Alkemy Capital Investments (ALK) reported that TVL has entered into an MOU with Altilium Metals Limited. TVL said it was delighted to be collaborating with Altilium Metals and our respective Teesside facilities will play a significant role in the UK’s transition to EVs and in the development of a UK domestic lithium supply chain. TVL aims to supply its UK and European customers with the world’s lowest-carbon lithium hydroxide and by sourcing lithium feedstock materials recovered from battery waste in the UK, TVL will further reduce the carbon footprint of its refinery.
Comment: ALK has been good at keeping the fundamental momentum going over recent months, a point underlined by today’s news, and the way that the share price has been rising ahead of it.
East Star Resources (EST), which is defining mineral resources in Kazakhstan, provided results from diamond drilling on the Dalny licence of the Chu-Ili Orogenic Gold Belt in Kazakhstan. Results show shallow intersections of potentially economic grades and widths from the Alatagyl northern zone with planning of follow-up exploration work ongoing.
Comment: Given the magnitude of the assets, and the success EST has been posting of late with regard to the ongoing exploration, it remains something of a mystery as to why shares of EST remain near one year support levels.
Bradda Head Lithium (BHL), the North America-focused lithium development company, announce that it has appointed Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited as Joint Broker with immediate effect. BHL said it was delighted to have appointed Panmure Gordon as Joint Broker. They have a wealth of expertise in mining and the lithium space, and it looks forward to working with them as it progresses its work programmes across our portfolio of assets. In a separate RNS BHL announced the initial results from an internal analysis of the first five drill holes of the Basin East Extension 2023 sonic drill programme; confirming that lithium bearing clay continues and thickens to the northwest and north into its BEE lease. This was expected lead to resource expansion for the Company in Q3 2023.
Comment: Certainly an excellent plug for Panmure Gordon. Perhaps BHL should focus on saying on how wonderful it is rather than just its broker? Ideally the broker will use all its expertise to make the stock market appreciate Bradda’s true value.
Biome Technologies (BIOM), a bioplastics and radio frequency technology business, provided an unaudited Trading Update for the quarter ended 31 March 2023. The company said the year has started robustly with Group revenues for the quarter ended 31 March 2023 at £1.9m, 77% ahead of the same period last year (2022 Q1: £1.1m) and in line with management’s expectations.
Comment: Shares of Biome have nearly doubled in the week or so before today’s announcement, and it would appear that the market is even more bullish than the company itself currently is.
Totally (TLY), a provider of frontline healthcare services, announced it has won a further new insourcing contract for the delivery of urology services for the Saolta University Health Care Group in Ireland. The additional contract, valued at c.£1.5m. The company said this further contract with the Saolta Group shows the significant opportunity for quality insourcing providers to help tackle this significant healthcare challenge.
Comment: Totally continues to surf the healthcare gravy train in an impressive way, while the share price remains near to the same levels it was three years ago. Ideally, the weight of the contract business soon starts to re-rate the shares.
hVIVO (HVO), (formerly Open Orphan plc) a specialist contract research organisation, noted the announcements dated 13 April 2023 and 18 April 2023 from SAB Biotherapeutics (NASDAQ: SABS) reporting that the FDA has granted Breakthrough Therapy and Fast Track designations for its investigational therapeutic for the treatment of seasonal influenza, SAB-176. hVIVO conducted a Phase 2a human challenge trial to assess the efficacy of SAB-176 using its Influenza Human Challenge Study Model. hVIVO said its range of influenza challenge models, utilising different influenza challenge agents manufactured in-house, allows our clients to test their therapeutics against various virus strains and subtypes.
Comment: As if we needed to be reminded, today’s RNS underlines the pedigree of HVO in its space, and the value that has been created, and built on over the past few years.
Caracal Gold (GCAT), the East African gold producer, announced that Mr Simon Grant Rennick has been formally confirmed as Executive Chairman of the Company, and that since the announcement on 23 January 2023 appointing him ‘Chairman Designate’, substantial progress has been made on the review of the Company’s corporate governance policies and procedures, with an update expected to be announced shortly.
Comment: The official installation of the new Executive Chairman at Caracal, comes at a time when the turnaround in the company’s shares has gathered momentum, going into mid 2023 in a far stronger position than it has done for quite some time. The run up to the governance report should be anticipated well by the market.
Zinc Media Group (ZIN), the television, brand and audio production group, announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2022. The company said it was delighted to report a strong set of results for FY22: exceeding market expectations and revenues at a 10-year high. This is a great achievement and has been testament to the breadth and depth of its creative output. Performance in FY23 is very encouraging and there is a feeling of momentum and optimism around the Group.
Comment: With many of the key metrics jumping by chunky double digit percentage points, it would appear that a decent fundamental inflection point has been achieved at Zinc.
Warpaint London (W7L), the specialist supplier of colour cosmetics and owner of the W7 and Technic brands announced its audited results for the year ended 31 December 2022. The company said trading has continued to be strong in the first quarter of 2023, with the Group enjoying record first quarter sales. It was optimistic that the strong performance it has seen in 2022 and into 2023 will continue and that it has the right offering and strategy in place to continue to deliver profitable future growth, despite the backdrop of macroeconomic uncertainty.
Comment: Warpaint continues to defy the cost of living crisis, perhaps underlining the way that when the going gets tough, the tough buy makeup.
Sunrise Resources (SRES) to provide an update on Tolsa’s planned activities for the company’s Pioche Sepiolite Project following the recent doubling of the project area. The company said it was pleased to see that Tolsa’s exploration programme is gathering pace ahead of its option decision towards the end of the year. It understand that the results of all work programmes to date are positive, and it looks forward to seeing the results of Tolsa’s drilling programme in due course
Polarean Imaging (POLX), the medical imaging technology company, announced that it has received its first order for a gas blend cylinder for the production of XENOVIEWfrom Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. XENOVIEW is the only hyperpolarised contrast agent approved by the FDA for use with MRI for the evaluation of lung ventilation in adults and paediatric patients aged 12 years and older. XENOVIEW has not been evaluated for use with lung perfusion imaging. The company said that since receiving FDA approval at the end of 2022, it has been working diligently to clear the path for commercial distribution of our proprietary gas blend to sites that already have Xenon MRI infrastructure. It was delighted to secure its first sale of a cylinder and cartons of dose delivery bags for clinical use as it continues to execute its commercial plan.
Comment: Any company in the space that gets the FDA thumbs up should not be treated as harshly by the market as POLX has, at least in terms of its share price. One would presume that with news such as today’s some will be looking at POLX as a value play.
Empire Metals (EEE), the AIM-quoted resource exploration and development company, announced the granting of the Exploration Licence for the Walton Copper-Gold-Lithium Project located in Western Australia, in which Empire holds a holds a 70% interest.
Comment: Empire has already given the impression of being a company firing on all cylinders. Today’s news tells us that it has another cylinder / project to add to the mix, and build further fundamental momentum.
88 Energy (88E) provided a report for the quarter ended 31 March 2023. The company said it will undertake a detailed evaluation of all data obtained from the Hickory-1 drilling and wireline program to optimally plan and design Phase 2, the flow test of up to 4 reservoirs. Initial planning suggests a ‘work-over’ rig will be required to complete these operations with discussions underway to secure a rig for the 2023/24 season. The company will provide further analysis and updates, as well as details of the flow testing program, when this information is available over the coming months.
Comment: The company continues to try and settle hearts and minds after last years “hiccup”, although such situations tend to take rather longer than they should to settle nerves.
ValiRx (VAL), a life science company, announced that the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Inaphaea BioLabs Limited, has entered into a collaborative services agreement with Physiomics plc (PYC). VAL said “The Collaborative Services Agreement is the first step towards converting Inaphaea into a full service tCRO®. The Physiomics modelling skills will enable its clients to interpret and build on the data generated within the Inaphaea facility.
Comment: Two small cap “faves” in one RNS. Ideally, today’s news will keep VAL on the right side of 10p.
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