Further to the Company’s announcement on 7 May 2024, CAP-XX (CPX), a company involved in the design and manufacture of thin, prismatic supercapacitors and energy management systems, confirmed that it has filed two further provisional patent applications which build upon the filings announced in December 2023. The Company will continue to apply for patents in relation to any new technology which it develops.
Comment: An interesting kind of “by the way” RNS, as if the company was too busy to provide additional detail on current events. Perhaps a little more enthusiasm is required to get the stock back up to the dizzy heights of July.
EQTEC (EQT), a global technology innovator powering distributed, decarbonised, new energy infrastructure through its waste-to-value solutions for hydrogen, biofuels, and energy generation, announced the appointment of Brian Cole to the Board of Directors of EQTEC as NED, effective from 23 September 2024. EQT said Cole’s experience and gravitas are very welcome, along with his passion and depth of experience with engineering companies and operational excellence. He is already proactively outlining areas of focus for his support to the business and, with the recently announced appointment of a new Operations Director in Spain, it was expecting this will lead to significant change and improvement in EQTEC’s readiness for growth and scale as a leading innovation and engineering company.
Comment: Positive noises regarding growth going forward has been a feature of late at EQT, with the latest appointments meaning that the company is apparently ready to deliver a fundamental turnaround after recent funding news.
Strix Group (KETL), a company involved in the design, manufacture and supply of kettle safety controls, announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2024. Strong adjusted PBT growth of 15.9% (at CER) to £8.0m (AER: 13.0%, £7.8m; HY23: £6.9m). KETL said the rebasing of the business has made significant progress in the first half of the year which the Group expects to see continue to the year end. The Board said it was very pleased with the accelerated rate in which the leverage position has been reduced and the target of 1.5x is now expected to be achieved ahead of the end of FY25.
Comment: Shares of KETL are well up on their late 2023 lows, something which underlines the way that the company has steadied the ship over the recent past. The PBT growth of 15.9% is a telling highlight in itself.
Sovereign Metals (SVML) announced that it has successfully installed and commissioned an industrial-scale spiral concentrator plant at the Company’s laboratory and testing facility in Lilongwe, Malawi. SVML said the new infrastructure allows Sovereign to deliver large-scale graphite pre-concentrate for qualification by its future potential customers. With a simple and conventional process flowsheet, Kasiya ore is processed at a throughput rate of up to 3 tonnes per hour for continuous sample preparation. Its PFS optimisation continues to advance as planned with oversight from the Sovereign-Rio Tinto Technical Committee.
Comment: SVML continues to progress Kasiya at pace, and with regular, significant newsflow. The key here is that it is readying itself for sales, and as usual is keen to mention its benefactor, Rio Tinto.
Velocity Composites (VEL), a supplier of composite material kits to aerospace, provided the following trading update for the year ending 31 October 2024. VEL said FY24 revenue is now expected to be not less than £22.8m (year ended 31 October 2023: £16.4m) with a positive EBITDA, the first since the Covid-19 pandemic. Although this is lower than previous guidance, it represents revenue growth of approximately 40% on FY23. In addition, recent adverse exchange rate movements have been absorbed in our outlook above.
Comment: Shares of VEL have rebounded some 50% since April, something which suggests that the market is onto the company as a recovery situation, as it rebounds from the after-effects of Covid-19.
KEFI (KEFI), the gold and copper exploration and development company focused on the Arabian-Nubian Shield since 2008, provided a short operational update encompassing the recent activities with respect to the Company’s Tulu Kapi Gold Project. KEFI said it was steadily working through the Early Works programme and preparing for the launch of Major Works. It remains on track for entering into definitive commitments from the funding syndicate next month, enabling financial close and triggering of the Major Works. It was grateful for the support and collaboration being received from the community, government agencies and our Project syndicate.
Comment: Focusing on the Arabian-Nubian shield since 2008, is a long time. As far as jam tomorrow companies are concerned, KEFI seems to be the leader. It would appear that the tomorrow may not actually be in the 21st century. Hopefully, funding news will be received before the year 2100.
Echo (ECHO), the Latin America focused natural resources company, provided a further update on the Tesoro Gold Mine, southern Peru, which is held by the Company’s 50%-owned Peruvian joint venture, Boku Resources SAC. ECHO said that following the commencement of production announced last week, it was pleased that Boku has now commissioned the crushing plant, which it expects will increase ore grades and optimise recovery rates, resulting in shorter payment times and enhanced terms from processors. Simultaneously, it is anticipated that the aggregation of ore from a neighbouring mine will optimise trucking logistics and increase gross income as Boku applies its royalty and handling fees.
Comment: Despite positive noises from the company with announcements such as today’s, shares of ECHO continue to struggle at the lowest levels of the year. Presumably, it is actual production that the market is waiting on, not just the run up to it.
Guardian Metal Resources (GMET), a strategic development and mineral exploration company focused in Nevada, USA, announce the first diamond core drillhole assay results from the Company’s ongoing drilling campaign at its 100% owned Pilot Mountain Project. GMET said that it could not have asked for a better start to the Pilot Mountain drilling programme with the significant assay results achieved in the first drill hole PM24-001. The results demonstrate three distinct strongly mineralised tungsten-silver-zinc-copper intervals with the deepest interval remaining open at depth.
Comment: Shares of GMET are already up over 200% so far this year, and one did not have to be the CEO of BHP Billiton to anticipate this phenomenon. Just how much further the shares could fly will depend on announcements such as today’s and presumably the prospects and timelines to production and further funding.
Poolbeg Pharma (POLB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announced its unaudited interim results for the six months to 30 June 2024. POLB said the value and attractiveness of POLB 001 to Pharma partners has been greatly enhanced following the independent confirmation of a potential market opportunity of c.US$10 billion as an oral preventative therapy for cancer immunotherapy-induced CRS. During the period, it also strengthened its patent and overall intellectual property portfolio with positive in vivo data. As Pharma companies seek to enhance the safety and market reach of their cancer immunotherapies, it believes that POLB 001 is well placed to generate value for shareholders while addressing a critical unmet medical need for patients.
Comment: With a strong balance sheet of £10.1m and a market opportunity of $10bn, POLB remains very well positioned to take advantage of the ongoing unmet medical need in cancer immunotherapy. Powered by AI, POLB 001 is well placed to be a company maker.
Skillcast (SKL), the provider of SaaS compliance platforms and off-the-shelf e-learning courseware, announced a continued growth in recurring subscription revenue and encouraging progress in its planned return to profitability in its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2024. Revenue growth of 24% (H1 23: 23%) driven by a 35% increase in subscription revenues from new customers and upsells to existing customers. EBITDA of £31k (H1 23: -£0.7m) reflects the operational gearing impact of the revenue growth. SKL said it was delighted at its breakeven in the first half, a £0.8m EBITDA improvement on H1 23, as costs grew by 9% while revenues grew by 24%. Now that our core investment phase is complete, it was focused on ARR growth to drive profitability.
Comment: Shares of SKL already turned the corner as long ago as the summer of 2023, presumably anticipating the current fundamental turnaround in the company from red to black. While it is early days, the 88.5% share price rise year to date suggests that the market is very much a believer in the SKL story.
Rainbow Rare Earths (RBW) announced an update on the Phalaborwa project in South Africa. Further to the piloting campaigns carried out to date, Phalaborwa has now produced its first magnet rare earth elements in a saleable form, paving the way for the first commercial recovery of REE from phosphogypsum. RBW said it was very proud of its team’s extensive and hard work to establish and optimise the primary front-end leach flowsheet at Phalaborwa, which has delivered a simplified process to recover REE from phosphogypsum versus that published in its Preliminary Economic Assessment.
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