Bounce back or decline: AO World

Andrew Hore
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Bounce back or decline: AO World

Profit warnings have been an autumn habit for online domestic appliances retailer AO World (LON:AO.).
The October profit warning led to a 2021-22 pre-tax profit forecast reduction from £31.6m to £11.8m and that was followed by a further warning which led to a forecast loss. This follows the move into profit in the year to March 2021 on the back of bumper lockdown demand.
The share price has declined by three-quarters since reaching its peak a year ago. There has been some recovery during December even though AO World has been jettisoned from the FTSE 250 index. Camelot Capital edged up its sta...

FTSE 100 contracts trade at pre-pandemic highs

UK Investor Magazine
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0
FTSE 100 contracts trade at pre-pandemic highs

FTSE 100 contracts provided by spread betters are indicating the FTSE 100 will trade at the highest level since the beginning of the pandemic. 

The rise in the FTSE 100 contracts comes a day after the S&P 500 futures hit record highs.

The gains in global equity futures have been made just as major economies reveal record numbers of coronavirus cases.

Although markets are trading in thin volume, the grind higher in equities suggests the market is now looking past Omicron to the continuation of the recovery in 2022.

The FTSE 100 will open for cash trading again on Wednesday.

Bounce back or decline: Trackwise Designs

Andrew Hore
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0
Bounce back or decline: Trackwise Designs

Trackwise Designs (LON: TWD) is one of the ten worst performers in the FTSE AIM All Share index during December with the share price slumping by more than one-third – and it is two-thirds lower than one year ago.
A heavily discounted fundraising was behind the latest share price slide. The placing price of 80p a share is not much more than 50% of the market price prior to the announcement. The placing will raise £6m and there is an open offer at the placing price, which could raise up to £1m, which closes on 4 January.
This cash will provide the platform for extensive growth in the next few ye...

Bounce back or decline: boohoo

Andrew Hore
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0
Bounce back or decline: boohoo

Everything seems to be going wrong for online fashion retailer boohoo (LON: BOO) with tougher trading conditions following the 2020 lockdown boost and a shredded corporate reputation.
This has led to the share price slumping by nearly two-thirds since the beginning of 2021, having previously reached an all-time high in June 2020. The ASOS (LON: ASC) share price has halved during 2021, so boohoo is not alone in finding trading in the online fashion market to be tough. However, ASOS does not have the same corporate governance problems as boohoo and the outlook appears better.
A stratospheric for...

Bounce back or decline: IQE

Andrew Hore
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2
Bounce back or decline: IQE

Semiconductor wafers manufacturer IQE (LON: IQE) is a cyclical business and the share price record shows how cyclical it is. The important thing is not to start buying at the top, even if it is difficult to predict when the bottom will be hit.
IQE is a specialist in the niche market for epitaxial compound semiconductor wafers, which are used in smartphones, lasers and infrared devices. The wafers can incorporate special materials. Because of the initial investment made in production capacity fixed costs are high, but once they are covered a large percentage of revenues drop through to profit.
...

Bounce back or decline: Parsley Box

Andrew Hore
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0
Bounce back or decline: Parsley Box

There have been some sharp declines in share prices in recent months and many of the smaller companies hit by these falls are worth further assessment. Some will be getting to the point where they are attractive investments, while others will need to provide further reassurance to investors before there is any recovery. This is the first of a series of articles being published over Christmas and the New Year that assesses whether these individual companies are set to bounce back.
Parsley Box (LON: MEAL) was the most spectacularly unsuccessful AIM new admission this year and the shares have fal...

New AIM admission: Atome Energy completes President spin-off

Andrew Hore
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2
New AIM admission: Atome Energy completes President spin-off

Atome Energy did not raise as much as it wanted to in the placing and PrimaryBid offer, but the £6m will go a long way at this stage of the business. The shares start trading on Thursday 30 December.  
The cash raised will be used to progress the two ammonia and hydrogen production projects in Paraguay and Iceland. There is potential additional funding from a shareholder associated with chairman Peter Levine. More funding will be required if a decision is made to move to construction of the projects.
AIM-quoted oil and gas firm President Energy (LON: PPC) and Peter Levine remain the largest sh...

New Aquis admission: ChallengerX sports marketing plan

Andrew Hore
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0
New Aquis admission: ChallengerX sports marketing plan

ChallengerX was used as a holding company to acquire SportsX prior to joining the Access segment of Aquis. Fellow Aquis company Dispersion Holdings (LON: DEFI) had invested £216,000 in SportsX and then swapped this stake for shares in ChallengerX that were worth £1.25m at the subscription price. SportsX has barely got going, but it does have its first two clients signed up.  
The core business is providing marketing services to rugby and football clubs. Smaller clubs need ways of generating additional income, so the services should be attractive to them, particularly as the cost relates t...

Deepmatter’s huge discount

Andrew Hore
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0
Deepmatter’s huge discount

Deepmatter Group (LON: DMTR) has managed to secure £2.55m of funding ahead of the Christmas break. However, the placing price is 0.1p and the share price fell by 0.225p to 0.4p, having been 1.05p ahead of the announcement that the AIM-quoted digital chemistry data company needed money.

The positive thing is that existing shareholders are being given the chance to invest at the same price via a one-for-3.7 open offer that could raise up to £250,000. The shares go ex-open offer entitlement on 4 January and the open offer closes on 18 January. The details will be sent to shareholders in the New Year.

The cash is coming from existing institutional shareholders and professional individuals. The huge discount to the market price was required to attract these investors to the issue. Deepmatter should have enough funds to last until the end of 2022 but might have to raise more cash before that. The company will require more cash at some point, but it could be in a better commercial position by then.

Future

Deepmatter is still in discussions with South Korea-based drug discovery company Standigm Inc, but the deal will not be done this year, so 2021 revenues will be lower than the company’s previous expectations. The multi-year deal could be signed in 2022.

Deepmatter will use the time it has thanks to the additional cash to assess strategy and invest in the further development of the DigitalGlassware technology. Revenues are still relatively low and need to be much higher in order to stem losses.

Existing investors, that still believe in the underlying value of the business, should take up the open offer shares.

FTSE 100 touches 7,400 on Christmas Eve

UK Investor Magazine
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0
FTSE 100 touches 7,400 on Christmas Eve

The FTSE 100 continued to move to the upside on Christmas Eve as the Santa Rally in European shares pushed on.

The FTSE 100 was trading at 7,402, up 0.39%, shortly after 10.00am on the Friday before Christmas.

The rally was broad with 81 of the FTSE 100’s shares higher at the time of writing.

With London’s leading index pushing higher, the FTSE 100 is now up 4.8% so far in December despite fears over Omicron.

IAG was again the FTSE 100’s top riser as bargain hunters stepped in to pick up bargain on hopes travel restrictions wouldn’t be overly detrimental to bookings.

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