Tekcapital’s Innovative Eyewear launches the Lucyd Blueshift Lens

UK Investor Magazine
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Tekcapital’s Innovative Eyewear launches the Lucyd Blueshift Lens

Tekcapital’s portfolio companies have been busy expanding commercial partnerships and enhancing their intellectual property this week. After yesterday’s news that MicroSalt were expanding into Asia, Tekcapital announced Innovative Eyewear was launching a new transitional blue light-blocking lens on Tuesday.

The lens provides additional eye protection across varied environments without changing eyewear.

Today’s announcement follows the launch of ChatGPT functionality across the Lucyd smart eyewear range earlier this year, allowing Lucyd users to access Generative AI through a voice interface built into Lucyd’s smart eyewear.

“I am thrilled to announce another engineering feat from our dedicated team, who are always striving to help our customers get the most out of the glasses they wear every day,” said Harrison Gross, CEO of Innovative Eyewear Inc.

“The new Blueshift lens makes our eyewear suitable for use in almost any environment and at any light level. We believe this lens is an important enhancement for all-day wearability, allowing the user to seamlessly shift from blocking harmful blue light during computer and phone use, to enjoying driving and outdoor activities comfortably in high sunlight. We believe this exciting new upgrade, in tandem with our recently released Lucyd app which made our eyewear the first to be ChatGPT-enabled, further expands the tech advantages of Lucyd Eyewear over competing products.”

In addition to Innovative Eyewear’s new lens announcement, Tekcapital investors will be pleased to learn AIM-listed Belluscura shares surged after announcing they had signed a deal with McKesson Medical-Surgical, a division of McKesson, the 9th largest company by revenue in the US.

Premier African Minerals shares jump as Canmax saga nears ‘satisfactory resolution’

UK Investor Magazine
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Premier African Minerals shares jump as Canmax saga nears ‘satisfactory resolution’

Premier African Minerals shares surged higher on Monday after they announced their negotiations with offtake partners Canmax are nearing a ‘satisfactory resolution’ after Canmax issued a termination notice.

Termination of the agreement would require Premier African Minerals to return the prepayment amount of $34.6m, plus interest, within 90 days.

Premier African Minerals shares were 15% higher at the time of writing on Monday on hopes such a scenario will be avoided.

Investors will also be pleased to note improvements to the processing procedures at their Zulu lithium plant will enable the production of SC6-grade lithium.

The failure to deliver the required lithium offtake to Canmax resulted in them issuing their termination notice. The suggestion these targets can now be met will strengthen Premier African Minerals’ hand in negotiations with their partner.

“I am deeply appreciative to our team at Premier and the team from Canmax for the work being undertaken in an effort to find a satisfactory outcome,” said George Roach, CEO of Premier African Minerals.

“In regard to Spodumene concentrate production, it is most encouraging to note that we are able to produce high-grade spodumene concentrates from the plant material in our laboratory and to note that we expect to re-float concentrates produced to date with the intention of having saleable material in the coming weeks.”

IOG remains in talks with bondholders

Andrew Hore
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IOG remains in talks with bondholders

North Sea oil and gas company IOG (LON: IOG) says it believes that it is near to a further waiver of the interest payment on the €100m senior secured bond. This is required because IOG could go into administration if there is a default on the bond.

Shareholders remain jittery and the share price has slumped by one-quarter to 2.125p. That is an all-time low.

AIM-quoted IOG originally announced a delay of the payment due on 20 June to 31 July. Talks are at an advanced stage to extend the payment date again, so that the company can put in place a way of coping with its stretched balance sheet.

Gas prices remain weak while the Blythe H2 gas rate has declined to 26mmscf/day. finnCap forecasts a slump in revenues from £75.4m to £26.7m, which would push IOG into loss. Net debt of £96.5m is forecast for the end of 2023 with cash falling to £1m, compared with £20.3m at the end of June 2023. That indicates the working capital concerns.

AIM movers: Scancell trial expansion and Aptamer raises much-needed cash

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: Scancell trial expansion and Aptamer raises much-needed cash

Scancell Holdings (LON: SCLP) says that the Modi-1 trial has been expanded into renal and head and neck patients who receive checkpoint inhibitors as standard of care alone and in the neoadjuvant setting. There have been no safety concerns for the treatment. There are approvals to treat patients with four different tumour types. Further data will be available later this year. The share price is 23% higher at 11.375p.

Harland & Wolff (LON: HARL) has received a letter of intent for the upgrading and dry docking of a large vessel. The contract should be worth between £60m and £70m in 2024. Forecast 2024 revenues are £200m. The contract has not been formally signed, but £5m has been made available by the customer. The group order book is worth £900m. The share price rose 16.7% to 13.25p.

Three Safestyle UK (LON: SFE) directors have bought shares in the company following last week’s trading statement. They have bought a total of 430,000 shares between them at prices between 10.625p and 10.805p each. The current share price is 11.45p, up 12.8%.

Tertiary Minerals (LON: TYM) has been granted permission from the Forest Department in Zambia to carry out soil sampling programmes within the Mukai and Mushima North licences. This will enable the company to select targets on the projects. The share price improved 8.11% to 0.1p.

Aptamer Group (LON: APTA) raising £3.6m at 1p/share to provide working capital to cover losses. The share price slumped 42.1% to 2.75p. The annual costs will be reduced from £6.4m to £3.5m. Cash breakeven is anticipated in the year to June 2025. Four directors have resigned, and four new directors appointed, including the return to the board of former chief executive Dr Arron Tolley. Dr David Bunka will switch to chief scientific officer on lower pay. A new chief executive will be appointed. The formal sale process has been ended.

Jadestone Energy (LON: JSE) has temporarily stopped production at the Montara Venture FPSO offshore Australia. This follows a gas alarm triggered within tank 4S, which will be emptied and cleaned. The tanks will be expected. Jadestone Energy has net cash of $7.1m. The share price is one-third lower at 23.25p.

Flowtech Fluidpower (LON: FLO) had a mixed first half with the revenues of the higher margin Flowtech distribution business falling, while growth elsewhere led to an overall increase of 2.6% to £59m. The full year results will not be as good as expected because demand is weakening. Net debt is £15.6m and this will reduce further in the second half. The new chief executive will report on the measures being taken to improve the performance of Flowtech with the interim results announcement on 30 August. The share price dipped 18.8% to 93.8p.

88 Energy Ltd (LON: 88E) has launched a one-for-ten non-renounceable rights issue at 0.31p/share. The share price fell 13.3% to 0.325p. This will raise £6.29m to fund flow testing at the Hickory-1 well in Alaska, as well as lease rental payments and permitting activities. Some of the cash will be spent on development wells and workovers at project Longhorn, Texas. The updated Peregrine prospective resources assessment, which shows an unrisked mean total of 2,423mm barrels of oil.

Scancell share rise as cancer therapy trials progress

UK Investor Magazine
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Scancell share rise as cancer therapy trials progress

Scancell shares were 10% higher in earlier trade on Monday after releasing positive news on their ModiFY trial.

Scancell said their ModiFY trial had received approval from the safety review committee to expand to study after the most cohort of patients presented no safety concern and one patient displayed regression.

Scancell is conducting trials of their Modi-1 therapy for patients with renal or head and neck cancers who are also using checkpoint inhibitors. Scancell will now expand the trial across two further cohorts of 21 people each.

The company has also been permitted to recruit 30 people into the neoadjuvant arm of the Modi-1 trial.

Prof Lindy Durrant, Chief Executive Officer, Scancell, commented: 

“This is an important milestone for the Company as we now have approval to treat patients with Modi-1 monotherapy or in combination with a CPI in four different tumour types either pre- or post-tumour resection. The  information extracted from this study will be invaluable in defining the patient population that will benefit the most from our cancer vaccine, Modi-1.”

Tekcapital’s MicroSalt expands into Asia with two new commercial partnerships

UK Investor Magazine
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Tekcapital’s MicroSalt expands into Asia with two new commercial partnerships

Tekcapital’s MicroSalt has secured two new commercial partnerships with Healthy Options and S&R Membership Shopping. Both companies are based in the Philippines, and the deal signifies MicroSalt’s first major deal with Asian-based distributors.

Today’s partnerships build on a series of commercial agreements inked by MicroSalt over the past year. MicroSalt products are already stocked in thousands of US stores including major outlets such as Kroger and are available on Amazon.

“We are proud of our partnership with both organizations and to be able to expand our low sodium premium line of crisps to the Philippine marketplace,” said Rick Guiney, CEO of MicroSalt®.

“Excess sodium consumption is one of the leading contributors to hypertension, and partnerships like this are the best way to provide consumers, regardless of their location, with great tasting products with less sodium.”

Healthy Options has 33 brick and mortar stores and a successful online business while S&R Membership Shopping is a membership-based store chain with 22 wholesale warehouse branches and 51 quick-serve restaurants.

Tekcapital said MicroSalt had received ‘sizeable’ first orders and encouraging expressions of interest for further orders. Earlier this year, CEO Dr Clifford Gross said in an investor presentation at a UK Investor Magazine Virtual Conference that commercial details such as specific order sizes and revenue figures would be included in the MicroSalt IPO prospectus when it is made available.

MicroSalt appointed Zeus Capital as their NOMAD for an AIM listing in late 2022.

Eden Research launches retail offer to shareholders

Andrew Hore
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Eden Research launches retail offer to shareholders

AIM-quoted Eden Research (LON: EDEN) is raising up to £9.5m via a placing and retail offer at 6.5p/share – a 13% discount to the market price. The sustainable biopesticides company is raising money on the back of positive news in recent weeks that has helped the share price jump 57.9% this year.

There has already been £9m raised and the retail offer to existing shareholders will add up to £500,000.

The retail offer opened at 5pm on 28 July and closes at 10am on 2 August. Cenkos is coordinating the offer. A list of authorised intermediaries can be found at EDEN RESEARCH PLC Authorised Brokers – BookBuild. Many of the intermediaries listed on Sunday are classed as awaiting confirmation, which may happen on Monday. Other intermediaries can register at www.bookbuild.live.

Ecovelex

The cash will be used to launch Ecovelex and fund new product development. Ecovelex has not got full EU regulatory approval, but if it receives emergency use authorisation there could be revenues this year.

Ecovelex was developed with Corteva Agriscience, and it uses the company’s terpene ingredients and Corteva’s microencapsulation technology. EU authorisation was applied for in May. The seed treatment deters birds from eating the seeds and a rival product is likely to be withdrawn from the market.

Ecovelex has a larger market potential than other products developed by the company because it can be used on larger crops, such as maize. Eden Research believes that the total value of potential seed treatments is more than €40m.  

The company has been making progress with other products. Earlier this year, Eden Research appointed Anasac Colombia as exclusive distributor of Mevalone and it will seek regulatory approval for its use on freshly cut flowers to prevent Botrytis cinerea. Colombia exported $1.73bn worth of cut flowers in 2021.

Eden Research has received regulatory approval for the use of Cedroz on fruit and vegetables in California and Florida, as well as Mevalone for use on Botrytis on grapes in Florida. Sales should commence in 2024. Mevalone has been authorised in Italy for home garden use to control fungal pathogens. This is the first product authorisation for home gardens.

In 2022, revenues were £1.8m and the loss was £2.3m. Cenkos forecasts 2023 revenues of £2.8m and a loss of £2.5m. Many of the above approvals and deals will not contribute fully until 2024. Cenkos believes that there will still be £3.7m in the bank at the end of 2024.

Interims could confirm Domino’s Pizza momentum

Andrew Hore
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Interims could confirm Domino’s Pizza momentum

Domino’s Pizza (LON: DOM) is reporting interim figures on Tuesday 1 August. The year has started off strongly and the results will show if this momentum has continued. There is a strong balance sheet and there is scope for a significant rise in dividends or even a special dividend.
There was a 10.7% jump in like-for-like sales, excluding VAT, in the first quarter and that was followed by a 10.9% increase in April. Working with Just Eat and national marketing offers have helped.
The number of users of the Domino’s Pizza has risen from 6.1 million at the end of 2022 to 6.8 million at the end of ...

Aquis weekly movers: TruSpine Technologies FDA submission

Andrew Hore
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Aquis weekly movers: TruSpine Technologies FDA submission

TruSpine Technologies (LON: TSP) has made th4e FDA 510k submission for the Cervi-Lok spinal stabilisation device. The FDA will take up to 90 days to make a decision. If clearance is received, then marketing can commence. The medical devices company has limited working capital. The share price soared 111% to 1.9p.

ProBiotix Health (LON: PBX) is appointing Niels Peter Bak as technical project manager. He has nearly three decades experience in the probiotics sector. The share price jumped 77.8% to 8p. That is still well below the 21p placing price in March 2022.

Gunsynd (LON: GUN) is providing funding of £1m in Metals One in return for a 25% stake in Finnaust Mining Northern. This investment is dependent on Metals One joining AIM and the simultaneous acquisition of Finnaust and will be provided in four tranches over 18 months. Gunsynd has sold 440,000 shares in Charger Metals, raising £100,000. It retains 2.54 million shares. Gunsynd will also receive 1.5 million warrants in Metals One. The Gunsynd share price increased by two-fifths to 0.35p.

Ananda Developments (LON: ANA) has launched its first two cannabinoid medicines to the unlicensed market. Three private pain and medical cannabis clinics will offer the products. MRX1 will be used in two double blind randomised control trials run by the University of Edinburgh. The share price improved 5.26% to 0.5p.

Shares in KR1 (LON: KR1) edged up 0.82% to 61.5p after it revealed an investment of $300,000 in Side Protocol as part of a pre-seed funding round. According to KR1, “Side Protocol is a distributed mesh liquidity system that utilises innovative inter-blockchain asset exchange application protocols. Unlike liquidity hubs, Side Protocol aims to decentralise liquidity between diverse blockchain networks in a bridgeless manner while maintaining interconnectivity”.

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Fallers

Invinity Energy Systems (LON: IES) is selling a 0.2MWh Invinity VS3 flow battery system to VSUN Energy, a subsidiary of Australian Vanadium Ltd. The system will be used by power provider Horizon Power in Western Australia. There will be a trial to assess how the system works within the regional energy system. The share price declined 3.5% to 48.25p.

AIM weekly movers: Itsarm bounces back

Andrew Hore
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AIM weekly movers: Itsarm bounces back

Shares in Itsarm (LON: ITS) jumped 1480% to 3.15p, which is the highest it has been since March. David Craven and Jean-Paul Rohan are joining the board and the winding-up petition has been withdrawn. James Sharp and Richard Monaghan are stepping down without compensation and are not being paid fees for July. A new proposal reduces liabilities to around £140,000 and current cash is £223,000. The company is a shell and trading in the shares will be suspended if it does not find a takeover candidate by 27 September.  

Battery technology developer AMTE Power (LON: AMTE) announced it has secured a £1m loan facility from Arena Investors, which has relinquished conversion rights on the £3.75m convertible bond in return for warrants over 2% of the enlarged share capital. This latest loan will provide time to complete a £2.5m subscription by an unnamed investor at an indicative price of 1.7p/share, subject to due diligence. The new investor would own 80% of AMTE Power and there will be enough cash until September. The share price soared 160% to 9.75p.

Engineering and technical recruitment company RTC Group (LON: RTC) increased interim revenues by one-third and moved from a £400,000 loss to a £1m pre-tax profit. An interim dividend of 1p/share is proposed. There was a strong recovery in the rail business, despite strikes. Management believes that there will be further progress in the second half. There had been no trades in the shares for more than one week and there were more than 430,000 shares traded in the last three days of the week. On Thursday there were more shares traded than in any single day for nearly two years. The share price jumped 122% to 40p.

Analytics-as-a-Service company Actual Experience (LON: ACT) has signed a letter of intent with Logicalis International, a subsidiary of Datatec, for the first sale of a joint venture product based on the company’s Digital Workplace Management Platform delivered via the Logicalis platform. The share price doubled to 1.05p, having reached 1.55p at one point after the news was announced.

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Fallers

Wandisco (LON: WAND) shares slumped 93.1% to 90p after the data software company returned from suspension. Wandisco recently raised £23.8m at 50p/share. The share suspension came about because of fraudulent irregularities in its accounts. There were $115.5m of false orders in 2022 and $14.9m of this was recognised as revenues. The additional cash raised will help to boost sales and marketing. The interim chief executive is in place and two non-execs have been appointed.

WH Ireland (LON: WHI) has raised £5m at 3p/share and this has knocked two-thirds off the share price to 7.5p. The broker is loss making and it does not believe that trading is going to improve this year. Cash outflows meant that WH Ireland did not have the required regulatory capital and the FCA may have required a solvent wind down of the business if cash were not raised. This is why the placing discount was so high. There are plans to reduce annual overheads by up to £4m. Management will take some of their salary in shares. This should help to make the company more financially stable. Asset sales are a possibility.

Safestyle UK (LON: SFE) says interim trading is in line with forecasts, but the loss is much higher. Demand has been hit by increasing interest rates and that means that the second half will be poor. The windows supplier has been hit by a lower number of installations and a decline in the average number of frames for each installation. Costs savings have helped to offset the decline, but Zeus has downgraded its 2023 forecast from a pre-tax profit of £2m to a loss of £5.5m. The share price slumped by 43.9% to 10.15p.

RBG Holdings (LON: RBGP) is writing off the value of £13.3m of its remaining litigation cases, including an unsuccessful case valued at £9.3m. Any return from the cases will be treated as revenues. The core business is taking longer to complete transactions. This has led to a reduction in the underlying 2023 pre-tax profit forecast to £5.9m and RBG has decided to reduce debt rather than paying dividends. The share price dived by one-third to 17.5p.

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