Following the announcement of a major deal by motor dealer software provider Pinewood Technologies (LON: PINE) and a capital markets day, Nicola Flanders acquired 5,714 shares at 346.5p each and Jemima Bird bought 15,627 shares at 343.8p each. Both are non-executive directors and neither previously owned shares.
The deal with Marshall Motor Group has led to an upgrade in profit expectations and is the first major deal since the software business was separated from the Pendragon motor dealer group, which is a major customer.
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Pinewood Technologies supplies dealer management software to ...
Marula Mining (LON: MARU) director Jason Brewer has increased his shareholding by 340,000 shares at 5.38p each. That takes his stake, held through Gathoni Muchai Investments to 9.13%. The share price increased 14.6% to 5.875p.
Ananda Developments (LON: ANA) says two of its potential medicines, MRX2 and MRX2T, will be used in National Institute for Health and Care Research and NHS co-funded phase IIIa epilepsy clinical trials involving up to 500 patients. This could support marketing authorisation applications if the trials are successful. The share price rose 3.17% to 0.325p.
EDX Medical Group (LON EDX) has raised £300,000 from a Saudi Arabian investor at 11p/share, which was a 22% premium to the market price. The share price improved 2.78% to 9.25p.
Corporate businesses developer Macaulay Capital (LON: MCAP) managing director David Horner has doubled his shareholding to 500,000 shares by buying 250,000 shares at 20p each. His family has a 24.9% stake. The share price edged up 2.7% to 19p.
FALLERS
Mendell Helium (LON: MDH) says Jill Overland is stepping down as a non-executive director. Additional directors will be appointed after the proposed acquisition of M3 Helium Corp. The share price dipped 12.3% to 2.85p.
Oscillate (LON: MUSH) has started hydrogen operations in Minnesota. A hydrogen soil-gas sensor has been bought and pre-field work started, which will provide data to enable further progress. Igraine has been diluted from 10.2% to 5.05% following the recent share issue. The share price fell 11.5% to 1.15p.
Electrification technology developer Equipmake (LON: EQIP) has raised £3m at 3p/share. Chief executive Ian Foley has subscribed for 6.67 million shares, although his stake will be diluted to 34.1%. The cash should last for six months and move the business towards cash breakeven. There was £2.48m in the bank at the end of May 2024. In the year to May 2024, the cash outflow from operations was £6.3m. The company estimates a requirement of £5.5m for working capital over the next 12 months. A potential licensing agreement could bring in £4.6m over a two-year period. Equipmake could reach cash breakeven in 2025-26. The focus is on higher margin work and bus repowering range will be rationalised. Costs are also being reduced, but it is investing in its commercial team. The share price dipped 8.33% to 2.75p.
Ormonde Mining (LON: ORM) investee company TRU Precious Metals Corp says backing from Eldorado Gold Corporation, which is earning an 80% stake in Golden Rose, has enabled a detailed review of the project. Initial targeting should be completed early next year. The share price declined 5.71% to 0.165p.
James and Alexandra Pace have a 5% stake in Shepherd Neame (LON: SHEP).The share price slipped 4.24% to 565p.
Cornish Metals is a dual-listed company (AIM / TSX-V: CUSN) focused on advancing the South Crofty high-grade, underground tin project towards a construction decision.
South Crofty is a strategic tin asset in the UK and covers the former producing South Crofty tin mine in Cornwall which closed in 1998 following over 400 years of continuous production. South Crofty is fully permitted: underground permission till 2071, water discharge permission and planning permission to build a process plant in place.
In 2017, Cornish Metals completed a Preliminary Economic Assessment that demonstrated the economic viability of re-opening the mine. In 2023, an updated MRE increased tonnes by 39% and contained tin by 32% in the Indicated category for the Lower Mine.
Newmark Security produces products and services that protect personnel and their data and ensure stringent security for an organisation’s physical assets for over three decades.
Listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange since 1997, we design and manufacture intelligent technology and services that provide safe, secure and productive workplaces.
Yellow Cake plc is a London-listed company and headquartered in Jersey. Yellow Cake was established in 2018 to offer investors exposure to the uranium commodity at a time when the supply/demand fundamentals strongly suggested a resurgence in uranium prices.
The Company has a long-term Framework Agreement for supply of U3O8 with Kazatomprom, the world’s largest uranium producer. This enables Yellow Cake to access up to USD100 million of uranium annually from Kazatomprom at the spot price until 2027. The Company has a low-cost outsourced business model that provides access to corporate functions and industry expertise.
Yellow Cake currently owns 21.7mlbs of uranium, which is stored in 2 regulated warehouses located in Canada and France.
Seascape Energy Asia (LON: SEA) has been awarded a 28% participating interest in a production sharing contract over the DEWA complex cluster, offshore Sarawak, Malaysia. Enquest owns 42% and Petroleum Sarawak holds 30%. The area has 12 gas discoveries in shallow water near to the coast. Six will be focused on and these have 500bcf of gas in place. Seascape Energy Asia will commit $600,000 for a detailed resource assessment and field development plan.The share price soared 172% to 37.4p, which is the highest level for nearly one year.
EnergyPathways (LON: EPP) has been asked by the UK government to participate in the Hydrogen Storage Business Model. This will help to define the new investment support scheme. The first Hydrogen Storage Allocation Round should be in 2025. The share price jumped 138% to 8.2p, taking it above the level when the company floated on AIM.
Oil and gas company Deltic Energy (LON: DELT) has a 25% working interest in the Selene project, where drilling has reached target depth. There are gas shows throughout the Leman Sandstone reservoir. Final results of sampling and logging should be available at the end of October. Deltic Energy is reducing costs and seeking new opportunities, possibly in sub-Saharan Africa. The share price improved 41.3% to 6.5p.
Ariana Resources (LON: AAU) has reviewed the data for the Dokwe gold project in Zimbabwe. There are several zones of potential extensions to mineralisation. There are also gold-in-soil anomalies to follow up and drilling is planned. The in-pit resource is 1.2moz in two open pits at Dokwe Central and Dokwe North. Measured and indicated resources are 30Mt at 1.3g/t gold. Ariana Resources believes there could be annual production of up to 100,000 ounces of gold for up to 15 years. A revision of the pre-feasibility study is underway. The share price is 32.5% higher at 2.75p and it is one-fifth ahead of the level at the start of the year.
FALLERS
On Friday afternoon, Haydale Graphene Industries (LON: HAYD) announced it is raising up to £3.5m, including a placing and subscription raising £2.22m at 0.1325p/share. There is also a £500,000 convertible loan note raising. A retail offer could raise up to £500,000. The offer closes on 28 October. A reduction in the par value of the shares from 0.1p to 0.01p is also planned. This cash will fund a review and repositioning of the business. Generating cash is the priority. The share price dived 38.5% to 0.16p.
Ethernity Networks (LON: ENET) has received a £195,000 warrant exercise notice from New Technology Capital Group, which gives it 21.6% of the enlarged share capital. This led to the issue of 195 million new shares. There is a remaining balance of £170,000, although this varies if the exercise price is higher than 0.1p/share. The share price dipped 38.3% to 0.165p.
Information and data publisher Merit Group (LON: MRIT) has been hit by the ending of project work and the lack of replacement work. Sales resource is being added, but that will take time to boost revenues. Canaccord Genuity has changed its 2024-25 forecast from a £900,000 profit to a loss of £800,000 after a 11% reduction in expected revenues to £18.5m, which is lower than the 2022-23 figure. A return to profit is forecast for next year. There are management changes that are flagged for next year. The share price declined 37.2% to 38p.
At the end of the week, property developer and investor Caledonian Trust (LON: CNN), which has been on AIM for more than 29 years, announced its proposed departure. The direct annual cost of the quotation is £100,000 and liquidity is poor. A general meeting to gain shareholder approval will be held on 18 November. There is already support from holders of 85.3% of the shares. The quotation could end on 26 November. NAV is 195.1p/share. The share price has been marked down 28.3% to 95p.
Whether you are a healthcare and pharmaceutical aficionado or not, the Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust should be considered by all investment trust investors seeking a vehicle with a solid track record of strong performance that consistently beats the benchmark.
Over the three years to September 2024, this investment trust has produced a share price total return of 33.2% compared to the MSCI ACWI / Healthcare benchmark return of 18.9%.
The trust invests in leading healthcare and pharmaceutical companies with an attractive mix of mega caps and small caps to ensure investors are provided with a diverse portfolio of steady cashflows blended with some of the most exciting growth prospects in the sector.
The Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust’s performance pays testament to a robust research process driven by Polar Capital’s healthcare team comprised of eight experts with deep experience in the sector.
Healthcare investing requires a high level of sector-specific expertise that other industries may not. The sector offers many exciting opportunities, but many companies offer potential without the intrinsic strengths to produce shareholder returns. By investing in this trust, investors secure a partner to help navigate the sector and filter down companies into a portfolio of 25-60 high-conviction ideas selected by managers with deep experience in the sector.
Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust 3- year performance
Source: Bloomberg & HSBC Securities Services (UK) Limited, percentage
growth, Net of Fees in GBP terms. Past performance is not indicative or a
guarantee of future results. The ordinary share price has been adjusted for
dividends paid in the period in GBP and reinvested at the ex-dividend date.
The NAV per share is adjusted to show dividends reinvested on the payment
date in ordinary shares at their Net Asset Value; to remove the dilution of
the exercise of the subscription rights and, to remove any effects from any
issuance or repurchase of ordinary shares. This is the metric used by the
Company when assessing the investment manager’s performance. Benchmark: MSCI
All Country World Index / Healthcare (sterling) Launch Date: 15 June 2010.
The Company was restructured on 20 June 2017.
The trust is underpinned by a healthcare industry poised for sustained, long-term growth. This trend is driven by an ageing global population observed in both developed and emerging nations. The trust highlights that as people live longer, there’s an increasing need for expanded healthcare services and infrastructure worldwide.
The portfolio is built around six core themes: Healthcare delivery disruption, Innovation, Consolidation, Emerging markets, Outsourcing, and Prevention.
The breadth of these core themes lends to the trust’s diversified holdings in established drug companies such as Eli Lilly & Co, UnitedHealth Group, Novo Nordisk, Roche, and AbbVie. These companies are responsible for a large proportion of the world’s pharmaceutical innovations and production and provide investors with reliable cash flows while securing exposure to the growth prospects of a pipeline of potentially blockbuster new drugs.
Innovation & Disruption
“Innovation is the lifeblood of the healthcare sector and it is flourishing,” says Gareth Powell, Head of Healthcare at Polar Capital.
Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust’s recent performance has in part been driven by its focus on innovation and the availability of new drugs and therapies to improve patient outcomes.
The trust has identified developments in obesity, atrial fibrillation, respiratory diseases and Alzheimer’s. It has taken action to ensure the portfolio harnesses growth in these areas and the upcoming earnings cycles for the mega-cap pharmaceutical companies that have brought them to market.
These particular areas clearly excite the Polar Capital team, and the market shares this enthusiasm. Eli Lilly shares surged this year amid the launch of the Alzheimer’s drug Donanema and Novo Nordisk has benefited from new obesity drugs. As of 30 September, Eli Lilly was the trust’s top holding after gaining around 50% year-to-date.
These successes for Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust’s shareholders represent the team’s approach to the healthcare sector, which balances securing exposure to earnings growth while ensuring an attractive valuation.
The recent initiation of Novo Nordisk demonstrated the trust’s measured approach. Novo Nordisk has blazed a trail with the launch of blockbuster weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, which helped send the stock to record highs earlier this year. It would have been tempting to jump in amid the hype in late 2023 and early 2024, but Polar waited until a pullback during volatility in August to add the stock to its portfolio.
Growth companies
While large-caps comprise the lion’s share of the portfolio, Polar Capital reserves 20% to invest in new and upcoming companies at the forefront of innovation.
One such area that will find its way into this section of the portfolio is the the introduction of AI and machine learning to healthcare that promise innovation in a wide range of settings including diagnostics and specific care settings.
Polar Capital believes this new round of innovation is the final ingredient to spark the next bull market in healthcare shares.
Healthcare is a broad church, and this is represented in the Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust’s portfolio, which offers the excitement of new innovations underpinned by steady returns from the world’s largest drug companies, which make up a large proportion of the portfolio.
Investors help off making big bets on UK equities on Friday, with the UK budget dominating the narrative amid fears of the introduction of a raft of measures that could stifle economic growth and dent confidence in UK stocks.
Despite a strong gain in US futures and mild gains in European equities, the FTSE 100 was dead flat at the time of writing after trading in a tight 20-point range for most of the session.
A strong session for NatWest following the release of Q3 helped to offset weakness in Lloyds and Smith & Nephew, resulting in no change in the index.
“The FTSE 100 is in a holding pattern at the end of the week, as the UK Budget looms and investors remain highly cautious. The index has opened lower, with little to ignite overall investor sentiment,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.
“However, buoyant results from NatWest, as it joined the banking results party, did provide some cheer with the stock more than 3% higher in early trade.
“As the guessing game continues about what Chancellor Rachel Reeves will include in her first Budget, it’s dented consumer confidence in the UK. A closely watched survey from GfK indicates that a despondent mood has taken hold ahead of revelation of the government’s tax and spending plans with concerns about the UK economy rising.”
Investors are concerned about a tax raid on their capital gains and savings, while businesses fear additional taxes that could curtail growth. The combination is doing the UK stock market no favours, and the market will look forward to certainty returning as the budget is delivered next week, although new measures may have damaging ramifications for UK equities.
Lloyds
Lloyds shares sank 4% after the UK Court of Appeal ruled against Lloyds and other financial institutions in motor financing appeals that could lead to billions in redress. Close Brothers was more heavily hit by the decision, with shares falling 15%.
Lloyds has already set aside £450m for potential redress, but there will be fears they are forced to make further provisions. Investors clearly have PPI litigation that cost banks billions fresh in their minds and decided to sell down holdings in banks ahead of further developments.
The UK Investor Magazine was delighted to Marc Howells, CEO of Investment Evolution Credit (IEC), for a deep exploration of the UK consumer finance market and IEC’s growth plans.
We start with a run down of the UK consumer finance market and the material changes to regulations that have created a material opportunity to better serve millions of people in the UK loans that meet their financial futures.
Marc provides a comprehensive explanation of IEC’s AI-driven process and how the company is using the technology to improve outcomes for clients.
The company is already operating in the US and has ambitious plans to replicate its success in the UK.
Yulia Kirianova has stepped down from the board of oil and gas company Enwell Energy (LON: ENW). Interim chief executive Oleksiy Zayets has joined the board as appointee of Smart Energy (CY), which has a 6.95% stake. He has held the role of interim chief executive since March and has been with the company since 2018. The share price increased 13.1% to 26.75p.
Cyber security software supplier Intercede Group (LON: IGP) has launched a £1m share buyback programme. This has been prompted by the uncertainty around the tax incentives for AIM shares. The programme will last until the end of 2024 or when the money is spent.The share price rose 6.69% to 167.5p.
Prospex Energy (LON: PXEN) recently acquired a 7.2365% working interest in the onshore Spain Viura gas field, which recommenced production last week. The Viura 1B development well has encountered significant gas shows in the Utrillas-A reservoir and a new gas bearing reservoir interval below that. The well, which cost Prospex Energy €375,000, could contribute to production in November Flow testing results for the deeper reservoir will be available next year. There should be a significant upgrade to recoverable reserves. The European gas price is rising. The share price edged up 2.63% to 5.85p, having been above 6p earlier in the day.
Diagnostics company Oxford BioDynamics (LON: OBD) says that there has been a study published on the Covid Severity Test using its EpiSwitch platform. It shows a high positive predictive value for high-risk diseases outcomes, including two cases previously declared as mild. The share price improved 3.88% to 1.34p.
FALLERS
Adams (LON: ADA) is proposing the cancellation of the AIM quotation and sell off the company’s investments, many of which are also quoted on AIM, to return the cash to shareholders. Prior to this Adams will be buying back shares at 4p each. The estimated NAV is 3.72p/share. Liquidity is limited because Richard Griffiths owns 94% of Adams. A general meeting will be held on 27 November and, if passed, the cancellation will be on 5 December. The share price dipped 10% to 4.5p.
Youth digital health services provider Kooth (LON: KOO) says that a newsletter has underestimated the uptake of its services in California. The report led to a fall in the share price. The service commenced in January and awareness and uptake is still building up. Expectations for 2024 and 2025 are unchanged. The share price still slipped 6.53% to 164.5p.
Kestrel Partners continues to build up its stake in IT managed services provider Redcentric (LON: RCN) and it has been buying shares at 120.73p/share. The stake is 20.7%. Oliver Scott represents Kestrel on the Redcentric board. The share price declined 5.81% to 109.5p.
Existing shareholders in management consultancy Elixirr International (LON: ELIX) have sold 3.85 million shares at 650p each. The sellers include all six directors and other employees of the company. The share price fell 6% to 658p.
