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.

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Symphony Environmental Technologies* 16.5p  £29.2m (SYM.L)

The specialist in technologies that make plastic “smarter, safer and sustainable” and world leaders in making ordinary plastics biodegradable with d2w technology, announced the successful conclusion of the  5-year Oxomar study sponsored by the French Agence National de Recherche.This study provides Symphony with further comprehensive and reliable scientific data on the performance of d2w in the oceans. The study had a multidisciplinary approach including physics, chemistry, and biology.Highlights of the Study:

· Biodegradation proved beyond doubt in the marine environment

· Direct correlation of lab results to real-world conditions. This is critical, and hugely positive, because until now it has been alleged that laboratory results could not  demonstrate performance in real life marine conditions

· Proof of transformation into more than 3,000 non-plastic biodegradable oligomers found in nature

· Non-toxic to marine creatures

Conroy Gold & Natural Resources 29.5p £11.6m (CGNR.L)

The exploration and development company focused on Ireland and Finland, announced results from an infill zinc-in-soil sampling programme on the northern (Aughnagurgan) section of the extensive (20km2) zinc zone which the Company has discovered in the Longford-Down Massif in Ireland(originally announced by the Company on 4th June 2009).

· Values recorded up to 3,700ppm zinc

· 10 samples greater than 1,000ppm zinc

· High value Zinc-in-Soil anomaly extends over an area of c.0.8 km by c.0.9 KM

· Underlying geology associated with sedimentary hosted Lead-Zinc style deposits worldwide

EKF Diagnostics Holdings 73.5p £334m (EKF.L)

The point-of-care business, announces that it has signed a new multi-million dollar global supply contract with its partner from the private sector.The original agreement with this partner, announced on 5 August 2020 , covered the supply of COVID-19 sample collection kits to be used as part of a staff testing programme for the UK only. The original contract commenced with an initial order worth £3m for the UK, and the Company has received additional orders approaching a further £3m to support the planned global expansion of the contract. Further to the announcement on 12 January 2021 , trading in the first quarter was materially ahead of management expectations. With subsequent orders under this expanded global contract expected to make a considerable contribution throughout the current financial year and beyond, the Board is confident that trading for the year ending 31 December 2021 will be significantly ahead of already upgraded management expectations.

K3 Business Technologies 174p  £74.7m (KBT.L)

K3, which provides mission critical business software and cloud solutions, announced the appointment of Marco Vergani as Chief Executive Officer of the Group, effective immediately. Marco, aged 57, has over 30 years’ experience in the technology industry, and has served in international executive and leadership roles across UK, Europe, US and Asia. The major part of his career has been in commercial sales, and he has extensive experience of retail and direct-to-consumer sectors.

Marco worked in senior executive sales roles at IBM for 26 years, latterly as Vice-president of EMEA sales for Global Process Services. More recently he was Chief Operating Officer at Qubit, a global leader in e-commerce personalization, serving global luxury, cosmetics and fashion brands.

Greatland Gold 19.5p £760.6m (GGP.L)

The precious and base metals exploration and development company, announces that it has lodged two applications for new exploration licences adjacent to existing licences at the Company’s 100% owned Ernest Giles project in Western Australia. 

The two Exploration Licence applications of Mount Smith (E38/3612) and Welstead Hill (E38/3613) cover a total area of 1,070km2 and join existing tenure at the Ernest Giles project located approximately 250km north-east of Laverton in the goldfields of Western Australia. These new applications increase the footprint of the project from 880km2 to 1,950km2. The new licence applications cover a prospective Archean greenstone rock sequence and were acquired following an internal review of historical and recent regional exploration data which concluded the broader project area is prospective for gold, nickel and base metals mineralisation. 

Ahead of the expected grant of the licences, Greatland will focus on enhancing its targeting criteria and refine locations for future drill holes.

Velocys 6.16p £65.6m (VLS.L)

The sustainable fuels technology company, has jointly agreed to extend the current option agreement with British Airways for the Altalto project to 31st March 2022. Exercise of the option would give both parties equal equity ownership (50/50) of Altalto Ltd and the right to appoint a Director. Details of the original option agreement were previously announced on 12 May 2020.

The Company also welcomes the UK Government announcement (16 March 2021) o f the launch of a new £15m ‘Green Fuels, Green Skies’ grant funding competition. This funding is intended to support the production of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF).  Altalto Immingham Ltd intends to apply for a grant in this competition, on behalf of Velocys and British Airways. The results of the competition are expected to be announced by the Department for Transport on 31 July 2021. The Company expects the project will be in a position to launch its front-end engineering design (FEED) later in 2021 subject to confirmed UK Government policy support and the addition of new investment partners in the project.

In addition, on 25 March 2021 the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP, opened a Consultation into amending the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) to increase the carbon savings it achieves. Velocys welcomes the launch of this process, fully supports its objectives and will be actively participating in the Consultation. The Secretary of State notes that expanding the RTFO to include recycled carbon fuels would “transform the commercial viability” of waste-to-fuel technology and support pioneering projects in the UK looking to develop sustainable aviation fuel from household waste.

Time Out Group 39p £111m (TMO.L)

Proposed equity raise of approximately £ 15.0m by way of a Firm Placing, a Retail Offer, a Conditional Placing and a Placing and Open Offer  at 35p, a discount of approximately 16.7 per cent. to the Closing Price of 42 pence per Existing Ordinary Share on 29 March 2021.

Julio Bruno, CEO of the Time Out, said:”Thanks to our supportive investors, this equity raise announced today will help position us to make the most of our post pandemic opportunity, as we grow our digital advertising proposition and reopen the doors of our existing Time Out Markets and open the doors to new ones, with our Markets transforming spaces and increasing footfall to locations in great cities around the world.”

Eckoh 70.5p £179 (ECK.L)

The global provider of secure payment products and customer contact solutions, today announces an update on progress for new contracts in its US Secure Payments operation.  – Eckoh wins $11.6m of new contracts in US Secure Payments – New contract value for US Secure Payments exceeds FY20 total – Excellent momentum for Eckoh’s Cloud platforms.

B90 Holdings 16.5p  £16.9m (B90.L)

The sportsbook operator and online marketing company for the gaming industry, has raised £1.1m (before expenses) through a subscription  with certain existing and new investors at a price of 14 pence per share.

In addition, it has entered into affiliate agreements with RB Journalism SIA (trading as oddsen.nu) and E-2 Communications Ltd  to access potential new customers for, and drive additional traffic to, the Bet90 platform.

MediaZest* 0.125p  £1.75m (MDZ.L)

The  creative audio-visual company, updated on current trading and new business wins ahead of today’s Annual General Meeting.

Further to the announcement of 11 February 2021, the Company continues to win additional new project work at an encouraging rate.

Over £250,000 of confirmed additional written orders have been received and approximately the same amount of further orders on top of these are currently at the final stage of negotiation. Several additional other projects are at an advanced stage of discussion with both new and existing clients.

A small proportion of these projects have already been completed, but the Board expects the majority to be delivered in the second half of the Group’s current financial year ending 31 September 2021.

What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?

MAST Energy Developments (MED) is to IPO on the Standard List on 14th April 2021 under the ticker MAST.  The company has raised £5m giving a market capitalisation on listing of c. £23 million.  MED is currently a 100% subsidiary company of AIM quoted, Kibo Energy*.   MED was established to acquire and develop a portfolio of flexible power plants in the UK and become a multi-asset operator in the rapidly growing Reserve Power market.

PensionBee, the online pensions provider, with a mission to make pensions simple, so that everyone can look forward to a happy retirement, considering an IPO on the High Growth Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. PensionBee is a leading online pensions provider in the UK, with approximately 130,000 Active Customers and £1.5 billion of assets under administration , in each case as at 28 February 2020.

Cornerstone FS to join AIM, an SME focused, cloud-based provider of international payment, currency risk management and electronic account services focused on removing the complexity of international payments for customers. Raising £2.2m. Mkt Cap £12.3m. Due 6 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 2021.

Parsley Box, the direct to consumer provider of ready meals to the 60+ demographic, recently announced its AIM IPO plans. Parsley Box provides ready meals, which are not required to be stored in a fridge or freezer, have a shelf life of up to six months and are cooked in minutes. The company reported revenue of £24.4m for the financial year ended 31 December 2020 (unaudited). Deal details TBC and admission is expected to occur late March/ early April 2021.

ActiveOps, a UK-based leader in Management Process Automation (MPA), providing a SaaS platform to large enterprises with complex and often global back-offices is planning to join AIM. Details TBA. Due late March.

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.

NextEnergy Renewables to launch an IPO on the Main Market. NREN is a differentiated renewables investment Company that aims to capture the most attractive private renewables and energy transition infrastructure investment opportunities globally. Targeting a £300m raise. NREN is targeting total returns of 9-11 per cent. per annum (net of all fees and expenses but including the Target Dividend and capital appreciation) . The Company’s target dividend yield for the first full financial year to 31 December 2022 is 5.5 pence. Due Early March 2021.

Digital 9 Infrastructure launch an initial public offering on the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, by way of an initial placing and offer for subscription for a target issue £400m. Digital 9 Infrastructure plc is a newly established, externally managed investment trust. The Company will invest in a range of digital infrastructure assets which deliver a reliable, functioning internet. The IPO Prospectus is expected to be published in March 2021.

Fix Price announces its intention to float on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange. Fix Price is one of the leading variety value retailers globally and the largest in Russia, with more than 4,200 stores. Fix Price has revenues of RUB 190.1bn, RUB 142.9bn and RUB 108.7bn for 2020, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA for the same years was RUB 36.8bn, RUB 27.2bn and RUB 14.2bn, respectively. The Offer would consist of an offering of GDRs by certain existing shareholders of the Company.

Great Point Entertainment Income Trust PLC announced its prospectus has been approved by the FCA. Great Point Entertainment Income Trust PLC is a newly established, externally managed closed-ended investment company. The Company will provide project finance to content makers and commissioners in the global television and film production industry via senior loans secured against pre-sold intellectual property (IP) rights. GPEIT’s investment objective is to provide Shareholders with dividend income and modest capital growth through exposure to media content finance.

Deliveroo has applied for admission of the Company’s Shares to the standard listing segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Deliveroo works with over 115,000 best loved restaurants, takeaways and grocery stores globally and provide work to over 100,000 riders across 800 locations in 12 markets, serving 6m customers globally. The price range for the Offer has been set at £3.90 to £4.60 per Share, implying an estimated market capitalization at Admission of between £7.6 billion and £8.8 billion. Raising c. £1bn. Due 7 April.

*A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

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