Innovative Eyewear has landed a Red Dot Award for Product Design for its Lucyd Armor smart safety glasses, adding a well-recognised international design accolade to the Nasdaq-listed company’s growing roster of honours.

The Red Dot Award, established in Germany in 1955, recognises products that demonstrate excellence in both functional and aesthetic design, with past recipients including some of the world’s largest technology and consumer goods businesses.

The win follows the company’s recent Retailer’s Choice Award from the North American Hardware and Paint Association for the same Armor product line.

Harrison Gross, CEO of Innovative Eyewear, commented on the award, “I am thrilled to receive our first Red Dot Award, a major achievement in the world of industrial design. This is a wonderful milestone recognizing our significant efforts to make smartglasses more appealing and useful for the average person.”

“We look forward to continuing to evolve our products to build a global standard in smart eyewear. This is not only for our ambitions as a company, but because of our belief that glasses are one of the most important medical and fashion accessories on the planet. I am incredibly grateful for our amazing team’s work on Lucyd Armor.”

Innovative Eyewear develops and manufactures smart eyewear across its Lucyd, Lucyd Armor, Reebok, Nautica and Eddie Bauer brands, with the Armor line leading the way in terms of growth for the group.

The group recently announced a 63% increase in full-year revenue to $2.7m.

Helix Exploration shares rose on Monday after being selected to participate in a US Air Force-backed initiative assessing whether geologic hydrogen can bolster energy resilience at critical military installations.

The AIM-listed helium firm was chosen from nearly 30 respondents to a request for information issued by Renaissance Philanthropy’s Chimaera Fund, beating off competition from national laboratories, university research groups and engineering consultancies.

Under the partnership, Helix will contribute subsurface data, drilling cost information and geological expertise from its active Rudyard helium project to a techno-economic assessment of geologic hydrogen potential near Malmstrom Air Force Base and other targeted installations.

The company will receive funding from the Chimaera Fund to support its involvement. At this stage, the partnership seems more like a recognition of Helix’s expertise in the field than a significant revenue generator. This may, however, develop over time.

The tie-up stems from Helix’s discovery last October of key geological indicators for hydrogen generation at Rudyard, encountered during its helium exploration programme.

The project sits roughly 120 miles from Malmstrom AFB, which is home to one of only three US Air Force wings operating the Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile system.

The programme supports a Congressional mandate requiring the Department of War to achieve 99.9% energy availability at critical military installations by 2030.

Bo Sears, Chief Executive Officer, Helix Exploration, said: “The selection of Helix in this pioneering research initiative reinforces the significance of the geological indicators we have identified at Rudyard and the potential they hold for geologic hydrogen.”

“We are genuinely excited to be working alongside the U.S. Air Force and the Chimaera Fund as partners in this effort – not simply as data providers, but as active collaborators bringing subsurface expertise and field operations to bear on a shared objective. The convergence of national energy security priorities with our existing geological assets at Rudyard represents exactly the kind of opportunity we have been building toward, and we look forward to advancing this work together.”

William Hill owner Evoke has confirmed it is in discussions with Bally’s Intralot over a possible takeover of the gambling group at 50 pence per share.

Evoke released a statement on Monday following a Sunday Times report over the weekend that the group was in talks to secure a deal as it struggles with a mountain of debt.

Like most betting firms, Evoke’s shares have performed woefully since the pandemic, and a takeover will make sense for many shareholders.

Evoke enjoyed a strong Q4 2025, with slight revenue growth over the full year. But it wasn’t enough to sustain a rally as investors fretted about its debt pile.

The takeover proposal is expected to take the form of an all-share combination with a partial cash alternative. Evoke’s board is evaluating the approach with advisers Morgan Stanley and Rothschild & Co. Bally’s Intralot has reserved the right to vary the terms of any offer, including the price, the mix of cash and shares, and the deal structure.

ITM Power (LON: ITM) has entered a strategic collaboration with Rheinmetall AG on the Giga PtX project to establish a European network of decentralised synthetic fuel production plants for NATO using the company’s electrolyser technology. There could be several hundred plants with an individual capacity of up to 50MW. The share price jumped 84.3% to 131.5p. This is the highest level since 2022.

Stephen Bayliss has raised his stake in Pipehawk (LON: PIP) from 10% to 11.2%. The share price recovered 71.4% to 3p, which is the highest it has been for nearly two years.

Great Western Mining (LON: GWMO) has signed a contract with Major Drilling America to undertake drilling at the Defender-Pine Crow tungsten project in Nevada. This is the primary focus of the company. Drilling should commence in July. An application has been made for cross trading of the shares on the OTCID market in the US to attract North American investors. The share price gained 67.1% to 3.325p.

Premier African Minerals (LON: PREM) is advancing installation of the processing plant and refining the plant configuration. Canmax Technologies has converted £187,000 of accrued interest into shares at 0.0126p each and £54,000 of contractor invoices have been paid in shares at the same price. Richard Deacon has increased his stake 4.83% to 8.55%, while Indigo Capital holds 9.59%. The share price rose 52.7% to 0.021p.

FALLERS

Quantum Health (LON: QHE) has raised £5m at 0.03p/share following demand from institutions. The cash will finance the development of the Sagebrush and Coyote Wash projects. The extended production test of Sagebrush-1 well is progressing. The share price slipped 24.85 to 0.0307p.

Quantum Blockchain Technologies (LON: QBT) has raised £500,000 at0.35p/share. It This will fund further development of Bitcoin mining technology, and this will help integrating the AI Oracle technology into mining rigs of ASIC manufacturers. There is £100,000 being set aside to set up BlocKeeper to develop a hardware free virtual Bitcoin mining operation by acquiring hashing power from Bitcoin miners. BlocKeeper will seek an Aquis quotation. The share price declined 22.9% to 0.37p.

Daniel Clark, one of the founders of RC Fornax (LON: RCFX), has sold his entire holding of 15.1 million shares. Pentwater Capital increased its stake from 5.14% to 8.27% and UBS has taken a 5.15% stake. The share price fell 21.8% to 8.8p.

Forgent (LON: FORG) is acquiring a 51% interest in the Peak Hills gold copper for $1.18m in cash and shares and raising £1.3m in a placing at 0.015p/share. There is an option over another 48% of the Peak Hills interest. Negotiations are ongoing over an option on a controlling stake in a nickel copper gold project in Western Australia. The share price dipped 20.9% to 0.0186p.

ITM Power (LON: ITM) has entered a strategic collaboration with Rheinmetall AG on the Giga PtX project to establish a European network of decentralised synthetic fuel production plants for NATO using the company’s electrolyser technology. There could be several hundred plants with an individual capacity of up to 50MW. The share price soared 42.4% to 133.6p.

Latin America focused investment company ROI Capital Holdings is subscribing £1.93m for shares in Trafalgar Property (LON: TRAF) at 0.005p/share. This is dependent on a waiver of the obligation to make an offer for the company. The existing subsidiaries will be sold for £1, and the planned Hilton House transaction will be reversed. The whole board will be replaced, and they will seek a reverse takeover. The share price jumped 32.7% to 0.0325p.

Cora Gold (LON: CORA) has signed a binding term sheet for $120m gold stream with Eagle Eye Asset Holdings, which is a 29.9% shareholder. This follows a £15.7m fundraising at 6p/share. The Sanankoro gold project in Mali is fully funded and the next key step is obtaining the mining permit. Construction of the mine can accelerate when that happens. Cora Gold has the right to replace 50% of the gold stream with debt or other funding. Eagle Eye Asset Holdings is entitled to purchase 30.44% of gold produced at Sanankoro for 20% of the spot gold price. The share price increased 14.6% to 11.75p.

Premier African Minerals (LON: PREM) is advancing installation of the processing plant and refining the plant configuration. Canmax Technologies has converted £187,000 of accrued interest into shares at 0.0126p each and £54,000 of contractor invoices have been paid in shares at the same price. The share price improved 7.73% to 0.0195p.

FALLERS

Quantum Health (LON: QHE) has raised £5m at 0.03p/share following demand from institutions. The cash will finance the development of the Sagebrush and Coyote Wash projects. The extended production test of Sagebrush-1 well is progressing. The share price declined 21% to 0.032p.

Armstrong Investments has cut its shareholding in Frontier IP (LON: FIPP) from 3.21% to 2.74%. The share price fell 5.41% to 17.5p.

Digital health company MedPal (LON: MPAL) has raised £3m at 2.5p/share. This will finance the roll out of operations and to accelerate the scaling up of the MedPal weight loss clinic. Oak Securities has been appointed as joint broker. The share price slipped 8.7% to 2.625p.

Sovereign Metals (LON: SVML) has issued 9.02 million shares following the conversion of the same number of unlisted performance rights. This was sparked by the achievement of the Bankable Definitive Feasibility Study milestone for the Kasiya rutile and graphene project in Malawi. The pre-tax NPV8 is $2.2bn. The share price dipped 2.47% to 39.5p.

The FTSE 100 was range-bound again on Friday as Middle East peace talks showed signs of progress, but utilities weighed on the index.

Despite the S&P 500 closing at another record high overnight, London’s leading index looked set to limp into the weekend, trading down 0.1% at the time of writing.

“Crisis, what crisis? In forging ahead to new all-time highs on Thursday night, the S&P 500 has now increased by $1.5 trillion in value since the Iran war began,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“While other global indices aren’t quite as buoyant – Asian stocks largely easing back in their latest trading sessions and European shares starting Friday modestly lower – most of the falls in the initial stages of the conflict have been erased.”

These hopes were evident in a splattering of financials and retailers, including Burberry, that desperately need Middle Eastern shoppers to return to their stores.

“Events in the Middle East remain the key market driver, and President Trump’s overnight comments on the potential for further peace talks between the US and Iran could boost equity markets today,” said Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“A ceasefire between Israel and Iranian proxy Hezbollah after Israeli/Lebanese talks in Washington provides further hope for de-escalation.”

The talks will be seen as a step forward by traders who clearly view the US as the ideal place to deploy cash.

The FTSE 100 is showing signs of lagging behind its US counterparts, as it has for much of the past decade. London’s leading index had a solid year amid market volatility as Donald Trump imposed tariffs on the world, as investors flocked to ‘safer’ stocks, many of which are found in the FTSE 100.

But the lack of technology shares and weighting toward commodities sometimes causes it to lag US peers when sentiment shows signs of improvement.

This was the case on Friday when precious metals miners Fresnillo and Endeavour fell as gold prices lost their shine and more defensive names such as SSE, Tesco and National Grid weighed.

Utilities were under pressure after the UK government announced plans to review the link between electricity and gas prices. SSE was the FTSE 100’s top faller, losing 5%.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel for Premier African Minerals after losing 99% of its share price value? Today’s jump would suggest some investors think there is.

Premier African Minerals has an outstanding resource; the problem has always been that they’ve failed to get their act together on the surface.

But the lithium miner says work on its new Xinhai flotation plant at the Zulu Lithium project in Zimbabwe is progressing well, with commissioning edging closer as on-site fabrication and infrastructure work advances.

The bulk of recent activity has centred on labour-intensive site fabrication, all carried out by Premier’s engineering team under guidance from a specialist Xinhai installation engineer.

The tailings tank is now in place, while electrical switchgear is due for factory testing this week ahead of delivery and installation on site. The mining contractor has also returned and begun dewatering the pits in preparation for a selective mining programme to resume.

Alongside the build-out, the company is streamlining the plant layout.

Previously installed sorting equipment has been deemed redundant after operational review, adding unnecessary costs in power, labour and maintenance.

New conveyor chutes are being fabricated to bypass the sorters entirely, while further modifications will route pipework around a thickener and certain pumps that had caused problems in the past. Management framed the changes as part of a broader push to simplify operations, improve reliability and reduce running costs ahead of commissioning.

Preparations are underway for the arrival of Xinhai’s commissioning engineer, and Premier is continuing to build out its processing team. The water supply dam remains at full capacity following good seasonal rainfall, providing a stable resource for commissioning and ongoing operations.

Graham Hill, Managing Director, said: “We are very pleased with the progress being made on site, particularly given the labour-intensive nature of the fabrication and modification work currently underway. The team has responded well to the technical requirements of the Xinhai Flotation Plant design, and the level of on-site execution has been encouraging.

“Importantly, we are not only advancing installation but also refining and simplifying the plant configuration to support more reliable and efficient operations going forward. This work is critical in positioning Zulu Lithium for sustainable performance once commissioning is complete.

“While there remains work to be done, we are building momentum across both the new Xinhai Flotation Plant and operational readiness, and we look forward to providing further updates as we move closer to commissioning.”

Long-suffering investors have heard similar positive messages from Premier before. Time will tell whether they can deliver.