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Braime Group  1,500p  £22.6m (BMTO.L)

Further to its year end announcement, Braime now received a quotation for its chain cell project from the contractors for £1.6m, and anticipates additional surveying, legal, architectural and project management fees of £0.3m (a total of £1.9m). The cost of the project has increased from the estimate of £850k at the year-end. This is in part due to inflation on construction materials but a significant reason for the increase is the opportunity, to also more than double the area available for the production of 4B Chain, a growth area of the business, and create a new mezzanine area for additional storage and achieve other operating efficiencies. The plans to enhance the area, which are capital in nature, did not form part of the original repair costs of the external walls and account for £870k of the costs.  Braime is  in discussions with the bankers HSBC, and have secured their agreement in principle to borrow in the short term, £1.5m of development loan to fund the construction (with the balance being paid from existing cash resources) at an interest of 2.75% above base rate and expects to convert all or most of this to a five-year term loan when the construction is completed. The group is involved in the manufacture of metal presswork and the distribution of bulk material handling components.

Churchill China 1,415p  £155.6m (CHH.L)

The manufacturer of innovative performance ceramic products serving hospitality markets worldwide, will hold its AGM at 12 noon today. At the meeting, Alan McWalter, Chairman, will make the following statement: “In our Preliminary Results, announced on 21 April 2022, we advised that we were experiencing record demand across our geographic markets. I am pleased to report that this demand has continued and our order book remains healthy. We remain confident in our ability to deliver an improved year on year performance in 2022. Last month we announced the retirement of Angela Bromfield from the Board, effective from the conclusion of the Annual General Meeting. I would like to re-iterate the Company’s thanks for her work over the last six years and wish her well for the future. As noted in our announcement of 19 May 2022, recruitment processes are underway to both identify a successor to Angela and also to reinforce independent representation on the Board.”

Empire Metals  1.3p  £5.3m (EEE.L)

The resource exploration and development company, announced the commencement of the next campaign of reverse circulation drilling at the combined Eclipse-Gindalbie Gold Project in Western Australia. Commencement of an RC drilling campaign, consisting of over 3,290m of drilling across 26 drill holes, to target high grade mineralisation at combined Eclipse-Gindalbie Gold Project. The campaign will focus on the most prospective targets within the Eclipse-Gindalbie Project area, including Homeward Bound which has previously delivered very high-grade intercepts, including: 5m @ 8.99 g/t Au from 31m downhole, including 1m at 40.90 g/t Au, 3m @ 8.96 g/t Au from 98m downhole, including 2m at 13.28 g/t Au 3m @ 9.88 g/t Au from 46m downhole, including 1m at 26.20 g/t Au.

Intelligent Ultrasound 14.5p  £39.2m (IUG.L)

The ‘classroom to clinic’ ultrasound company, specialising in artificial intelligence software and simulation, announces that at the AGM due to be held today at 11:00am at the offices of Memery Crystal, 165 Fleet Street, London EC4A 2DY, Non-Executive Chairman Riccardo Pigliucci will make the following statement: ” As noted at the publication of our full year results, we have had a strong start to 2022 and we continue to be confident in the upgraded market expectations for the full year 2022 revenue. We remain excited about the potential of our ‘Classroom to Clinic’ business.”

IQE 35.6p  £286.2m (IQE.L)

The leading supplier of compound semiconductor wafer products and advanced material solutions to the global semiconductor industry, announced the signing of a multi-year agreement with Lumentum for the supply of epiwafers supporting 3D Sensing, LiDAR for automotive, and optical networking applications. Lumentum Holdings Inc., (NASDAQ: LITE) a market-leading photonics solutions provider, has been a long-term partner of IQE. Effective immediately, the multi-year agreement is focused on high volume production of epiwafers which will be used across Lumentum’s portfolio of innovative laser products, in particular to enable LiDAR for autonomous vehicles, where IQE will be the epitaxy partner of choice for this technology. The strong partnership between IQE and Lumentum will also enable leadership across a wider range of cutting-edge technologies such as biometric security, data communications, and extended reality. There is also further provision for multi-year joint research and development initiatives.

Jade Road Investments* 6.3p  £7.2m (JADE.L)

The London quoted pan-Asian diversified investment vehicle, announced that the Company has successfully negotiated a partial divestment in Meize Energy Industries Holdings Limited, one of the leading privately-owned wind turbine blade manufacturing companies in China, currently the third-largest holding in the Company’s portfolio (7.7% of NAV as at announcement). On the 23rd of November 2011, the Company , through its wholly-owned subsidiary Swift Wealth Investments Limited, subscribed to USD7.5MM of Series B Preferred Shares. This investment equates to a shareholding of approximately 7.2% in Meize. The Company has entered into a share purchase agreement for 112,500 shares of the Series B Preferred Equity in Meize for consideration of USD1.2m. The Transaction Price will be received by the Company in three equal tranches. The number of shares sold in this partial divestment represents 12% of the Company’s holding in Meize. The Company will hold approximately 6.3% interest in Meize post this divestment. Before the release of this RNS, the Company received the First Tranche Price of USD400k. The Company expects to receive the Second and Third Tranche Price in late July and August 2022 as agreed in the SPA.  The Transaction Price implies a valuation of USD10m for the Company’s investment in Meize, which indicates a 22% premium to the carrying value as at the 30th of June 2021 (USD8.2m). The profit from this disposal is USD0.3m. This divestment, of which the sale consideration is settled offshore, marks the culmination of a lengthy and successful turnaround effort by the Company for private investment in China.

Learning Technologies Group 113.9p  £897.8m (LTG.L)

AGM Statement from the  provider of services and technologies for digital learning and talent management. “As we stated in our full year results, our transformational GP Strategies’ acquisition continues to progress ahead of plan. The enlarged Group provides a platform to capture a greater proportion of the circa $100bn and growing addressable market in digital learning and talent management. While mindful of the current macro environment, strong business momentum has continued into the first half of 2022 and we have a robust balance sheet that will support further strategic acquisitions in due course, underpinning the Board’s confidence of significant progress. We are delighted by the progress made in the first half of this year and look forward to providing a Trading Update on 26 July”. 

Trafalgar Property 0.3p  £0.8m (TRAF.L)

The Residential property developer operating in southeast England, announces a trading update on its property interests: Trafalgar has exchanged contracts on a scheme in Speldhurst Kent that has planning permission granted for a large, detached property. It is the Company’s intention to reapply for planning on the site for a development of 1 and 2 Bedroomed apartments with off street parking. The Company’s development in Leatherhead Surrey for 8×2 Bedroomed apartments still remains in the planning system with a decision expected later this year. The Company retains certain properties for investment purposes, all of these properties are fully let with no void periods.

Skillcast 24p  £21.5m (SKL.L)

Skillcast Group plc, the provider of content and technology for digital compliance transformation, announces that at the Company’s AGM being held today at 1pm at the Company’s registered office at 80 Leadenhall Street, London, EC3A 3DH, Richard Amos, Chairman, will provide the following update: “We are pleased to report continuing growth in our revenues and client base and continue to trade in line with expectations. Both subscription revenues from our SaaS products, which make up the majority of revenues, and ARR continue to grow on the prior year. Skillcast operates in the non-discretionary end of the corporate compliance and e-learning market and we remain confident that we are well placed to weather any future macro-economic challenges as we continue to help companies build ethical, inclusive and resilient workplaces. We look forward to providing a trading update on our half year performance in July 2022.”

Trident Royalties  44p  £128.1m (TRR.L)

The diversified mining royalty and streaming company, released the below statement by its Non-Executive Chairman, Paul Smith, which will be read at today’s AGM. “2021 was a transformational year for Trident. We completed 4 investments during the year, followed by the acquisition of the gold offtake portfolio in January 2022. This brought the total number of assets to 22, of which 12 are now producing. The impact of these transactions was reflected in our Q1 results, which saw a 400% year on year increase in royalty receipts. Trident’s business model is well suited to the current economic environment as it provides investors with exposure to commodity prices but largely without the associated inflation in operating and capital costs. Appetite for mining development capital continues to be strong and royalties are likely to be an increasingly important component given more challenging public markets. We believe we are well placed to continue to create value for our shareholders and we look forward to providing updates over the course of the year.”

What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?

Visum Technologies seeking admission to The AQSE Growth Market. The Company’s business is to own and operate an “on-ride” video and photographic camera system that it sells and/or licenses to customers (being theme parks, ride manufacturers, souvenir imaging providers, and other leisure operators).  Due 30 June.

LifeSafe Holdings, a fire safety technology business with innovative fire safety products, intends to join AIM. LifeSafe has developed what the Directors believe to be market disrupting, eco-friendly fire safety protection products to both protect (via fire extinguishers) and detect (via carbon monoxide, smoke and heat alarms) fires. At the centre of the Group’s product range is the FER1000 extinguishing fluid, which has been developed by LifeSafe to extinguish five different types of fire: electrical, paper, textiles, cooking oil, and petrol and diesel. The Group’s best-selling product using this patent pending extinguishing fluid is the StaySafe 5-in-1 fire extinguisher. It was launched on Amazon Prime in the UK in August 2021 and subsequently became Amazon Prime’s top selling fire extinguisher in the UK in the same month. In n the year ended 31 December 2021, the Group generated revenues of £670k and a loss post taxation of £1.5m. £3m to be raised. Due early July 2022.

Altona Rare Earths, the AQSE listed mining exploration Company focused on the evaluation, acquisition and development of Rare Earth Elements mining projects in Africa, intends to join the Main Market. Admission to trading of the Company’s Ordinary Shares on the AQSE Growth Market will be cancelled simultaneously with Admission. It is also proposed that on Admission, the Company will change its EPIC from AQSE:ANR to REE.  The Company also seeks to raise funds to finance its current and future rare earths mining projects in Southern and Eastern Africa. Due June 2022.

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

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