Hybridan Small Cap Feast: 01/12/23

Dish of the day
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What’s cooking in the IPO kitchen?** 

1 December: Investment Evolution Credit ITF: An U.K. registered fintech group that specialise in online consumer loans, announces its application for Admission to the AQSE Growth Market. The Company currently provides online consumer loans in the U.S. under the brand Mr. Amazing Loans and plans to provide online consumer loans in the U.K. under the  brand IEC Credit. Expected AQSE Admission is on 14 December 2023.

30 November: Flex Labs ITF: a software business engaged in the development of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) middleware products, intending to offer these to business customers through a software as a service (SaaS) model announces its application for Admission to the AQSE Growth Market. Expected AQSE Admission date is on or around the 15 December 2023.

23 November: Substrate Artificial Intelligence ITF: An artificial intelligence Company based in Spain that creates, buys and scales companies around AI in diverse sectors such as fintech, agritech, energy, human resources, and health announces its Admission to the Aquis Growth Market. Expected AQSE Admission date is on or around the 7 December 2023.

15 November: Afentra Plc ITF: Formerly Sterling Energy plc, and launched in 2021 to support the African energy transition as a independent oil and gas company announces its Admission to AIM pursuant to the Sonangol Acquisition which constitutes a reverse takeover and therefore admission is being sought as a result of such reverse take-over. The Company will not be raising new capital as part of its Admission. Anticipated market capitalisation on Admission will be c.£65m. Expected AIM Admission date is expected mid-December.

9 November: Chapel Down Group ITF:  England's leading and largest wine producer with an award-winning range of sparkling and still wines, under the Chapel Down brand. The Company owns, leases and sources from 1,023 acres of vineyards in South East England announces its Admission to AIM after its transfer from the Aquis Apex market. The Company will not be raising new capital or providing a secondary offering as part of its Admission. Anticipated market capitalisation on Admission will be c.£75m. Expected AIM Admission date is 7 December 2023.

2 October: Tekcapital announced intention to spin off and IPO: MicroSalt, the developer of salt-producing technology designed to deliver full flavor with less sodium, announces the launch of an exempt public offer of shares to retail investors for up to £2.5m via PrimaryBid as part of its spin out from AIM listed Tekcapital plc (TEK.L). Microsalt announced revenues of US$0.638m in 2022, its first year of retail sales of SaltMe Crisp brand and Microsalt salt shakers in US based supermarkets and through Amazon US. AIM Admission delayed, expected mid-December.

Banquet Buffet*** 

ADM Energy* 0.6p  £2.4m (ADME.L) Follow | ADME

The natural-resources investing company announces that the Board has concluded that opportunities available to it in energy technology, such as the OFX Technologies, LLC investment announced 29 November 2023, present a compelling path to growth in per share value and cash flow.  As a result, the Board has resolved to consider alternatives for monetising its 12.3% cost share and 9.2% profit share interest in the Aje Field, OML-113 offshore Lagos, Nigeria. Alternatives to be considered by the Company for Aje include its sale, a joint-venture, farming-out or other such transactions. Energy Equity Resources (Nigeria), Ltd., a 16.8% cost share and 12.6% profit share partner in the Aje consortium, will work with the Company on potential alternatives involving third party financing to meet the requirements of both EER and the Company related to the Aje.

Agronomics Limited 10.4p £103.3m (ANIC.L) Follow | ANIC

The company focused on the field of cellular agriculture, announce that its portfolio company, Clean Food Group, has reached a partnership agreement with Roberts Bakery Ltd (Roberts Bakery), to use Roberts Bakery's surplus bread as a feedstock for its proprietary non-GMO yeast strain in the production of its precision fermentation palm oil. Waste bread is a significant concern to producers and retailers, with studies finding that nearly one million tonnes of bread are lost from the supply chain each year. Agronomics has an equity ownership of 30.59% on a fully diluted basis in Clean Food Group.

Brand Architekts Group 26.5p £7.4m (BAR.L) Follow | BAR

The British Beauty brand business, announces on 30th June 2023, a resolution of its legal claim with Jamie Stevens Media Limited (JSML), its joint venture counterparty/co-shareholder in Mr Haircare Ltd. The Group agreed to a full and final settlement of all claims and to purchase JSML's 55% shareholding in Mr Haircare Ltd in cash at a fair value price to be determined by an external valuer. An independent valuer was appointed and JSML's shareholding has been valued at £535k. Final payment will be made shortly. The acquisition of MR Haircare is in line with the company's strategic vision to invest and build its portfolio of high-performance, problem-solving and margin accretive brands. The brand will be relaunched as 'MR Expert Solutions' and the company's vision is to consolidate its position in the Men's Thicken and Disguise haircare category and then expand the brand into adjacent male grooming problem solving categories.

CML Microsystems 390p £60.7m (CML.L) Follow | CML

The  developer of mixed-signal, RF and microwave semiconductors for global communications markets, announces that Mark McCabe has been appointed as an Executive Director to the Board of the Company as Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately. Mark joined the Group in 2016 as Managing Director of the Communications business division. Immediately prior to joining CML, Mark was UK business unit manager for Air Liquide, a world leader in the supply of gases to the nuclear, food and electronics markets. Mark qualified as an Electrical and Electronic Engineer working in various Ministry of Defence establishments.

Kibo Energy* 0.045p £1.7m (KIBO.L) Follow | KIBO

The renewable energy-focused development company, announces that further to its previous announcements dated 23 October 2023 and 13 November 2023, respectively, its subsidiary Mast Energy Developments PLC (MED) announces that, under the terms of the binding Joint Venture Agreement (JVA), Proventure Holdings (UK) Ltd, part of the Proventure Group (Proventure), has failed to meet the conditions to complete the transaction by the contractually agreed completion long-stop date of 30 November 2023. Under the terms of the JVA, in addition to the foregoing penalties, should the JVA be terminated, Proventure shall furthermore pay to MED liquidated damages as a sum equal to 5% of the total investment value due and any reasonable costs and expenses incurred by MED in connection with the agreement. In consideration of the delays, MED has proceeded with advanced discussions with an alternative institutional investor to secure the necessary funding required to advance MED's development plans.

Mind Gym 38.5p  £38.6m (MIND.L) Follow | MIND

The provider of human capital and business improvement solutions, announces its results for the six months ended 30 September 2023. H1 FY24 revenue was £20.9m, down 22% (H1 FY23: £26.8m) impacted by economic headwinds, resulting in delays and cancellations in Q2, particularly in the US. Cash at 30 September 2023 was £2.1m (31 March 2023: £7.6m). The Company has immediate access to £2.0m of its undrawn £10.0m debt facility. Since the start of October, there have been several notable project wins in EMEA but conversion of opportunities in the US remains slow. The Company has completed an annualised £8.0m cost reduction exercise, of which £3.0m will benefit FY24. The pipeline of opportunities and the revised cost base will enable a return to strong profitability in H2 FY24. The Group continues to target a medium-term EBITDA margin of 15% to 20%.

Rainbow Rare Earths 14.5p £90.6m (RBW.L) Follow | RBW

The developer of rare earth mineral projects in South Africa and Burundi, announces that its technical partner K-Tech, was invited to provide a written and oral testimony at a U.S. Congressional Hearing on “The Role of Federal Research in Establishing a Robust U.S. Supply Chain of Critical Minerals and Materials” on Thursday 30 November 2023. Rainbow has worked alongside K-Tech to jointly develop a unique process that offers the potential to recover critical rare earths from phosphogypsum, as is being applied at the Phalaborwa project in South Africa. Rainbow will also be using the K-Tech proprietary continuous ion exchange and continuous ion chromatography separation technology at its Phalaborwa rare earth development project, which will allow for the material to be processed into separated rare earth oxides of 99.95% purity.

Scancell Holdings 11.4p £93.4m (SCLP.L) Follow | SCLP

The developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease, announces the completion of a placing as announced on 30 November 2023. New Placing Shares have been placed at the Issue Price of 11 pence per share. In total, the Company raised gross proceeds of approximately £10.7m. The Issue Price represents a discount of approximately 10.2% to the middle market closing price on 29 November 2023. The Placing Shares and the Subscription Shares together represent approximately 11.8% of the existing ordinary shares.

t42 IoT Tracking Solutions 4.25p £2.3m (TRAC.L) Follow | TRAC

The company that operates a Low-Earth orbit (LEO) 5G IoT satellite constellation, has agreed to collaborate to boost their connected containers offerings. t42 intends to incorporate 5G-IoT communication modules into its existing and future devices deployed in containers for its more than 50 logistics partners worldwide. Sateliot's unique technology allows extending 5G NarrowBand-IoT connectivity to anywhere in the world without terrestrial coverage. The significance of this technology lies in the premise that operators can connect to the nanosatellite network via a roaming service when they need to extend their coverage. Furthermore, the low cost per device and connection is an added advantage driving this innovation.

Van Elle Holdings 35.5p £37.9m (VANL.L) Follow | VANL

The ground engineering contractor provides a trading update for the six months ended 31 October 2023 (H1 FY24. The Group expects to report revenues of approximately £68m, down 16% year-on-year. The net funds position was £8.9m (30 April 2023: £7.5m) and the Group’s undrawn funding facility is up to £11m. Subdued activity levels remain in some of the Group’s end markets, particularly the housebuilding sector, which is expected to continue into H2 FY24. The order book at 31 October 2023 increased to £32.7m (30 April 2023: £30.8m), excluding framework agreements and preferred bidder positions, provides a strong platform entering the second half. The Board continues to expect results in line with market expectations for the current financial year and is confident in the Group’s outlook over the medium term.

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