Broker Fiske (LON: FKE) improved revenues by nearly one-third to £3.46m in the six months to December 2023 and it made an operating profit. A positive interest contribution enabled pre-tax profit to jump from £28,000 to £429,000. Dividend payments are resuming with a 0.25p/share interim. Cash has increased to £4.1m, having paid £110,000 for an additional stake in Euroclear. The holding value of the stake has increased. Assets under management and administration rose by 5%. Investment management fees have risen by one-fifth. The share price jumped 29% to 60p.
Plexus Holdings (LON: POS), the best performing AIM share in 2023, has won a £1m contract to provide wellhead equipment and services for multiple plug and abandonment in the Netherlands sector of the North Sea. Work will start in the second quarter and last nine months. The share price is one-fifth higher at 18p. That is lower than at the start of the year, but it is still 900% ahead since the end of 2022.
Bushveld Minerals (LON: BMN) has received $4m payment from Southern Point Resources, which will be repaid when the $12.5m subscription is finally received. This takes the interest free loans to $6m, which have been paid to a South African subsidiary. Southern Point Resources says that the subscription will be paid by 28 February. The financial position of the company is being managed so that vanadium production, which has restarted, can continue until the rest of the cash is received. The share price rose 18% to 1.475p, but it is 30% down this year.
Audioboom (LON: BOOM) says that in January podcasts were downloaded by more than 38.6 million unique listeners. That is a new record and is 9% ahead of the average monthly reach in the fourth quarter of 2023. Audioboom could move into profit in 2024. The share price increased 8.42% to 257.5p.
FALLERS
Baron Oil (LON: BOIL) has raised £3m at 0.05p/share, while the retail offer generated £260,000. The market price dived 26.7% to 0.055p. This will fund drilling preparations for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well south of Timor-Leste, which is planned for the fourth quarter. Shell discovered the Chuditch-1 gas field in the Chuditch production sharing contract in 1998. Timor-Leste authorities recently approved the farm-up agreement with TIMOR GAP Chuditch Unipessoal relating to the production sharing contract. Baron Oil’s subsidiary will retain 60% of the production sharing contract and the partner, which has increased its interest from 25% to 40%, will be responsible for 20% of all costs, including the Chuditch-2 appraisal well.
Beowulf Mining (LON: BEM) is raising cash to invest in Kallak iron ore project in northern Sweden and the graphite anode materials plant in Finland. There will be a rights issue and a PrimaryBid retail offer in the UK raising up to £7.5m in total. A formal decision on the fundraising and pricing will be made on 7 March. A capital reorganisation will reduce the par value of the shares from 1p to 0.1p. The cash will be spent on the Kallak pre-feasibility study and environmental studies, which will enable the application for an environmental permit. The share price slipped 21.9% to 1.25p.
Caspian Sunrise (LON: CASP) has provided an update on the BNG contract area and well 142 has returned to production. Oil is currently flowing at 160 barrels of oil/day and production has been increased at well 805. Overall production is currently 1,900 barrels of oil/day. Selling prices are $32-$34/barrel. The share price declined 1.92% to 2.55p.
The Synergia Energy (LON: SYN) general meeting passed all the resolutions including the fourth which will allow the board to issue up to 2.75 billion shares. The share price fell 4% to 0.12p.