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.

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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.

Darktrace plc. Announcement of Intention to Publish a Registration Document and Potential IPO on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.  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  Timing TBA

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.

Advance Energy to complete an RTO on AIM indirectly acquiring up to 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.

NFT Investments plc is an investment company that specialises in non-fungible tokens (NFT). Has applied for admission to the Access segment of the AQSE Growth Market. No funds being raised. Due 16 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.

Banquet Buffet

Dalata Hotel 384p  £856m (DAL.L)

The largest hotel operator in Ireland with a growing presence in the United Kingdom, announces the appointment of Ms Carol Phelan as Group Chief Financial Officer  effective 1 July, 2021.  Ms Phelan joined the Company in 2014 and was appointed as Group Head of Financial Reporting, Treasury and Tax in 2017. During her time with the Group, Ms Phelan has played a leading role within the finance team; responsible for the development of the financial reporting function during a period of rapid growth and expansion. She also led the refinancing of the Group’s debt facilities in 2018 and has been centrally involved in maintaining the Group’s financial strength and liquidity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to joining Dalata Ms Phelan held senior finance positions in Ion Equity and KPMG. She is a qualified Chartered Accountant. 

Volex 367p  £576m (VLX.L)

The global supplier of integrated manufacturing services and power products, updated on trading ahead of the scheduled announcement of the Group’s full year results for the 52 weeks ended 4 April 2021 on 17 June 2021.  The Group delivered a robust performance in the second half of the financial year, underpinned by strong demand from customers in the consumer electronics and electric vehicle markets. The performance for the period includes over $52m of revenue from electric vehicle customers, a significant increase of 187% compared to the previous year, as Volex expanded its customer base and product offering in this market. There has also been an overall stabilisation in demand from core medical and industrial markets as well as healthy year-on-year growth from data centre customers as the trend towards home-working continues. As a result, revenue for the full year will be ahead of market expectations and be at least $440m while underlying operating profit is expected to be at least $41m, ahead of the most recently guided range.

Diurnal Group 67p  £92.7m (DNL.L)

The specialty pharmaceutical company targeting patient needs in chronic endocrine (hormonal) diseases, has decided to withdraw its application for maintenance of Orphan Designation in Europe for Efmody® (hydrocortisone modified-release hard capsules – development name Chronocort®). This follows feedback from the Committee for Orphan Medicinal Products (COMP), an advisory committee to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Diurnal has decided that continuing pursuit of an Orphan Designation for the drug would be likely to cause a significant delay in its European commercial launch. First commercial launch is currently anticipated to be in Q3 2021. Martin Whitaker, Chief Executive Officer of Diurnal, commented: “Following the recent positive opinion from the CHMP we are focussed on the timely launch of Efmody® in Q3 2021. Orphan Designation for Efmody® in Europe is not critical to the commercial potential of the product in this market. There remains a strong clinical rationale for the drug’s use to address the significant need for new therapies to improve outcomes for adult patients with CAH. This was highlighted recently in the paper in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism that detailed our pivotal clinical  trial data and results from a long term extension study. Additionally, a robust, granted European patent estate provides market exclusivity for the drug until at least 2033.”

Barkby Group 27p  £37m (BARK.L)

Subsidiary, Cambridge Sleep Sciences (CSS), the science-based sleep technology business behind SleepHub®, has announced three new partnerships as part of its continued growth strategy. Probitas Technologies, a specialist IT distributor across EMEA, will initially be offering SleepHub® to the Portuguese, Spanish and French markets. Health and wellbeing ecosystem creators, Nexus Digital Technology, will make SleepHub® available as part of their health and wellbeing app. And My Benefits World will be making SleepHub® available to thousands of employees through its online employee benefits solution. 

600 Group 11p  £12.9m (SIXH)

The 600 Group plc, the diversified industrial engineering company, announces a trading update for the financial year ended 31 March 2021. Despite the exceptional impact of COVID-19 on the Group’s businesses and world economy, the Group is expected to report revenues of approximately $53m, down over 20% on the prior year. Despite this reduction in revenues, the Group expects to report underlying EBIT of approximately $2.5m for the full year due to the implementation of operational cost savings and government assistance programmes. The Group’s performance is above the Board’s post-pandemic expectations, and the strong increase in order activity in March improved the overall orderbook to approximately $14m as at 31 March 2021, almost 70% above the prior year.

Naked Wines 814.5p  £595.9m (WINE.L)

Trading Update. The Group delivered strong performance across all three geographies, particularly the US, driven by a significant increase in demand for its direct-to-consumer wine subscription model, and from an accelerated shift in consumer behaviour toward online wine purchases due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Group sales growth of approximately 68%, exceeding the upper-end of guidance. US business grew +75%, surpassing £150m of sales, and now representing approximately 45% of Group sales. Increased levels of Investment in New Customers, c.10% above the upper-end of guidance, at sustained higher payback than target.

Goldstone Resources 11.375p  £37m (GRL.L)

The West Africa gold exploration and development company , announces that, further to its announcement of 12 February 2021, the Company confirms that for operational reasons it is focusing on ramping up mining and production, which has necessitated a temporary rescheduling to the initially planned gold pour, in order to optimize profitability.  The Company is working with the new mining contractor to complete a revised mine plan and production schedule, for the coming months and will be in a position to update the market shortly.

1Spatial 42p  £46.4m (SPA.L)

The specialist in Location Master Data Management (LMDM) software and solutions, announced that following an initial trial and implementation phase, Google Real Estate and Workplace Services, a division of Google, Inc has extended its contract for services to support the licencing of 1Spatial’s rules engine, 1Integrate, and cloud portal, 1Data Gateway. The extension to the contract is worth US$500k in services to be delivered in the current financial year.  This amount is in addition to the annual term licenses for the current deployments of US$185k per annum.

Iofina  12.375p  £23.7m (IOF.L)

The specialists in the exploration and production of iodine and manufacturers of specialty chemical products, today provides an update to the market regarding its activities during the first quarter of 2021. · Strong recovery in the iodine market with sales demand at pre-pandemic levels.· Backlog of deferred orders processed pushed sales for the quarter to record levels. · Global iodine spot prices are increasing and Q2 prices are expected in the $34-$37 range· Production of 108.2 MT of crystalline iodine (2020: 129.7 MT) · Decrease compared to Q1 2020 largely due to abnormal extreme weather for two weeks in February.

Harvest Minerals 3.1p  £6m (HMI.L)

The remineraliser producer, announced a strong Q1 2021 sales performance for KP Fértil®, an organic, multi-nutrient, direct application natural remineraliser, which the Company produces from its 100% owned Arapua Fertiliser Project in Brazil . KP Fértil® contains many of the essential nutrients and minerals required by plants and, unlike most fertilisers, can be applied directly to crops without the need for complex processing or chemical alteration. 8,872 tonnes of KP Fértil® sold in Q1 2021:  more than 10% higher than management budget of 8,000 tonnes;  represents a 166% increase in total tonnage compared to Q1 2020. Q1 sales performance keeps Company on track to meet 2021 sales target.  In 2020, 82% of the total sales were placed in the second half of the year, which has stronger sales seasonality.

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

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