WANdisco deals fresh blow to London with US listing

UK Investor Magazine
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WANdisco deals fresh blow to London with US listing

AIM-listed WANdisco is the latest company to allude to a listing in the United States as the prominence of London’s equity markets is increasingly questioned.

WANdisco follows CRH’s decision last week to shift their primary listing to the United States as ARM Holdings snubs the UK in favour of a US IPO.

This morning, WANdisco released a statement in response to media speculation confirming they were ‘exploring’ a secondary listing in the United States.

WANdisco said in a statement:

“As a dual UK and US headquartered technology company, WANdisco has long-stated its intention to consider an additional listing of its ordinary shares in the United States. The company can confirm that it is in the early stages of proactively exploring this option.”

In the case of WANdisco, a US listing makes sense given their operational hub located over the pond. In the same light, CRH earns a significant proportion of their revenue from the US – core to their decision to shift to the US.

However, market participants highlight the impact of Brexit on London’s markets and the availability of capital in the US as a reason for seeking a US listing.

“It’s clear the attractiveness of the UK market has lost some appeal in recent years after the budget car crash of last year, Brexit red tape and instability at the heart of government,” said Joshua Raymond, Director at online investment platform XTB.com.

“London has long been thought of as a major financial centre and I don’t think the loss of these major firms to the US for their stock market listing changes that.”

“Stock market listings are about price stability and valuations. If firms believe they can get higher valuations in an equally reputable markets, it’s no surprise they will make that strategic move. Yet there’s no smoke without fire and both the UK government and regulator needs to take heed of these warning signs quickly if the UK is to maintain its place at the top table.”

UK-listed companies with secondary listings isn’t anything new and many companies list on other stock exchanges or OTC Market to gain access to additional capital. However, if this trend continues it may undermine London as the major financial centre described by Joshua Raymond.

AIM movers: Amur Minerals sells Russian project and Pantheon Resources loses investor confidence

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: Amur Minerals sells Russian project and Pantheon Resources loses investor confidence

Amur Minerals Corporation (LON: AMC) has completed the sale of the AO Kun-Manie project in Russia to Bering Metals. The $35m consideration should be received soon. A 1.8p a share dividend is planned, and Amur Minerals will become a cash shell. The share price recovered by 56.7% to 1.575p.

Plexus Holdings (LON: POS) has won a £5m contract for POS-GRIP wellhead equipment. This should generate £2.5m of revenues in the year to June 2023 – previously the forecasts revenues were £4m – with the rest next year. The share price jumped 43.9% to 4.1p.

Former ITM Power (LON: ITM) boss Dr Graham Cooley is becoming chair of Getech (LON: GTC) subsidiary H2 Green. He will help to develop hydrogen and renewable energy projects. The Getech share price rose by 10.3% to 16p.

Wealth management company Kingswood Holdings (LON: KWG) has appointed Houlihan Lokey as its financial adviser to explore strategic options. That could include a sale of the UK businesses or attracting third party investment for them. The share price is 9.43% higher at 29p. This is the highest it has been since last March.

Alaska- focused oil and gas explorer Pantheon Resources (LON: PANR) disappointed with the flow rates from the Alkaid #2 well. It produced 505 barres/day of liquids and 2,300mcf/day of gas. The rates improved only slightly after cleaning out the well. The share price almost halved early in the morning because of investor doubts about company’s understanding of the reservoir. This could hit the terms for any farm-out. The share price is 40.4% lower at 31.59p.

Fusion Antibodies (LON: FAB) says delays in client investment have led to projects being suspended and that has hit the year to March 2023. This uncertainty is continuing, and full year revenues will be significantly below expectations but at least £2.8m. The share price slumped 42.1% to 27.5p.  

GreenRoc Mining (LON: GROC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Norwegian Construction and Mining Group for the potential construction and mining of the Amitsoq graphite project in Greenland. A placing has raised £550,000 at 3.5p a share. The share price slipped by 12.8% to 3.75p. The cash will fund further test work on Amitsoq and commercial negotiations. The share price of Alba Mineral (LON: ALBA), which owns 50.6% of GreenRoc Mining, fell 8.33% to 0.11p.

IOG (LON: IOG) has spudded the Blythe H2 well and it will take three months to complete. The Blythe H1 well is being shut down for 12 days to enable the drilling. This will cost £13m before any tax benefits. This news follows Friday’s reserve and resources update, which reduced gross 2P reserves of the Blythe, Elgood and Southwark fields by more than 50% to 54.5bcf. The Southwark A2 well is not commercial. IOG needs to refinance its €100m bond by September 20224. The share price declined by 3.5% to 4.825p.

Are we in a bear market rally, and could we revisit recent equity lows?

UK Investor Magazine
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Are we in a bear market rally, and could we revisit recent equity lows?

When we talk of a bear market rally, we are of course referring to US equities. The threat of a bear market rally is centred on the S&P 500, Dow Jones and NASDAQ. These indices contain the worlds largest public companies and are not only a representation of the US economy, but the global economy.

Market commentators tend to focus on the US as a global benchmark and the risks we discuss forthwith are centred on the United States’ leading indices.

The inverse relationship with the pound and overall defensive nature of the FTSE 100 meant London’s leading index avoided a bear market last year. This means the current rally in London’s leading index can’t be categorised as a bear market rally.

A bull or bear market is a move of 20% from peak to trough.

And for the same reasons the FTSE 100 avoided a bear market last year, it’s unlikely the FTSE 100 will enter a bear market this year. The reopening of China and the FTSE 100’s weighting towards China-exposed stocks will likely lead to FTSE 100 outperformance in any period of heightened equity volatility.

US equities

After battling back from the lows of last year, the S&P 500 is now 15% higher than the October low and the NASDAQ is 16% higher. The NASDAQ did very briefly rise above 12,100 in early February, which would have constituted a bull market, but it has since fallen back.

The premise of a bear market rally is that after entering a bear market, stocks rally but a bull market fails to materialise. This risks a revisiting of the lows.

The risk of slowing US economy, stuttering global growth, and Federal Reserve intent on further rate hikes poses a problem for stocks.

Global equities have rallied sharply on hopes slowing inflation is a precursor to lower interest rates. However, market pricing is at odds with recent Fed official suggestions of more 50bps rate hikes and an inflation rate remaining stubbornly high – even if it is receding slightly.

This is the core risk to the current rally.

Even if we start to see economic conditions deteriorating, the Fed must still bring inflation back to 2%. This makes any major u-turn on rates unlikely in the short-term and risks disappointment for equity traders.

Indeed, strategists at Morgan Stanley said stocks have rallied on a Fed pivot that isn’t coming. They also suggest company earnings are starting to suffer which isn’t conducive for higher equity valuations.

Ultimately, the current equity rally suggests investors have disregarded the mantra: ‘don’t fight the Fed’.

“Problematically, equity and credit markets are aggressively fighting the Fed, with valuations only supported by assumptions of ample rate cuts,” wrote Lisa Shalett, Chief Investment Officer, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in a note to clients.

“History suggests these strategies often end in disappointment as cause and effect are conflated.”

If markets concluded fighting the Fed is futile, there is a chance the current rally reverses and October 2022 lows are revisited.

The equity upside scenario would require lower interest rates, sharp drops in inflation and economic strength.

This Friday’s Non-Farm Payroll will provide the next major instalment of economic data.

Aquis weekly movers: Western Selection stake

Andrew Hore
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Aquis weekly movers: Western Selection stake

William Black has taken a 6.11% stake in Western Selection (LON: WESP). That pushed up the share price by 28.6% to 45p.

Quantum technology investment company Quantum Exponential Group (LON: QBIT) appointed Stuart Woods as chief operating and strategy officer. He is also involved in sector intelligence publisher The Quantum Insider. He was previously involved in quantum computing as Oxford Instruments.

Valereum (LON: VLRM) has formed a new subsidiary called Valereum Collections as part of the company’s digital collectible strategy. The share price recovered 7.41% to 7.25p.

Cadence Minerals (LON: KDNC) says the Hastings Technology Metals share price has fallen thereby reducing the value of the stake received when Cadence Minerals swapped its 30% stake in mineral concessions in the Yangibana rare earths project. Even so, Hastings is making progress in developing the mine and ore reserves increased by one-quarter to 20.93Mt at 0.9% total rare earth oxide grade. That increases the mine life to 17 years and production could start in 2024. Shipping of iron ore concentrate from the Amapa iron ore project should recommence in the next six months. The share price is 4.67% ahead at 14p.

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Fallers

The Semper Fortis Esports (LON: SEMP) share price has slumped by 52.8% to 01.25p. That was down to trading last Monday, where trading share prices fell from 0.25p to 0.1p over the day.  

TruSpine Technologies (LON: TSP) has still not received the promised bridge loan facility or a share subscription. A £200,000 loan has been received from a third party. This will provide working capital. The share price slumped 41.7% to 1.05p.

Selling early in the week knocked the British Honey Company (LON: BHC) share price and it fell by two-fifths to 11.25p.

Trading in Pioneer Media Holdings Inc (LON: PNER) will end on the Aquis Stock Exchange on 9 March, and the share price fell 35% to 6.5p.

Shares in emissions reducing fuel additives supplier SulNOx Group (SNOX) dived by 27.8% to 6.5p because RemNOx Ltd has not taken up the option to acquire a total of 24.08 million shares at 30p each from directors between 6 February and 28 February.

Trading in Wheelsure Holdings (LON: WHLP) shares is suspended because the accounts for the year to August 2022 have not been issued. Talks continue concerning a cash injection. Prior to suspension, the share price declined by 16.7% to 6.25p.

Voyager Life (LON: VOY) has sent a circular to shareholders for a general meeting to pass a waiver of an obligation for the concert party to bid for the company and enable more shares to be issued. The share price fell 10.4% to 12.1p.

KR1 (LON: KR1) had a net asset value of 60.6p a share at the end of January 2023. The share price dipped by 4.81% to 49.5p.

Invinity Energy Systems (LON: IES) is repaying the remaining $2.1m of its $2.5m convertible loan facility provided by RiverFort Global Opportunities out of the proceeds of the recent placing. There is a 10% redemption premium, making the total cost £1.92m. That stops dilution by the issue of six million shares. Related warrants can be exercised at 32p a share. There are 1.35 million warrants in issue with a further 499,980 warrants to be issued. The share price dipped by 3.08% to 31.5p.

Coinsilium (LON: COIN) says it has still not finalised a joint venture agreement with IOV Labs. The share price fell 2.63% to 1.85p.

AIM weekly movers: i-nexus Global bounces back

Andrew Hore
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AIM weekly movers: i-nexus Global bounces back

Cloud based software supplier i-nexus Global (LON: INX) shares have jumped 55.2% to 4.5p after a positive AGM statement. This is a bounce back from the all-time share price low. Double-digit growth is anticipated this year. Four new clients have been gained and existing clients are increasing usage. Dyfan T Williams has acquired a 4.56% stake in the company.

Active Energy Group (LON: AEG) has received a trademark for CoalSwitch in Canada. This follows trademark awards in the US and the UK. CoalSwitch is biomass technology that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 99% compared with coal and 97% compared with gas. John Celaschi increased his stake from 9.76% to 10.1%. The share price increased 45.1% to 6.42p.

Gold explorer Panthera Resources (LON: PAT) has entered into a conditional arbitration funding agreement with a subsidiary of Litigation Capital Management (LON: LIT) for the damages claim against the Republic of India for breaches of its obligations under the Australia-India bilateral investment treaty. Up to $10.5m will be provided to cover the costs of the claim. The share price rose 40.4% to 6.25p.

Purplebricks (LON: PURP) has received approaches for the acquisition of the company or its businesses and the ongoing strategic review has been widened to include a formal sale process. This perked up the share price by 28.3% to 9.4p, which is the highest it has been since last August.

Hercules Site Services (LON: HERC) reached a share price peak last week, but a heavily discounted placing has knocked the share price by 37.8% to 44.8p leaving it below the placing price. The construction labour provider raised £1.7m at 45p a share. Last February’s flotation price was 50.5p. The cash will be used to fund growth in the labour supply division as well as the newer operations supplying security and white-collar staff.

Baron Oil (LON: BOIL) published the competent person report on the 75%-owned Chuditch gas project, which shows lower than expected prospective resources. Even so, Allenby believes that the 1.1tcf contingent resource for the Chuditch-1 discovery underpins the potential for the project and it has increased its risked valuation of Chuditch to 1.027p a share. Baron Oil has until 18 June to make a drill or drop commitment. The share price fell 28.4% to 0.161p.

Metal Tiger (LON: MTR) is proposing the cancellation of its AIM quotation so that it has more flexibility with its new investment strategy. A general meeting will be held on 20 March for shareholders to vote on the cancellation and the new investing policy. The company will remain listed on ASX. The share price dived by 28.1% to 9.35p.

Healthcare services provider Totally (LON: TLY) warns that although full year revenues will be in line with expectations increasing costs means that profit will be below forecasts. Canaccord Genuity has cut its 2022-23 pre-tax profit forecast from £5.8m to £3.8m, down from £4m the previous year. Net cash is expected to be £5.5m at the end of March 2023. The share price slumped 23.5% to 19.9p.

Proton therapy technology developer Advanced Oncotherapy (LON: AVO) has secured a convertible loan note facility of £4.95m. The lenders will also receive a portion of the revenues generated by the proton therapy machine installed in the Harley Street Centre, capped at £2.5m each year over a ten-year period. A short-term loan of £2.92m from a French counterparty has been switched into notes convertible at 25p a share and 1.25 million warrants exercisable at 25p each.  The share price fell 23.4% to 5.25p.

FTSE 100 gains in cyclical sector rally

UK Investor Magazine
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FTSE 100 gains in cyclical sector rally

The FTSE 100’s cyclical sectors were leading the way higher on Friday with the miners, financials and consumer stocks gaining and taking the FTSE 100 above 7,950.

Continuing the rally sparked by record Chinese manufacturing data earlier this week, the top three FTSE 100 risers were miners Antofagasta, Rio Tinto and Anglo American. Rio Tinto is up around 10% in a week.

“A sea of green greeted the main European indices on Friday including a 0.3% rise in the FTSE 100 and a 0.7% advance in the Dax. It was certainly a ‘risk-on’ day for UK equities, with the likes of Ocado and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust among the top risers. Miners and packaging companies were also in demand, implying that investors continue to find reasons to stay optimistic despite patchy economic conditions,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

Rightmove was slightly weaker after the property app said their engagement levels stumbled in 2023. Admiral was the FTSE 100’s top faller after analysts at Citigroup cut the insurer to neutral with 2,272p price target.

Other notable ratings changes include Bank of America’s 9,550p increased price target for London Stock Exchange and Numis cutting Rightmove to add from buy.

US Interest Rates

Sentiment was improved by comments from a Fed official suggesting the next rate hike from the United States could be just 25bps, instead of 50bps. “Right now I’m still in very firmly in the quarter-point move pacing,” said Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic.

Bostic’s comments invigorated equity bulls and US equity futures rose in line with European stocks.

A slower pace of rates hike will be welcomed by markets fixated on forecasting terminal US interest rates. However, Bostic is just one Fed official commenting after a string of strong economic data that warrants a higher level of interest rates.

Non-farm payrolls next week will provide further insight into the health of the world’s largest economy after adding 517,000 jobs in January.

AIM movers: Active Energy trademark and Longboat Energy partners relinquish licence

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: Active Energy trademark and Longboat Energy partners relinquish licence

Active Energy Group (LON: AEG) has received a trademark for CoalSwitch in Canada. This follows trademark awards in the US and the UK. CoalSwitch is biomass technology that reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 99% compared with coal and 97% compared with gas. John Celaschi increased his stake from 9.76% to 10.1%. The share price jumped 21.2% to 6.3p.

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (LON: CGNR) has a new gold target in County Monaghan. This is a second gold trend on the Longford-Down Massif. They are along the Skullmartin fault zone and could be connected. The share price increased 9.59% to 20p.

Battery developer AMTE Power (LON: AMTE) has shipped the first Ultra Prime cells to its primary customer for testing. This is a single use battery designed for use in challenging environments. This could ned with a long-term supply agreement in the oil and gas sector. Interim results are published on 8 March. The share price is 8.33% higher at 58.5p.

Shares in construction dispute services provider Driver (LON: DRV) have risen 6.56% to 32.5p on the back of AB Traction increasing its stake from 20.6% to 27.5%. Ruffer has sold its stake. In the year to September 2022, Driver revenues slipped from £48.8m to £46.9m. while a £2m pre-tax profit was turned into an underlying loss of £1m. Driver could return to profit this year.

Construction has started on Thacker Pass lithium project in Nevada, where Trident Royalties (LON: TRR) has a 60% interest in a gross revenue royalty. The share price improved 5.98% to 58.5p.

Ondine Biomedical (LON: OBI) says that a study at an Ottawa hospital shows patients treated with Steriwave nasal photodisinfection had a 48% shorter mean length of stay in hospital. Fewer patients required antibiotics. There was also a reduction in readmissions. The share price rose 5.88% to 18p.

Longboat Energy (LON: LBE) says the licence including the Egyptian Vulture light oil discovery has been relinquished. Longboat Energy has a 15% interest in the PL939 licence and the partners could not come to an agreement over an appraisal well. Longboat Energy plans to form a new joint venture and reapply for the acreage in the next Norwegian licence round in January 2024. The share price slumped 20.4% to 11.25p.

Purplebricks (LON: PURP) has lost some of the gains it made after it announced that it received approaches for the acquisition of the company or its businesses. The ongoing strategic review has been widened to include a formal sale process. The share price declined 1.29% to 9.18p.  

Rightmove shares weaker as engagement levels fall

UK Investor Magazine
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Rightmove shares weaker as engagement levels fall

In a week Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon provided an insight into their sales activity and outlook for 2023, Rightmove has corroborated the housebuilder’s results from the property app’s viewpoint elsewhere in the supply chain.

In their 2022 full year results, Rightmove describes a resilient operating environment, albeit one that is showing the signs of a housing slow down.

Revenue per advertiser jumped by 11% to £1,314 per month as Rightmove leveraged their dominant position in the market to help offset wider worries about the health of the UK property market.

Rightmove’s revenue increased 9% in 2022 to £332.6m, but their key user engagement levels fell. This points to lower activity in the housing market and falling interest in seeking out new properties. Rightmove’s users spent 16.3 billion minutes on the app in 2022, compared to 18.3 billion in 2021.

“Rightmove has reported a decline in the level of engagement on its site as the housing market cools compared to the pandemic. Consumers paid over 2.3bn visits to the group’s platforms last year, down from 2.5bn. There was a 2bn reduction in the number of minutes spent searching for properties.,” said Sophie Lund-Yates, Lead Equity Analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“This is little surprise given we’ve heard from the major housebuilders who have called out tough mortgage affordability as a reason sales rates are dipping. While a cooling market doesn’t affect Rightmove directly, it does impact the estate agents it relies on for fees. At the moment things continue to look healthy in that regard, with price increases something of a guarantee. As the market changes and estate agent numbers continue to decline, Rightmove could find itself needing to generate income in more creative ways in the future.”

Rightmove shares were 2% weaker at the time of writing.

Fiinu Investor Presentation March 2023

UK Investor Magazine
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Fiinu Investor Presentation March 2023

The UK Investor Magazine hosts the Fiinu Investor Presentation March 2023.

Download Presentation Slides Here

Fiinu, founded in 2017, is a fintech group, including Fiinu Bank. Fiinu’s Plugin Overdraft® is an unbundled overdraft solution which allows customers to have an overdraft with Fiinu Bank without changing their existing bank.

We were joined by Founder Marko Marko Sjoblom and CEO Chris Sweeney.

The underlying Bank Independent Overdraft® technology platform is bank agnostic, allowing Fiinu Bank to serve all other banks’ customers. Open Banking allows Fiinu’s Plugin Overdraft® to attach to the customer’s primary bank account, no matter which bank they may use. Fiinu’s vision is built around Open Banking, and it believes that it increases competition and innovation in UK banking. Fiinu Bank Limited obtained its UK deposit-taking banking licence with restrictions from the Prudential Regulation Authority with the consent of the Financial Conduct Authority in July 2022.

AIM movers: Poolbeg Pharma clinical trial success and ex-dividends

Andrew Hore
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0
AIM movers: Poolbeg Pharma clinical trial success and ex-dividends

A challenge trail for POLB 001 has highlighted its potential and Poolbeg Pharma (LON: POLB) shares jumped 27.1% to 10.8p, which is the highest it has been for more than 16 months. POLB 001 was effective in reducing multiple markers of systemic and localised inflammation compared with placebo. This suggests that it could be a treatment for severe influenza or other inflammatory conditions. This was a small trial of 36 volunteers, but Singer has increased its probability of success of POLB 001 to 30%.

Verici Dx (LON: VRCI) has achieved the CLIA certificate of compliance ahead of the commercial launch of kidney transplant diagnostics service Tutiva. This certification is important because it enables insurance reimbursement coverage in 45 states. The other five, including New York, have other requirements and they will eventually be added.  The share price improved by 20% to 9p.

Purplebricks (LON: PURP) has received approaches for the acquisition of the company or its businesses and the ongoing strategic review has been widened to include a formal sale process. The share price recovered 16.6% to 9.77p.

Trinidad-focused oil and gas explorer and producer Touchstone Exploration (LON: TXP) has completed drilling of the Royston-1X exploration well and it encountered substantial sands in the Herrera Formation. A production test programme will start in April. The share price rose 11.5% to 73p. That is above the December placing price of 54.5p.

Healthcare services provider Totally (LON: TLY) warns that although full year revenues will be in line with expectations increasing costs means that profit will be below forecasts. Canaccord Genuity has cut its 2022-23 pre-tax profit forecast from £5.8m to £3.8m, down from £4m the previous year. Net cash is expected to be £5.5m at the end of March 2023. The share price slumped 26.6% to 20.75p.

Metal Tiger (LON: MTR) has decided to leave AIM so that it has more flexibility with its new investment strategy. A general meeting will be held on 20 March for shareholders to vote on the cancellation and the new investing policy. The company will remain listed on ASX. The share price dived by 22% to 9.75p.

Yesterday afternoon proton therapy technology developer Advanced Oncotherapy (LON: AVO) secured a convertible loan note facility of £4.95m. The lenders will also receive a portion of the revenues generated by the proton therapy machine installed in the Harley Street Centre, capped at £2.5m each year over a ten year period. A short-term loan of £2.92m from a French counterparty has been converted into notes convertible at 25p a share and 1.25 million warrants exercisable at 25p each.  The share price fell 9.52% to 4.75p.

Orosur Mining (LON: OMI) says its partner in the Anza project has decided to progress to phase 2 of the agreement, which requires spending of $20m over four years to take their stake to 65%. Orosur Mining will also receive a $2m option payment. The share price is 6.91% lower at 8.75p.

Ex-dividends

Caspian Sunrise (LON: CASP) is paying a dividend of 0.04p a share and the share price rose 0.2p to 8.2p.

Driver Group (LON: DRV) is paying a final dividend of 0.75p a share and the share price fell 0.5p to 30.5p.

Sylvania Platinum (LON: SLP) is paying an interim dividend of 3p a share and the share price declined by 4.5p to 105.5p.

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