Hybridan Small Cap Feast

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Soon To Go Off The Menu**

John Lewis of Hungerford (JLH.L, market capitalisation of £2.6m), a kitchen and furniture stores operator nationwide, intends to seek shareholder approval for the cancellation of the Company’s ordinary shares from trading on AIM. The Directors consider that the limited free float and liquidity of its ordinary shares, together with costs associated trading on AIM are not commensurate with the associated benefits to the Company.

Banquet Buffet

Character Group 348p £67.2m (CCT.L)

The designers, developers and international distributor of toys, games and giftware, announced its interim results for the six months ended 28 February 2023. Revenue was £57.9m, down 36.3% year-on-year (HY 2022 £90.9m). Profit before tax and highlighted items were £0.5m (HY 2022: £6.5m). Cash and cash equivalents were £10.7m (FY 2022: £20.0m) and the Group has an unutilised headroom of over £50.0m under its banking and other finance facilities. The Board predicted trading performance at the start of this year would be very much one of two halves. The success of Heroes of Goo Jit Zu continues and is supported by other lines, including the influencer inspired Lanky Box and Aphmau products. Hence, the Board is confident of the prospects for the second half and continues to expect that Character’s profitability for FY2023 will be in line with current market expectation. 

Crossword Cybersecurity* 8.5p £8.0m (CCS.L)

The cybersecurity solutions company focused on cyber strategy and risk, announces its inclusion in the CYBERTECH100, an annual list of 100 of the world’s most innovative CyberTech companies. Companies were selected for inclusion in the 4th CyberTech100 based on innovative use of technology to solve a significant industry problem or generate cost savings or efficiency improvements across the security value chain. CYBERTECH100 considers that these are the companies every financial institution needs to know about as they consider and develop their information security and financial crime fighting strategies. Companies that won places on the list generate huge awareness among financial services organisations and the wider cybersecurity community. Many are approached directly by financial institutions while others got a warmer reception from prospective clients and partners.

Ilika 50p 79.2m (IKA.L)

The company focusing on solid-state battery technology, announces it has made a number of first customer shipments of stacked Stereax® M300 batteries from its UK manufacturing facility. Further to its announcement of 11 April 2023, these shipments are the first of a series to customers including CubeWorks, the developer of millimeter-scale smart sensing solutions for IoT, and Lura Health, a leading developer of wearable intraoral biosensors for salivary diagnostics. The small form factor of M300 batteries is of particular interest to Ilika’s customers due to their compact, high-density and high-power characteristics.  

ImmuPharma 2.605p £8.7m (IMM.L)

The  specialist drug discovery and development company, announces its final results for the twelve months ended 31 December 2022. Loss for the period was £3.8m (2021: £8.2m). Research and development expenses totalled £2.0m (2021: £3.7m). Cash balance at year end was £0.7m (2021: £1.6m). During the period, the company raised a total of £2.0m. The company remains on bringing two key late stage clinical assets, Lupuzor™ for lupus and CIDP closer to the market. The clinical roadmap for Lupuzor™ is on track to commence the Phase 2/3 adaptive trial in H2 2023, with potentially CIDP moving into clinical studies in parallel.

Ingenta 112p £16.3m (ING.L)

The  provider of software and services to the global publishing industry, announces its final audited results for the year ended 31 December 2022. Revenue increased 4% to £10.5m (2021: £10.1m). Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) was £9.0m representing 86% of total revenue (2021: £8.9m, 88%). Adjusted EBITDA increased 33% to £2.0m (2021: £1.5m). Cash balances at year end of £2.4m (2021: £3.0m). The Company is seeing strong trading in early 2023, with growth in revenues and profit over the prior period.

Instem 640p £145.71m (INS.L)

The leading provider of IT solutions to the global life sciences market, announces a renewal of its long-standing agreement with the National Toxicology Program (NTP), run by the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The contract is expected to underpin increased revenue visibility through additional SaaS revenues while also providing significant scope for expansion. The maximum allowable NTP expenditure during this 5-year agreement period is $16.5m. The year one value of this order will be c.$2.0m, including initial recurring revenue of c.$0.9m.

MaxCyte 320p £329.8m (MXCT.L)

The cell-engineering focused company providing enabling platform technologies to advance the discovery, development, and commercialisation of next-generation cell therapeutics and to support innovative, cell-based research, announced financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2023. Revenue was $8.6m in Q1 2023, a decrease of 26% year-on-year. Net loss was $10.9m in Q1 2023 compared to net loss of $4.1m for Q1 2022.  The Company now expects total revenue for 2023 to grow between 8% and 12% compared to 2022, with core revenue growth of 5% to 10% and Strategic Platform License (SPL) program-related revenue expectations remaining the same at approximately $6m for the year. Cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $224.7m as of March 31 2023.

Molecular Energies 127.5p £13.2m (MEN.L)

The international energy company with both hydrocarbon and alternative energy divisions provides an update on its drilling of the exploration well in the Pirity Concession, Chaco, Paraguay. As part of the due diligence testing of the drilling rig, Molecular has insisted that the drilling contractor make certain modifications and repairs to the blow-out preventor, at the contractor’s own cost. Due to the complex nature of the blow-out preventor and the requirements for it to be fit for the purpose in this particular exploratory well, it is now anticipated that spudding of the well will take place at or around the end of the first week in July. It is anticipated that the well will take 40 days from the date of spud to reach its target depth. The well will target the Delray complex of prospects, estimated by the Company to contain in aggregate over 260 mmbbls of P50 unrisked resources.

Savannah Energy 26.25p £342.6m (SAVE.L)

The British independent energy company active in Cameroon, Niger and Nigeria announces the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement by Savannah Energy Niger Solar Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, with the Government of the Republic of Niger for the development of two solar photovoltaic power plants with a combined installed capacity of up to 200 megawatts (MW). The development and construction phases are planned towards the 2025 to 2026 window.

Serinus Energy 410p £112.8m (SENX.L)

The oil company with operations in Romania and Tunisia announce its interim results for the three months ended 31 March 2023. Revenue was $4.9m, down 66% year-on-year (31 March 2022 – $13.4m). Net loss was $1.3m (31 March 2022 – net income $1.0m). Cash balance as at 31 March 2023 was $2.7m (31 December 2022 – $4.9m). The Company realised a net price of $78.87/boe for the three months ended 31 March 2023, down 57% (31 March 2022 – $184.57/boe). Production for the period averaged 691 boe/d, comprising of 163 boe/d in Romania and 528 boe/d  in Tunisia.

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