RNS Hotlist October 13: Alkemy, Arkle, Berkeley Energia, Bradda Head, EnergyPathways, Kodal, Roundhouse, Solvonis, Tungsten West
(Alliance News): BP (BP.) says it expects to report a boost from stronger refining margins in the third quarter, though it notes it will book impairments of up to USD4.5 billion. The oil major, in a pre-results trading statement, expects to report third quarter upstream output of 2.190 million to 2.240 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, compared to 2.201 million in the second quarter. It puts the outcome down to "seasonal maintenance recovery partly offset by BP's reduced equity interest in Latin America". "[The] third quarter includes the impact of continued disruption in the Middle East and no impact from weather events in the Gulf of America," it adds. Upstream production in the third quarter of 2025 amounted to 2.362 million boe per day. In the Products arm, it expects an underlying replacement cost profit boost from "stronger realised refining margins" to the tune of USD1.9 billion to USD2.1 billion, relative to the second quarter. In Customers, however, it predicts a "significantly lower result, driven by weaker fuels margins and higher base oil prices in Castrol, as well as a lower contribution from midstream, partly offset by slightly higher volumes due to seasonal effects".
Comment: It is just as well that in current Iran / Houthis dominated newsflow, the environment for oil producers is akin to falling off a log. This means that the odd $4.5bn impairment is water off a duck’s back, to add in another cliché. What may be just as interesting is that shares of BP are now back at the highs, and despite today’s understated update, they are finally threatening the big breakout.
Roundhouse (RHAI), a company building the trusted data layer for the autonomous AI agent economy, is pleased to announce the admission of its entire issued ordinary share capital to trading on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Admission will take place and dealings in the Company's ordinary shares will commence at 08:00 a.m. today. Matthew Lodge, the Company’s CEO commented: “Today marks the start of trading for Roundhouse on AIM. AI agents are starting to pay each other and pay businesses, and that market needs a neutral record of who is paying, who is getting paid, and what it costs. That's what Roundhouse provides. Our dashboard is live and free to use, and our focus now is growing data coverage so we can launch Agent Reputation Scores and the aGDP Index. I want to thank our team for their incredible work in getting us here, our advisers for their support through the admission process, and our new and existing shareholders for backing us. This is just the beginning.”
Comment: The goal of RHAI is to become the Bloomberg of its chosen area, autonomous-agent activity. This is a punchy goal for a significant addressable market: $15tln. Ideally, it has the early, listed company advantage, and the expertise to deliver over coming months in a fast-moving market. If it even gets close the Clear Capital 12 months 40p share price target could prove to be modest. More information can be found on the Clear Capital website: https://www.clearcapitalmarkets.co.uk/company-profile/roundhouse-ai
Alkemy Capital Investments plc (ALK), the 100% owner of Tees Valley Lithium Ltd ("TVL"), announced that, in response to requirements from existing and prospective customers, TVL is establishing a dedicated Qualification and Validation Centre at the Billingham Chemical Complex, Teesside. The Centre will allow customers to begin validating TVL’s battery-grade lithium hydroxide in parallel with the development of Train 1, the first 25,000 tonne per year production train of TVL’s lithium hydroxide refinery at Billingham, shortening the time from first production to full commercial volumes.
Comment: The run up to Glencore visiting Billingham last month led to a chunky rally in shares of ALK, as if one plus one can equal three. Now we are back to earth with a more pedestrian update. But perhaps our friends at Glencore will get back to ALK with something nice to say soon?
Berkeley Energia Limited (BKY) advises that it has provided the following response to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in relation to a query received from ASX regarding recent trading in the Company's securities. The Company notes that on 5 October 2026, the Spanish Prime Minister announced that Spain would hold an early general election on 29 November 2026, bringing forward the election previously scheduled for 2027.
Comment: One of the blocks for BKY in Spain with a left-wing government and associated tree-huggers, has been green concerns. Now with the prospect of the return of the conservatives to power, we could / should see more of a “drill baby drill” mentality. By the way, it is interesting to see how officious the ASX are, and indeed the London market in forcing BKY to put out a speeding ticket RNS?
Arkle Resources PLC (ARK), the energy metals explorer focused on uranium, announced the results of the reconnaissance reverse circulation ("RC") drilling at the primary uraniferous leucogranite ("ULG") target on EPL 8995, part of its Erongo uranium project in Namibia, in an area approximately 12 km west-southwest of the Paleo East channel, where drilling results were released yesterday. The drilling has confirmed a uranium discovery at the ULG target. Eight of the nine holes intersected uranium above 100 parts per million (ppm) of uranium oxide (U₃O₈) across approximately 1.4 km by 0.6 km, matching the footprint defined at surface. The best hole, R069, is mineralised from surface to the end of the hole, including 41 m at 141 ppm U₃O₈, three holes end in mineralisation, and individual metres grade up to 421 ppm U₃O₈.
Comment: Shares of ARK have been trending well all year ahead of today’s news, and are trading near year highs. The tally so far is that they are up 100%. While there may be some profit taking on the news, it would appear that the discovery is the company maker holders have been hoping for.
Kodal Minerals (KOD), the West African lithium producer, mineral exploration and development company, provides an update on mining, processing, export and development activities at the Bougouni Lithium Project for the three months ended 30 September 2026. KOD said “Q3 has seen continued operational and commercial momentum at Bougouni, with strong market demand and spodumene concentrate prices driving robust cash flow generation at the project level. Maintaining a reliable export cadence via the port of San Pedro, Côte d'Ivoire, underlines the operational capability of our venture and our position as an active West African lithium producer.”
Comment: What has been ironic as far as KOD’s history is that the market until this month perhaps seemed to be more in love with the company before it was a producer than now it is delivering product. Presumably, we are now at an inflection point that will positively change this state of affairs.
Bradda Head Lithium Ltd (BHL), the North America-focused lithium development company, announced initial results from core drilling at the Whistlejacket Lithium Project held under the Company's Option to Joint Venture agreement with Kennecott Exploration Company. The results from the first drillhole WSTL0020, part of the Company's ongoing exploration programme designed to expand previously drilled areas, confirms the extension and continuity of the mineralized body, replicating past results. BHL said "These maiden assay results from WSTL0020 are exactly what we hoped to see. Grades of this consistency across more than 30 metres - including individual intervals running at almost 2.0% Li2O, confirm that the visual mineralization logged at Whistlejacket is consistent with laboratory results. The two additional, narrower pegmatite intervals returning grades comparable to the main body only add to our confidence in the scale of this system. With assays for WSTL0021 and WSTL0022 still to come, we look forward to building out a fuller picture of Whistlejacket's potential in the weeks ahead."
Comment: It is perhaps a sad indictment of the London stock market, and BHL’s under the radar PR strategy that so far today the shares have not moved. Nevertheless, the company is in the right postcode at the right time, and it seems a tad unfair that the shares are now less than half their May peak.
EnergyPathways plc (EPP), the UK energy transition company, announces that it has closed the fundraising that it announced on 28 September 2026, raising £1.75m at 5.75p per ordinary share with a single institutional subscriber who had requested to invest in the Company on a sole basis. The funds will be deployed to accelerate the Company's MESH project and provide working capital. The Company intends to acquire some key assets including, but not limited to, land, existing pipelines and technical data. These activities will further de-risk the MESH project for institutional and strategic partner investment in which discussions the Company is actively engaged.
Comment: Perhaps the most wonderful thing that one can say about EPP currently, apart from well done on yet another fundraise, is that its fate is no longer tied to Ed “Net Zero” Miliband, who is now sabotaging the UK’s foreign policy. That said, EPP still has the issues of dealing with government, and of course playing a waiting game that could yet be a long and winding road.
Solvonis Therapeutics plc (SVNS), a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing small-molecule therapeutics for high-burden central nervous system (“CNS”) disorders, announces that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) with ICAD, Portugal’s public addiction institute, and Panegreen – Health & Wellness Solutions, Lda. to assess adding Portuguese trial sites to MORE-KARE, the UK Phase 3 trial of SVN-001 for severe alcohol use disorder. The agreement advances the Company’s plans to add European sites to the trial, announced on 25 August 2026 and reiterated on 29 September 2026. The parties will now assess how Portuguese services and clinical facilities could support the programme.
Comment: In the wake of the fat jabs success the market is now fully aware of the riches that are available to companies in the biotech space who win on products aimed at large addressable markets. Therefore it is all the more disappointing that shares of SVNS are down over 60% this year.
Tungsten West (TUN) , the owner and operator of the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon, UK, is pleased to announce that an updated Corporate Presentation is now available on the Company’s website at: https://www.tungstenwest.com/investors
Comment: This week I am attending an investor conference in Monaco. I had the pleasure of bumping into a TUN shareholder and put it to him that the UK government buying shares in the company could be regarded as the kiss of death, and that the low grade nature of the asset and difficulty of extraction could mean that TUN is not the winner it is supposed to me. This did not go down well, in the manner of heresy, even though I was actually just winding him up.