; and the Company currently anticipates that a payment gateway for elevate.io will be introduced in Q1 2025.
Comment: It can be said that the latest update from BIRD is timely given the way that the share price has been drifting in the wait for news on the elevate.io launch. One would have assumed that the payment gateway will be ready sooner than Q1 2025 to cope with the tsunami of sales.
Avacta Group (AVCT), a life sciences company developing innovative, targeted cancer treatments and powerful diagnostics, announced that Shaun Chilton has been appointed Non-Executive Chairman replacing Eliot Forster, who is also stepping down from the Board. As CEO, Chilton led the sale of Clinigen in 2022 to Triton Partners for a total consideration of c. £1.3 billion.
Comment: Bringing in a proved biopharma big beast to AVCT is just what the doctor ordered given the way the share price is languishing near 40p. Indeed, with some cynics suggesting that AVCT is already priced as if the company has the cure for cancer, the new Non-Executive Chairman will have to repeat his previous Clinigen success.
Helix Exploration (HEX), the helium exploration and development company focused on helium deposits within the ‘Montana Helium Fairway’, announced the execution of a Farm-In agreement whereby the Company has acquired a 100% working interest in 5,600 acres in Hill County, Montana. HEX said expanding our helium exploration portfolio is a strategic priority for Helix Exploration. The Rudyard Project represents an exciting addition that complements our flagship Ingomar Dome Project, which we expect to begin drilling in Q3 2024.
Comment: Shares of HEX have already more than doubled since the IPO in April, and looking forward to drilling int Q3 means that bulls of the stock have an ongoing reason to bid it higher.
Sovereign Metals (SVML) reported that upgrading of the 399km Nkaya-Mchinji Section Railway (Railway) connecting the Malawi-Zambia border to the Nacala Logistics Corridor (NLC) and which runs across the Company’s Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project (Kasiya or Project) tenements, is underway. Refurbishment of that part of the Railway mainline which connects the Kanengo junction in the Lilongwe District, where Kasiya is located, to the NLC junction at Nkaya is near completion.
Comment: Another decent piece of the jigsaw announced today for SVML, something that more than justifies the recent re-rate for the share price.
EDX Medical Group (AQSE:EDX), which develops innovative digital diagnostic products, announced a strategic expansion of its cancer testing capability. EDX Medical is to launch comprehensive hereditary germline cancer testing products and services designed to accurately predict if family members of cancer patients are at increased risk from the disease. EDX said this test enables doctors to identify important genetic risks shared by patients and their families, to take preventative action before the onset of disease, or to make well-informed clinical decisions and ensure access to modern medicines with greater chances of long-term survival should cancer occur later.
Comment: There has been something of a news hiatus at EDX, which today’s RNS fills well. Innovative tests like the one announced today should firm up the company’s market cap once more.
CMC Markets (CMCX) revealed its final results for the year ended 31 March 2024. Net operating income of £332.8 million (FY23: £288.4 million), up 15%, marks a new record-high outside the COVID-19 pandemic period and was driven by consistently strong performance throughout H2. Trading net revenue grew by 11%, to £259.1 million (FY23: £233.1 million), with strong performance in both the retail and institutional segments of the business.
Comment: With tax at post war highs, and likely to go even higher after July 4, this should be boom time for spread betters like CMC. Indeed, you might as well just take a punt and lose on the FTSE 100 et al, rather than give over half your money to HMRC? Of course, if you win, you effectively win double.
Upland Resources (UPL) announced a Block SK334 progress report. UPL said in the period since the last update it has made significant progress in many critical areas, preparing it for a multi-year drilling campaign. It was pleased that some significant investment partners agree with its view of the prospectivity of Block SK334 and that it has established a best-in-class team to support its endeavours on what it believes are world class assets.
Comment: UPL has been and remains one of the most crowded trades around, with the shares still sucking up institutional placing that was delivered back in April. Proper, significant news is required to make the trade here a little less crowded.
Filtronic (FTC) issued a Trading update for the year end May which will be reported on the 30th of July. Its trading remains strong, and Revenue is expected at around £25.4m, a 56% improvement with the EBITDA at £4.8m up from £1.3m. The communications technology developer is winning important space contracts, recent success in aerospace and defence with contract wins from BAE, QinetiQ and DSTL. The shares have, however been on an excellent run with multiple contract gains and a 433% increase in the share price to 73.5p Filtronic own critical technology that has significant potential including the roll out of 5G telecommunication and low space orbital technology as the world continues to digitise.
Comment: (Jon Lev) At 72.5p with a £158m mkt cap the EBITDA Enterprise Value is 32x. Our last comment was favourable a 33p (22.04.24) but we enjoy looking for stars not chasing them.
Kibo Energy (KIBO), the clean / renewable energy-focused development company, announced the following changes to its corporate restructuring plan, announced on 7 June 2024: a simplified restructuring plan, a fundraise with gross proceeds of £340,000 raised at a placing price of 0.01p, conditional only on Admission to AIM. Cobus van der Merwe proposed to join Kibo as Executive Director. Clive Roberts proposed to join Kibo as Non-Executive Director.
Comment: Although it could perhaps be argued that the new simplified restructuring plan, is still not that simple, the sizzle here remains the presence of City big beast Clive Roberts.
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