Hybridan Small Cap Feast

A round up of the day’s news brought to you by the team at small-cap broker and advisor Hybridan.

Dish of the day

Advance Energy (ADV.L) completed an RTO on AIM indirectly acquiring of 50% of Carnarvon Petroleum Timor  which holds a 100 per cent. working interest and is the contractor under the Buffalo PSC, offshore Timor-Leste. Carnarvon Petroleum Timor is a subsidiary of ASX listed company, Carnarvon Petroleum Limited. The net proceeds of the Placing of approximately £20.01m (approximately US$27.51m) will be used to fund the Acquisition.  Due 19 April.

Off the menu

No Leavers Today

Banquet Buffet

Kibo Energy* 0.37p £8.7m (KIBO.L)

The multi-asset, Africa & UK focused energy company announced that it has commenced an extensive due diligence process in relation to the potential acquisition of all or part of a prospective portfolio of UK renewable energy projects. The opportunity consists of several attractive standalone renewable energy projects in the UK, focusing on the generation and/or storage of electric power from renewable generation sources. The portfolio consists of several waste-to-energy projects in which the Company has negotiated exclusivity and a first right to acquire, subject to successful due diligence results and an agreement on commercial terms and conditions. Any successful acquisition(s) from the project portfolio will enhance Kibo’s strategy, which is focused on transforming and integrating conventional energy generation into sustainable renewable energy, and in the process support the UK’s Renewable Energy Strategy.

Mattioli Woods 765p £215.8m (MTW.L)

The specialist wealth and asset management business announced the acquisition of 100% of the share capital of Caledonia Asset Management Limited from its shareholders for an initial consideration of £0.96 million and potential further consideration of up to £0.64 million dependent on the attainment of specified performance targets in the two years after completion. Founded in 2000, Caledonia provides wealth management services to affluent individuals and families, encompassing lifestyle financial planning, pensions and retirement planning, ISAs, life assurance, critical illness, income protection and personal tax planning.  Working with circa 150 private clients with over £55m of assets under advice, Caledonia is based in Edinburgh and employs an experienced team of five staff, all of whom will remain with Mattioli Woods following completion.

Globalworth Real Estate 7.38p £1,632m (GWI.L)

Further to the Company’s announcement on 14 April, noting the announcement by CPI Property Group S.A. and Aroundtown SA of a firm intention to make a cash offer for the Company, the Company has formed an independent committee of the Board in order to evaluate the Offer. The Independent Committee is comprised of three independent directors of the Company, Geoff Miller, John Whittle and Andreea Petreanu. The Independent Committee is evaluating the terms of the Offer together with its advisers and will write to shareholders with its detailed views on the Offer in due course. In the meantime, the Independent Committee strongly advises Globalworth shareholders to take no action in relation to the Offer at this time.

Metal Tiger 20.5p £31.8m (MTR.L)

Update in respect of the Botswana copper discovery focussed explorer, Kalahari Metals Limited (KML). As of this date, Metal Tiger holds a 50.01% interest in KML with Australian listed Cobre Limited (Cobre) holding the remainder of the shareholding, as announced 12 April 2021. Total of 5,700m of diamond core drilling and reverse circulation drilling approved by Joint Venture Board. Additional 1,300m available for optional follow-up diamond drilling dependant on results.  Drilling to focus on Kitlanya East and Kitlanya West projects. Kitlanya East drilling to target both North and South targets. Drilling expected to commence early May at Kitlanya East.

Duke Royalty 37.5p £96.72m (DUKE.L)

Successful exit of its investment in royalty partner Almondclose Limited, trading as Berkley Recruitment (Group) Limited , the Cork-based resourcing and recruitment business. · Duke has received net cash of EUR1.3m at closing, delivering an IRR on the Berkley investment of 16.0%.  This represents the third profitable exit for Duke following the successful exits of Welltel and XtremePush in 2020, further validating the Duke funding model.· Due to its sub £5m investment size, Berkley represented a subscale investment for Duke and was inherited via Duke’s acquisition of Capital Step in February 2019.· Duke retains exposure to the Irish resourcing and recruitment sector via existing royalty partner BIL which is conducting a buy and build strategy in the sector and into which Duke has invested £9.4m to date.· Proceeds from the exit further strengthens the balance sheet to enable deployment into Duke’s pipeline of larger royalty investment opportunities.

ITM Power 501p £2,759m (ITM.L)

ITM announced the sale of an HGas3SP (2MW) electrolyser and supporting equipment to partner Linde plc for the H2Pioneer project in Austria.  One of the main goals of the H2Pioneer project is demonstrating the production of green hydrogen on-site to be used in semiconductor production, mostly replacing the supply of liquified hydrogen delivered in trailers. The HGas3SP (2MW) electrolyser system will not only produce green hydrogen – after further purification by Linde the hydrogen produced will be ultra-pure, for semiconductor manufacture.  This is an industry that Linde understands very well and for which it has numerous existing customers worldwide.  The use of electrolysis simplifies downstream hydrogen purification and minimises delivery logistics while helping to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the hydrogen supply chain.

Genedrive 73.5p £46.54m (GDR.L)

The near patient molecular diagnostics company announces  it has been successful with its tender into Public Health England (PHE) under Lot 1 of the National Microbiology Framework (Diagnostic Goods and Services). The PHE tender was opened in November 2020 and sought to appoint suppliers to a multi-lot national microbiology framework agreement relating to the supply of Diagnostics Goods and Services and covering Clinical Laboratory Diagnostic Testing Services.  The award of a framework contract is not exclusive to the Company, nor a guarantee of orders, however it does allow participating authorities to issue call-off orders for products in the future.  All of genedrive’s currently available and CE marked products fall within the framework agreement: Genedrive®96 SARS-CoV-2 Kit, Genedrive®HCV ID Kit, Genedrive®MT-RNR1 ID Kit.

Mosman Oil & Gas 0.15p £5.5m (MSMN.L)

The oil exploration, development and production company announces an update on its Greater Stanley Project in East Texas.  The Operator has confirmed that the proposed workover has now commenced to re-complete the Duff-2 well in a zone which has produced oil at the adjacent Stanley Project. Mosman recently acquired an additional 20% interest to move from 20% to a 40% working interest. The cost of the workover is estimated to be circa US$50,000 (gross), US$20,000 net to Mosman.

Caledonia Mining Corp 1100p £133.3m (CMCL.L)

Caledonia announced quarterly gold production from the Blanket Mine  in Zimbabwe for the quarter ended March 31, 2021. 13,197 ounces of gold were produced during the Quarter. Caledonia remains on track to hit its production guidance of between 61,000 – 67,000 ounces for the full year.

Pelatro 38.75p £14.35m (PTRO.L)

The telecom Customer Engagement Hub software specialist has secured several contracts for change requests, adding up to approximately $500,000, that will be delivered in 2021. With these, the total value of contracts in hand representing 2021 revenue is about $6.5m.

What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?

Semper Fortis Esports* recently announced its intention to IPO onto the Access Segment of the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market.  Semper is a multi-operational Esports organisation focusing on gaming technology solutions, brand enhancement and high growth team infrastructures.  The company plans to raise £2.5m to develop their three core areas of establishing an esports team, forming partnerships with brands for sponsorship and B2B consultancy services.  The Board are highly experienced in sports and corporate deal making (Keith Harris, former Chairman of The Football League), technology and electronic gaming (Nolan Bushnell, founder of the pioneering company, Atari), esports and game tech (Kevin Soltani and Jassem Osseiran) and as FD Max Deeley.  Target Admission Date of 26 April.

Dispersion Holdings PLC, an investor in the high growth FinTech sector within the UK, the USA and Canada, has announced its intention to IPO on the Access Segment of the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market.  The Board intends to deploy the majority of the Company’s cash resources in the acquisition of minority interests in a number of different, yet to be identified, companies in the broad FinTech sector, and to apply expertise to the business operations and strategic plans of these companies. Target Admission Date of 30 April.

Darktrace plc. Intends to float on the main market of the London Stock Exchange (premium).  Darktrace was founded in 2013 with a mission to fundamentally transform the ability of organisations to defend their most critical assets in the face of rising cyber threats. Darktrace is a world-leading provider of AI for the enterprise, with the first at-scale in-the-enterprise deployment of AI in cyber security  Due early May,

musicMagpie   is a leader in re-commerce in the UK and US in the circular economy of consumer technology (including smartphones, tablets, consoles and personal computers), books and disc media (including CDs, DVDs and video games).  Expected 28 April. Offer details TBA

Wickes to demerge from Travis Perkins and list on the Main Market. Expected 28 April.

Thor Explorations (TSXV:THX) seeking a secondary listing on AIM. The Company is targeting Admission during Q2 21.   Segun Lawson, President & CEO, stated: “Thor Explorations has advanced significantly, in both project development and capitalisation since the acquisition of Segilola in 2016. This year, the Company is well positioned to achieve two major milestones with the commencement of gold production at Segilola in Nigeria and a maiden resource at Douta in Senegal, as well as continuing to progress our highly prospective Nigerian exploration portfolio on the Ilesha Schist belt.”

PensionBee has confirmed its intention to float on the High Growth Segment  of the Main Market of LSE.  The online pension provider had approximately 130,000 Active Customers and £1.5bn of assets under administration as at 28 February 2021.  The Offer will comprise new Shares raising gross proceeds of approximately £55m and existing Shares to be sold by certain existing small minority  shareholders of up to £5m. None of the founders, directors or members of senior management of PensionBee are selling any existing Shares. Expected in April.  

Imperial X (AQSE:IMPP) to join the Main Market (standard). It is also proposed that on Admission to the Official List, the Company will change its name to Cloudbreak Discovery Plc.  With effect from Admission, Imperial X will hold equity positions and royalties in a variety of projects in the natural resources sector across multiple jurisdictions, primarily in the Americas and Africa. The Company is proposing to raise up to £1.5m by way of placing of new Ordinary Shares to support further prospect acquisitions. Current Mkt cap £4.7m Expected April.

Proposed move to AIM from the main market (standard)  by Emmerson (EML.L)  to provide Emmerson with access to a market and environment which is more suited, in the Board’s view, to the Company’s current size and strategy ahead of pivotal period for the Company with the commencement of mine construction at the Khemisset Potash Project expected by end of 2021. Follows recent award of Mining Licence granting Emmerson exclusive right to develop and mine the potash deposit and £5.5m raise to fund ongoing project development work. Due 27 April.

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

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