Listing: The opportunities and challenges of becoming a public company.
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Banquet Buffet
Alien Metals 0.8p £27.4m (UFO.L)
Update on its inaugural drilling programme at the high-grade Elizabeth Hill Silver Project in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia. Ongoing drilling at Elizabeth Hill continues to produce visible sulphides; Visible sulphides and native silver have been observed in core and RC chips, which appears to support the Company’s view that a larger polymetallic halo exists around the original high-grade silver deposit; Drilling to date has provided important QA/QC validation of historic work and helped identify new mineralisation; Excellent quality core attained, which has been logged, cut and despatched; Currently, around 753m has been drilled as part of the ongoing drill programme at Elizabeth Hill, including: 211 metres of diamond core drilling (4 holes); and 542m of RC drilling (6 holes), 14 RC holes for approximately 1,100m remain, which will test targets along strike of the main orebody and at the nearby J-reef.
Alpha Financial Markets 348p £411.5m (AFM.L)
The provider of specialist consultancy services to the Asset Management, Wealth Management and Insurance industries, announces its pre-close trading update for the six months ended 30 September 2021. The Board is very pleased with the strong performance of the Group in the first half of the financial year and remains confident in achieving the Group’s expectations for the full year. The good momentum and strong pipeline carried into FY22 has continued, with positive trading conditions in the first six months. Increased client demand has delivered strong double-digit organic net fee income growth compared to the first half of the prior year, with particularly strong like for like progress in Alpha’s North American and Europe & Asia regions. Margins have also been strong, lifted by higher than target consultant utilisation levels, alongside an increasing but well controlled variable cost base. The Group has also successfully delivered strong sales wins and grown its opportunity pipeline through the first half.
Ananda Developments 0.9p £6.75m (AQSE:ANA)
Shareholder Update: Ananda’s ambition is to be a UK grower and provider of carbon neutral, consistent, high quality medical cannabis for the UK and international markets. Since the Company’s update on 17 September 2021, works have continued on schedule at the medical cannabis research growing facility being developed in the UK by DJT Plants Limited (the Company’s 50% owned subsidiary). Progress on the construction of the research facility continues. The pouring of concrete to create the facility pod floors is now complete. All drainage is in place. Ground has now been cleared and levelled for construction of the multi chapelle growing tunnels. Steel for this phase of construction has been delivered to site and holes are being bored in the ground for the multi chapelle ‘legs’. According to UK based medical cannabis advisory group, Maple Tree Consultants, there are now approximately 9,500 medical cannabis patients in the UK. Maple Tree predicts that this number will reach around 25,000 by the end of 2022. This growth is in line with the development of international medical cannabis markets which experienced slow growth immediately after legalisation, followed by increased and then rapid growth around year 3. Medical cannabis was legalised in the UK in late 2018.
Ariana Resources 4.3p £46.9m (AAU.L)
Recent drilling results obtained from the Kokkinoyia Sector of the Magellan Project which is 100% owned by Venus Minerals Ltd. Venus is focused on the exploration and development of copper and gold assets in Cyprus. Ariana is continuing its earn-in to 50% of Venus and is currently entitled to 37.5%, with 50% expected to be achieved in early Q4 2021. Gold confirmed in all 2021 Kokkinoyia Sector drill holes, identifying the deposit as a copper-gold-zinc mineral system. Three new mineralisation zones identified, with significant results including: o 18.9m @ 0.86% Cu + 1.54g/t Au + 0.55% Zn, including 3m @ 4.40% Cu + 6.24g/t Au + 0.82% Zn; 15.0m @ 0.54% Cu + 0.16 g/t Au o 9.0m @ 0.72% Cu + 0.43g/t Au + 0.29% Zn, i ncluding 3m @ 1.44% Cu + 0.72g/t Au + 0.38% Zn. Metallurgical analysis pending ahead of next phase of project development.
Glantus Holdings 91.5p £34.1m (GLAN.L)
Glantus and VAT IT UK Ltd, today announce that they have signed a partnership agreement to offer tax and working capital reclaim services. VAT IT customers will now have access to the Glantus Data Platform and expertise to realize additional savings through targeted accounts payable analysis, credit recovery, and automation of the accounts payable process. Glantus customers will also benefit from having access to the leading global VAT reclaim company, to bring innovative digitalization and analytics-driven problem-solving to the VAT recovery process. Joint customers benefit by combining savings on utility expenditure with reduced vendor transaction costs, accelerated recovery of working capital, and increased visibility of accounts payable data.
Manolete Partners 305p £132.9m (MANO.L)
Trading Update. In June 2020 the UK Government reacted to the Covid-19 pandemic by suppressing UK insolvencies through the use of various “Temporary Measures” contained in the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020. These measures largely ended, effective from 1 October 2021 as did a number of other business support schemes, including furlough. Manolete’s trading for the interim six-month reporting period ended 30 September 2021 was during the time that these “Temporary Measures” were in full effect. Despite these unprecedented restrictions, the Company has performed well and in line with the Board’s expectations during the period. During the six months ending 30 September 2021 (all figures unaudited): 64 cases were completed (23% higher than the 52 case completions in H1 FY21). Those 64 cases were settled for an aggregate settlement value of £7.9m. The average duration of the 64 cases from the date of signing the investment agreement to the date the case was legally settled was 11.5 months, which is in line with the Company’s long-term average.
Mirriad Advertising 26.5p £74m (MIRI.L)
Mirriad, the leading in-content advertising company, today announces its collaboration with Electric Glue and 4Sales to incorporate a novel in-content product placement for Rightmove, the UK’s biggest property website, within Channel 4’s popular peak time property show Location, Location, Location. The new autumn series of Location, Location, Location, which debuted on 29 September 2021, is accompanied by a brand-new digital overlay in each episode, the first of its kind in media, that features contextually relevant statistics from Rightmove’s extensive property data. One of the largest property shows on TV, the previous season of Location, Location, Location attracted an average of 2m viewers per episode and a 9.9% share of the viewing audience at 8pm on Wednesdays.
Oriole Resources 0.43p £8.5m (ORR.L)
Update on its 90%-owned Central Licence Package (CLP) in Central Cameroon. The district-scale CLP comprises eight contiguous licences covering 3,592 square kilometres of previously unexplored Paleo-Proterozoic to Pan-African age rocks that are highly prospective for orogenic-style gold mineralisation. For context, the licenced area is approximately half the size of the Kédougou-Kéniéba inlier in Senegal, which has a current gold endowment of more than 45m ounces. The Company today reports results for the 3 easternmost licences, Pokor, Ndom and Mbe. Grades of up to 291 parts per bln (‘ppb’) gold (‘Au’) continue to support an association with the northeast-trending Tcholliré-Banyo shear zone (‘TBSZ’), a key regional control on gold distribution in Cameroon. The sampling programme will continue over the 3 western licences in Q4 2021. Gold assay results received for 503 stream sediment samples related to the Ndom, Pokor and Mbe licences. Strongly anomalous values returned from all three licences, with 26 samples grading >10 ppb Au and six samples returning >50 ppb Au. The highest reported result of 291 ppb Au was returned from the Ndom licence. The 18 targets (>30 ppb Au) identified to date will now be ranked ahead of designing follow-up programmes. Mapping and sampling over the remaining three licences in the west of the Package will resume in Q4 2021.
Tectonic Gold 1.45p £13.7m (AQSE:TTAU)
The Intrusive Related Gold System (IRGS) explorer, has remobilised the technical team for a ten-day follow-up campaign up with diamond drilling at Specimen Hill, in Queensland, Australia. 250m deep step-back hole along strike from the September 2021 discovery confirmation hole at the Southern Copper currently being drilled; 300m diamond core at Goldsmith’s Reef planned, to intersect bullseye geophysical target below high-grade workings following two successful holes in September 2021; Drill programme extended to deeper drilling to test for selective high grade or large-scale bulk underground mining targets to complement existing near surface mineralisation with open pit copper-gold potential; Southern Copper discovery confirmation again proving the efficiency of Tectonic’s Australian Federal Government supported research into IRGS.
Water Intelligence 1140p £209.4m (WATR.L)
A leading multinational provider of precision, minimally-invasive leak detection and remediation solutions for both potable and non-potable water announced the launch of a new national account channel for its American Leak Detection (ALD) subsidiary. ALD will be leveraging both its platform of more than 150 locations across 46 states of the United States and its standardized workflow across its operating geographies to provide water and wastewater solutions for a leading home builder in the Midwest United States.
What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?
Softline the global solutions and services provider in digital transformation and cybersecurity, with its headquarters in London, is considering proceeding with a potential initial public offering of global depositary receipts representing its ordinary shares. The Company is considering applying for admission of the GDRs to the standard listing segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market for listed securities and on Moscow Exchange. The Group had a turnover of US$1.8 bln for the year ended 31 March 2021, employs c.6,000 people globally, and operates in more than 50 countries across emerging markets. Primary proceeds from the Offer are expected to be around US$400m. Due Late Oct.
Marks Electrical, a fast growing online electrical retailer, announced its intention to proceed with an initial public offering and to seek admission to trading on AIM. Marks Electrical sells, delivers, installs and recycles a wide range of household electrical products. In the year to 31 March 2021 revenue grew to £56m, up 78% against the previous financial year, while EBITDA increased to £7.45m, at a 13.3% EBITDA margin. The Group has made a strong start to its current financial year to 31 March 2022, with revenue growth of 78% in H1 FY2022, versus 47% growth in H1 FY2021. Offer TBA Admission is expected to take place in late October 2021.
Future Metals NL (ASX:FME) (formerly named Red Emperor Resources NL) to join AIM. No funds being raised. Future Metals is a platinum group metals exploration and development company that holds a 100% interest in the Panton PGM Project in Western Australia (the “Panton Project”). The Panton Project comprises 3 granted mining leases (M80/103, M80/104 and M80/105), which cover an area of approximately 23km2 and are located 60km north of Halls Creek and 1km from the Great Northern Highway, in the East Kimberly region of Western Australia. The Panton Project has a JORC (2012) Mineral Resource Estimate of 14.3Mt at 2.19g/t platinum, 2.39g/t palladium, 0.31g/t gold, 0.27 per cent. nickel and 0.08 per cent. copper. Due mid October. Mkt cap c£35.8m.
Bens Creek Group to join Aim. Bens Creek, together with its subsidiaries, will, on Admission, own and operate a metallurgical coal mine located on 10,000 acres in the southern part of the state of West Virginia and eastern edge of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, in the central Appalachian Basin of the eastern United States of America. The Mine’s operations are located primarily in Mingo County, West Virginia. The Mine includes a wash plant and rail loading facility located on the freehold land. Capital to be raised on Admission: £7m. Anticipated Mkt Cap on admission: £35m. Due 19 Oct.
M7 Regional E-Warehouse REIT intends to apply for admission onto The Property Stock Exchange (Wholesale Segment). On admission, the company plans to acquire a portfolio of UK retail warehouses worth £120m from M7 Real Estate Investment Partners VIII. The portfolio currently comprises 18 retail warehouse properties across the UK totalling 978,317 sq ft and fully let to 53 occupiers. Rent collections for Q2 2021 stand at 93% and are expected to revert to 100% in the coming quarters.
Castlenau Group to join the Specialist Fund Segment of the LSE’s Main Market. Castelnau was incorporated with limited liability in Guernsey under the Companies Law on 13 March 2020 as a closed-ended company limited by shares. The Company’s investment objective is to compound shareholders’ capital at a higher rate of return than the FTSE All Share Total Return Index over the long term. The Company is targeting an issue in excess of £170m. Sir Peter Wood, British entrepreneur and innovator, has committed to make a cornerstone investment of £25m in the Initial Placing. Due 18 Oct.
Tortilla Mexican Grill, the largest and most successful fast-casual Mexican restaurant group in the UK to join AIM. Offer TBA. Due 8 Oct
Eurowag confirms its intention to undertake an initial public offering on the Main Market (Premium). The Offer would be expected to comprise both (i) new Ordinary Shares to be issued by the Company, raising gross proceeds of approximately EUR200m to support Eurowag’s growth strategy and (ii) existing Ordinary Shares to be sold by existing Eurowag shareholders. Eurowag is a leading pan-European integrated payments & mobility platform focused on the commercial road transportation industry. It makes life simpler for commercial drivers and operators across Europe through its unique combination of payments solutions, seamless technology, a data-driven digital eco-system and high-quality customer service. Due October.
Light Science Tech Holdings, the holding company of the Group’s contract electronics manufacturing division, UK Circuits and Electronics Solutions Limited, and its controlled environment agriculture division, Light Science Technologies Ltd to join AIM. Due early Oct. Offer TBA.
Responsible Housing REIT to join the Main Market (Premium) raising up to £250m. The Company’s investment objective is to generate a consistent and sustainable income-based return from the provision of Supported Housing accommodation assets and aligned sectors. The Company will acquire and create quality, fit-for-purpose accommodation assets to cater for supported residents across a number of care sectors including adults and young people with learning disabilities, mental health issues, physical disabilities, addiction, those with support needs, those in need of temporary accommodation, the elderly and otherwise vulnerable individuals.
Arrow Exploration, currently on the TSX Venture exchange to dual list on AIM. Arrow has a portfolio of operated and non-operated interests in producing Colombian oil assets, together with a producing Western Canadian natural gas asset. The Company also has interests in development assets in Colombia. The Company has interests in six onshore blocks in Colombia, held through Arrow’s wholly-owned subsidiary in Colombia, Carrao Energy S.A., and in oil and gas leases in seven areas in Alberta, Canada, held through Arrow’s wholly-owned Canadian subsidiary Arrow Holdings Ltd. Offer TBA. The company last said Sept 13th that it expected to list end of September which has now passed.
Marley Group, a UK leader in the manufacture and supply of pitched roof systems to the construction market , today announces that it is considering an initial public offering on the Main Market (Premium). In HY Jun 2021 revenues grew from £52.1m to £76m with underlying EBITDA more than doubling to £21.8m Timing and offer TBA.
Fruugo.com which owns and operates a high growth and profitable global cross-border marketplace employing its own proprietary technology and data science, announces its intention to seek admission of its shares to trading on AIM. Due early Oct. Timing and offer TBA.
Blackfinch Renewable European Income Trust plc, a closed-end investment trust established to invest in a diversified portfolio of mixed renewable energy infrastructure assets, is considering proceeding with an initial public offering and has published a registration document. Raising up to £300m. Due on the Main Market (Premium) in October.
Central Copper Resources, a company focused on delivering a high grade copper project into production and exploration of assets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in the Republic of Zambia to join AIM. By 2022, CCR intends to be ready to commence the project financing of its Mbamba Kilenda copper project. It pushed back its AIM float on 30th September from end September to late October. It last night said that the amount to be raised is still yet to be confirmed.
Euro Sun Mining Inc (TSX:ESM) seeking to join the Main Market in Q3 2021. The Company’s main asset, the Rovina Valley Project, which contains the Rovina, Colnic and Ciresata deposits, is one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold projects in Europe, holding approximately 400Mt of confirmed resources containing 7.0m ounces of gold and 1.4 bn lbs of copper.
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