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Focusrite 1715p £1bn (TUNE.L)
The global music and audio products company supplying hardware and software used by professional and amateur musicians and the entertainment industry, updated the market on a positive trading year in which revenue, profits and cash flow have all grown substantially. As a result of this strong trading performance during the year, the Group now expects revenue for the financial year ending 31 August 2021 to be ahead of market expectations at approximately £173m, up from £130m last year. This growth is largely due to continued strong customer demand across our products and also includes four months’ contribution from Sequential LLC, the world-renowned, high-end synthesizer company acquired in April 2021. EBITDA is also expected to be ahead of current market expectations, as gross margins have been maintained at similar levels to the prior year and the Group experienced a substantial decrease in travel and trade shows due to the restrictions and changes in working practices caused by COVID-19. The Board does not expect these cost savings to be recurring. Cash generation remains a priority for management and as at 31 August 2021, the Company had a net cash balance of approximately £17m, having repaid the debt taken on to fund the Sequential acquisition. For comparison, the net cash balance as at 28 February 2021 was £19m, prior to the outflow relating to the acquisition of Sequential of US$20m (c£15m). Despite the strong demand for most of the Group’s products, the Group is continuing to experience supply constraints due to the global shortage of semi-conductors and other components, and freight and shipping costs are significantly higher than normal, principally caused by the effects of COVID-19.
IronRidge Resources 20.75p £119m (IRR.L)
The African focussed minerals exploration company, reported final high-grade lithium pegmatite drill intersections at new targets adjacent to the Ewoyaa Lithium Project or (ELP), where the Company has defined a JORC compliant mineral resource estimate of 14.5Mt at 1.31% Lithium Oxide (Li2O” in the inferred and indicated category, including 4.5Mt at 1.39% Li2O in the indicated category in Ghana, West Africa. Highest metal content intersection (lithium grade multiplied by meters) reported to date in the resource expansion programme of 53m at 1.34% Li2O from 80m in hole GRC0392. “The board remains confident the additional exploration targets will increase resource scale and improve project economics, where we have defined Ghana’s first lithium JORC compliant resource of 14.5Mt at 1.31% Li2O, within 110km of an operating deep-sea port. Infill resource, metallurgical and hydro monitoring drilling is well underway in addition to metallurgical test-work in support of planned Feasibility Studies. The Company is ideally positioned to take advantage of the increasing demand for lithium due to its role in the stored energy transition and looks forward to keeping shareholders up to date as the Ewoyaa Project progresses.”
Mercia Asset Management 40.75p £179m (MERC.L)
The proactive, regionally focused specialist asset manager with c.£940m of assets under management, is today holding its Annual General Meeting. The Non-executive Chair, Ian Metcalfe, will make the following remarks at the meeting: “I am pleased to say that Mercia is continuing to perform well across both its profitable fund management operations and its balance sheet direct investment portfolio. Our Group-wide strong liquidity position is enabling us to deploy capital into new and existing attractive investment opportunities, both through our managed funds and balance sheet. We have a differentiated business model which is now delivering incremental shareholder value and we are increasingly optimistic about our future.”
N4 Pharma 8.55p £15.5m (N4P.L)
The specialist pharmaceutical company developing Nuvec®, a novel delivery system for cancer treatments and vaccines provided a further update on its current in vivo work streams due to commence shortly with Evotec. As announced on 24 August 2021, the Company has now successfully completed the amplification and initial testing of a new SARS-COV-2 plasmid at Evotec and finalised the scope of the in vivo study. The first step in this new study was to test the in vitro performance of the new plasmid. The optimised Nuvec®, together with the new SARS-COV-2 plasmid has demonstrated an improved response in terms of transfection and SARS-COV-2 Spike protein secretion in HEK 293 cells, a commonly used human cell line. In addition, the Nuvec®/SARS-COV-2 DNA complex demonstrated a dose-related SARS-COV-2 Spike protein production. These in vitro results provide a positive platform for the commencement of the in vivo work beginning this month which is expected to last six to eight weeks with an additional two to three weeks for analysis. Nanomerics’s wider in vivo study, as announced on 20 May 2021, has now validated the results seen from their earlier pilot study, showing an improvement through the use of newly formulated and dried Nuvec®. The findings of this work will now be adopted in all future work undertaken to ensure all studies are performed using well dispersed Nuvec® formulations.
Panthera Resources 15p £13.6m (PAT.L)
The diversified gold exploration and development company with assets in West Africa and India announced assay results for the exploration drilling programme at the Labola (Wuo Land) Project in Burkina Faso by its associate company, Moydow Holdings Limited (Moydow). Four exploration holes along strike of known mineralisation have returned excellent mineralisation including fire assay intercepts of: 4m @ 19.7g/t Au from 92m and 3m @ 3.46g/t Au from 48m followed by 4m @ 3.09g/t Au from 57m. Results anticipated to be incorporated into the maiden resource estimate currently being prepared.
ProPhotonix 6.75p £6.3m (PPIX.L)
The designer and manufacturer of LED illumination systems and laser diode modules with operations in Ireland and the United Kingdom, today announces an exciting addition to their range of UV LED Curing systems – The COBRA Cure FX4. The COBRA Cure FX4 is a compact, UV LED lamp solution that can be used for small to large format digital printers as well as high speed, single pass industrial print or coatings applications. With COBRA Cure FX4, the entire UV LED lamp has been optimized to produce an ideal cure offering equipment manufacturers the opportunity to gain a competitive edge. High intensity lamps often produce large volumes of hot air, which can interfere with the final cure. In designing COBRA Cure FX4, ProPhotonix’ Engineering team has reimagined the form factor of UV LED Curing systems by designing the FX4’s airflow such that it avoids the need for any ancillary ducting or valuable space for clearance. To ease installation, the team has also integrated two aluminium T-slot profiles into the FX4 chassis providing an industry leading mounting range of 200mm. Demand for LED technology has also been driven by the increasing safety and environmental concerns associated with using mercury-based curing.
Silver Bullet Data 259.5p £34.8m (SBDS.L)
The provider of digital transformation services and products, has been awarded a new contract with RTÉ, the largest Irish broadcasting company to provide strategic leadership, technology and data implementation, on-going data strategy and integration. Silverbullet has been engaged by RTÉ to design and deploy a data strategy underpinned by technology. By combining data management, targeting, activation, measurement and reporting, the partnership will seek to enable RTE to optimise its business infrastructure to accelerate its digital transformation process. This follows on from its recent contract win in the UK with ITV, as announced on 12 August 2021, which has engaged Silverbullet to support the design of a martech and data roadmap and strategy, including technology vendor analysis and procurement support for Customer Data Platform and Data Management Framework. This is a five-year partnership to help ITV in their data and digital transformation journey.
Sumo Group 485.25p £832m (SUMO.L)
The provider of award-winning creative and development services to the video games and entertainment industries, announces the acquisition of Auroch Digital, a Bristol-based videogame developer and publisher with a focus on original IP creation. The Acquisition strengthens the Group’s publishing capabilities, adds a further 48 talented people to the business and provides access to another key talent hot-spot. Initial consideration of £6.0m has been paid in cash from the Group’s existing resources. Deferred consideration may be payable in cash, contingent upon financial performance in the year ending 31 March 2024.
The British Honey Company 115.5p £11.05m (BHC.L)
The producer of premium British Honey, craft spirits and alcohol sanitiser products, announced its Interim Results for the six month trading period ended 30 June 2021. Strong trading performance in Q4, 2020 has continued into the current year with significant increase in online sales during H1. Total revenue from consolidated continuing operations during the period increased to £3m (6 months to 30 June 2020: £1m). Operating loss of £1.3m (6 months to 30 June 2020: £1m loss) Cash position at period end of £1.8m (2020: £3.7m). £10m acquisition of Union Distillers Limited completed; successful £4.6m equity placing to fund the acquisition. Collaboration Agreement and Share-Swap investment with List Distillery LLC . recently extended to 28 December 2021. Expansion into whisky production with second distillery and bonded warehouse under construction, with completion expected during 2022. Expansion of spirits brands, creating new flavours and offerings, including successful release of range of ready to drink products aimed at the fast-growing hard seltzer and low and no alcohol categories. First major shipment sent to China for the new Keepr’s bar in Xi’An in ShanXi province opened by Group’s Chinese partners.
Xtract Resources 3.7p £31.3m (XTR.L)
Update on the Phase 2 drilling programme at the Eureka copper-gold deposit on small scale mining licence number 22134-HQ-SML located in the Central part of The Republic of Zambia. Further assaying from the Phase 2 drilling programme at Eureka confirms continuity of the copper deposit over approximately 300m strike extent, open to the west-northwest. Adjusted assay intervals in angled hole EX-022 average 4.82% Cu over 27.0m (circa 18m true width), including two 9m sub-intervals assaying 7.71% and 6.33% Cu. Other intervals of note include 17m @ 1.90% Cu in hole EX-010 at the south-eastern end of the deposit and 23m @ 1.43% Cu in vertical hole EX-020 north-west of the old open pit · Samples from the final holes of the Phase 2 programme, along with sample extensions in some of the earlier holes are currently with the laboratory for assay. The near-vertical mineral zone occurs directly beneath approximately 9m of overburden/saprolite at the open pit, suggesting just shallow pre-stripping will be required. The deposit remains open and untested further to the west-northwest, with additional drilling being planned. The Company is currently accessing the deposit in the pit to obtain bulk samples for amenability testing in nearby processing facilities.
What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?
Peel Hunt, a UK mid and small-cap specialist investment bank, announces its intention to seek admission of its ordinary shares to trading on AIM. Admission is expected to take place on or around 29 September. In conjunction with a placing of Ordinary Shares the Company will be conducting an intermediaries offer.
Oxford Nanopore Tech—expected intention to float on the LSE (Standard). The company behind a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology, whose first products enable the real-time, high-performance, scalable analysis of DNA and RNA. Timing and offer TBA.
Fruugo.com which owns and operates a high growth and profitable global cross-border marketplace employing its own proprietary technology and data science, announces its intention to seek admission of its shares to trading on AIM. Due early Oct. Timing and offer TBA.
Optima Health is the UK’s leading provider by size of technology enabled corporate health and wellbeing solutions. To join AIM late Sep. Offer TBA.
Petershill Partners, Expected Intention to Float on the London Stock Exchange. Petershill Partners, a leading investment group providing bespoke capital and strategic solutions to some of the world’s best performing alternative asset management firms. Petershill Partners today comprises minority investments in 19 high-quality Partner-firms, previously held in private funds managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM). The Partner-firms have US$187 bln of aggregated assets under management. The Ordinary Shares would be admitted to the Premium Segment of the Official List of the FCA and to trading on the Main Market of the LSE. The Offer would comprise (i) the issue of new Ordinary Shares, raising Gross Primary Offer Proceeds of approximately US$750m to fund ongoing expenses and acquire further Alternative Asset Manager Stakes and (ii) the sale of existing Ordinary Shares in order to achieve a free float of 25%.Timing TBA
GreenRoc Mining to join AIM. Established in March 2021 as a UK public limited company for the purpose of acquiring all of the Greenlandic mining assets of Alba Mineral Resources plc and progressing the exploration and development of those assets. The assets in question are the Thule Black Sands Ilmenite Project, the Amitsoq Graphite Project, the Melville Bay Iron Project and the Inglefield Multi-Element Project. Greenland will be the main country of operation. Gross funds raised on admission: £5.12m. Anticipated Mkt Cap on Admission: £11.120m. Due mid-September
Responsible Housing REIT to join the Main Market (Premium) in late September raising up to £250m. The Company’s investment objective is to generate a consistent and sustainable income-based return from the provision of Supported Housing accommodation assets and aligned sectors.
Blackfinch Renewable European Income Trust plc, a closed-end investment trust established to invest in a diversified portfolio of mixed renewable energy infrastructure assets, is considering proceeding with an initial public offering and has published a registration document. Raising up to £300m. Due on the Main Market (Premium) in October.
Central Copper Resources, a company focused on delivering a high grade copper project into production and exploration of assets in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and in the Republic of Zambia to join AIM. By 2022, CCR intends to be ready to commence the project financing of its Mbamba Kilenda copper project. Offer TBA. Due Late September.
Euro Sun Mining Inc (TSX:ESM) seeking to join the Main Market in Q3 2021. The Company’s main asset, the Rovina Valley Project, which contains the Rovina, Colnic and Ciresata deposits, is one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold projects in Europe, holding approximately 400Mt of confirmed resources containing 7.0m ounces of gold and 1.4 bn lbs of copper.
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