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

Cancellation & Re-Introduction following Reverse Takeover  of AssetCo on AIM.  (ASTO.L) Upon completion of the readmission, the strategy of the Company will change to the New Strategy of “acquiring, managing and operating asset and wealth management activities and interests, together with other related services”. The New Strategy will principally focus on making strategic acquisitions and building organic activities in areas of the asset and wealth management sector where the Directors believe structural shifts have the potential to deliver exceptional growth opportunities. This could include strategic acquisitions of undervalued asset and wealth management businesses which have core capabilities that play to these structural shifts, and where active management can unlock value.

NFT Investments plc (AQSE:NFT) is an investment company that specialises in non-fungible tokens (NFT). Has today admitted to the Access segment of the AQSE Growth Market. The Company plans to raise approximately £10m before expenses by way of a placing of 200m ordinary shares at 5p each.  The flotation is expected to value NFT Investments at approximately £25m and make it the first-ever investment company focused exclusively on investing in non-fungible tokens to launch on a stock market in a major jurisdiction worldwide.

Off the menu

Scapa has left AIM following a takeover.

Banquet Buffet

Galantas Gold 18.5p £8.6m (GAL.L)

Operational update for the Galantas Gold Mine, Omagh, Northern Ireland. Underground blasting (as reported March 12, 2021) has continued with mining on a single shift basis. As expected, development of the Kearney vein has produced a feed of higher gold grade for the processing plant than the existing feed, which comes from low grade stock. The grade attributable to low grade stock for the months of January 2021 and February 2021 is estimated at 1.8 g/t and 1.1 g/t gold respectively. The grade of the limited feed produced from underground (based upon concentrate production) is estimated at 5.7 g/t gold and that material has supplemented the low grade material processed during the last week of the first quarter. The total tonnage processed in the first quarter of 2021 is estimated at 6,262.5 tonnes for an estimated 258.5 troy ounces of gold within an estimated 87.3 tonnes of concentrate. Shipments of 96.7 tonnes of concentrate were made in the first quarter containing an estimated 304.6 troy ounces of gold. Cash received during the first quarter 2021, under the company’s concentrate off-take agreement, totalled USD $574,599.90. This sum includes residual payments due from previous out-of-quarter shipments. Cash received is continuing to be credited within the accounts against development costs until ramp up to full production is complete. An initial review of the restart of underground operations has demonstrated favourable results based upon provisional estimates.

Accsys Technologies 150.5p £254.8m (AXS.L)

The fast-growing and eco-friendly company that combines chemistry and technology to create high performance, sustainable wood building products, today announces a trading update for the 12 months ended 31 March 2021.

 · Strong sales and revenue growth in the second half following the rapid recovery after the initial impact of COVID-19 in the first quarter:  FY21 Accoya® revenue of approximately EUR91m, up around 10%, with H2 up approximately 23% on H2 in prior year, with Group revenue in excess of approximately EUR98m.  FY21 Sales volumes of approximately 60,466m3, up around 4%.

· Further progression on profitability, due to an improved manufacturing margin through a combination of initiatives.

· Production has continued at capacity levels throughout H2 driven by ongoing strong demand from new and existing customers.· At the end of the year we are focussing on rebuilding our inventory stock levels, which are lower than usual due to reductions during COVID-19 disruption in H1 FY21 and some consequent supply chain disruptions.

Immunodiagnostic Systems 195p £56.1m (IDH.L)

The specialist producer of diagnostic testing kits and instruments for the clinical and research markets, today provides an unaudited trading update for the Financial Year ended 31 March 2021. IDS’s trading in H2 FY21 has recovered strongly from the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic seen in the first half. Unaudited revenue in H2 FY21 is expected to be £19.0m, up from £13.7m in H1 FY21, representing 39% growth H2 on H1. Overall revenues for FY21 amounted to £32.7m (FY20: £39.3m). The development of the Automated Business strongly correlates with the placement of new instruments, as each new instrument generates recurring incremental revenues. Therefore, we are pleased to report that instrument placements/sales in our Automated Business unit were 79 during H2 FY21 (H2 FY20: 61) bringing full year placements/sales to 100 (FY20: 93). This rate of placements represents the strongest performance in eight years.

Great Western Mining 0.25p £8.9m (GWMO.L)

Drilling has now commenced at the Olympic Gold Project in Mineral County Nevada. All necessary permits have been received and a Reverse Circulation rig has been mobilised to the Trafalgar Hill prospect which lies in the northwestern part of the Olympic claims. Ground has been broken on the first of six planned holes to be drilled at Trafalgar Hill, where prospects have been identified through geological mapping and two recently-conducted magnetometer surveys. Drilling is currently in progress. Following the completion of the Trafalgar Hill programme, the rig will remain at Olympic but move to the West Ridge prospect and then to the East OMCO Fault prospect, to the southeast of the historic OMCO Mine. Three further holes are planned to test magnetic anomalies to the east of the current Olympic group of claims for which the company has staked 12 new claims and submitted application to the Bureau of Land Management. In total, 11 holes are planned at Olympic prior to the rig moving to drill at the Company’s Rock House Group of claims. This is the first time that the Company has drilled at Olympic, over which it acquired a 4-year purchase option in 2020.

Angle 88p £190m (AGL.L)

The liquid biopsy company,  has secured its first large-scale pharma services contract. The customer, a pharma company with numerous cancer drugs under development and revenues exceeding US$1 billion per annum, has selected ANGLE’s Parsortix® system to undertake longitudinal monitoring (i.e. before, during and after drug intervention) of patients in three separate global clinical trials in prostate cancer and other locally advanced and metastatic solid tumours.  The contract is expected to be worth up to US$1.2m over some 18 months.  The work relates to a large Phase III prostate cancer study and two smaller Phase I studies.  The Phase I studies, if successful, could progress to larger Phase II studies and, if successful, much larger Phase III studies. 

Yew Grove REIT 0.95p £106m (YEW.L)

Yew Grove REIT, which owns a diversified portfolio of Irish commercial property assets, today announces a proposed placing and director’s subscription to raise a minimum of EUR10m of gross proceeds via an issue of new ordinary shares of nominal value EUR0.01 in the Company, each at a price of EUR0.95 . Pursuant to the Subscription, certain directors of the Company, including Jonathan Laredo, Chief Executive Officer and Charles Peach, Chief Financial Officer, intend to subscribe for 157,368 new ordinary shares of nominal value EUR0.01 in the Company  at the Placing Price, and in aggregate to contribute approximately EUR150,000. The Company has a near term identified acquisition pipeline of approximately EUR72m (including costs). The seven pipeline properties have net investment yields (“NIY”) of between 6.83% – 8.25%, and short-term reversionary yields of between 7.51% – 9.20%.

Infrastrata 47.75p £39m (INFA.L)

The UK quoted company focused on strategic infrastructure projects and physical asset lifecycle management, has been awarded a contract by Saipem Limited for the fabrication and load-out of eight wind turbine generator (WTG) jacket foundations for the EDF Renewables and ESB Energy owned Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind Farm project located in the outer Firth of Forth in Scotland. The contract value is circa £26million, is binding and contains contractual conditions and obligations on both parties, which are standard in contracts of this type. The contract schedule shall commence from 1 July 2021.

Helium One Global 10.75p £53.7m (HE1.L)

Significantly oversubscribed Placing and Subscription raising £10m at 10p per share· Funds will be used to continue the fast-track development programme of the Company’s Rukwa project in Tanzania.· Proceeds will enable the Company to save significant time and costs by keeping drilling equipment in the field to carry out appraisal work immediately following intended exploration success.· Proceeds will also allow contracting of 3D seismic over any discovery, maximising resource to reserve .Conversion and allowing completion of the majority of the field appraisal programme before the end of 2021. Company’s directors intend to participate in the Subscription.

President Energy 2.35p £47.7m (PPC.L)

The energy company with a diverse portfolio of production and exploration assets focused primarily in South America, provides an operational update with regard to current operations in the Rio Negro Province, Argentina.·Well EV-1001 at the Estancia Vieja has now spudded ahead of schedule— Petrophysical analysis of newly drilled well LB-1002 has increased net gas pay to 11 metres  – Successful workover at well LB-1001.

Caspian Sunrise 2.58p £53.7m (CASP.L)

Sunrise are pleased to has been informed that the price for oil sold to the domestic market from its flagship BNG Contract Area has been increased to approximately $12.4 per barrel. While this still lags far behind the international price it is approximately double the price received for most of the past 12 months and as such will be a significant boost for the Company’s finances.

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.

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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