Share Talk Weekly Small Cap Movers & Shakers, Sunday 9th February 2025

The FTSE 100 climbed to a new record following Thursday’s Bank of England interest rate cut.

London’s blue-chip index increased by 0.4% to 8,710 as the weekend approached, while the FTSE 250 fell by 0.1% to 20,930 amid broader macroeconomic worries. Junior stocks mirrored the performance of their blue-chip counterparts, with the AIM all-share index rising by 0.2% to 720.

UBS has increased its gold price forecast to a modest $3,000 per ounce, citing growing investor demand, central bank acquisitions, and global uncertainty. Amid fears that a potential trade war could drive up inflation, gold surged to a new all-time high. The metal was trading at $2,886.79 per ounce—a 1.2% increase for the day—and has risen 42% over the past year.

Are green shoots beginning to appear in the junior market?

It certainly seems so, given the recent spate of fundraisers. Faron Pharmaceuticals Limited led the way by raising £10 million this week. Not to be outdone, RC Fornax PLC secured £6.15 million on Wednesday through the junior market’s first initial public offering of the year. This strong start to February follows January’s impressive total of £94 million raised—building on an unexpectedly active December—and offers tentative signs of emerging growth.

Helix Exploration PLC joined the fray by raising £5 million, while Quadrise PLC attracted £6.53 million to help commercialise its cleaner fuel products, MSAR and BioMSAR. In addition, sodium-reduction innovator MicroSalt garnered £2.3 million to scale up its B2B sales to snack manufacturers.

Quantum Blockchain Technologies PLC, Mkango Resources Ltd, and Oxford BioDynamics PLC also deserve recognition, having raised £2.0 million, £2.3 million, and £7.4 million respectively.

Movers

Among the AIM winners, Orosur Mining (OMI) has unveiled additional drilling results from the Pepas prospect at the Anza project, highlighting its substantial potential. The four most recent drill holes registered gold grades as high as 7.24g/t, bringing the total number of holes with significant gold intersections to eleven. Consequently, the share price surged 96.7% to 12p—its highest level in more than two years.

Buoyed by share buying, Enteq Technologies’ (NTQ) price rebounded by 55% to 2.8p. The stock had previously tumbled after the company released a disappointing trading statement and initiated a formal sale process to be managed by Gneiss Energy. Enteq has already reached out to several interested parties and is currently in discussions with two of them. Additionally, the estate of William Black has reduced its stake from 24.6% to 20.7%.

Gfinity (GFIN) has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with 0M Technology Solutions to commercialize 0M’s AI platform, Connected IQ (CIQ). The company plans to leverage its extensive network and connections in the advertising sector to drive the adoption of CIQ. Under the agreement, Gfinity will earn 30% of the net profits generated by the license, though the speed of sales growth remains uncertain. In related news, Gfinity has raised £260,000 at 0.0625p per share, with the new shares accompanied by warrants exercisable at 0.09p per share. This development contributed to a 43.88% rise in the share price, which now stands at 0.10p.

Xeros Technology Holdings Group PLC (XSG) also saw impressive gains, climbing 47% following a major breakthrough in the commercialisation of its eco-friendly washing technology. The company announced it had secured a letter of intent with a leading electronics distributor for its XF3 microfibre filter, paving the way for sales in major retail outlets from late 2025.

Staffline PLC (STAF) experienced a 23% boost after reporting record cash flow and profits that surpassed expectations for 2024. Tuesday’s results indicated that revenue rose 12.8% to £1.06 billion, driven by strong demand in recruitment services, while profit increased 9% to £88.1 million, and net cash stood at £9.7 million.

Ilika PLC (IKA) was another standout, surging 26% after signalling a significant step towards commercialising its Goliath battery. Working alongside the UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC), Ilika announced on Wednesday that it had successfully demonstrated the scalability of key manufacturing processes using existing gigafactory equipment.

Mkango Resources (MKA) has successfully raised £2.34m through a placing at 8p per share. The funds will be allocated towards further developing recycling facilities in both Germany and the UK. As a result, the share price surged by 29.37% to 11.76p, reaching its highest level since the end of 2023.

FALLERS

RA International (RAI)‘s directors have decided to seek shareholder approval to exit AIM. The company, a remote services provider for global organizations, claims that current disclosure requirements hinder its operations by giving competitors better insight into its strategy. Additionally, confidentiality agreements make it challenging to provide investors with the desired information. Liquidity is limited, as Soraya Narfeldt and Lars Narfeldt own over 80% of the company. Trading has been further affected by delays in contract mobilisation, and a loss is anticipated for 2024.  Consequently, the share price plunged 86.9% to 0.85p.

Lung Life AI (LLAI), is planning to delist from AIM while continuing discussions with a strategic partner to help commercialize its lung cancer tests. However, a deal does not appear likely in the short term, and the company’s current cash reserve of $1.31 million is expected to last only until later in the second quarter. A public share issue also seems unviable. Without an alternative funding source, the company could be forced to wind up its operations. Consequently, the share price has fallen by 80.5% to 2p.

This week Woodbois (WBI) reported a shortage of working capital and an increase in creditors. The company expects that cash flow will improve once production resumes. Meanwhile, BGFI Bank in Gabon has been granted permission to initiate proceedings against Woodbois to recover €790,000 in debt. Financing alternatives are currently under exploration. Consequently, the share price dropped by 42.4% to 0.0475p.

Iomart (IOM) has reported that churn remains high among its self-managed infrastructure clients, and renewals in its private cloud services have declined. Meanwhile, Cavendish has revised its forecast for 2024-25 pre-tax profit from £10.4 million to £6.6 million, with expectations of a further drop to £5 million next year, due to its high fixed cost base. As a result, the share price fell by 21.7% to 46.5p.