SMALL CAP MOVERS: AIM shares barely flicker after Labour landslide
Keir Starmer’s landslide election victory was greeted with a collective ‘meh’ by investors in the small-cap market.
The AIM All-Share was barely moved on Friday and the rest of the week, rising about half a percentage point to 773.89.
Compare this to the FTSE 100, which returned almost triple digits over the same period, rising 1.2 percent.
Of course, the big companies have something tangible to be happy about, with the expected investments in new housing, green energy and infrastructure.
Shrug: Keir Starmer’s landslide election victory was greeted with a collective ‘meh’ by investors in the small-cap market
For the smaller fish on the market, the picture is a bit more nuanced. A fall in the base rate will inevitably attract some risk capital from the sidelines.
However, experts believe that structural reforms are needed (particularly within AIM) to give growth companies faster and easier access to investment than is currently the case.
A quiet week for news still produced some big losers. The microcap specialist engineer, PipeHawk fell 78 percent after the company said it was taking steps to place subsidiary QM Systems into receivership, possibly “or a similar bankruptcy process.”
In a short statement to the stock market, it was said that the reason for this was the failure of QM to secure two “major orders” that the bank was expecting.
It was far from a golden week for Chaarat Gold Holdings Ltd, which fell 63 percent due to the debt crisis — specifically, $38.9 million in convertible notes maturing at the end of the month and another $1.2 million on Sept. 30.
Chaarat said limited progress had been made with Xiwang International Company on a previously announced financing package.
Meanwhile, negotiations have been underway in recent weeks with representatives of the convertible bond holders to discuss a possible restructuring of the outstanding debt.
Active energy Shares fell 51 percent after the green fuels group’s board effectively gave the company its last rites by voting to voluntarily liquidate its members.
Physiotherapy fell 46 percent, showing how difficult it is to raise money for small caps by offering new shares at a 50 percent discount.
The medicines modeller raised just £381,000 at 0.6p, while a separate retail offering via Winterflood’s WRAP platform raised a further £25,000.
Gases that were lighter than air had the effect of increasing the stock price of Bluejay miningwhich increased by 75 percent.
Specifically, it has discovered helium and hydrogen in the Finnish Outokumpu Belt. In addition, there were other naturally occurring industrial gases such as argon and xenon.
The interest surrounding Bluejay and others in this arena, such as Helix exploration (up by 3 percent) and Helium One (a 15 percent drop) is based on the shortage of helium, which is used in medical scanning equipment and semiconductor manufacturing.
Demand for hydrogen is likely to increase as demand for green fuels and energy increases.
Image Scan Holdings jumped 61 percent after it revealed it had secured a contract with a “prominent UK defence contractor” to supply its ThreatScan portable X-ray system. The deal is worth around £3 million over three years.
British oil and gas enjoyed a rare ‘up week’ with a 35 percent rise after it was revealed the company is leading a project to create large hydrogen storage units beneath the former British naval base at Portland Harbour, Dorset.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, the plan involves digging 19 caverns, each the size of St Paul’s Cathedral, to store hydrogen for emergencies during power shortages from wind and solar power.
The news came two weeks after UKOG suffered a huge setback after the High Court permanently blocked Horse Hill, the company’s oil well in the Surrey area.
The ruling does indeed have implications for the future development of new onshore activities.
One for the watchlist is a tiddler cited by Aquis that seems to be flying under the radar. The company is called Coinsilium, run by seasoned entrepreneurs Malcolm Palle and Eddy Travia.
It invests in and advises Web3 companies; in other words, companies involved in blockchain technology, decentralization, and token-based activities. It has released a flurry of news this week that has largely gone unnoticed by the investing public.
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