If traders were hurting in the wake of the IG margin hike to start the week, they were not showing it. Indeed, the protest against the goalposts being moved was to show that they had certainly looked beyond it. This meant that the dip we saw to start the week was being bought into, with reference to the stocks which were either on the list of 900 affected, or stocks that were sold off to meet margin calls. Wall Street reaching all time highs again did no harm either.
The A(AA) Team a.k.a All Active Asset Capital (AAA)* was back in town, as if it had ever left. A week after news of subscription option agreements of 100m a piece at 50p with Ramsey Consultants Ltd and Candy Ventures SARL, the investment offices of, respectively, David Rosen and Nick Candy, Ramsey Consultants declared it was on the AAA shareholder register with 2.76% (adding to the 9% of existing voting rights). Shares of AAA rebounded 6% to 33.5p.
One of the gripes as far as tech stocks are concerned on the London market, is that they are perhaps not as appreciated as they might be if listed in the US. This point was addressed by crypto miner Argo Blockchain (ARB), as it announced that trading in the Company’s Ordinary Shares will begin on the OTCQX Best Market in the United States, under the ticker symbol “ARBKF”. Argo has upgraded to OTCQX from the OTCQB Venture Market. Shares in Argo bounced 22p to 235p, mirroring a recovery in Bitcoin after its initial sell off earlier this week.
There are TR1s and there are TR1s. In the case of “specialist” lender Amigo (AMGO), long suffering shareholders will have had their hearts filled with joy at seeing JP Morgan on the shareholder register at 4.59%. Arguably, this would be the political equivalent of Winston Churchill returning to take over from Boris Johnson. The US investment bank move has added to a recent positive sentiment change surrounding the company, with even bear trader / erstwhile bon viveur Evil Knievel, singing the stock’s praises and looking for a multi-bagger in his Master Investor column this week. Shares of Amigo were up 14% as they look forward to a journey to the Promise Land via the High Court and the FCA.
The smaller oil stocks seem to be accelerating their recent recovery, with both i3 Energy (I3E) and Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL) particular standouts for special reasons. In the case of i3 Energy, investors are not only looking to a maiden dividend announcement by the end of Q1 2020, they have also been boosted by a reiterated buy rating at Canaccord Genuity, as well as a raised profit target at 15p. The shares rose 14% to 7.7p.
In the case of Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL), the stock was up 15% to 0.34p. The cause was helped by the company tweeting out an updated presentation regarding the Atomic Oil and Gas acquisition. Last week COPL announced that it had been notified that its previously announced $65m Senior Credit Facility was approved by the Investment Committee of the Lender, a significant positive step in the previously disclosed planned process of obtaining financing and completing the closing of its proposed acquisition.
After months of churn and frustration, there was a meaningful breakout for shares of United Oil & Gas (UOG), as traders noted that a rather heavy seller may have finally been seen off. It would appear that the straw that might have broken the seller’s back (so to speak) was the previous day’s update on the testing of the ASH-3 development well in the Abu Sennan concession, onshore Egypt. United holds a 22% non-operating interest in Abu Sennan, which is operated by Kuwait Energy Egypt. Shares of the “growing” oil and gas company grew 21%, helped by a fresh TR1 on the day.
Another situation where it appeared that someone who has not appreciated that we are in the best bull market for 20 years, and that they may have exited near the bottom, was Non Standard Finance (NSF). Here the shares rose 29% in the wake of the previous day’s update. What may have tickled the fancy of the longs was not only the lender saying that it has continued to operate within its financial covenants, or even that as at 31 December, 2020 cash at bank had increased to £78m and gross borrowings were £330m. It was likely to have been the revelation that the Board has commenced work on a substantial capital raise with the support of Alchemy (its largest shareholder) with a view to completing this in the second quarter of 2021.
Disclaimer:
Zakmir.com is a purely journalistic website – Zak Mir is a member of the National Union of Journalists. There is no intention here of providing financial advice. It is recommended you seek an independent professional opinion before deciding whether or not to take any action with regard to anything written here.
*The author currently owns shares in All Active Asset Capital.
