It would appear that we were treated to precisely eight and a half hours of non stop torture for retail investors and no doubt many others looking for a decent rally for the stock market. A combination of end of tax year effects, and the now quite frequent end of the month dip, meant that it many traders were not only having their wings clipped, but pulled off their body. But at least a positive point to note is that such a session certainly sorted out the wheat from the chaff not only in terms of investor mettle, but also as far as individual stock was concerned. A company whose shares rose on such a day must be outstanding in some respect.
Top of this list of stock gainers in a falling market, if only on the basis that it has been highlighted here earlier this week with respect to “significant interest in its USA license position and it plans to maximise this position” was Webis (WEB). Shares of the gaming group were up another 26% given ongoing speculation regarding what may happen in the US regarding its assets, as well as the aftermath of the revelation regarding the group’s return to profitability.
A somewhat less likely rebound was seen in Ascent Resources (AST), the onshore Caribbean, Hispanic American and European focused energy and natural resources company. Here the shares bounced 11% after the company said last week that it intends to initiate arbitration proceedings against the Republic of Slovenia after it failed to set forward a damages proposal and confirmed that an amicable settlement is presently not achievable. It will be interesting to see whether another company fighting a David and Goliath battle, Fox Marble (FOX), manages to do in its quest. The usual rule in the small caps space is that binary bets only tend to be positive when the come out of the blue – not when they are waited on.
An even more unlikely as a rebound candidate than Ascent Resources was Moroccan focused upstream gas company Sound Energy (SOU), a group which has perhaps rather kindly been referred to as a roller coaster on the bulletin boards. Here the shares were up 38%, to close at a 6 month high of 1.8p backed by the idea that the progress has been made on the group’s liquefied gas project in Tendrara. Recent analyst commentary suggesting a shift by the Moroccan authorities towards gas, has helped Sound Energy’s cause, with the latest share price rise and apparently genuine European sourced media coverage regarding a possible $25m project being agreed likely to trigger a RNS, whether of the speeding ticket variety or not, imminently.
It has certainly been a busy month so far for global esports organisation Gild (GILD). So far we have witnessed the group win its first major trophy via its four Fortnite pro-players, the signing of Jannis Matwin “JannisZ” as the fifth member of its pro Fortnite team, and finally being able to welcome Subway as the Company’s Official Quick-Service Restaurant Partner . Here we have witnessed the signing of a two-year multi-million-pound sponsorship deal covering 55 markets in the EMEA region. Given the demographic of the David Beckham backed group, it can be imagined that Gild has in many ways, found the perfect sponsor. Shares of the Gild were up 10% in additional dealings before closing just above the gain line.
Metals processing company, Jubilee Metals (JLP) announced its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2020. As we have seen in the recent past, it was another bumper performance. CEO Leon Coetzer said that among the highlights for him were the acquisition of the rights to almost 300 million tonnes of copper and cobalt tailings with the completion of five major transactions in Zambia; the maturity of operations and continued delivery of record PGM and Chrome earnings in South Africa; and a 110 % increase in Group Revenue to £53.4 million resulting in attributable earnings of £ 30.9 million. Shares of Jubilee rose nearly 2%.
Another company delivering its third significant piece of newsflow this month is Tirupati Graphite (TGR) the fully integrated, revenue generating, specialist graphite producer and graphene developer with operations in Madagascar and India. It said it has strengthened its team across its three business units to support its rapid growth with the highlight being the appointment of world-leading graphene scientist and mineral processing technology expert, Dr S. K. Biswal. Shares of Tirupati rallied 4% to 102p, as compared to their market debut at 45p as recently as December.
Topping off an active month as well in March is DeepVerge (DVRG), the multi-faceted environmental and life science AI company. It said that CEO Gerry Brandon will be providing a live presentation relating to Project Updates – Labskin, Skin Trust Club, Modern Water – Wastewater & Breath Test via the Investor Meet Company platform on 31st Mar 2021.
Rapidly growing specialist pharmaceutical services clinical research organisation and world leader in vaccine and antiviral testing using human challenge clinical trials, Open Orphan (ORPH), announced an update in the world’s first COVID-19 characterisation study. Here the group said that the first three volunteers have now successfully completed the quarantine phase of their study participation with no safety concerns presented and have been discharged from the unit. The study, conducted by Open Orphan subsidiary hVIVO at the Royal Free Hospital, is funded by the UK Government and Imperial College London is the clinical study sponsor.
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