Oil price awaits fresh catalysts as range bound trade continues

UK Investor Magazine
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Oil price awaits fresh catalysts as range bound trade continues

Oil prices were fairly steady on Monday as investors took stock of a busy week for US economic data and central bank action last week, which saw the Brent oil prices swing dramatically within a relatively tight range.

Having traded between $82 – $59 this year, the Brent trading range is beginning to tighten, reflecting a greater uncertainty about the medium-term outlook for global growth and geopolitical developments.

Disappointing US Non-Farm payrolls released on Friday, and news over the weekend that OPEC would ramp up production, weighed on Brent prices on Monday, pulling prices back below $70.

However, the prospect of secondary tariffs on India to curb its purchase of Russian oil provided support prices and kept the recent range intact.

Chris Weston Head of Research at Pepperstone explained that “The technical set-up on the daily timeframe appears somewhat messy and displays no obvious directional trend – that said, the 50-day moving average (in Brent crude futures) does offer some steer to those biased long of crude, with the collective using this medium-term average as a trend filter, with the average containing much of the selling pressure of late, so it does feel like an important guide for our directional assessment – however, for now, the higher timeframe overview shows a market that feels comfortable positioned around $68 to $72 with traders needing to see new intel to force a new trend or a higher volatility regime.”

Keller Group – the AGM Trading Update in May guided a strong start to the group’s year

Mark Watson-Mitchell
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Keller Group – the AGM Trading Update in May guided a strong start to the group’s year

Tomorrow morning, Tuesday 5th August, will see Keller Group (LON:KLR) the world’s largest geotechnical specialist contractor, declare its Interim Results for the six months to end-June. 
I am not expecting any surprises, but I do anticipate comment from the company on its confidence as its progresses in its second-half year, which is generally its better trading period. 
Currently the group’s shares are trading at around 1318p, valuing the business at some £960m, which looks inexpensive to me. 
The Business 
Keller Group is a UK-based geotechnical specialist contractor prov...

Pulse Clean Energy raises £220m in major UK battery storage funding

UK Investor Magazine
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Pulse Clean Energy raises £220m in major UK battery storage funding

Pulse Clean Energy has secured £220 million from international banks in one of the UK’s largest private debt deals for battery storage infrastructure. The consortium includes Santander, NatWest, ABN AMRO, NORD/LB, Investec, and CIBC.

The green financing will fund the construction of six battery projects totalling over 700MWh across Scotland, Devon, Greater Manchester, and Wales. Four sites will convert former diesel generator locations. The deal also supports nine existing operational or late-stage sites.

During their operational life, the projects will generate over £200 million in gas and emissions savings for UK consumers whilst enabling greater renewable energy integration.

The financing marks growing commercial confidence in Britain’s battery storage sector. Pulse was previously backed by the National Wealth Fund in May 2023 – the fund’s first battery storage debt transaction. However, as the market has matured, strong commercial interest has allowed the government-backed fund to step back.

“This landmark investment reflects strong global confidence in the growing UK battery storage market and in Pulse Clean Energy’s ability to deliver at scale,” said Nicola Johnson, Chief Financial Officer of Pulse Clean Energy.

“These six facilities will not only strengthen grid resilience but also unlock significant cost savings for consumers by allowing more renewable power onto the grid and reducing the need for expensive backup power during peak periods.  

“We’re proud to be at the heart of the UK’s energy networks – delivering critical infrastructure and turning former fossil fuel sites into energy assets which will enable a better energy system. With the backing of partners who share our long-term vision, we’re accelerating toward a future where energy is not only clean, but reliable and affordable for everyone.” 

Britain’s National Energy System Operator forecasts the country needs at least 50GW of storage capacity by 2050 – requiring a four to five-fold increase by 2030 alone. Pulse Clean Energy plans 2GWh of operational capacity by 2030, positioning it to capture significant market share as the sector expands.

GenIP Investor Presentation 31st July

UK Investor Magazine
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GenIP Investor Presentation 31st July

Download presentation slides.

GenIP provides generative artificial intelligence analytic services to help organisations assess and commercialise new discoveries. GenIP combines expert human technical review with GenAI algorithms to provide insightful and verified solutions. Bridging the gap between groundbreaking ideas and commercial success.

Adsure Services Investor Presentation 31st July

UK Investor Magazine
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Adsure Services Investor Presentation 31st July

Download presentation slides.

Adsure’s presentation will focus on TIAA Insight, Adsure’s proprietary AI-powered internal audit and risk mitigation tool. Built on large language model (LLM) technology. Investors will gain a deep insight into how Adsure is utilising AI LLM’s to provide efficiencies across their internal audit and business assurance operations.

Lloyds shares surge on Supreme Court ruling

UK Investor Magazine
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Lloyds shares surge on Supreme Court ruling

Lloyds shares jumped on Monday as investors reacted to a favourable Supreme Court ruling and an FCA redress scheme that was unlikely to require Lloyds to stump up much more cash to cover.

The Supreme Court overturned the Court of Appeal’s decision in Wrench, Johnson and Hopcraft on 1 August 2025, ruling that motor dealers acting as credit brokers do not owe fiduciary duties to customers and that commission payments do not constitute bribery.

This was a major relief for shareholders who were staring down the barrel of potentially billions in redress.

However, the Court confirmed that unfair relationships under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 require highly fact-sensitive assessments of all relevant circumstances, awarding Mr Johnson a commission refund plus commercial interest as a remedy for proven unfairness in his specific case.

Despite the Supreme Court’s clarification, a level of uncertainty remains that affects Lloyd’s provisioning approach. Motor financing redress could still cost the bank huge sums.

The FCA announced it will publish a consultation on an industry-wide redress scheme by early October, covering discretionary commission arrangements and potentially other non-DCA arrangements.

However, Lloyds currently believes any provision changes are unlikely to be material, meaning they will not have to set aside more cash.

Lloyds investors cheered the news and shares surged over 6% in early trade on Monday.

AIM weekly movers: New bid interest in Empresaria

Andrew Hore
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AIM weekly movers: New bid interest in Empresaria

Legacy UK Holdings has made an indicative offer of 62p/share for staffing firm Empresaria (LON: EMR), which follows two major shareholders encouraging the company to seek potential offers. The Planmatics consortium is not going ahead with the cash and loan notes offer of 60p/share, which it claims is due to a lack of due diligence materials being supplied by the company. Net fee income fell in the first half and trading remains tough. The share price jumped 72.8% to 43.2p.

On Friday, unusually high trading in shares of oil and gas investor Westmount Energy (LON: WTE) pushed up the share price 70% to 0.85p.

Nativo Resources (LON: NTVO) has gained approval from the noteholders for the proposed restructuring. The notes will not be convertible until January 2032 unless the market capitalisation exceeds £35m. This means that the company is no longer in technical default. A placing will raise £150,000 at 0.35p/share. The share price rebounded 66.7% to 0.375p.

Restaurants operator Tasty (LON: TAST confirmed it was in talks with former Fulham Shore boss David Page. It was subsequently announced that he and Nick Wong are joining the board. There are plans to raise £9.25m at 0.5p/share. A retail offer has been launched to raise a further £1m at 0.5p/share and it closes on 6 August. Tasty, which will change its name to Bow Street Group, is also acquiring The Ventnor Bay Company, which has £200,000 in cash, for 40 million shares. This cash will fund a revised strategy. The share price increased by 50% to 0.825p.

James Reed has taken a 4.65% stake in Buccaneer Energy (LON: BUCE). The share price rose by one-third to 0.02p.

FALLERS

Versarien (LON: VRS) did not find a suitable buyer for its UK graphene technology business and expects to put the graphene businesses into administration or liquidation. The Total Carbide business is still up for sale. The other remaining subsidiary is Gnanomat and the focus will be nanomaterials and energy storage technologies. Cash should last until the end of August. A strategic investment is still being negotiated. The share price slumped 45.5% to 0.015p.

Metals One (LON: MET1) has exercised its right to increase its shareholding in New Mexico Uranium Venture from 10% to 30%. The payment is the issue of 3.87 million shares at 16.487p each. The share price declined 39.5% to 4.9p.

Active Energy Group (LON: AEG) is updating its digital asset treasury strategy. It proposes to put an equal proportion of its discretionary allocation in Ethereum and Solana. Bitcoin will still be held. A general meeting will be held on 20 August. The share price slipped 28.9% to 0.135p.

Digital mental health products developer Cambridge Cognition (LON: COG) has experienced delays in signing contracts and them generating revenues. Interim revenues fell 23% to £4.3m and full year guidance has been cut from £12.5m to £9.5m-£10m. This means that the full year loss would increase from £700,000 to £900,000. The share price fell 23.1% to 25p.

Aquis weekly movers: Lift Global Ventures looking at AI

Andrew Hore
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Aquis weekly movers: Lift Global Ventures looking at AI

NYCE International (LON: NYCE) director Farzad Payman bought 5.47 million shares. The share price increased by one-third to 0.1p.

Vaultz Capital (LON: V3TC) raised £2m at 7.75p/share, while subscriptions, including by Aura Digital, raised a further £4.275m and broker fees are being paid in shares. Further fundraisings are planned. Erik Benz has been appointed chief executive. Aura manages and controls crypto assets. The share price is 32.4% higher at 11.25p.

Lift Global Ventures (LON: LFT) is refocusing its investing policy on AI and there are advanced discussions with a potential investee company. WANdisco co-founder David Richards and Mark Horrocks have been appointed to the board. Th redemption date of the loan to Trans-Africa Energy has been extended to the end of October 2025. The share price jumped 22.2% to 0.55p.

Amazing AI (LON: AAI) chief executive Paul Mathieson bought 3.05 million shares at 0.64p each and 820,000 shares at 0.6p each. He owns 56.8%. The share price rose by one-fifth to 0.75p.

Supernova Digital (LON: SOL) had net assets of £4.73m, including cash of £19,000 and £3.11m of cryptocurrencies, at the end of April 2025. The share price is 15.4% ahead at 0.375p.

Ananda Developments (LON: ANA) increased research and development spending from £123,000 to £299,000 in the year to January 2025. The operating loss was reduced to £3.77m. The share price improved 14.8% to 0.35p.

Coinsilium (LON: COIN) owns 124.4239 Bitcoin at a total cost of £10.9m. The average price was £82,230.26/Bitcoin. The share price rose 11.5% to 7.25p.

Fintech investor Eight Capital Partners (LON: ECP) improved net assets from £12.8m to £31.3m because of an unrealised gain on investments, mainly related to the IAF2 bond investment. The share price increased 7.69% to 35p.

FALLERS

Shortwave Life Sciences (LON: PSY) has raised £250,000 at 0.25p/share. The cash will be spent on the core healthcare business and on investment in digital currency. Stephen Molloy has been appointed to the board. The share price slipped 16.7% to 0.125p.

KR1 (LON: KR1) generated £368,0000 in income from staking activities during June. NAV was 40.69p/share at the end of June. The share price declined 11.8% to 33.5p.

Vault Ventures (LON: VULT) is planning to acquire Kingbridge Capital in an all-share deal at a share price of 0.0225p, which is a large premium to the market price. The acquisition will help with execution and custody for crypto assets. The deal includes £375,000 of Ethereum and cash. The share price fell 9.38% to 0.0145p.

Clean fuel additives supplier SulNOx (LON: SNOX) generated record revenues of £523,000 in the quarter to June 2025. That is 157% ahead of the fist quarter of the previous financial year. Volumes have trebled. Cash was £1.8m at the end of June 2025. The share price slid 8.33% to 55p.

Vehicle electrification technology supplier Equipmake (LON: EQIP) had reduced its underlying cost base by 35% in the quarter to June. New IT is being installed. In the year to May 2025, revenues dipped from £8.1m to £4.4m because of disruption from the strategic review. The operating loss was £11m. Cash was £3.9m at the end of May 2025. Trading has improved in the new financial year. The contracted order book is worth £5.2m. The share price decreased 6.67% to 1.4p.

Social impact company Inqo Investments (LON: INQO) had net assets of R300.8m, including cash of R48.8m, at the end of February 2025. Full year revenues rose from R20.6m to R25.9m and there was a swing from loss to profit. That is mainly due to an increase in grant income from R1.7m to R19.8m. The share price dipped 4.35% to 55p.

Brewer Adnams (LON: ADB) has appointed Andy Driscoll as finance director. The share price slid 4.17% to £23.

Fenikso (LON: FNK) has received $537,000 as part payment for the Lekoil loan, which has been reduced to $36.3m. The cash is helping to pay down the Savannah Energy Investments loan, which is down to $1.96m. The share price declined 2.78% to 1.75p.

The Smarter Web Company (LON: SWC) has raised a further £19.7m at 325p/share. There are still 7.94 million shares to be placed. There are 2,050 Bitcoin owned with a total cost of £166.8m. The share price fell 2.3% to 212.5p.

Dollar sinks after dismal Non Farm Payrolls, GBP/USD jumps

UK Investor Magazine
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Dollar sinks after dismal Non Farm Payrolls, GBP/USD jumps

The dollar sank against other major currencies on Friday after Non-Farm Payrolls missed expectations.

Dollar weakness was exacerbated by dramatic revisions down in prior months’ readings that culminated in the US economy adding just over 100,000 jobs over a 3-month period.

The headline jobs reading for July came in at 73,000 jobs added, falling way short of analysts’ estimates of 104,000.

However, the real shock for markets came in the form of revisions to prior months’ numbers. Over 250,000 jobs were slashed from initial forecasts, which painted a very dim picture of the US economy.

The dollar sank in the immediate reaction to the news, with USD/JPY breaking back beneath 149.00 and EUR/USD rallying through 1.1550.

GBP/USD surged on Friday, breaking a downtrend that was starting to look like a one-way train. Gold jumped over 1.5% on dollar weakness and was back trading comfortably above $3,350 per oz.

Jerome Powell’s hawkish press conference on Wednesday is starting to seem like a long time ago. Having effectively ruled out a September rate cut less than 48 hours ago, the US economy is now screaming out for intervention.

AIM movers: Invinity Energy order and grant win and Amcomri acquisition

Andrew Hore
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AIM movers: Invinity Energy order and grant win and Amcomri acquisition

Early buying of shares in oil and gas investor Westmount Energy (LON: WTE) pushed up the share price to around 0.9p. It is currently 52.4% higher at 0.8p.

Invinity Energy Systems (LON: IES) has confirmed a 10.8MWh order for a ENDURIUM flow battery for a project in Hungary and planning permission has been approved for the 20.7MWh LoDES project in the UK. LoDES will be given a £10m grant and the flow batteries should be delivered by the end of 2025. The share price increased 4.82% to 21.75p.

Aura Energy (LON: AURA) has secured a long-term offtake agreement for uranium oxide concentrate from the Tiris project in Mauritania. The buyer is a US-based nuclear utility, and the agreement represents 10% of potential production. The price is well above forecast cost of production. The deal is dependent on securing finance and making a final investment decision by the end of 2025. There is also a spot sales agreement with a global uranium trading group. The share price rose 3.45% to 7.5p.

88 Energy (LON: 88E) set up a small holding share facility for shareholders with a stake worth less than A$500, The company’s broker will start to sell the 46.1 million shares in the facility. The proceeds will be forwarded to participating shareholders. The facility was not available to UK investors. The share price improved 2.22% to 1.15p.

Orosur Mining Inc (LON: OMI) says Newmont Mining has sold its 9.4% shareholding at C$0.19/share. It was bought by institutional shareholders. The share price edged up 1.18% to 10.75p.

FALLERS

Pentland Capital’s stake in Thruvision (LON: THRU) has reduced from 15.5% to 12.9%. Schroders stake has dipped from 16.4% to 15.9%. The share price slipped 5.56% to 1.7p.

Brandon Largent has replaced David Cocke as interim finance director of regenerative medical devices company Tissue Regenix (LON: TRX). The share price fell 2.82% to 34.5p.

Amcomri Group (LON: AMCO) has completed the acquisition of Randor Technologies, which is an Ireland-based industrial electronic repair and reverse engineering services provider. The initial payment is €2m, with up to €1.5m deferred. The main sectors covered are rail, medical, computing and power electronics and the company fits well with existing group embedded engineering businesses. In the year to February 2025, pre-tax profit was €730,000. The 2026 Amcomri earnings forecast has been raised from 6.9p/share to 7.3p/share. The share price declined 1.12% to 132.5p.

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