Polarean (POLX) said that in an action designed to protect all depositors of Silicon Valley Bank, the company has verified its account balances and its ability to access its funds, and confirms it has full access to its previously outlined resources. Operating activities of the company have proceeded unaffected throughout the course of this event, and it has requested that the temporary suspension of the company’s ordinary shares on AIM is now lifted.
Comment: It should be the case that after the hysteria to start the week regarding the fall of SVB, we see the return of companies like POLX, as providing a soothing effect. After all, the processes to deal with such matters were finesses in 2008 at the time of the Global Financial Crisis.
OKYO Pharma (OKYO), an ophthalmology-focused bio-pharmaceutical company, announced a “reasonable best efforts” offering of its ADSs on the Nasdaq Capital Market and a subscription for new ordinary shares of no par value. OKYO will issue 3,503,665 new ADSs at a price of U.S.$1.50 per New ADS raising gross proceeds of approximately $5.3 million (before deducting expenses). OKYO said it intends to use the net proceeds of the Global Private Placement to advance OK-101 to fund the initial Phase 2 clinical trial of OK-101 in DED patients, and for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
Comment: Given that the clinical trial process here, due to the nature of the DED treatment, it should be expedited relatively quickly. Therefore, the $5.3m just raised should go a long way to getting OK-101 over the line, and onto to its massive addressable market.
Oracle Power (ORCP), a developer of Green Hydrogen, announced that its subsidiary, Oracle Energy, has signed a non-binding MoU with industry leaders Doosan Fuel Cell Co., Ltd, the Korean fuel cell and hydrogen company, and HyAxiom Inc., a global fuel cell and hydrogen solution provider, to jointly explore fuel cell opportunities for industrial power generation in Pakistan. ORCP said “Oracle Energy’s collaboration with Doosan Fuel Cell and HyAxiom sets up yet another potential market for the 55,000 tonnes of clean energy output from its planned flagship Green Hydrogen Project in Pakistan, as it will work towards establishing a prototype industrial power unit to provide power to large-scale industry.
Comment: Oracle Power continues to step up the pace on the newsflow, and in terms of those it is involved with, is punching well above its weight. The key here is to secure the market for its massive 55,000 tonnes Green Hydrogen project, a process which appears to be gathering momentum.
Upland Resources (UPL) announced the appointment of Prof. Andrew Hurst and Gerard Murray to the Upland Big Oil SK334 Joint Technical Study committee as Geological Governance Lead and Corporate Advisor respectively. UBO is the Sarawakian joint venture entity jointly owned by Upland Resources’ wholly owned subsidiary Upland Resources Sarawak Sdn Bhd in its joint venture with local partner Big Oil Ventures Sdn Bhd. The company said progress to date has been excellent on Block SK334. Operations in South East Asia have reached a significant milestone for Upland. Block SK334 offers a low cost, high impact, onshore development in a known geopolitically supportive region.
Comment: It is interesting that UPL is having to keep singing its praises and prospects, with so far just the small cap cognoscenti getting behind it. Chart wise the shares are looking for a break of their 50 day moving average at 0.66p to deliver a best case scenario 2-3 months timeframe target of as high as 1p.
Alkemy Capital Investments (ALK) and its wholly-owned subsidiary Tees Valley Lithium Limited reported that TVL’s lithium hydroxide refinery at Teesside features significantly in the Critical Minerals Asssociation’s paper entitled “Midstream Processing and Refining: Unlocking Security of Supply”. ALK / TVL said they welcomed the Critical Minerals Association’s latest paper and its conclusions strongly support Tees Valley Lithium’s strategy that will see its lithium hydroxide project form a significant component of the UK’s transition to electric vehicles.
Comment: We are reminded once again, that not only is ALK / TVL proposition at Teeside a company maker, it is also key the energy transition, and therefore mean ALK / TVL will be walking hand in hand with the UK Government’s, and continue to receive its backing.
Rockfire Resources (ROCK), the gold, base metal and critical mineral exploration company, advised the market that ASX-listed Sunshine Gold Limited (ASX:SHN) has provided an update of its exploration activities at the Lighthouse tenement to the Australian Stock Exchange. Sunshine Gold Limited is farming into the Lighthouse tenement and has the option to earn a maximum 75% interest in the tenement by expenditure of AUD$2.2m over a 3-year period. ROCK said it’s great to see such rapid progress by the Sunshine exploration team and is confident that Sunshine will continue to tenaciously explore the Plateau tenement.
Comment: After the recent flurry of news regarding Molaoi / Greece, ROCK reminds us of its Australian asset / Lighthouse, and that the progress here could be an added significant fundamental driver for the company.
Zenith Energy (ZEN), the energy company, provided an update on its electricity production operations at the Torrente Cigno Concession during the months of January and February 2023.
The company produced a total of approximately 1,015 megawatt hours during the month of January 2023, and a total of approximately 929 MWh during the month of February 2023, resulting in cumulative total net revenues of approximately EUR 313,000 for the period. Production costs are EUR 35,000.
Comment: While Zenith may be associated with hydrocarbons, it can be seen with today’s announcement that the company has a high margin electricity production capability. All of this at a time of an extreme energy crisis.
EnSilica (ENSI), a mixed signal chip maker, announced that, further to the closing of the Retail Offer yesterday, new shares will be issued at the Issue Price of 70p under the Retail Offer, raising £18,344.20 before expenses. The company said it welcomes this ongoing support from its shareholders and looks forward to updating the market on our continued progress over the coming months.
Comment: Given the state of the stock market one would imagine that the company saying it “welcomes this ongoing support” of £18m, could be classed as an example of Great British understatement.
IamFire (FIRE) announced that following its acquisition of the right to subscribe for a CLN constituting up to £3,750,000 convertible loan notes in WeShop Holdings Limited, it has agreed to subscribe for a further £200,000 of CLNs. This follows the company’s subscription of £2.5m to date. The total subscription in the CLN Instrument therefore totals £2,700,000. FIRE provided an update on WeShop performance where user downloads for the WeShop platform as at 9 March 2023 were over 100,000 up from 43,000 last reported by FIRE on 21 November 2022. Total purchases through the platform now total over 100,000 with an annualised Gross Merchandise Value of £27.9m as at the end of February 2023 (over a 4 month average) compared to the last reported figure of £12.1m for October 2022. The list of retailers affiliated to WeShop continues to grow with recent additions including John Lewis, Sports Direct, TicketMaster, booking.com and skyscanner. WeShop said that the continued growth of the WeShop community demonstrates the strength of the underlying proposition of community ownership in the platform. It is encouraging to see so many influencers from a variety of backgrounds becoming engaged as ambassadors and also to see the continued conversion of blue-chip affiliate retailer partners coming on board.
Comment: WeShop continues to have the validation of FIRE topping up its holding to £2.7m, but also sharply rising metrics in terms of merchandise value and downloads. Having blue chip retail names on the platform confirms the robustness of the community ownership concept.
Aterian (ATN), the critical and strategic metal-focused exploration and development company, announce results, including 4.43 % Cu and 3.11 % Cu from brecciated vein samples from geological work completed on the Company’s Jebilet Est Project. The Project, which covers an area of 45.2 km2, is located north of Marrakech within the Marrakech-Safi Region of the Kingdom of Morocco. The company said these results from the work on the Jebilet Est Project are highly encouraging and further demonstrate the strong potential of our portfolio of copper-focused targets in Morocco.
Comment: A very impressive update in terms of the chunky copper grades from a company which is still relatively under the radar. Today’s update should see the shares build on their 50% share price rebound from the beginning of last month, ideally heading to a technical / chart target as high as 1.10p as soon as the end of this month.
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