Investment company Seed Innovations (LON: SEED) is using part of the proceeds of the £2.4m final payment for Leaf Gaming to pay a 1p/share special dividend. The shares will go ex-dividend on 25 April. That will leave Seed Innovations with more than £4m in cash. There is also an ongoing £850,000 share buy back programme which lasts until the end of May and less than 50% of that cash has been spent. Management is already assessing potential new investments in the health and wellness sectors, and it is confident that there are plenty of opportunities as growing businesses seek to obtain the capital they require to progress. Currently, the core investments are in Germany-based medicinal cannabis company Avextra, therapeutics developer Juvenescence and Clean Food Group, which is developing an alternative to palm oil. The share price improved 20.9% to 2.6p, which values the company at £4.3m.
T42 IOT Tracking Solutions (LON: TRAC) has agreed to supply tracking equipment and services to a Mexican transport organisation. There will be $1m in hardware sales with SaaS income on top of that. The share price is 16.7% higher at 3.5p.
Lexington Gold (LON: LEX) says that the gold, copper and silver exploration drilling programme at the Jennings-Pioneer project in South Carolina has been completed. Initial indications are that all target mineralised zones were intersected. Assay results are expected by June. The share price rose 17.8% to 5.3p.
Powerhouse Energy (LON: PHE) shares are 14.3% ahead at 1p after it achieved an important milestone in the delivery of the feedstock testing unit. This is designed to enable customers to carry out due diligence on the waste to hydrogen technology.
FALLERS
Subsea equipment rental company Ashtead Technology (LON: AT.) has been hit by profit taking and fallen 14% to 652p even though management says that 2024 expectations are unchanged. Full year revenues were 51% ahead at £110.5m and pre-tax profit 69% higher at £27.5m. The share price has still more than doubled since the beginning of 2023.
A strong first quarter for iodine supplier Iofina (LON: IOF) was offset by brine cost pressures. First quarter volumes were 16% higher with the addition of the IO9 plant. Iodin prices have been maintained at around $60/kg. Two plants were enjoying brine supply costs lower than market levels, but these supply contracts have been renewed at higher cost levels. Canaccord Genuity has cut its earnings forecast from 3.3 cents/share to 2.4 cents/share. The share price slumped 12.5% to 21p.
GCM Resources (LON: GCM) is raising £2m at 6.5p/share. The share price slipped 10.1% to 7.75p. This cash will be spent on the Phulbari coal and power project over the next 16 months. Axis Capital has been appointed joint broker.
Market conditions were poor in February and March for online retailer Sosandar (LON: SOS) and that meant that fourth quarter sales were flat. Sosandar has been reducing promotional activity and focusing on full price sales. This is helping margins to increase with a retail margin of around 62%. There was a loss of around £200,000 in the year to March 2024. Trading has improved in April and a move back into profit is anticipated for this year. The share price dipped 9.09% to 12.5p.
