AIM movers: K3 Business sells main subsidiary and Capital Metals reduces capex

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: K3 Business sells main subsidiary and Capital Metals reduces capex

K3 Business Technology (LON: KBT) is selling its UK SYSPRO business NexSys to SYSPRO owner Advent for £36m. This business generated 109% of group EBITDA and 28% of group revenues. K3 Business Technology intends to return cash to shareholders. The company’s remaining operations are K3 Fashion and Pebblestone, the IKEA software business and other retail software. The share price is two-fifths higher at 87.5p.

Capital Metals (LON: CMET) has reduced the stage one capex for the Eastern Minerals project in Sri Lanka by one-third of $20.9m. Initial production of heavy mineral concentrate is 125,000tpa. Funding and offtake discussions are continuing. Drilling is restarting, so that the resource can be increased. The share price jumped 31.3% to 2.1p.

Condor Gold (LON: CNR), which is developing the La India gold project in Nicaragua, says that Metals Exploration (LON: MTL) and have made bid approaches and negotiations are at an advanced stage with Metals Exploration. Calibre Mining Corp says it will not make an offer. Metals Exploration has entered into a £5.5m bridging loan facility with Drachs Investments No. 3, which has a 18.4% shareholding. This is repayable at the end of January or when talks end. Galloway is lending £475,000 to Condor Gold. Metals Exploration owns the Runruno gold project in the northern Philippines. Condor Gold shares increased 22.9% to 29.5p. Metals Exploration shares have fallen 6.14% to 5.35p.

Energy optimisation service provider Inspired (LON: INSE) has won three large optimisation contracts with two starting in 2025. These contracts came later than expected and Panmure Liberum has knocked £5m off its pre-tax profit expectations and reduced earnings by 29% to 9.2p/share. Net debt is forecast at £58m at the end of 2024. Covenants have been changed and this should ensure there is no breach following the decline in expected profit. The share price recovered 20.3% to 41.5p.

FALLERS

Goldstone Resources (LON: GRL) is in talks with Blue Gold International concerning an extension for the repayment of the £2.7m owed through convertible loan notes. It was due to be repaid at the end of November and Goldstone Resources has five business days to negotiate the extension or it will be obliged to repay the loan notes. The share price dived 27% to 1.15p.

Bigblu Broadband (LON: BBB) is selling Australian broadband business to SKM Telecommunications for up to £25.7m, which values the business at more than double the total cost of investment. The initial cash payment is £15.4m and £6.8m in shares in SKM, with a further £3.5m in cash due in one year. This requires shareholder approval at a general meeting on 20 December. The company will still have operations in New Zealand and a subsidiary involved in the distribution of Starlink, plus a 2.8% stake in Quickline. Revenues are forecast to be £1m in 2024-25. The share price lost some of its recent gains and is 14.6% lower at 35p.

Braveheart Investment (LON: BRH) chief executive Trevor Brown bought 425,000 shares at 4.0388p each, taking his stake to 25.5%. The share price declined 5.56% to 4.25p.

Africa-focused Shuka Minerals (LON: SKA) is being loaned £500,000 by its second largest shareholder Gathoni Muchai Investments. The initial advance is £150,000. Shuka Minerals is planning to appoint new directors. The share price slipped 3.33% to 7.25p.

FTSE 100: mining strength overcomes weakness in housebuilders

UK Investor Magazine
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FTSE 100: mining strength overcomes weakness in housebuilders

An encouraging insight into China’s manufacturing sector helped lift the FTSE 100 on Monday, overcoming weakness in housebuilding shares after several downgrades in the sector.

London’s leading index was 0.3% higher at 8,315 at the time of writing as it broke through the 8,300 level convincingly for the first time since late October. Should 8,300 hold as support, traders may eye the next major resistance level around 8,400.

“Beijing’s economic stimulus effort seems to be having a positive effect, judging by better-than-expected manufacturing data from China,” says Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

“The Caixin Manufacturing PMI data hit 51.5 in November against a forecast of 50.7%. The data sent Chinese shares flying, including a 1.1% rise in the Shanghai SEE Composite index. The big unknown is whether the stimulus efforts will have a long-lasting effect or just a short-term boost.

“The Chinese manufacturing data also needs to be viewed in the context of what’s happening in the US. The threat of punishing tariffs on Chinese goods imported into the US from January 2025 once Donald Trump returns to power is likely to have spurred factories to boost output ahead of the event. The theory being that some US customers might stockpile goods while they can buy cheaply before the threatened tariffs come into power.”

A positive session for mining names such as Rio Tinto and Anglo American – both up around 1% – was dampened by softness in the domestic-facing housebuilding sector after a string of broker downgrades hit Vistry, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey despite Nationwide’s very encouraging house price data for November.

Average UK house prices rose 1.2% in November as first-time buyers scrambled to beat the changes to stamp duty due to be implemented in April 2025. House prices rose 3.7% in the year to November, the fastest annual growth rate in over two years.

However, the promising house price data was not enough to offset the impact of several broker downgrades, including RBC’s slashing of Persimmon’s price target to 1,275p. Vistry looks set to exit the FTSE 100 after RBC’s downgrade, which sent shares down by 4% and put the social housing-focused builder firmly in demotion territory. 

UK house prices surge at fastest rate in two years

UK Investor Magazine
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UK house prices surge at fastest rate in two years

UK house prices rose at the fastest rate in two years in November, according to new data from Nationwide, as buyers raced to beat the changes in stamp duty set for 2025.

House prices rose 1.2% in the month to November and were 3.7% higher over the year.

“The Budget blip was a wrinkle rather than a rift. The housing market has shaken it off, bouncing back to its fastest annual growth since November 2022,” said Sarah Coles, head of personal finance, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“We’ve seen a pick-up in activity from landlords, who put sales in train before the Budget. They may not have had the capital gains tax blow they were expecting in the speech, but given that the Treasury is still more likely to hike taxes for landlords than to cut them in the next few years, there’s a decent chance many of them have decided to get out anyway, while they know where they stand.”

“More properties for sale will have spurred more buyers into action, especially in areas where a lack of choice had been holding them back. We had an indication this could be the case from the Bank of England, as mortgage approvals for new purchases had risen in October – to the highest point since August 2022. We’re getting back into solid pre-pandemic territory, with 68,300 approvals.”

Whether the increase in house prices holds through the change of stamp duty laws next year will depend heavily on interest rates and resulting mortgage rates. Mortgage rates have steadily increased in recent weeks after the Bank of England signal rates may not fall as quickly as previously thought.

The prevailing interest and mortgage rates when the dust settles following the rush to beat stamp duty next year will drive prices through 2025, with affordability still stretched for many first-time buyers.

Share Tip: SRT Marine Systems – £93m world-leading group has pipeline of £1.2bn sales potential, with £320m contracts booked 

Mark Watson-Mitchell
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Share Tip: SRT Marine Systems – £93m world-leading group has pipeline of £1.2bn sales potential, with £320m contracts booked 

Do not worry about the delays Simon, just keep on winning and bringing in the new orders. 
It must be an incredibly difficult and tortuous task negotiating with and contract preparing with overseas government bodies. 
But that is what SRT Marine Systems (LON:SRT) has been patiently handling over the last few years, as it has been creating new international markets for its world-leading maritime surveillance, monitoring and management systems. 
During the intervening times, from design to selling to implementing, the group has run down its cash reserves as it strained its way to ...

Director deals: Bango boss shows confidence following disappointments

Andrew Hore
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Director deals: Bango boss shows confidence following disappointments

Payment services provider Bango (LON: BGO) has suffered a poor 2024 and the share price is bouncing around the low for the year. To show his confidence in the business, chief executive Paul Larbey and another family acquired 46,096 shares at 97.45p each. In October, they bought a total of 36,437 shares at 104.24p each. Paul Larbey and family owns 150,857 shares in Bango.
West Elk Capital recently acquired a 5.16% shareholding. Liontrust had previously cut its stake to 5.05%.
Business
Bango offers a SaaS platform that enables online merchants to handle payments more efficiently. Bango has devel...

One Media IP disposal unmasks cash generation

Andrew Hore
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One Media IP disposal unmasks cash generation

One Media IP (LON: OMIP) is selling TCAT, which monitors unauthorised exploitation of music, to digital agency Round Group in return for a 5% stake in the purchaser. This will improve group profitability, while having some exposure to the potential upside from the technology.
Digital agency Round Group and it uses technology for marketing campaigns. It has three existing shareholders: Aaron Sayer, Jacob Sayer and Vishal Ramakrishnan. Round Group had net assets of £220,000, including cash of £282,000, at the end of April 2023.
One Media IP developed the Technical Copyright Analysis Tool (TCAT) ...

Aquis weekly movers: Product launch delays for Incanthera due to patent dispute

Andrew Hore
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Aquis weekly movers: Product launch delays for Incanthera due to patent dispute

KR1 (LON: KR1) had net assets of 57.79p/share at the end of October 2024, down from 62.15p/share at the end of the previous month. There was nearly £600,000 of income generated from digital assets during the month. The share price jumped 24.8% to 85.5p.

WeCap (LON: WCAP) has converted £7.75m of loan notes in WeShop Holdings in return for 3.21 million shares, which is 1.33 million shares at 300p each and 1.875 million shares at 200p each. This increases the shareholding to 16.2%, including shares owned by 235%-owned Community Social Investments. WeCap says that the value of the shareholding is £24.6m, based on the last fundraising share price of 476p. WeCao has extended the discounted capital bond issued to Hawk Holdings for 18 months. The total owed is £6.18m. The WeCap share price increased 7.69% to 1.05p, which capitalises the company at £4.3m.

Wishbone Gold (LON: WSBN) has appointed Tony Moore as chairman and Jack Sun as finance director. The share price improved 6.67% to 0.32p.

SulNOx Group (LON: SNOX) has appointed Fuelonomics Hydrocarbons Innovations as distributor of SulNOxEco fuel conditioners in Nigeria. The share price rose 4.81% to 54.5p.

Vinanz Ltd (LON: BTC) has received the initial order of Bitcoin miners and they are up and running in Nebraska. The share price moved up 0.885% to 14.25p.

Arbuthnot Banking Group (LON: ARBB) chairman and chief executive Sir Henry Angest has bought 116,000 shares at 900p each. He owns 58% of the voting shares. The share price edged up 0.822% to 920p.

FALLERS

Incanthera (LON: INC) has been accused of potential patent infringement in the formulation of its Skin + Cell skincare range. Even though Incanthera believes that there is no merit to the accusation, but the launch of the Skin + Cell range of products has been delayed. There is cash in the bank following a £2.6m subscription at 15p/share. The share price recovered from an all-time low earlier in the week, but it still slumped 57.4% to 5.75p.

Electric vehicle technology developer Equipmake (LON: EQIP) increased full year revenues by three-fifths to £8.1m. Bus repowering revenues grew fastest, but this is labour intensive at low volumes. The loss increased from £5m to £9.1m. The cash outflow from operations declined from £9m to £6.29m. Costs are being reduced. There was £2.5m in the bank at the end of May 2024. A potential licensing agreement could provide cash flow over the next two years. The share price declined by one-fifth to 2p.

Barry Hersh has reduced his stake in Global Connectivity (LON: GCON) from 6.97% to 5.96%. The share price fell 3.45% to 0.7p.

Invinity Energy Systems (LON: IES) has hired Adam Howard as finance director. He was previously at the National Walth Fund. The share price dipped 2.04% to 12p.

AIM movers: Positive exploration news for Oracle Power

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: Positive exploration news for Oracle Power

Oracle Power (LON: ORCP) has received the final batch of assay results for the drilling at the Northern Zone intrusive hosted gold project. These show high grades over an expanded area. A mineralisation report is expected by the end of November and then a mining lease application will be submitted. Cantor Fitzgerald has reduced its stake, and Mahfuz Chowdhury has taken a 3.72% shareholding. The share price soared 171% to 0.032p.

TomCo Energy (LON; TOM) subsidiary AC Oil has applied to the Utah authorities for a permit to drill six holes on its lease area near Vernal, Utah. If approved, the drilling could start in 2025. The share price doubled to 0.07p.

Orosur Mining Inc (LON: OMI) has completed the acquisition of Minera Monte Aguila giving it 100% ownership of the Anza gold project in Colombia. Drilling has commenced at Pepas. The share price increased 80.8% to 4.7p.

Quadrise (LON: QED) has signed two long-awaited agreements. The deal with shipping company MSC and Cargill involves production of bioMSAR and MSAR fuels in Antwerp and will enable vessel trials on board the MSC Leandra. Cargill will supply feedstocks and sell the fuels to MSC. The trial should start in the first quarter of 2025. There is also an agreement with fuel supplier Auramarine to develop decarbonisation products in the marine sector. They will enable companies to comply with new environmental regulations. The share price improved 69% to 3.3p.

FALLERS

i-nexus Global (LON: INX) intends to leave AIM. The cloud-based software provider says poor share price performance and liquidity has led to the proposal. There should be direct cost savings of £250,000. The business has been consistently loss making. There is a three-year growth plan. i-nexus Global raised £10m at 79p/share when it joined AIM in June 2018. The cancellation will happen on 27 December if shareholders agree. The share price has recovered some of its initial loss – it fell to 0.65p at one point – but it is still down 44.4% to 1.75p. The market capitalisation is £500,000.

Helix Exploration (LON: HEX) reports that the Amsden formation at the Clink#1 well in the Ingomar Dome in Montana has sub-economic grades of helium. Amsden was always thought to be a small proportion of the potential resource. The more important Flathead formation at the same well had 2.5% helium. The company believes that there could be helium below the Amsden formation and there will be appraisal testing of the Charles formation. Investor sentiment is likely to be volatile and the share price slumped 29.1% to 14.75p.

There was no news from ImmuPharma (LON: IMM), but Aquis-quoted investee company Incanthera (LON: INC) has been accused of potential patent infringement in the formulation of its Skin + Cell skincare range. Even though Incanthera believes that there is no merit to the accusation, but the launch of the Skin + Cell range of products has been delayed. There is cash in the bank following a £2.6m subscription at 15p/share. ImmuPharma sold its 9.9 million shares in Incanthera, raising £1.5m, but it still holds 7.3 million warrants exercisable at 9.5p each. These had been in the money, but the share price has slumped well below the exercise price. The 24.3% decline in the ImmuPharma share price to 1.185p appears overdone on this basis.

ECR Minerals (LON: ECR) says that the potential buyer of assets in Victoria and related tax losses of A$75m is assessing the appropriate structure of the deal. The exclusivity has been extended to the end of January. ECR Minerals is raising £950,000 at 0.33p/share. The cash will be used to advance projects in Victoria and Queensland, including completing assessment of gold production at Blue Mountain, which could be generating revenues in the near future. The cash will fund the 2025 programme of work. ECR Minerals is collaborating with James Cook University in Queensland for the exploration of the Lolworth rare earths project. The share price fell 24.1% to 0.315p.

FTSE 100 rangebound as Zoopla report supports housebuilders

UK Investor Magazine
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FTSE 100 rangebound as Zoopla report supports housebuilders

The FTSE 100 is taking a liking to the 8,280 level, having spent the last two sessions moving little more than 10 points in either direction as trade quietens down for the Thanksgiving period.

A lack of global macro catalysts and a slow corporate calendar has kept London’s leading index tethered to a tight range after a reasonably strong start to the week.

“The FTSE has held onto modest gains earned earlier this week, with few cues to take from global markets after the US took a breather to gather for Thanksgiving. Retail stocks will be on traders’ minds today as shoppers trawl the aisles and their screens for Black Friday bargains,” said Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown.

There was some evidence of buying pressure in the FTSE 100’s retailers, but nothing to write home about. B&M, Sainsbury’s, Next, and Kingfisher were all higher but struggled to rise more than 1%.

Investors also favoured the housebuilders after Zoopla data gave the market reason to be upbeat about the UK property market next year.

“Real estate is another sector in focus after the latest Zoopla House Price Index report painted an optimistic picture for sellers in 2025. After prices rose 1.5% in the year to October, it’s expecting a 2.5% bump to prices in 2025 and a 5% rise in volumes.

“Zoopla’s not forecasting much movement if any in Mortgage rates over 2025 but does think that lenders will have a more relaxed approach to affordability assessments. Activity is likely to be particularly elevated over the coming months as buyers rush to avoid the return of higher stamp duty rates in April. Agreed sales are currently 19% higher than they were 12 months ago.”

Persimmon ticked 0.7% higher and Taylor Wimpey added 0.4%.

Strength in mining companies and IMI was offset by weakness in banks and utility companies. BAE Systems was the top faller after Bank of America cut the defence stock to ‘underperform’ and slashed its price target to 1,240p.

AIM movers: Botswana Diamonds gains environmental authorisation and Atlantic Lithium waits for mining lease ratification

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: Botswana Diamonds gains environmental authorisation and Atlantic Lithium waits for mining lease ratification

Webis (LON: WEB) shares have recovered 50% to 0.21p following final results, even though it is set to leave AIM. The US-focused betting company reported flat revenues of $50m and an increase in loss from £745,000 to £1.06m. Net cash is $565,000. Management believes that leaving AIM will make the company more attractive for partnerships and acquisitions,

Shares in investment company APQ Global (LON: APQ) have returned from suspension after the interim figures were published. The NAV was 24.9 cents/share at the end of June 2024. The strategy is to generate cash to pay off the convertible loans, where the total liability is $37m. The share price increased 18.2% to 6.5p.

Botswana Diamonds (LON: BOD) has gained environmental authorisation for one of the two mining permit applications at the Thorny River project. A mining permit should be granted within six weeks. The company believes that 1.7M tons of kimberlite could be mined during the life of the mine. The share rice improved 10.5% to 0.21p.

Building services provider Northern Bear (LON: NTBR) interims show a small improvement in revenues from £36.9m to £37.6m, but higher overheads meant that pre-tax profit dipped from £1.68m to £1.54m, although this was slightly better than expected. There was an operational cash inflow of £2.2m. Net debt is £1.4m. Hybridan forecasts a dip in full year pre-tax profit from £2.14m to £1.84m, although there is potential for an upgrade. The share price rebounded 7.92% to 54.5p.

FALLERS

Pharma testing company genedrive (LON: GDR) increased annual revenues from £60,000 to £500,000, but the loss rose from £5.98m to £7.75m. There was cash of £5.2m at the end of June 2024. The strategy is commercialisation of the company’s tests in the UK and prioritised international markets. The share price dipped 8.89% to 2.05p.

Good news for Strategic Minerals (LON: SML) subsidiary Cornwall Resources as the UK Criticality Assessment 2024 reaffirms the critical designation of tungsten and tin. The company is trying to push forward with the development of the Redmoor project. The share price fell 7% to 0.225p.

Atlantic Lithium (LON: ALL) says that the ratification of the mining lease would be the final regulatory step to commencing construction of the Ewoyaa lithium project in Ghana. This ratification has been delayed by an election. Atlantic Lithium is cutting costs. The weaker lithium price is also making the financing more difficult. The share price declined 5% to 11.6p.

Supercapacitors developer Cap-XX (LON: CPX) improved full year revenues by 26% to A$4.6m as product sales were two-fifths ahead. This reflects the focus on product sales and developing the distribution network. The underlying EBITDA loss decreased from A$1.73m to A$1.57m. The current order book is worth A$2.1m. The £3m fundraising was after the balance sheet date. The share price slipped 4.51% to 0.1375p.

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