Cash-strapped Romania-focused copper miner Vast Resources has turned to its CEO to provide short-term funding through a €500,000 loan.

Vast Resources has lost around 90% of its market value since the beginning of 2024 as it grapples with a large debt pile and legal cases.

The unsecured loan provided by the CEO will be repayable once the company completes its funding process and achieves sufficient financial stability, should that ever be achieved. This interim financing solution comes as Vast Resources works to conclude various funding options previously disclosed to the market.

The company has outstanding debts of over €5m and was threatened with enforcement action last year by creditors.

Vast Resources has axed around half of its workforce at mines in Romania, but copper production in Q2 also fell by around half due to legal issues not directly related to the reduction in workforce.

A placing at the end of last year provided £750,000 in funding, which appears to be fully deployed given the need for today’s CEO loan. Vast said they will update the market in due course.

Enteq Technologies, the AIM-listed energy services engineering company, has announced potential cash flow challenges as it continues development of its SABER drilling technology.

An update released on Friday indicates uncertainty around expected revenue timing and additional engineering costs.

Recent testing of the SABER Tool at Oklahoma’s Catoosa Test Facility in December 2024 demonstrated basic operational capabilities, successfully achieving directional drilling objectives. However, the tests also revealed the need for additional engineering modifications and operational procedure updates, adding to development costs and timeline extensions.

This delay impacts the company’s anticipated revenue timeline, putting pressure on its cash resources.

Management has indicated that the current cash runway is shorter than previously estimated, considering the ongoing development costs and uncertain revenue timing. In response, Enteq is actively focusing on cash preservation measures, though specific cost-saving initiatives have not yet been detailed.

Sainsbury’s shares followed Tesco and Marks & Spencer’s playbook on Friday as the supermarket’s shares fell after the release of festive sales figures.

Sainsbury’s has reported reasonable Christmas trading performance, with sales growing 3.8% during the crucial six-week festive period to January 4, 2025. The UK’s second-largest supermarket chain saw particular success in its grocery division, which matched the overall growth rate of 3.8%.

“We have won grocery market share for the fifth consecutive Christmas, with more customers choosing Sainsbury’s for their big shop. Driven by our leading combination of quality, value and service, we have achieved seven consecutive quarters of volume performance ahead of the market and further accelerated our two-year volume growth,” said Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc.

The strong performance was underpinned by record customer satisfaction scores both online and in supermarkets during the Christmas period. The company’s premium Taste the Difference range performed particularly well, with sales growing by 16% in the key Christmas weeks, outpacing both the market and major competitors.

The success was further supported by the expansion of Nectar Prices to over 9,000 products and the introduction of Aldi Price Match in Convenience stores, an industry first that has driven strong customer response.

The disappointment for investors may be that like-for-like sales growth again fell, continuing the trend of quarterly declines in like-for-like sales growth.

General merchandise was a bright spot. The retailer’s general merchandise and clothing segment showed encouraging signs of recovery, posting a 3.4% increase over the Christmas period, despite being relatively flat for the full quarter. Argos, while facing challenges earlier in the quarter, delivered positive results with sales up 10.2% in the six weeks to January 4, or 1.1% when adjusted to include Black Friday trading in both comparative periods.

“Keep in mind that Sainsbury’s is more exposed to general merchandise than its peers through its ownership of Argos,” said Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“General merchandise is the most cyclical area of the supermarket economy to be in, so being overweight in this arena really slows you down when times get tough. Luckily, the festive season helped drive a need for toys and sales picked up slightly in the run-up to Christmas. The overall solid third-quarter performance means full-year profit targets remain on track, with the group expecting growth of around 7% to £1,035mn.”

The retailer has also upgraded its Financial Services profit forecast to around £30 million, up from its previous guidance of £15-25 million.

The FTSE 100 surged Thursday as overseas earners jumped on a weakening pound amid rising concerns about the UK’s economic health.

Negative moves by retail shares Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s and Tesco were insufficient to derail a rally driven by multinationals listed on London as sterling’s inverse relationship with the FTSE 100 kicked in. Today’s trade is a perfect example of why the FTSE 100 is by no means a representation of the UK economy.

The FTSE 100 is often seen as a defensive index partly due to its weighting to overseas earners who tend to benefit from a weaker pound. 

On many occasions, the weaker pound results from a bid in the dollar due to financial market risk aversion. However, today, the weaker pound is the consequence of concerns about the UK economy, which are sending bond yields to levels not seen for many years. 

Slowly souring sentiment towards the UK has picked up this week as concerns mount about the country’s fiscal health and economic outlook caused by policy decisions by the Labour.

“Turmoil in the markets implies a massive loss of confidence in the UK government. The 30-year gilt yield briefly hit 5.445%, surpassing the Liz Truss crisis period, and the pound slumped to $1.2256 against the US dollar which is the lowest level since November 2023,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“The feel-good factor around the UK following last summer’s general election has quickly disappeared and turned to gloom as companies brace themselves for higher costs and consumers worry about job security and the cost of living going up again.

“Investors are worried about extra borrowing by the government to achieve its plans. However, it is worth noting that the pound remains considerably stronger than when Liz Truss briefly ran the country. The UK is also not alone in seeing a higher cost of borrowing for the government as the US has also seen higher yields.”

As the pound sank against the dollar, companies that report earnings in dollars jumped to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard. Mining companies led the index higher, with Antofagasta storming 4.9% higher. Anglo American and precious metals miner Fresnillo gained more than 4%.

Smith & Nephew, Shell, InterContinetal Hotels, and AstraZeneca all rose on little else than a weaker pound.

A raft of retailers including M&S, Tesco and B&M reported on Thursday. The market reaction was hostile. Sales growth hasn’t been enough to keep investors happy, with expectations high going into results. The concerns around the UK economy will not help matters for the companies that are largely reliant on the UK for earnings.

M&S shares plummeted 6% despite the group having its strongest trading period ever over the Christmas break.

“Despite reporting resilient Christmas performance across the board, retailers Tesco, Marks & Spencer and B&M saw their shares come under pressure as the glass half empty market seized on any traces of negativity. The wider backdrop of surging UK gilt yields and a slump in the pound was doing nothing for sentiment towards domestic stocks,” Russ Mould explained.

Tesco shares were 1% and the time of writing and dragged Sainsbury’s down with them.

The FTSE 100’s banks helped the index higher in early trade as bond yields rose on expectations of interest rates staying higher for longer amid concerns about inflation.

Barclays, which gained as much as 2.5%, was briefly the top riser before falling back, with NatWest and HSBC both up in the region of 2%. Higher interest rates are typically good for banking profit margins.

However, early gains for London’s flagship index evaporated as UK 10-year bond yields hit the highest level since 2008, dragging on the wider index.

“Inflation concerns have stoked fresh wariness on the markets, with worries that a pressure cooker of prices increases is heating up again. The FTSE 100 has opened slightly higher but gains are likely to be held back as investors assess data indicating that interest rates may have to stay higher for longer,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

Strength in the banks was offset by weakness in Shell as the session got underway after the oil major released a disappointing earnings teaser revealing lower gas production.

“Shell has revised its outlook for Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) production in the fourth quarter, as oil and gas prices remain under pressure following a challenging year for fossil fuels,” said Mark Crouch, market analyst at investment platform eToro.

“The oil giant’s chemicals and oil products division is also expected to report a decline in Q4, signalling a broader slump in its performance as it prepares to release earnings in the coming weeks.”

As the session progressed, more companies joined Shell in trading in the red as concerns about interest rates spread through the broader index.

Utilities companies were among the top fallers. The sector is particularly exposed to interest rates and United Utilities, Severn Trent and SSE all fell more than 3%.

The threat of rates eroding consumer spending was felt among the retailers, with JD Sports’ strong start to the year stopped in its tracks by a 3% decline on Wednesday.

“Long-term dated UK government bonds are hovering near highs not seen since 1998, with 30-year gilts trading around 5.24%,” Susannah Streeter explained.

“10-year gilts have also crept higher, above levels seen in October 2023 after the Trussenomics mini-Budget. In the UK, there is also particular concern brewing about stagflation taking hold, given that inflation has been creeping up and pay growth is still hot, while the economy has been stagnating.”