Dish of the day

Joiners: 

No joiners today.

Leavers: 

Secured Income Fund Plc (SSIF.L) has left the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market. 

Civitas Social Housing Plc (CSH.L) has left the Premium Segment of the Main Market. 

 

What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?** 

Announced ITF 4 August: Tan Delta Systems plc, a Sheffield based Company intends to IPO on AIM. Tan Delta has developed an innovative and differentiated monitoring solution based on real time oil analysis and analytics that offers equipment operators enhanced insight into the maintenance status of their equipment and thus the ability to reduce maintenance costs, improve reliability and reduce carbon footprint. Admission TBC.

 

Announced ITF 12 July: Substrate Artificial Intelligence, an artificial intelligence company based in Spain that creates, buys and scales companies around AI in diverse sectors such as fintech, agritech, energy, human resources, and health, intends to join the Access Segment of the AQSE Growth Market. 

 

Announced ITF 6 July: Blackpoint Biotech plc, a medical cannabinoids company established to fulfil gaps in the medical cannabis market by creating products that provide fast onset of action and accurate dosing, intends to join the Access Segment of the AQSE Growth Market. Admission delayed.

 

Banquet Buffet*** 

Alien Metals 0.29p  £15.2m (UFO.L) 

The global minerals exploration and development company, announces a series of specialist Board and Executive appointments. Mr Alwyn Vorster joins the Company as Non-Executive Chairman. Mr Vorster has extensive experience in the bulk commodities arena, particularly iron ore, having previously held positions as Interim Chief Executive Officer of Hastings Technology Metals (ASX: HAS), Managing Director of BCI Minerals (ASX: BCI) and Managing Director of Iron Ore Holdings, as well as senior roles with Aquila Resources and Rio Tinto Iron Ore. Mr Guy Robertson, the current Executive Chairman, will transition to his new Executive role as Finance Director. Ms Elizabeth Henson joins the Company as Independent Non-Executive Director and is an international lawyer with over 35 years of global experience in corporate governance, business and professional services. Mr Troy Whittaker was initially appointed Chief Executive Officer of Iron Ore Company of Australia Pty Ltd. (IOCA), Alien Metals Ltd.'s wholly owned subsidiary, and has been acting as Group Chief Executive Officer (non-Board) since December 2022, a role he now has been appointed to. 

 

Argo Blockchain 9.63p  £51.5m (ARB.L) 

The cryptocurrency mining company provides an operational update for July 2023. Mining revenue in July amounted to $3.87m, similar to revenue generated in the prior month (June 2023: $3.84m). The Company mined 129 Bitcoin or Bitcoin Equivalents (together, BTC), or 4.2 BTC per day. This is a decrease of 11% from the 4.6 BTC per day mined in the previous month, driven primarily by greater downtime at Helios from weather-related curtailment and onsite construction. During the month of July, the Company installed and energized 1,242 BlockMiner machines, representing approximately 130 PH/s, at its Quebec facilities. This brings the Company's total hashrate capacity to approximately 2.6 EH/s. The Company expects to receive and deploy the remaining 1,628 BlockMiners in the coming months. 

 

Cadence Minerals 8.25p  £14.9m (KDNC.L) 

The mineral resource company notes the announcement by Hastings Technology Metals (ASX:HAS) that it has executed the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract with West Australian company GR Engineering Services Limited (GRES) (ASX:GNG) for delivery of the Yangibana beneficiation plant and associated infrastructure. The contract has no material departures from the binding terms sheet that both parties signed in May 2023, including the contract value of $210m. The fixed price contract award for $210m is in line with the staged development strategy. Construction is planned to be complete in Q1 2025 with first concentrate on truck in Q2 2025 Hastings. In January 2023, Cadence completed the sale of its 30% stake in several mineral concessions forming part of the Yangibana Rare Earths project for a consideration of 2.45m Hastings shares, equating to approximately 1.9% Hastings issued share capital.  

 

Gulf Marine Services 8.56p  £87.0m (GMS.L) 

The UK based operator of self-propelled and self-elevating support vessels announces Rashed Al Jarwan, a Non-Executive Director of the Company since 2020, is retiring from the Board with immediate effect. Lord Anthony St John of Bletso, another non-executive Director of the Company, has been appointed as Senior Independent Director with immediate effect. The Board intends to appoint an additional non-executive Director in due course. 

 

H C Slingsby 300p  £3.2m (SLNG.L) 

The UK-based company engaged in the merchanting and distribution of a range of industrial and commercial equipment announces its half year results ended 30 June 2023. Revenue increased 4% to £11.46m (H1 2022: £10.98m) and Profit before tax was £0.20m versus £0.24m in the same period in 2022. The H1 profit is after £0.13m (2022: £0.07m) of finance costs which relate to interest charges on the pension scheme deficit. The Group had net cash of £0.4m at 30 June 2023 (£0.5m at 30 June 2022) compared to £0.03m at 31 December 2022. In June 2023 one of the Company’s main logistics partners had ceased trading, subsequently entering insolvency proceedings. This caused some disruption to operations and increased freight costs during that month because alternative transport options came at a higher cost.  This had a modest impact upon gross margin in June and an effect on gross margin could persist during the remainder of the year, despite the Company implementing mitigating initiatives which are ongoing. 

 

Helium One Global 8.9p  £73.1m (HE1.L) 

The primary helium explorer in Tanzania announces certain changes to the Board of Directors. Robin Birchall has decided to step down from his position as Non-Executive Director, with immediate effect to focus on other commitments. Russel Swarts, currently Finance Director, will also step down from his executive role with immediate effect, but will remain a Non-Executive Director of the Company. Graham Jacobs has been appointed as Financial and Commercial Director with immediate effect and, subject to the customary due diligence, it is intended that Graham will join the Board of Directors in due course. Graham is an experienced financial and commercial executive with over 30 years of experience in the natural resources sector. 

 

Ilika 49p  £77.9m (IKA.L) 

The solid-state battery technology Company, announces that, further to its announcement on 16 January 2023, it has concluded contractual negotiations with Cirtec Medical, an strategic outsourcing partner of complex medical devices by signing a 10-year manufacturing licence for the production of the Stereax range of mm-scale batteries at Cirtec's facility in Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S. Profit will be shared during the initial period followed by royalty-bearing manufacturing aligned with industry norms, calculated on individual battery volumes. Ilika is to retain the cathode deposition process and back-end battery formation at their FAB facility in the UK as a sub-contract service to Cirtec. Ilika's revenue guidance for the next few years remains unchanged for now and the Company will provide an update on commercial progress at its half year results in January 2024. 

 

Parity Group 3p  £3.1m (PTY.L) 

The data and technology-focussed recruitment and professional services company, announces a trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2023. The Group is expecting first half revenue to be 10% lower than that achieved in the second half of 2022. The business has improved its working capital management and reduced net debt to £0.7m as at the 30 June 2023 (31 December 2022: £2.3m). During H1 2023, Parity won a place on the public sector RM6277 framework, which has an estimated spend of circa £2bn over the next 4 years, though it is not possible at this stage to quantify what level of revenue might accrue to Parity. This framework, which went live on 25 July 2023. With market conditions not expected to improve in the near term and a key client signaling a shift towards a more global supply chain the new business initiatives targeting the private sector have been scaled back and with a resultant reduction in headcount. 

 

Physiomics* 0.98p  £1.3m (PYC.L) 

The mathematical modelling company, supporting development of oncology drugs and personalised medicine solutions, announces that it has been awarded a further contract by existing client Bicycle Therapeutics (Bicycle) that it expects to be completed over the next 6 months. The project involves modelling and the use of bioinformatics data in support of target identification for undisclosed Bicycle programs. 

 

XP Factory 18.5p  £32.3m (XPF.L) 

The UK's pre-eminent experiential leisure businesses operating the Escape Hunt and Boom Battle Bar brands, provides an update on trading for the six months to 30 June 2023. Group turnover of £18.8m up 131% (H1 2022: £8.1m),  driven by an increase in the number of sites open compared to the same period in 2022 and strong like-for-like growth in both Boom Battle Bar and Escape Hunt. Owner operated site level EBITDA of c.£3.8m up 245% (H1 2022: £1.1m) and Franchise EBITDA of c.£1.5m up c.30% (H1 2022: £1.1m). £3.6m cash as at 30 June 2023 (31 Dec 2022: £3.2m). The Board has decided to change the Group's year end from 31 December to 31 March, as both Boom and Escape Hunt have peak trading periods that coincide with Christmas. The Company is experiencing record levels of corporate and group bookings for H2 2023, which together with July's performance helps underpin theboard's confidence in a full year performance in line with market expectations. 

 

* A corporate client of Hybridan LLP

** Arranged by most recent first

*** Alphabetically arranged

 

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