Hybridan Small Cap Feast

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Banquet Buffet

Cambridge Cognition  133.5p  £41.6m (COG.L)

The developer of digital solutions to assess brain health, announces that it will be collaborating with the University of Oxford by providing cognitive assessments for the Impact of Semaglutide in Amyloid Positivity (ISAP) study. As a consequence Cambridge Cognition expects to receive validation data for its voice-based solution, NeuroVocalixTM. The randomised controlled trial, sponsored by the University of Oxford and funded by Novo Nordisk, aims to investigate the effectiveness of a diabetes medication (oral semaglutide) against the neuropathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (specifically, tau accumulation and neuroinflammation). 

Colefax Group  807.5p  £64.1m (CFX.L)

The designer and distributor of furnishing fabrics & wallpapers and the owner of an interior decorating business, announces its preliminary results for the year ended 30 April 2022. Sales increased by 31% to £101.80m (2021: £77.91m). Pre-tax profit increased by 100% to £10.82m (2021: £5.42m), reflecting operational gearing in the Fabric Division and an exceptional performance by the Decorating Division. Management indicates that the company’s position at the premium end of the market should provide some protection from inflation. In addition, Colefax is benefitting from the recent strengthening of the US Dollar as over 60% of its Fabric Division revenues are in the US.

Future Metals 6.4p  £22.7m (FME.L)

The Australian based exploration company announce that it has received firm commitments to subscribe for 40m fully paid ordinary shares (Placement Shares) at $0.125 per share to raise $5.0m (Placement). The Placement includes the issue of one free listed attaching option (Placement Options) for every three Placement Shares and Placement Options are issued on the same terms as the existing listed option class; FMEO, exercisable at a price of $0.10 per share and an expiry date of 11 June 2024. In conjunction with the Placement, Future Metals will be offering eligible shareholders the opportunity to participate in a Share Purchase Plan (SPP) on the same terms as the Placement to raise up to an additional $0.5m. Net proceeds will be utilised on exploration activities to test Panton’s Ni-Cu-PGE sulphide potential.

Gattaca 75.0p  £24.2m (GATC.L)

The specialist Engineering and Technology staffing solutions business, provides a trading update for the year ended 31 July 2022 (FY22). Net fee incomes are expected to be £44.0m, up 4% from £42.1m in FY21. The company expects its continuing underlying PBT for the full year to be in line with market consensus of break even. The company remains confident in the long-term fundamentals of the STEM markets, given the shortage of candidates. 

Gooch & Housego 659.0p  £165.0m (GHH.L)

The manufacturer of photonic components & systems, provides a trading update. As at 31 July 2022, the order book stood at a record £140.6m (31 July 2021: £97.7m), up 43.9% year-on-year. However, capacity expansion in the second half of the financial year has been constrained by the competitive labour markets in the UK and the US, as well as supply chain shortages. Hence, adjusted profit before tax is now forecast to be around £3.5m lower than management’s previous expectations and management will review intangible asset carrying values and make any required adjustments for year end. For FY23, the company expects double-digit volume growth and positive EBIT margin.

Libertine Holdings 19.0p £26.5m (LIB.L)

The  developer of clean, highly efficient and fuel-flexible Linear Generator products, announces its audited results for the year ended 31 March 2022 (FY 2021/22). Total revenue (including grant incomes) was £2.9m (FY 2020/21: £0.1m). Net loss widened to £3.2m due to exceptional items and net interest charges (FY2020/21: £0.7m in net loss). The cash balance was £6.7m (FY2020/21 unaudited: £0.3m) with £9.0m raised, before £1.5m of share issue and IPO costs. The company has completed its LGN120 prototype and will focus on brining its Linear Generator technology to market.

Nightcap 14.75p  £29.2m (NGHT.L)

The owner of the Cocktail Club, the Adventure Bar Group and the Barrio Familia group of bars, announces that it has agreed a £10.0m debt refinancing facility with HSBC. The new debt facility is to consolidate existing debt facilities, totalling £5.5m. The remaining £4.5m under the new HSBC debt facility is reserved for capital expenditure on new sites both in London and in key cities across the UK. The company’s cash position (including cash in transit) as at 3 July 2022 was £6.1m.

Oxford Metrics £101.5p  £131.7m (OMG.L)

The smart sensing software company announces a contract win with Dark Matters in France for its Vicon solution in motion measurement. Based in the Greater Paris, Dark Matters is a full-service studio for high-end filmmaking specialising in virtual and real-time production. Its virtual production stage will house 60 Vicon Vero cameras plus Shōgun software, enabling performance capture and live camera tracking for in-camera visual effects (ICVFX).  

Sanderson Design Group 106.0p  £75.2m (SDG.L)

The luxury interior design and furnishings group, announces its collaboration with Disney. Under the terms of the licensing agreement, the Sanderson brand will be able to create wallpapers and fabrics based on a wide range of Disney Classic franchises, including Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, dating back to the 1930’s. Products developed under the new agreement will be distributed internationally, including North America, EMEA, APAC and South-East Asia.

Serabi Gold 43.0p  £32.6m (SRB.L)

The Brazilian-focused gold mining and development company, provides an update from its operations in the Tapajos region of Para State, Northern Brazil. Total production in July was 2,703 ounces, including contribution of 241 ounces from the Coringa project. Serabi remains on course to meet its production guidance of 30,000 ounces for 2022. Given the stabilised production levels, the company intends to revert to reporting gold production on a quarterly basis going forward.

What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?

Unigel Group, intends to join the Aquis Growth Market.  Unigel Group is a pioneer in the field of thixotropic gels for the fibre optic cable industry. The Company is also a supplier of laminated steel tapes to the fibre optic cable industry in the US. Thixotropic gels and laminated steel tapes are essential components to the rapidly growing global fibre optic cable market. The Group exports to over 40 countries and is a key supplier to almost every leading fibre optic cable manufacturer worldwide and is the industry’s only organisation with multiple manufacturing facilities spread across 3 continents. The Company acts as the holding company for its wholly-owned operating subsidiary, Unitape Limited and its 60% owned operating subsidiary, Unigel (UK) Limited. Delayed, timing TBC.

Georgina Energy, an early-stage resource company with a strategy of actively pursuing the exploration, commercial development and monetisation of helium, hydrogen and hydrocarbon interests located in the Amadeus and Officer Basins in Northern and Western Australia intends to join AIM. Georgina Energy has two principal onshore interests. The first, the Mount Winter Prospect is located in the Amadeus Basin in Northern Australia, which the Company has a right to earn an initial 75% interest. The second interest, the Hussar Prospect is 100% owned by the Company and is located in the Officer Basin in Western Australia. Expected late September.

Mise en Place**

The Bank of England reported that CPI inflation hit an annual rate of 10.1% in July. Spread betting and CFD trading provider CMC Market’s Chief Market Analyst Michael Hewson commented that: 

“Now that the Bank of England has belatedly recognised that more needs to be done to try and counter the surge in prices by raising rates by 50bps earlier this month, another strong number today will probably seal the prospect of another 50bps rate rise in September.

It is true that there is little the central bank can do about the rise in food and energy prices, however even with food and energy stripped out, core prices are still well above the banks headline target of 2%, and with companies now starting to pass price rises on, inflation is beginning to become much stickier.“

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

** Content not provided by Hybridan LLP

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