Valereum (LON: VLRM) says the takeover of the Gibraltar Stock Exchange will go ahead in September. In the middle of September, a US fund is due to provide funding of £5m-£8m in two tranches. Trading in the shares has been suspended ahead of the publication of an admission document, which is likely to be in early October. Prior to suspension, the share price rose 31.6% to 3.75p.
Fibre optic cables materials supplier Unigel Group (LON: UNX) reported a dip in interim revenues from £18.8m to £18m, even so pre-tax profit jumped from £442,000 to £852,000 due to lower overheads. There was a £244,000 cash inflow from operating activities. The market declined by 3% during the period because of a slowdown in 5G investment. The share price improved 3.45% to 75p. The August 2022 flotation price was 64p.
FALLERS
Two share sales, one of 10,000 shares at 1p each and another of 500,000 shares at 0.4p each, knocked 65% off the share price of Visum Technologies (LON: VIS) to 1.05p.
Ananda Developments (LON: ANA) has updated shareholders on progress. Medical cannabis plant cultivation trials have been completed. Ananda Developments is monitoring market demand for cannabis flowers and will make a decision on funding, construction and licensing of a GMP facility. The share price declined 16.7% to 0.375p.
Cadence Minerals (LON: KDNC) has warned that the Sonora lithium project licences, where it owns 30% of the entity that owns them, could be cancelled by the Mexican government because of minimum investment obligations between 2017 and 2021. Evidence of the spending may not have been submitted when required. This is subject to appeal. WH Ireland has already put a cautious value on the asset because of this uncertainty. The share price dipped 12.9% to 6.75p.
Digital assets investor KR1 (KR1) had net assets of 48.13p/share at the end of July 2023. There was income of £572,000 generated during the month. The share price fell 10% to 45p.
Marula Mining (LON: MARU) has acquired ore sorters to expand processing capacity at the Blesberg lithium and tantalum mine. Two ore sorters will cost £1.74m in total. The target production is up to 50 tonnes/day of lithium spodumene product from existing stockpiles. An agreement has been signed for an initial sale of 27.5 tonnes of high-grade material from Blesberg. The sale price is $3/000/tonne, based on a minimum grade of 6%. The company is negotiating to cancel a previous offtake agreement with Southern Jade Resources. The share price dived 8.06% to 14.25p.
IamFire (LON: FIRE) has extended the discounted capital bond held by Hawk Investments until 25 September 2023. The share price decreased 2.99% to 1.625p.
Pantheon Resources (LON: PANR) says an independent expert report confirms gross 2C contingent resources of total marketable liquids of 963mmbbls at the Kodiak project in Alaska – roughly one-third oil and two-thirds natural gas liquids. That is well below the company’s own estimate of 1.7 billion barrels. An assessment of the resource of Alkaid at the Ahpun project should be finished before the end of the year. The share price improved 82.4% to 22.42p. Executive chair David Hobbs bought one million shares at 16.411p each. Canaccord Genuity has a NPV10 target price of 100p.
SailPoint Technologies UK is bidding 2.35p/share for Osirium Technologies LON: OSI), which may be nearly double the previous market price, which was an all-time low, but it is well below the share price peak of 201p during the 4 May 2016, less than one month after it joined AIM. The bid values the cyber security company at £3.11m. The share price jumped 79.2% to 2.15p. SailPoint Technologies believes that the business will fit well with the SailPoint Identity Security Platform. A unified platform will be developed for securing privileged and non-privileged identities for customers and there will be enhanced regional opportunities.
Physiomics (LON: PYC) announced two contract awards and the share price made a 61.5% gain to 1.575p. The mathematical modelling company has won a £125,000 with a UK biotech company for an immune-oncology project to be completed by the end of the year. A previous contract with Merck has been extended.
Robert Napier Keith has increased his stake in Gfinity (LON: GFIN) from 12% to 20.7% following the media group’s recent fundraising at 0.06p/share. The share price recovered 45.5% to 0.1075p.
Pharma IT systems supplier Instem (LON: INS) is recommending an 833p/share cash bid by Ichor Management, which is controlled by funds managed by Archimed SAS. The share price jumped 39.2% to 825p. The bid is still below the share price peak of 905p in September 2021. Instem is valued at £203m. The board believes that private ownership will provide greater access to capital to fund acquisitions and growth.
FALLERS
Summary results for the phase II dose ranging study assessing Orenetide for hypoactive sexual desire disorder were disappointing and that has hit the Ovoca Bio (LON: OVB) share price, which slumped 78.7% to an all-time low of 2.4p. The results of the study in Australia and New Zealand show that the treatment was not statistically significantly better than placebo. The company will have to decide how to move forward with the product and whether it should continue development. Ovoca Bio had €2.6m in the bank at the end of July.
Pelatro (LON: PTRO) will ask shareholders to vote to cancel the AIM quotation because of the cost and the inability to raise cash. The general meeting will be held on 21 September. Finance director Nic Hellyer is leaving the board. A matched bargain facility will be put in place. The share price slumped 69.2% to 1p.
Application specific integrated circuits designer Sondrel Holdings (LON: SND) has been hit by contract delays. Three major customers have delayed development for 6-12 months because of economic uncertainty and concerns about consumer confidence. Interim revenues will be 17% higher at £9.3m, but the full year forecast has been cut from £28.4m to £13m. Sondrel is likely to move into a net debt position by the end of 2023, but this should be temporary. The share price dived 64.3% to 20p.
Linear Generator technology developer Libertine Holdings (LON: LIB) says fees expected from Hyliion may not be recognised this year. This means that the loss would be higher than the £2.6m forecast. The first phase of development is complete and Hyliion has a six-month option period to negotiate IP rights. Work on the MAHLE powertrain was completed later than scheduled. There is £1.2m in the bank, which should last until May. The share price slumped 54.5% to 2.5p.
The FTSE 100 extended gains on Friday after the highly anticipated US jobs report indicated the US economy was cooling, suggesting the Federal Reserve would hold off hiking rates at their next meeting.
The FTSE 100 was 0.4% higher at the time of writing as London’s leading index joined in a global equity rally.
The question of whether ‘bad news is good news’ has been swirling all week. Bad news for the US economy is good news for equities because the Federal Reserve will likely pause hiking rates.
After several softer economic releases this week, today’s Non-Farm Payroll report will increase hopes the Federal Reserve will keep rates on hold at their next meeting.
The headline 187,000 jobs added in August beat expectations, but the US jobs market showed signs of cooling as the unemployment rate rose to 3.8% from 3.5%, and average hourly earnings growth was less than expected.
This is just the news those hoping for a pause in rate hikes wanted. US bond yields fell, and US equity futures rose in the immediate reaction.
This year, perceptions of when the Federal Reserve will stop hiking and eventually cut interest rates have dictated equity trade. This shows no signs of abating in the short term.
The Federal Reserve will next meet 19th – 20th September to decide on interest rates.
FTSE 100 movers
Johnson Matthey was the FTSE 100’s top riser after Standard Industries doubled its chemical company stake to around 10%. Johnson Matthey shares were 11% higher at the time of writing.
Natural resource companies were doing a lot of the heavy lifting on Friday, with BP, Rio Tinto, Glencore, Shell and Antofagasta up in the region of 1.5%-2.6%.
After a prolonged period of disappointing Chinese economic data, hopes of another wave of stimulus helped support Asian indices overnight, spilling over into today’s session in London.
“What supported the FTSE 100, in particular, was news of more Chinese stimulus, which helped break a losing streak for China’s mainland indices and lifted UK-listed stocks with exposure to the world’s second-largest economy – most notably the miners,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
Gfinity shares jumped on Friday after a major shareholder increased their stake in the company. Gfinity is undergoing a strategic transformation to focus on its media business in an effort to become profitable.
Major shareholder Robert Napier Keith increased his stake from 12% to 20.7% according to a holdings update released on Friday.
Gfinity shares were 13% at the time of writing having hit the highest point since June earlier in the session.
The company has recently divested its esports assets to focus solely on its media business which has historically generated the lion’s share of their revenue.
The company is targeting cash breakeven and 10m monthly users in the coming months.
Physiomics (LON: PYC) announced two contract awards yesterday and the share price continues to rise with a further 54.7% gain to 2.05p. The mathematical modelling company has won a £125,000 with a UK biotech company for an immune-oncology project to be completed by the end of the year. A previous contract with Merck has been extended.
Robert Napier Keith has increased his stake in Gfinity (LON: GFIN) from 12% to 20.7% following the recent fundraising at 0.06p/share. The share price recovered 13.2% to 0.1075p.
Frasers Group (LON: FRAS) continues to build up its stake in online fashion retailer boohoo (LON: BOO) from 9.1 to 10.4%. The boohoo share price rose 9.47% to 39.025p. Frasers has also edged up its interest in ASOS (LON: ASC) from 19.3% to 19.8%, although 9.2% is held through financial instruments.
EnSilica (LON: ENSI) has secured a $2.4m contract with an existing European customer for the development of an advanced networking ASIC. Most of this revenue will be recognised in the year to May 2024, which underpins forecasts. The share price improved 4.55% to 69p.
FALLERS
Linear Generator technology developer Libertine Holdings (LON: LIB) says fees expected from Hyliion may not be recognised this year. This means that the loss would be higher than the £2.6m forecast. The first phase of development is complete and Hyliion has a six-month option period to negotiate IP rights. Work on the MAHLE powertrain was completed later than scheduled. There is £1.2m in the bank, which should last until May. The share price slumped 47.4% to 2.5p.
Verditek (LON: VDTK) is raising £500,000 at 0.45p/share to provide working capital for the cleantech company. The share price dived 36.7% to a new low of 0.475p.
Sustainable wood products supplier Accsys Technologies (LON: AXS) made a strong start to the financial year, but it warns that demand from the construction market is declining. Sales volumes for the year to March 2024 will be worse than expected and profit will be much lower than anticipated. Operating costs are being reduced. The share price fell 24.2% to 73.5p.
Healthcare services provider Totally (LON: TLY) says that the cost of agency staff exceeds forecasts and the decisions for some new contract awards are on hold. Totally is streamlining operations to reduce the overhead base. The share price dipped 14.4% to 9.1p.
Physiomics shares have nearly doubled over the past week after announcing two separate contract awards. Yesterday, the company said it had won a contract with a new client and had received a further contract from an existing client.
Physiomics shares were 44% higher to 1.9p at the time of writing on Friday after trading below 1p this time last week.
Longstanding client global pharma giant Merck has awarded Physiomics with an additional contract involving pre-clinical and clinical modelling and simulation of anti-cancer regimens involving combinations of DNA damage/ repair agents. Merck has engaged Physiomics for a similar service previously.
Physiomics CEO, Dr Jim Millen, commented on the Merck contract:
“We are pleased that this longstanding client has once again chosen Physiomics as a partner for outsourced modelling. We look forward to the possibility of further projects with Merck during the current financial year.”
In addition to the Merk contract, Physiomics yesterday afternoon announced a £125,000 contract with a new UK-biotech company.
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Automate Trades on TradingView
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Conclusion
TradingView is a popular place for traders looking for an all-in-one solution for analysing, trading, and interacting with other global investors. Traders looking at short-term or long-term investments can leverage TradingView to design and test their strategies. TradingView offers advanced features and tools for effective trading.
THG shares are approaching a key level of resistance at 110p. Shares have traded above this level only briefly in 2023 and investors will be gearing up for a test of this resistance level in the near term.
Whether the THG share price can break 110p will depend largely on September’s half-year results and if the company has managed to bring costs under control.
The company posted record sales of £2.2bn in 2022 but cost inflation limited Adjusted EBITDA to just £64m. Soaring administrative costs were to blame with a 14% increase in costs to £507m.
Indeed, costs will be key in the half-year report as the top line looks to be under pressure following a poor Q1. Q1 2023 group revenue fell to £469.4m, an 8% reduction from £513m in the same period a year prior.
Slower sales in the Beauty and Ingenuity units were the problem with both recording double-digit declines.
The macro-environment has not improved in Q2 and investors may be concerned the disappointing trading continues.
Investors may also be worried about THG’s valuation. THG currently trades at an EV/EBITDA ratio of 20. This is expensive compared to ASOS (7.2), Boohoo (8.7) and AO World (12.8).
For THG to fall in line with peers there needs to be a big increase in EBITDA or a sharp drop in the THG share price.
WPP is one of the most highly cyclical FTSE 100 constituents whose fortunes depend on the health of the underlying global economy.
Advertising and marketing is one of the first things companies cut back on when things become tough.
WPP investors were reminded of this earlier this year when the company reported 4.1% reduction in North American revenue and a 43% fall in group operating profit. Group revenue was 6.9% higher on a reported basis.
WPP attributed falling revenues in North America to reduced spending by large US tech companies. It’s likely many more companies across a varied selection...
The FTSE 100 paused on Thursday as investors awaited major economic data to be released tomorrow, and a raft of FTSE 100 companies traded ex-dividend.
August has been the worst month of 2023 for stocks, with US, European, and the UK’s indices posting declines.
The FTSE 100 was trading up 5 points at the time of writing on Thursday and is down 2.9% in August.
However, in the context of prior drawdowns in equity markets, August has been relatively benign. This poses the question of whether September will continue with August’s poor performance or if buyers will step in to support stocks.
The first indicator of how things will go in September will come in the form of the US jobs report tomorrow, which has the potential to set the tone in risk assets.
US equities have rallied this week after several softer economic data points increased hopes the Federal Reserve would hold off increasing rates at their next meeting. Tomorrow’s Non-Farm Payrolls report will be closely watched to see if it corroborates recent softer data.
“The FTSE 100 was holding on by its fingertips to its latest move higher as investors awaited the latest reading of core inflation from the US,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“The markets are so data driven right now, aping the stance adopted by central bankers, and it feels like a worse than expected reading could extinguish the recently improved sentiment.”
There is a clear divergence in US and European inflation, which will soon play out in central bank action. The Bank of England looks set to hike rates at its next meeting, while the Federal Reserve has ample reason to hold off.
Going into September, investors should be cautious of a strengthening pound that may cap gains in the FTSE 100’s overseas earners.
Today’s movers were dominated by companies trading ex-dividend, including Glencore, Antofagasta and Diageo.
Top performers Ocado and Rolls Royce enjoyed end-of-month window dressing with gains of 2.2% and 2.4% respectively. Rolls Royce is this year’s top-performing FTSE 100 stock, and fund managers clearly want to be seen to be holding the stock.
