Hybridan Small Cap Feast

Joiners: Facilities by ADF (ADF.L), has joined AIM, a provider of premium serviced production facilities to the UK film and High-end Television industry. The Group hires out its facilities to productions throughout the UK and Europe, providing its services to some of the world’s largest traditional and on-demand content production companies. The Group’s business has grown to a business servicing productions with its fleet of over 500 trailers and vehicles and providing its services to the largest global production companies including Netflix, Sky, BBC, ITV, Disney, HBO and Apple amongst others and has an estimated 35% market share of providing facilities to the UK HETV market. Anticipated Mkt Cap £37.75m. Capital to be raised £15m.

Leavers: No leavers.

Banquet Buffet

Mercia Asset Management 38p  £167m (MERC.L)

The proactive, regionally focused specialist asset manager with c.£948m of assets under management,  confirmed completion of the sale of Faradion Limited  for a total enterprise value of £100.0m to Reliance New Energy Solar Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of India-based Reliance Industries Limited, the multinational conglomerate. Based in Sheffield, Faradion is a world leader in sodium-ion battery technology that provides low-cost, high-performance and sustainable energy storage solutions. Mercia held a 16.4% fully diluted direct holding in Faradion and has received initial unrestricted cash proceeds of £18.6m, plus a further £0.8m ring-fenced for three months. Mercia made its first direct investment in Faradion in January 2017 and Mercia’s managed funds have held equity stakes in Faradion since its inception in 2010. The unrestricted cash proceeds of £18.6m result in a profit of £5.7m above Mercia’s direct investment holding value in Faradion of £12.9m as at 30 September 2021. The sale has generated an initial 4.2x return on Mercia’s direct investment cost of 4.4m and a c.72% internal rate of return.

MyHealthChecked 2.45p  £17.8m (MHC.L)

The consumer home-testing healthcare company, has signed a contract with AAH Pharmaceuticals Limited (Lloyds Pharmacy) for supply of the Fit to Fly/Pre-departure rapid antigen test. The test can be taken at home prior to travel, or overseas prior to returning to the UK, with results verified by a trained professional within two hours of completing the test, and provides the passenger with a certificate suitable for outbound or return travel. The rapid antigen tests and accompanying verification service provided by MyHealthChecked will be the only COVID rapid antigen test sold through Lloyds Pharmacy and will accompany the portfolio of PCR kits that the pharmacy began selling online in August. The Fit to Fly rapid tests will launch at Lloyds Pharmacy in January 2022.

Nostra Terra Oil & Gas 0.365p  £2.4m (NTOG.L)

The oil & gas exploration and production company with a portfolio of development and production assets in Texas, USA, has provided its growth plans for 2022, continuing the positive Company developments in 2021. Highlights include: Grow cashflow,  Drill 3-4 new wells – to be funded from existing cash resources, facilities and cashflow: 1 new development well in Pine Mills,   2-3 new wells in the Permian Basin, and plans to further progress opportunity in Tunisia. The Company is planning the drilling of 3 to 4 new wells in Texas. The necessary capital expenditure will be funded from existing cash resources, facilities and cash generated from Nostra Terra’s oil producing portfolio and it is expected that production from these additional wells will grow free cashflow significantly. 

Oracle Power  0.484p  £12.5m (ORCP.L)

Positive assay results have been received from the maiden drilling programme at the Northern Zone Gold Project, located 25km east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. This first phase of Reverse Circulation (RC) successfully targeted gold mineralisation within a series of stacked porphyry intrusions. An Exploration Target based on historical results and the results of the recent seven drill holes indicates 200-250Mt at 0.4-0.6g/t Au for 2.5 to 4.8Moz Gold. Significant Results include: 9m @ 1.34g/t gold (‘Au’) from 54 metres (21OPRC001); 3m @ 1.43g/t Au from 51 metres (21OPRC002); 3m @ 0.98g/t Au from 63 metres (21OPRC002); 19m @ 0.81g/t Au from 63 metres (21OPRC003); 154m @ 0.58g/t Au from 98 metres (21OPRC004) incl 4m @ 5.39g/t Au from 182 metres. Northern Zone has been correctly interpreted as an Intrusion Related Gold System (IRGS) with wide gold mineralised felsic porphyry intrusions. Intrusion Related Gold System (IRGS) deposits can host significant ounces of gold, such as Boddington Goldmine (WA), Fort Knox (Alaska), Dublin Gulch (Yukon) and Timbarra (NSW). Phase 2 drilling now in planning to target extensions to the RC holes and additional diamond drilling and RC holes to gain a better understanding of the geometry and extent of the deposit.

Oriole Resources 0.35p  £6.9m (ORR.L)

The exploration company focussed on West Africa, announced results from a recently completed soil sampling programme at its 90%-owned Bibemi gold project  in Cameroon. The results have returned up to 271 parts per billion (‘ppb’) gold (‘Au’) and have confirmed continuity of the Bakassi Zone 1 prospect by c.3 kilometres (‘km’) to the southwest, connecting it with the Lawa West prospect. Phase 3 diamond drilling at Bakassi Zone 1 is now complete. Results are anticipated in Q1-2022.

Pioneer Media Holdings 107p  £53.4m (AQSE:PNER)

PNER has completed the previously announced acquisition of NGMI Labs Inc. (“NGMI”), an onramp into DAOs (decentralised autonomous organisation) and tokenised communities. NGMI was founded by Jess Sloss, Gregg Peacock and Matthew Shaw, all with extensive experience in crypto, blockchain and Web3 communities. Their unique combination of hands-on operational experience (having launched and grown leading DAOs) and crypto capital markets experience will be extremely valuable to Pioneer as the Company continues to accelerate its penetration into this emerging space.  Each of Messrs, Sloss, Peacock and Shaw will continue in their current positions with NGMI.

Serabi Gold 57p  £42m (SRB.L)

Step-out exploration drilling programme records multiple high grade intercepts into the ‘Chico da Santa’ veins at Palito. The programme has been extended to include the adjacent veins in the CDS sector, including the Jatoba vein to the west, and the neighbouring veins of the newly identified Pele sector to the east, namely Bebeto, Romario and Pele veins. Mike Hodgson, CEO of Serabi, commented: “There are some excellent intercepts in this latest batch of results. The established lodes, Ipe and Mogno, that are located within the CDS sector, were the cornerstone of the Palito Complex production during 2021. They are high grade lodes and made a significant contribution to the grade improvement of 28% seen in 2021 when compared to 2020. It is therefore exciting to see these intercepts which extend the veins well beyond the current mine limits, both along strike and at depth. The results suggest a possibility of improving grades and payability with depth, which bodes well for the future.

Shield Therapeutics 49p  £101.5m (STX.L)

The commercial stage specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on addressing iron deficiency with its lead product Accrufer®/Feraccru® (ferric maltol), announces that it has entered into an exclusive licence agreement for Accrufer® with KYE Pharmaceuticals Inc. (KYE) in Canada. KYE will undertake and be responsible for all costs, both clinical and regulatory, related to activities required to achieve marketing authorisation and commercialisation of Accrufer® in Canada. Shield will be responsible for all manufacturing costs of goods sold in Canada. Shield will receive an upfront payment of £150k and is eligible to receive £850k in development and sales milestones comprised of a payment of £250k upon regulatory approval of Accrufer® by Health Canada and up to £600k in milestone payments upon the achievement of specified calendar net sales targets. For the term of the agreement, Shield will also receive double-digit royalties on net sales of Accrufer®. 

Valirx 33.25p  £24.7m (VAL.L)

The life science company focusing on early-stage cancer therapeutics and women’s health, announces today it has entered into a Service Agreement with TheoremRx Inc, a recently incorporated company, to enable ValiRx to work with TheoremRx to engage with Clinical Research Organisations (CROs) and supporting vendors for the next clinical trial of VAL201. This Service Agreement was contemplated by the Letter of Intent announced by the Company on 2 November 2021, which outlined the intention of ValiRx and TheoremRx to enter into a sub-license to enable TheoremRx to develop VAL201 in the field of oncology. Completion of the sub-license is subject to the successful fundraise by TheoremRx. TheoremRx is a private US-based oncology company focused on the discovery and development of new treatments that will benefit patients suffering from cancer. TheoremRx has established a highly integrated approach for the discovery, development and manufacture of peptide and small molecule drugs that modulate targets of clinical interest.

Verici Dx 56.5p  £80.8m (VRCI.L)

The developer of advanced clinical diagnostics for organ transplant, announces a pioneering collaboration with Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN), to expedite the operational launch of data analysis processing and predictive artificial intelligence component of Verici Dx’s products using early access to ICA, Illumina’s new software platform for operationalised secondary analysis with an advanced data science environment. Verici Dx’s underlying technology is based upon artificial intelligence assisted transcriptomic analysis of proprietary RNA signatures focused upon the immune response and other biological pathway signals critical for transplant prognosis of risk of injury, resulting in rejection and graft failure beginning pre-transplant and following to late-stage. ICA will provide Verici Dx with the ability to process large datasets, allowing for AI-enabled RNA signature testing to be clinically available at a more robust level than has been previously possible. ICA also enables Verici Dx to build custom workflows in a secure and compliant environment.

What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?

Graft Polymer a business focused on the development of polymer modification and drug delivery systems is to join the Main Market (Standard). Graft Polymer has developed a proprietary set of polymer modification technologies, which can improve existing products and processing methodologies by enhancing performance, simplifying manufacturing and reducing material consumption, in turn reducing costs. In late 2018, the Group began its first commercial sales to various polymer compounders in the automotive, packaging, construction, consumer products, clothing, aerospace, healthcare and medical markets.  Due late Jan 2022.

Hydrogen Utopia International PLC (HUI), to join Access Segment of the Aquis Stock Exchange, specialising in turning Non-Recyclable Mixed Waste Plastic into carbon-free fuels, new materials or distributed renewable heat. HUI’s activities will range across the full value chain, from the production of energy from Non-Recyclable Mixed Waste Plastic for local communities, to the sale of its products (Syngas, hydrogen, electricity and heat) to end customers. HUI’s initial strategic focus is to work closely with Powerhouse Energy Group PLC to create a project pipeline of HUI Facilities. Due 6 Jan 2022. Mkt Cap TBC.

Carbon Air, a nano-technology company which leverages the adsorption properties of activated carbon and other advanced materials to improve suspension systems, enhance acoustics or reduce noise, to join AIM. The Company’s proprietary technology has allowed it to develop a unique portfolio of solutions for a variety of sizeable end markets, including vehicle suspension systems, acoustic insulation for domestic appliances and micro-speakers for smartphones. Mkt Cap and Capital to be raised TBC. Due Late Jan.

i(x) Net Zero, the investing company which focusses on Energy Transition and Sustainability in the Built Environment, announces its intention to join AIM and raise money to provide development and expansion capital to certain of its investee companies, for future investments in companies that fall primarily within its areas of interest in Energy Transition and Sustainability in the Built Environment and to provide working capital for the Group. Capital to be raised £20m. Expected admission date Late Jan 2022.

Equinox International Holdings plc, UK-headquartered medical cannabis company aiming to become the UK’s leading ‘Land-to-Brand’ vertically integrated medical cannabis company, to seek admission of its entire share capital to trading on AIM. Seeking to raise funds to build a state-of-the-art cultivation, extraction and production facility on a Home Office-approved 20-acre UK site. Awaiting update , no update given since early November.

Lift Global, a financial media and technology-focused investment company led by well-known stock market commentator Zak Mir, to apply for admission of its Ordinary Shares to trading on the Access segment of Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market. The Company plans to raise approximately £ 1.7m before expenses. The flotation is expected to value Lift at approximately £2.7m.  Awaiting update with no update given since early December.

Superdielectrics to join AIM, a Company which is focused on developing technology to build supercapacitors with high energy density, low cost, and environmentally benign electrical energy storage devices that will help create a clean and sustainable global energy and transportation system. Admission is expected to take place in mid Jan 2022.

Soon to be renamed East Side Games Group (TSX: EAGR/OTCQB: EAGRF) (formerly LEAF Mobile Inc. TSX: LEAF / OTCQB: LEMLF), a leading Canadian free-to-play mobile game group, announced its intention to join the Main Market this winter. The Company, which started trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on February 10th, 2021, will assume a dual-listed structure. The Company intends to raise gross proceeds of approximately CAD$10m and the flotation is expected to value LEAF Mobile at approximately £130m. LEAF is operating within a fast-growing sector with a rapidly increasing total addressable market. Mobile Games are the world’s most popular form of gaming. Awaiting update, since the last update early December which mooted a name change to East Side Games Group.

Spiritus Mundi due to join the Main Market (Standard), a special purpose acquisition vehicle which will seek acquisition targets in Europe and Asia in the clinical diagnostics sector. The Company has already raised approximately £1.2m in a pre-IPO fundraising round. Due late Jan 2022.

Recycling Tech Group to join AIM, a UK-based engineering, research and manufacturing company that has developed a modular and mass producible machine, the RT7000, which processes hard to recycle plastic waste into a synthetic oil that can be sold back to the petrochemicals industry as a chemical feedstock to make new plastics. Targeting a £40m raise. Due early Q1 2022. 

Nu-Oil and Gas  to acquire Guardian Maritime Ltd and Guardian Barriers IP Ltd and become Guardian Global Security plc and join the Main Market (Standard). Guardian is a technology group that supplies products to prevent unauthorised entry into areas that are deemed to have value, with maritime security being the main focus initially. Due 24th Jan 2022.

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