It would seem that UK investors were largely sanguine regarding the latest news that Amsterdam, has thrown away its tulips and overtaken London as the premier share trading hub in Europe to start 2021. The moral of the story is that given this Government (and all since 1990) clearly did not want Brexit to occur, and has been happy to adopt a scorched earth policy as far as this country’s interests.
Crypto app Mode Global (MODE) and crypto miner Argo Blockchain (ARB) both saw their shares end up on the day (11% and 9% respectively), after a weak start. There cause was helped by a 5% rise for Bitcoin over the past 24 hours, once again leaving the digital asset knocking on the door of $50,000. That said, digital assets investor KR1 (AQUIS:KR1) which rests in the relative peace and tranquillity of the Aquis Exchange, saw its share price rise 39%. It has been helped along by the focus on the smaller ticket, newer digital assets / blockchain, where the gearing is all the more attractive. One presumes that if it had been on the main market it might already be in the FTSE 100. The present market cap is £180m.
It was an interesting session for long dated income play Dukemount (DKE) where for a change, traders seemed to be more focused on the state of the order book and potential end of the recent fundraise overhang, rather than obsessing on the timing of forthcoming deal making. Indeed, it was starting to appear that the company was becoming a de facto SPAC, one of the best performers on the London market for small caps year to date. Of course, with SPACS, and shells, the higher the share price, the more value there is to do a deal / make an acquisition. Shares of Dukemount added 13%.
This week has witnessed a couple of recent IPO’s deliver decent newsflow, with Tirupati Graphite (TGR) seeing its shares rally towards the best levels towards 90p versus the 45p float price. The trading update from brand protection group Brandshield Systems (BRSD) continues A grade newsflow, which culminated in the wow factor associated with December’s contract with Bristol Meyer’s Squibb. This has set a firm tone to share price, especially when added to the company’s overall 71% increase in Annual Recurring Revenue to $3.278m reported in the latest RNS. Those who believe the migration to online in the wake of the pandemic is here to stay, would as the company has said, appreciate that internal systems protections are indispensable for corporates. Shares of Brandshield Systems rose 2%.
It has been like Woodstock all over again, as far as the amount of interest in the cannabis area at the moment on the stock market. This has been derived not only from the Reddit brigade pumping all things CBD, but also great timing from Israeli medicinal cannabis firm MGC Pharma (MXC) listing 6.5m shares on the London market this week. Given how backward lawmakers, and even the medical establishment have been in this space – for the longest time, it looks as though finally in the wake of the pandemic the floodgates may finally be open. The result has been another 50% jump for MGC shares to 4.15p, comparing very well with the sub 1.5p placing price for market insiders / friends of the family.
An intriguing market, given that there was no new news from the company itself, came in the form of a 12% rise in shares of waste to energy specialist Powerhouse Energy (PHE). This came on the day Hydrogen Utopia International announced a 10 waste to energy units project in Konin, Poland reached in agreement with the Mayor of the city. The new Polish Centre of Hydrogen is set to be backed by €12 million under the EU Innovation Grant, with €60 million to be applied for from the Just Transition Fund and matched by funds from the Polish Government. In November, Powerhouse and Hydrogen Utopia signed a non-binding Heads of Terms with Hydrogen Utopia International for Powerhouse’s DMG® technology, to be licenced in Poland.
While things seemed to have gone into consolidation mode for investment group Gunsynd (GUN) since a raft of liquidity events at the end of last year, the latest exit from Angold looks to have focused minds. Indeed, these minds were helped along with the latest TR1 news from serial entrepreneur Chris Akers, as it was announced he had topped up his stake from 4% to 5%. Shares of Gunsynd rose 2%.
Finally, one of the best and most logical risers of the day was Nuvec® drug delivery system group N4 Pharma (N4P) with the stock finally delivering the kind of share price rise of 55% that its ardent followers have been demanding. What has been noticeable over the past year is the way that there have been several flash in the pan / one day wonder rallies – effectively bull traps. The ideal scenario now in the wake of the latest news regarding the European Patent Office’s intention to grant a European Patent in relation to Nuvec®, is that there is decent follow through on the spike. For instance, as long ago as three years ago shares of N4 Pharma – without the latest green light, were trading at 30p plus.
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