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

East Star Resources plc, a company formed for the purpose of undertaking an acquisition or acquisitions of a majority interest in a company, business or asset has joined the Main Market (standard). The Company intends to focus on opportunities in the natural resources sector. In connection with Admission, the Company is expected to raise gross proceeds of £1.98m.

Off the menu

No Leavers Today.

Banquet Buffet

Zephyr Energy 3.05p £37.26m (ZPHR.L)

Have provided an update on its recently acquired non-operated working interests in North Dakota, USA. Receipt of its first monthly revenue payment for production from its interest in the Iverson well. The payment of $140,662 is related to volumes produced in the month of February, during which net production averaged 110 barrels of oil equivalent per day. Further Zephyr announced the acquisition of 11.6 acres in the Williston Basin, North Dakota (the Continental acreage) which gives Zephyr working interests in a drilling spacing unit (DSU) operated by Continental Resources Inc., the largest operator in the Williston Basin. The Continental acreage is located approximately ten miles from the Company’s Whiting wells, in a highly attractive part of the Basin. The cost of the acreage acquired by Zephyr was approximately US$170k and was paid for from the Company’s existing cash resources. Continental has already commenced drilling two initial wells on the DSU, with up to an additional 22 future wells  forecast to be drilled by 2023. Meanwhile preparations for State 16-2 CC LN well in Paradox Basin continue on schedule, resource evaluation work continues.

Intuitive Investments 23.2p £9.38m (IIG.L)

The closed-end investment company focussed on the life sciences sector, announces an investment of £500k to acquire 909 new ordinary shares in The Electrospinning Company Limited representing a 4.4 per cent. interest in TECL’s enlarged share capital, as part of a £4.5m fundraising round. TECL was established in 2010 as a spin-out by the UK Science and Technology Research Council (STFC). TECL has a technology platform built around the process of electrospinning, a technique for production of micro and nano-fibre biomaterials from a variety of natural and synthetic polymers, and a suite of post-processing technologies to convert the biomaterials into medical device components. The core business is the sale of product development and manufacturing services to medical device companies. TECL is also using its know-how to develop proprietary materials for targeted out-licensing opportunities, aiming to capture more of the end-market value created by its innovations and expertise. Further information on TECL can be found on the company’s website https://www.electrospinning.co.uk/ . TECL, per the company’s unaudited management accounts in the nine months to 31 March 2021, achieved revenues of £879,703, a loss after tax of £755,526 and, as at 31 March 2021, had net assets of £ 1,640,457. David Evans, Chairman of IIG, personally invested £50k in TECL in September 2018 and holds 125 ordinary shares representing a 0.6 per cent. interest in TECL’s enlarged share capital. Accordingly, David Evans did not vote as a member of the Board of IIG approving the transaction. Stewart White, Chairman of IIG’s Advisory Panel and a member of the Company’s Investment Team, is the non-executive Chairman of TECL and has options over 165 ordinary shares in TECL.

Katoro Gold 1.25p £4.74m (KAT.L)

The gold and nickel exploration and development company announced the results of a comprehensive Competent Person’s Report, that reports on the results and findings of additional technical and financial work that was conducted on the Blyvoor Gold Tailings Project in response to the recommendations and findings of the Blyvoor Scoping Study announced in RNS dated: 07 May 2020 and 4 March 2021.  The CPR demonstrates (before incorporation of the results of the recent metallurgical optimisation work): An unlevered Project Net Present Value (‘NPV@7.9%’) of US$ 114m, a 33% Internal Rate of Return and a Return on Investment of 64%; LOM of 25 years building to a production capacity of 500,000 tons per month with an overall production of 675, 842 ounces of gold over LOM.

ITM Power 481.3p £2,650m (ITM.L)

ITM Power, the energy storage and clean fuel company, announces the establishment of ITM Motive Limited, registered in England with company number 13290733, as a separate, wholly owned subsidiary of ITM Power PLC.  All English refuelling assets owned by ITM Power (Trading) Limited have been transferred to ITM Motive, alongside resources and personnel, which was set up as a division in 2020 with the appointment of Dr Duncan Yellen as Managing Director. ITM Motive owns and operates a portfolio of 12 Hydrogen Refuelling Station (HRS) assets, eight of which are currently commissioned with a further four in build or funded, making it the largest operator of HRS in the UK.  The portfolio has a total hydrogen generation capacity of 3.1 tonnes per day and a dispensing capacity of 7.8 tonnes per day which at full capacity and today’s hydrogen fuel prices would produce annual revenues of £9.27m.

Fusion Antibodies 176p £45.1m (FAB.L)

The specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, provides an unaudited business trading and operational update for the year ended 31 March 2021 and an update on the Company’s research and development programme. 7% growth in annual revenues to £4.2m (FY2020 £3.9m). Cash position at the year-end of £2.7m (31 March 2020: £1.5m). Development work on the Mammalian Antibody Library Discovery Platform, now branded as OptiMALTM, has continued throughout the period. Throughout the past 12 months, work has continued on isolating human antibodies from the OptiMALTM library using the SARS-CoV-2 antigen. The successful production of control models has been achieved and the process for full screening against new targets requires further optimisation to increase efficiency of the selection process. Work has also been commenced on two further oncology targets to be developed in addition to the SARS-CoV-2 work.

Pelatro 59.5p £22m (PTRO.L)

The telecom Customer Engagement Hub software specialist announced that a large Asian telco group with about 230m subscribers, with operating companies across multiple countries and an existing customer of Pelatro, has entered into a Framework Agreement (FWA) with Pelatro for three years. Under this group purchasing arrangement, the operating companies in the various jurisdictions can be serviced by Pelatro under one agreement and be confident of receiving the same high quality of offering and support across the group, as well as new products and services at pre-agreed pricing. At the same time, it will more deeply embed Pelatro into their operations and help to ensure an even closer working relationship with them. Expects the incremental revenue impact during the current year to be about $100k it will be about $500k per year from 2022 onwards.

Panthera Resources 14p £12.7m (PAT.L)

The gold exploration and development company with assets in West Africa and India announces that the term sheet with Galaxy Gold Mines Pvt Limited (Galaxy) has lapsed effective 30 April 2021. Reflecting the recent change in the Indian mining law, the Company has elected not to extend the term sheet with Galaxy. The Company’s efforts are focused on pursuing its legal rights in India and, working with Fasken in preparation for a potential international arbitration under the Australia-India Bilateral Investment Treaty.

Nightcap 28.5p £38.6m (NGHT.L)

Nightcap has agreed to acquire the Adventure Bar Group including the entire issued share capital of +Venture Battersea Limited, Adventure Bars Mid Limited and Adventure Bars Luna Digbeth Ltd.  Upon completion of the Acquisition, Nightcap will become the operator of an additional nine bars. The bars being acquired are seven established themed bars located in popular London locations, a large outdoor bar, food and entertainment venue in Birmingham, a bar site opening in Birmingham on 17 May 2021 and a 50% interest in a central London roof-top bar. Further, Nightcap announces that it is currently seeking to raise approximately £4m (before expenses) by way of a proposed placing. The maximum aggregate consideration payable to the Vendors is £2.5m and comprises an initial consideration of £1.0m payable on completion and up to £1.5m of deferred consideration, dependent upon the financial performance of the Target Bars. 

CAP-XX 9p £41.11m (CPX.L)

Jack, the developer of the first windshield breakage detection solution, has selected the CAP-XX HS208F supercap for its solar-powered IoT device. Jack chose the CAP-XX prismatic supercapacitors for their ability to store the solar energy harvested by the device’s onboard 4-cell solar panel, for their low ESR which enables the high burst of power needed for the device’s advanced Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) data transmissions, and for their thin form factor which fits easily inside the small (L x H x W) 134mm x 22.30mm x 27.60mm IoT device. The Jack device only needs a small 1.2Ah Li-SOCl2 backup battery because the CAP-XX supercap stores enough solar energy to almost completely power the device from solar light.

Jubilee Metals Group 17.15p £385m (JLP.L)

The metals processing company refers its shareholders to the announcement released today by Caerus Mineral Resources, an exploration and resource development company focused on developing mineral resources in Cyprus with a focus on copper and gold. Jubilee has entered into an agreement with Caerus granting Jubilee a six-month exclusive period during which Jubilee will assess the technical merits, development and economic prospects of all of Caerus’ surface-based mining waste and tailings assets in Cyprus.

What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?

Voyager Life, the health and wellness company established to supply high-quality Cannabidiol (CBD) and hemp seed oil products, announces the Company’s intention to seek admission to trading on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market (Access Segment). Admission on AQSE is expected to occur before the end of June 2021. Voyager was incorporated in November 2020 as a health and wellness business focused on CBD and hemp seed oil products. The Company’s directors believe that a significant opportunity exists in the CBD market due to the forecast growth and ongoing regulatory changes.

Galantus Holdings, a provider of accounts payable automation and analytics solutions, is considering a listing on the AIM market of the LSE. It is focusing on three product areas; Active AP Discovery, Intelligent AP Automation and Advanced AP Analytics, it utilises its internally developed data platform to offer an integrated solution for the finance function, accounts payable in particular. These solutions are offered to over 300 customers, more than 50 of which Galantus classifies as large enterprises. The Group headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland. The main office for EMEA operations is in Harpenden, England. The main office for US operations is in San Jose, California. The core product development team is based in Katowice, Poland with additional team members in a satellite office in Vilnius, Lithuania, and management support from the Dublin headquarters. Valuation, amount to raise, and timing TBC

Alphawave IP Group is considering an IPO on the standard listing segment of the London Stock Exchange. Alphawave IP is a leading semiconductor IP company focusing on the hardest-to-solve connectivity challenges created by the exponential growth of data. Funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, and Janus Henderson, have each entered into cornerstone agreements with the Company to subscribe for, subject to certain conditions, in aggregate, c. USD 510m of Offer Shares at an offer price representing an equity value of up to USD 4.5b for the Group at Admission. During the year ended 31 December 2020, the group generated revenue of USD 32.8m, exhibiting robust growth and delivering a CAGR of 161 per cent. since the year ended 31 May 2018.

Catena Group (CTNA.L) to complete reverse takeover and be renamed Insig AI and is acquiring the remaining shares of  Insight Capital Partners. Insight, which is based in the UK, is a data science and machine learning solutions company that provides bespoke web-based applications, advanced analytical tools and modern technology infrastructure to make machine learning accessible to investment professionals. Insight has developed five products specifically aimed at accelerating an asset manager’s data science and machine learning strategy. Capital to be raised on Admission approximately £6.1m. Mkt cap c. £66.4m. Due 10 May.

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.”

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 tbc.

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

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