While we may be in the dog days of summer, and have many in the market complaining that the Q1 2021 bull run is now a distant memory, there are a few signs of positivity. This is being shown so far this week with share prices following through on recent strong newsflow – rather than the one day wonder rallies we have become accustomed to. For instance, pharma services company Open Orphan (ORPH) saw its shares rise for the second day after its Tuesday announcement of a £8.1 million asthma study contract with a global pharmaceutical company. This will involve the testing of an inhaled human rhinovirus antiviral product. Adding to the latest move higher was a mention in The Times – all the more impressive given the way mainstream media tends to only cover the large cap companies.
Metals processor Jubilee (JLP) also managed a second strong up day. On Tuesday it unveiled the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Mopani Copper Mines PLC, for the implementation of additional copper and cobalt refining capacity in Zambia. Jubilee said the agreement reached sets into motion the accelerated implementation of its Kitwe and Luanshya copper and cobalt tailings projects to reach even sooner the company’s target of 25,000 tonnes of copper per annum.
A bear trap gap reversal on Tuesday for creative audio-visual company, MediaZest (MDZ) continued with another update, after the company provided an update on current trading and new business wins. The company said that it was experiencing strong demand in all its four sectors, and the outlook beyond 30 September 2021 also looks encouraging. This momentum looks as though it will be enhanced as MediaZest has invested in additional sales resource for the Corporate Sector.
Shares of online threat hunter Brandshield Systems (BRSD) had a delayed positive reaction to last week’s news that it has completed a contract with a leading company in the payment processing sector. The auto-renewing, annual SaaS contract will provide protection services to the client against phishing and impersonation attacks. Given this contract and all the announcements of wins since December, there may be some in the market who regard the stock as being a value situation as a series of revenue enhancing contracts, including that with Bristol Meyers Squibb, has hit the wires since the turn of the year. Nevertheless, the stock remains just shy of the 20p level AIM admission price.
It has been a much better week for many of the diagnostics groups, with Avacta (AVCT) also joining in the party. This is all the more surprising given that in theory we are at a pause in the pandemic, and so may be counterintuitive that such stocks are strong. However, that is the stock market for you. In terms of Avacta though, it has been the strength of the newsflow which has once again won the day. Earlier this month the a clinical stage oncology drug company and developer of diagnostics based on its innovative Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms, said that the first patient has been dosed in the Company's Phase I multi-centre trial evaluating AVA6000. This is a novel pro-drug of Doxorubicin and Avacta's first therapeutic product based on its proprietary pre|CISION™ technology.