AIM movers: HSS hire transformation and Quartix upgrade

Andrew Hore
-
1
AIM movers: HSS hire transformation and Quartix upgrade

HSS Hire (LON: HSS) has returned from suspension having published its accounts for the 15 months to Mach 2025 and its digital marketplace subsidiary ProService has agreed a five-year commercial hire and services supply deal with Speedy Hire (LON: SDY). ProService will be provide training for customers. The deal is estimated to be worth at least £50m/year in revenues for Speedy Hire and improve HSS revenues and margins. Three HSS service centres and other assets will be transferred to Speedy Hire, which is taking a 9.99% stake in HSS Hire. Speedy Hire is paying a total of £35m. HSS is selling HSS Service Group, which will continue to supply power access equipment to HSS to Project Mansell Newco for £1, although HSS will contribute £26m to facilitate the separation. This means that HSS will purely be a digital business. HSS reported a loss of £130.3m due to write-offs, although the underlying loss was £8.4m. Net debt was £97.6m at the end of March 2025. Net debt should fall below £30m after the transactions. The deal should be earnings enhancing in 2026-27. The share price rebounded 39% to 10.06p – the highest level for nearly eighteen months.

Clinical diagnostics for organ transplants developer VericiDx (LON: VRCI) says the commercial scale-up of acute post-transplant rejection test Tutivia has progressed in the third quarters. There was a 19% increase in ordering clinicians, and 30 transplant centres have been signed up. The orders were steady in the quarter with volumes expected to rise in the fourth quarter. Aubrey Powell has been appointed as a non-executive. The share price is 15.4% higher at 0.75p.

Didier Casimiro is now the ultimate beneficial owner of Compact WTL Tech, which owns 32.1% of syngas technology developer Eqtec (LON: EQT). Compact WTL Tech is in the process of taking ownership of the company’s debt. Didier Casimiro was sanctioned by the UK and US governments because he was employed by Rosneft until May 2022, but these have been removed. He is still sanctioned in some other countries. The share price improved 18.8% to 0.475p.

Cadence Minerals (LON: KDNC) says the WRAP retail offer at 3p/share was oversubscribed and the amount raised was increased from £200,000 to £300,000. This follows the placing that raised £2.34m. The cash will fund the restart of the Azteca plant in Brazil. This could produce 380,000 tpa of 65% Fe. The share price recovered 10.6% to 5.2p.

A nine-month trading update for telematics company Quartix (LON: QTX) revealed annualised recurring revenues of £36.1m and that trading is ahead of expectations. The fastest growth is outside of the UK. Zeus upgraded its 2025 pre-tax profit forecast from £7.1m to £7.3m. Next year’s forecast is raised from £8.7m to £9.4m. The share price roe 9.47% to 312p.

FALLERS

UK Oil and Gas (LON: UKOG) has raised a further £1m at 0.03p/share, which takes the total raised to £4.5m. The cash will provide funding for hydrogen projects, including concept and design studies for the recently announced collaboration with National Gas, as well as ongoing oil commitments. The share price slipped 9.09% to 0.03p.

Beeks Financial Cloud (LON: BKS) grew full year revenues 26% to £35.9m with the contribution from Proximity Cloud jumping from £1.6m to £7.8m. Annualised recurring revenues are £29.5m. Pre-tax profit improved from £3.9m to £5.5m. Beeks Financial believes that increasing cloud adoption, cybersecurity requirement, analytics and AI use in risk management mean that there are more opportunities. New contracts have been signed since the year end. The share price declined 9.09% to 200p.

Jubilee Metals Group (LON: JLP) has received the first tranche of $15m for the sale of South African chrome and platinum operations. Final completion of the sale depends on audit. The focus will be copper in Zambia. The share price dipped 8.13% to 3.05p.

On Friday evening, podcast platform Audioboom (LON: BOOM) confirmed that it is undertaking a strategic review. The process includes the possible sale of the company among the alternatives. There are discussions with potential commercial or strategic partners. Audioboom is the fifth largest podcast platform in the US. The share price fell 8.31% to 585p, following its jump on Friday.

FTSE 100 steady as French sell-off weighs on European stocks

UK Investor Magazine
-
1
FTSE 100 steady as French sell-off weighs on European stocks

The FTSE 100 was relatively steady on Monday as investors took the continued US government shutdown in their stride and looked to US earnings for the next source of optimism.

There was, however, a marginal negative tone to trade as French stocks sank amid the latest bout of political uncertainty. The French CAC was down around 1% at the time of writing.

Trading just beneath 9,500 at the time of writing, the FTSE 100 was within touching distance of record highs after recording an intrady record in early trade.

“The FTSE 100 briefly touched new highs on Monday but soon became sluggish as investors continue to weigh the risks posed by shutdown in Washington,” explained AJ Bell’s head of markets, Dan Coatsworth.

The steady session in London followed more encouraging signs from the US equity market on Friday, which also seemed pretty comfortable with the US government shutdown and the potential strength of economic data points that will eventually be released when the shutdown ends.

“US futures point higher after the S&P 500 capped Friday with fresh all-time highs in a whipsaw session,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Investors are navigating a data drought as the government shutdown drags on, but Fed minutes and policy chatter later this week will be key for rate expectations. Hopes of further cuts, even as sticky inflation looms longer term, combined with optimism for earnings season is keeping momentum alive, with nearly 70% of the largest US companies seeing their profit forecasts raised over the past three months.”

The US earnings season is set to gather pace over the coming days, and equity bulls will hope that slowing US job creation and economic uncertainty aren’t evident in the earnings releases of major US firms.

In the UK, mining shares showed signs of positivity with Fresnillo making gains in early trade. The precious metals miner is 270% higher year-to-date in 2025 with gold trading near record highs.

Firmer oil prices helped BP and Shell higher after OPEC+ announced a production increase that was less than economists had feared. BP rose more than 1%.

Mondi was the FTSE 100’s top faller after the papermaker said ‘Volumes were impacted by subdued demand and paper selling prices declined during the quarter’. It wasn’t what investors wanted to hear, and the stock plummeted 15%.

Costain Group: after the recent sell-off, BlackRock SmallCap fund manager rates the shares, trading on 9.8 times earnings

Mark Watson-Mitchell
-
0
Costain Group: after the recent sell-off, BlackRock SmallCap fund manager rates the shares, trading on 9.8 times earnings

A week ago, it was reported that fund manager Roland Arnold reckoned that the recent price fall in the shares of the Costain Group (LON:COST), my favourite infrastructure business, was ‘an overreaction’, having fallen from 166.80p on the day of its latest results, down to 124.40p three weeks later. 
Institutional Investor Comment 
Roland Arnold, boss of the £660m BlackRock Smaller Companies Fund (LON:BRSC), stated that: 
“The decline was attributable to a reduction in transportation as a result of expected road project completions and delays in some major infrastructure contract...

Shawbrook announces intention to list as London IPO activity shows early signs of momentum

UK Investor Magazine
-
0
Shawbrook announces intention to list as London IPO activity shows early signs of momentum

Shawbrook has announced its intention to list on the London Stock Exchange, as London IPO activity shows signs of momentum following the listing of Beauty Tech Group last week and the announcement by Princes Group of its IPO plans.

We’re going to need a more sustained flow of IPOs to call the recent spate of activity anything more than a blip. That said, the uptick in companies signalling their intention to list or completing their IPO is encouraging.

Shawbrook’s IPO plans are particularly interesting because the company is one of the many highly successful UK Fintechs that have opted to stay private for longer. Should other Fintechs follow in Shawbrook’s footsteps, the London IPO market could really fire up.

Significant investment in technology capabilities since 2017 has transformed Shawbrook into a digitally enabled bank that serves individuals, property investors and businesses.

Shawbrook has grown its loan book from £1.4 billion to £17.0 billion, while achieving a compound annual growth rate of 30% in underlying profit before tax.

In an announcement made on Monday, Shawbrook outlined its “30 by 30 Target,” aiming to almost double the loan book to approximately £30 billion by December 2030.

Shawbrook operates through two main franchises. The Commercial franchise, representing 61% of the total loan book at £10.5bn, provides structured credit facilities for businesses alongside real estate financing for professional landlords and property investors. The Retail franchise accounts for the remaining 39% at £6.6bn.

The company has been remarkably inquisitive, completing 24 acquisitions, including the recent acquisition of ThinCats Group Limited, a leading UK FinTech specialist lender to SMEs, in September 2025.

“The strength of our platform has enabled us to deliver a long track record of sustainable, profitable growth through a wide variety of macro conditions,” explained Marcelino Castrillo, Chief Executive Officer.

“We have transformed the size of our loan book as we’ve won share, entered new markets and expanded our capabilities through strategic acquisitions; we have built a trusted and attractive savings proposition that provides us with a stable and scalable funding base; and the significant investment in our digital platform provides excellent risk management capabilities and strong operating leverage.

“Looking ahead, we are as excited as we have ever been. We have achieved real scale, and our current markets are large and growing, supported by attractive tailwinds. We also see a significant opportunity to bring Shawbrook’s offering to new types of customers. The entrepreneurial spirit that has driven our growth remains at the heart of how we operate and we have ambitious plans for the future. An IPO would mark an important milestone in our journey.”

1Spatial wins £1m contract with UK Power Networks for Streetworks Platform

UK Investor Magazine
-
1
1Spatial wins £1m contract with UK Power Networks for Streetworks Platform

1Spatial has secured a £1m SaaS contract with UK Power Networks for its 1Streetworks platform.

The 15-month agreement, which includes a one-year extension option, will help automate traffic management planning for the energy distributor’s extensive network maintenance operations.

UK Power Networks maintains 190,000km of cables and carries out approximately 40,000 highway works annually across London, the South-East and East of England, serving 20 million people.

The 1Streetworks platform will automate the production of traffic management plans, diversion routing and asset inventory lists for these operations.

Over the contract period, the platform is expected to support up to 30% of UK Power Networks’ works volume, expanding geographically across all operational regions and into new teams managing network faults and reactive works. This would suggest there is scope for further expansion of the relationship between the two organisations.

UK Power Networks anticipates the solution could deliver a 39% reduction in road closures whilst improving customer service metrics, including Average Time To Quote and Average Time To Connect.

“We are delighted to agree this landmark contract with UK Power Networks. It is testament to the demonstrable value provided by our innovative 1Streetworks solution,” said Claire Milverton, 1Spatial CEO.

“We are proud UK Power Networks have recognised the significant efficiency savings, improved customer services and a reduction in road closures that can be achieved. We look forward to continuing to work with UK Power Networks to unlock further value across their network.

“This clear commercial validation and growing industry awareness is supporting a steadily growing pipeline, which we are focused on converting.”

Today’s announcement follows contract wins with the California Department of Transportation and Kent Country Council this year.

AIM weekly movers: Hydrogen storage prospects improve for UK Oil and Gas

Andrew Hore
-
10
AIM weekly movers: Hydrogen storage prospects improve for UK Oil and Gas

UK Oil and Gas (LON: UKOG) shares returned from suspension 224% higher at 0.033p, having been as high as 0.0535p. A subsidiary has executed a memorandum of understanding with National Gas Transmission, which is developing a 100% hydrogen pipeline system. The strategy is to connect the company’s planned onshore salt cavern hydrogen storage facilities in Yorkshire and Dorset. A placing raised £3.5m at 0.03p/share. The cash will help to accelerate technical and economic studies, as well as engineering concept and design.

Oracle Power (LON: ORCP) says that its Australian subsidiary and Riversgold have agreed a right to mine and co-operation agreement with mining contactor and geological service provider MEGA Resources and Bain Global Resources (BGR) for the right to mine the Northern Zone gold project in Western Australia. BGR will provide funding. Oracle Power owns 20% of the project. No upfront funding is required. Activities could start in the first quarter of 2026. The share price jumped 104% to 0.0575p. The exercise of warrants at 0.05467p each raised £58,575.

Pulsar Helium Inc (LON: PLSR) has made a helium-3 discovery at the Topaz project in Minnesota. There are sustained concentrations of up to 14.5 parts per billion in produced gas. This is one of the highest naturally occurring accumulation of helium-3 ever reported. Helium-3 is one of the rarest isotopes on Earth. It can generate $2,500/litre in some markets. Uses include future fusion energy reactors, quantum computing and advanced cryogenics. There were 100,000 stock options exercised at C$0.45 each, raising C$45,000. The share price is 51.5% higher at 35.6p.

Bezant Resources (LON: BZT) has sold 53.4 million Blackstone Minerals shares and raised A$3.75m (£1.84m). The remaining shareholding in the ASX-listed company is 80.6 million shares. Johnathan Swann has increased his shareholding from 5.19% to 6.57%. The share price rose 45% to 0.079p.

FALLERS

Litigation finance provider Litigation Capital Management (LON: LIT) made an underlying loss of A$100.5m, compared with a pre-tax profit of A$17.2m the previous year. Six cases were lost, and three more losses are being appealed. After the results were announced the company revealed that another funded case was lost. This investment was valued at £26.5m in the balance sheet at the end of June 2025. Writing the whole amount off would halve NAV. Costs have been reduced. The company is focusing on case management rather than seeking new cases. Net debt was A$69m at the end of June 2025. There is a facility of A$114m. Tectonics Opportunity Fund cut its stake from 5.1% to 0.1%. The share price slumped 59.9% to 11.2p.

Difficult market conditions hampered regenerative medicine company Tissue Regenix (LON: TRX) and interim revenues were 6% down at $13.8m. That hit gross margin and the loss increased to $957,000. There were delays to regulatory approvals and falls in orders. Net debt is $9.3m with $5.6m of available bank facilities. Harwood Capital has raised its shareholding from 15.1% to 22.1%. Richard Snell cut his stake from 15.1% to under 3%. The share price declined 52.3% to 10.5p.

A delay to the publication of the accounts of Trafalgar Property Group (LON: TRAF) means that trading in the shares was suspended on 1 October. Prior to that, the share price dived 30% to 0.0175p.

Technology investment company Tern (LON: TERN) is raising up to £642,000 at 0.5p/share via a one-for-five open offer, which closes on 14 October. There was cash in the bank of £150,000 at the end of August 2025 and exits from investments are difficult to secure at appropriate valuations. The additional cash will cover the costs of running the company and provide cash for additional investments. The share price slipped 28% to 0.45p.

Aquis weekly movers: Richmond Hill returns from suspension after prospectus launched

Andrew Hore
-
3
Aquis weekly movers: Richmond Hill returns from suspension after prospectus launched

Richmond Hill Resources (LON: SHNJ) shares returned from suspension 58.6% higher at 1.15p following the publishing of a prospectus for the acquisition of 145 map designated mineral exploration titles in an area of copper mineralisation in Quebec and the move to AIM on 15 October. A placing will raise £1.4m at 1p/share. This values the company at £5.9m. A retail offer is planned, which is conditional on admission to AIM. The cash raised will fund exploration and working capital.

Digital asset investor Vaultz Capital (LON: V3TC) has had the shares approved for electronic trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The share price increased 34.4% to 5.375p.

Interim revenues at digital assets investor KR1 (LON: KR1) fell from £8.72m to £2.93m. There was a disposal loss of £162,000, compared with a £3.64m gain. There was also a drop in fair value of assets, compared with a gain last time. This means that there was a first half loss of £14.1m, compared with a pre-tax profit of £10.3m. Over 12 months, NAV fell from 78.76p/share to 40.39p/share. The NAV recovered to 50.74p/share by the end of August 2025. The share price recovered 9.59% to 40p.

B2B gaming product marketplace company Nyce International (LON: NYCE) generated initial revenues of £122,000 in the six months to June 2025. The loss increased from £167,000 to £594,000. Shares have been issued to pay £47,500 to creditors. Hub Affiliations has raised its stake from 19.85% to 21.5%. The share price rose 6.67% to 0.08p.

Brewer Shepherd Neame (LON: SHEP) reported lower interim revenues in the year to June 2025. They fell from £172.3m in 53 weeks to £164.3m in 52 weeks. They were still lower on a like-for-like basis. Underlying pre-tax profit declined 4% to £7.6m. Dividends were raised by 4% to 21.5p/share. Net assets are 1229p/share. A revaluation of pubs showed a surplus over book value of 356p/share. The share price improved 6.08% to 497.5p.

FALLERS

Isle of Man-based B HODL (HODL), which recently joined Aquis has appointed Canaccord Genuity as broker. The strategy is to acquire Bitcoin and a further 10 Bitcoin were acquired for £844,213. That takes the holding to 122 Bitcoin at a total cost of £10.2m. The share price lost some initial gains and is 28.7% lower at 14.25p. The original placing was at 14p.

Trading in wind-based hydrogen production technology Hydrogen Future Industries (LON: HFI) was restored after the release of interims to January 2025. There are no revenues. The loss reduced from £432,000 to £198,000, mainly due to the lack of research and development spending. Director fees have been deferred. There are currently loans from directors totalling £154,000. A fundraising is planned to finance technology development and the new Bitcoin treasury strategy. The share price declined by one-quarter to 1.125p.

Dermatology treatments developer Incanthera (LON: INC) did not generate any revenues in the year to March 2025, and there was a cash outflow from operating activities of £3.1m. Skin+CELL sales have commenced so there will be revenues in the first half of the new financial year. There is uncertainty about sales levels and salaries, and other costs are being deferred or reduced so that working capital can be funded. The share price is one-quarter lower at 2.25p.

Wishbone Gold (LON: WSBN) is raising £4m at 1.3p/share. This will fund further exploration at the Red Setter Gold Dome in Australia. Interim results show a cash outflow of £1.3m, leaving cash of £826,000 at the end of June 2025. The previous placing was at 0.13p/share, which indicates the recent gains prior to the 21.2% downward move to 1.3p.

Online consumer loans provider Amazing AI (LON: AAI) started the week by announcing a retail offer of up to £500,000 at up to 2p/share and it was cancelled on Thursday because of changes to market conditions. Chief executive Paul Mathieson has provided a loan facility that allows the company to drawdown funds to provide consumer loans of up to $5,000 in Georgia, USA. Amazing AI is also seeking to amend the agreement so that funds can be used to buy crypto assets. The share price slipped 16.1% to 1.3p.

Vault Ventures (LON: VULT) has raised £96,000 from the sale of its total holding of Solana. This leaves Ethereum valued at £2.6m. The cash will finance Ai development. The share price fell 13% to 1p.

Phoenix Digital (LON: PNIX) reported a first half decline in value of its digital assets of £6.06m. NAV was £22.2m at the end of June 2025. The share price is 8.6% lower at 4.25p.

Amirose London Holdings (LON: ALH) reported results for the year to March 2025 showing a loss of £3,000, but this was before the acquisition of the eponymous personal care products contract manufacturer in June. The share price declined 7.69% to 3p.

Mendell Helium (LON: MDH) has still to take up the option to acquire helium producer M3 Helium. This means that there is no contribution to the results to March 2025 where the loss increased from £133,000 to £938,000. There are plans to move to AIM. The share price decreased 7.69% to 3p.

Valereum (LON: VLRM) has decided to cancel two million warrants exercisable at 0.5p each. In return it has paid £10,000 to the holder of the option over the warrants. The share price dipped 1.92% to 2.55p.

FTSE 100 surges to record high after US tech rally

UK Investor Magazine
-
10
FTSE 100 surges to record high after US tech rally

The FTSE 100 surged to fresh record highs on Friday as the index rode the coattails of an AI-inspired US tech rally overnight, which also saw the S&P 500 scale record levels.

UK investors will be delighted to see the FTSE 100 trading just a whisker away from 9,500 in a broad-based rally.

“The FTSE 100 reached new record highs in early trading on Friday as investors shrugged off concerns about the US government shutdown,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“News of OpenAI’s valuation reaching $500 billion, making it the world’s most valuable private company, helped fire enthusiasm in the tech sector and push US indices to new records yesterday.”

The positive sentiment from the US seeped into the European session, and London’s leading index gained 0.7% to 9,490. The FTSE 100 is now 14.9% higher year-to-date and is on track for the best annual return since 2009, when the index rose 22%.

A pickup in IPO activity on Friday also helped lift the mood. The Beauty Tech Group made a strong start in its life as a London-listed company after listing at 271p in a £300m London Stock Exchange IPO, and the Princes Group announced its intention to list in London.

“The UK stock market has been starved of new blood in recent years, with IPOs being thin on the ground,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

“It’s therefore encouraging to see activity levels start to pick up. Investors are keen for new stock ideas and two new listings have the potential to grab the market’s attention.”

The FTSE 100’s gains were broad on Friday, with around 80 of the FTSE 100 constituents trading higher at the time of writing.

Bunzl benefited from a broker upgrade, and shares soared 4% to the top of the FTSE 100 leaderboard. Schroders also enjoyed a positive broker rating and gained 3%.

There will be no Non-Farm Payrolls report today due to the US government shutdown, so investors will have to wait a little longer for the next economic data point and hints of further rate cuts.

AIM movers: Polar Capital upgraded

Andrew Hore
-
2
AIM movers: Polar Capital upgraded

Shares in Bezant Resources (LON: BZT) continue to rise following the sale of 53.4 million Blackstone Minerals shares that raised A$3.75m (£1.84m). The remaining shareholding in the ASX-listed company is 80.6 million shares. The share price added a further 14.3% to 0.08p.

Deutsche Bank has upgraded its Polar Capital (LON: POLR) recommendation from hold to buy and raised the share price target from 550p to 600p. RBC raised its target price from 560p to 640p, and the recommendation is outperform. The share price increased 4.85% to 529.5p.

Orosur Mining Inc (LON: OMI) has raised C$20m at C$0.34/share (188p). The cash will finance exploration at the Anza project in Colombia. The share price improved 4.44% to 23.5p.

Pulsar Helium Inc (LON: PLSR) says 100,000 stock options were exercised at C$0.45 each, raising C$45,000. Earlier in the week, the company made a helium-3 discovery at the Topaz project in Minnesota. There are sustained concentrations of up to 14.5 parts per billion in produced gas. The share price rose 1.41% to 36p.

FALLERS

Yesterday, it was announced that the estate of William Black has cut its stake in Tertiary Minerals (LON: TYM) from 3.4% to 1.23%. This follows drilling results at Target A1 at the Mushima North project in Zambia that revealed the highest-grade silver and copper intersection. The share price lost 16.7% to 0.05p but is 17.6% higher on the week.

Artemis Investment Management has raised its stake in social entertainment firm LBG Media (LON: LBG) from 3.3% to 4.06%. The share price dipped 3.8% to 98.6p.

Clive Whiley, a non-executive director of capital equipment supplier Mpac (LON: MPAC), bough 25,000 shares at 320p each. The share price fell 3.23% to 300p.

Following interims earlier in the week, Berenberg has cut its share price target for Strix (LON: KETL) from 90p to 85p but retains its buy recommendation. Interim revenues fell 8.5% to £60.5m, while pre-tax profit was more than one-fifth lower at £6.1m. Net debt was £68.8m. The kettle controls revenues fell, but water filtration products supplier Billi and consumer goods revenues rose. The share price slipped 1.58% to 37.4p.

Princes Group fires starting gun on London IPO

UK Investor Magazine
-
1
Princes Group fires starting gun on London IPO

Princes Group, a major UK and European food and beverage company, has announced plans to float on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market.

The group owns and distributes well-known brands such as Princes, Napolina, Branston, Batchelors, Flora and Crisp ‘N Dry.

Princes is a group of significant scale. The firm generated £2.1 billion in revenue for the year ending 31 December 2024 and is on track to match or beat this in 2025.

It holds leading positions in both branded and own-label products across five business units: Foods, Fish, Italian, Oils and Drinks. The group operates 23 production facilities across the UK, continental Europe and Mauritius, employing approximately 7,800 staff.

Princes should be well received by London’s equity markets. Its portfolio of brands will help build affinity with retail investors, and the reliability of its cash flows could make it an interesting dividend play in the future.

“Our position as a category champion is grounded in well-invested manufacturing, deep and long-standing relationships throughout our supply chain, and a highly skilled and motivated workforce,” said Simon Harrison, CEO of Princes Group.

“These strengths have established Princes as a trusted partner to our customers, driving sustained, profitable growth and a first choice for consumers.

“Whilst we are renowned for our iconic Princes tuna, through a combination of organic growth and focused M&A, we have built an international £2 billion food and drink portfolio, leading across five complementary categories, food, fish, Italian, oils and drinks, with operations spanning seven countries.”

The announcement of Princes Group’s intention to list comes alongside the successful listing of The Beauty Tech Group, which got off to a strong start as a London-listed firm on Friday.

Everyone connected to London’s equity markets will hope today’s activity is a sign of the long-awaited pick-up in London’s IPO activity.

1...798081...1,801Page 80 of 1,801