(Alliance News) – Ofgem’s price cap is to rise by 13% from July 1 driven by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the regulator for Great Britain has said. The jump will equate to a rise of GBP18 a month for the average household using both electricity and gas, with households seeing an increase of 24% on their gas bills and 5% on their electricity bills.
Ofgem Chief Executive Tim Jarvis said: “Today’s price change reflects continued volatility in global energy markets. This means higher wholesale gas prices, driven by ongoing conflict in the Middle East, is impacting the price we pay for energy.
Comment: Energy prices continue to be a national scandal and an international laughing stock. What country can have such contempt for its people to allow such costs to be charged, and all within the “oversight” of Ofgem. One would prefer Dracula in charge of a blood bank that Ofgem in its current role. Off with its head!
Sovereign Metals Limited (SVML) announced significant heavy rare earth metallurgical testwork results at its Kasiya Rutile-Graphite Project (Kasiya or the Project) in Malawi. The testwork was conducted on monazite concentrates recovered from four pits in the Project’s Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) mine plan. The results confirm that the heavy rare earth content of Dy, Tb and Yttrium first reported in January 2026 (See ASX Announcement dated 21 January 2026) is present in pits scheduled for the early years of production at Kasiya, with average TREO basket ratios approximately 7x higher than the world’s five largest rare earth producers. Heavy rare earth content is highest in the near-surface (0-6m) which returns DyTb and Yttrium ratios within the TREO basket materially above those of the deeper horizon.
Comment: One wonders what SVML has to prove / do in order to get the market to appreciate the merits and the correct market cap for Kasiya. This is particularly the case given the way that the company continues to reveal that this asset is a smorgasbord of minerals, indeed, increasingly more of one as time goes by. The low 30p’s seems to be something of a bargain basement zone.
Andrada Mining Limited (ATM), a tin producer with a portfolio of critical minerals mining and exploration assets in Namibia announced the approval of conditional strategic funding of NAD98 million (c. £4.4 million), from Bank Windhoek Limited (“BWL”) and the Development Bank of Namibia Limited (“DBN”). The Company also announces the completion of the expanded diamond drilling programme at its Lithium Ridge project. The Loan Facilities are for the Company’s subsidiary Uis Tin Mining Company (Pty) Ltd (“UTMC”) comprising two equal NAD49 million (c. £2.2 million) tranches, conditionally approved by BWL and DBN, both flagship, Namibian-owned institutions.
Comment: We have seen ATM continue to progress its various assets, and in an increasingly positive environment given the need for commodities securities. That said, it would appear that the market still does not fully appreciate the value in this sprawling company. It seems totally wrong that the shares remain less than half where they were three years ago, even though this company holds world class assets, such as Lithium Ridge.
Arc Minerals (ARCM), an exploration company focused on discovering and developing Tier 1 copper deposits in Africa, announced that it has executed a comprehensive Settlement Agreement, bringing to a full and final conclusion all outstanding litigation between the parties. ARCM said “I am very pleased that we have successfully reached a comprehensive and final resolution of all outstanding legal disputes in Zambia. This settlement allows us to focus entirely on advancing our exploration and development activities across Botswana and Zambia. Arc’s Kabompo West project represents one of the largest exploration footprints in the Domes region of Zambia.”
Comment: There have been high hopes periodically associated with ARCM, largely on the basis of the friends in high places such as Anglo American and Rio Tinto. But perhaps today’s settlement news may be enough to move the dial for the share price in a more down to earth way.
Arrow Exploration Corp. (AXL), the high-growth operator with a portfolio of assets across key Colombian hydrocarbon basins, announced the filing of its Interim Condensed (unaudited) Consolidated Financial Statements and Management’s Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2026. AXL said “The first quarter of 2026 has been very busy for Arrow. We completed additional development wells in the Mateguafa Attic and planned for the drilling the Icaco-1 exploration well, which proved very successful post period end. We are excited by the Icaco discovery and believe it could become a major production platform with a material impact on the Company.”
Comment: $24m in the bank and a recent $100 plus a barrel oil price mean that there is not much to think about regarding trying to gild the lily as far as what the true share price of AXL should be. Indeed, the company’s high exploration success rate is effectively thrown in for free.
Kendrick Resources (KEN), the mineral exploration and development company, advised shareholders of the completion of an internal review and analysis of historic and current work resulting in the emergence of targets consistent with our expectations for the Company’s flagship rare earth projects at Teufelskuppe (“TK”) and Kieshöhe (“KH”) in SW Namibia. The projects are the subject of a 70% earn-in interest by the Company under a definitive agreement with Bonya Exploration Pty Namibia (“Bonya”). Bonya has title to exploration licence EPL 6691.
Comment: Each day and each announcement for KEN appears to finesse the bull argument for the company, even though this has already been one of the biggest multi-bagger situations of the year to date. This rather lends itself to the idea that there could still be plenty more upside here, especially now that yesterday’s fundraise is out of the way.
Jangada Mines plc (JAN), a Brazil-focused natural resources company, provided an update from its ongoing exploration programme at its Molly Gold Project in Brazil, including high-grade drill results. These results are genuinely exciting. The Molly Gold Project is rapidly evolving into one of the most compelling gold-polymetallic discoveries in Brazil, with high-grade intercepts across two advanced targets that both remain open along strike. Molly is very typical of the thin high-grade vein projects that are in production across the Tapajós Gold Belt. These thin high-grade veins and grade variance are symptomatic of the regional geology and are in line with and complement the existing high grade historic drill results.
Comment: Given the way that shares of JAN have looked a little on the tired side in the recent past, it may be that the latest announcement has landed just in the nick of time. The main support for the stock currently is towards March’s 1.07p intraday low, which one would assume will now be a level for the bulls to trade against.
Sundae Bar Plc (SBAR), the enterprise platform deploying AI agents for business, announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2026. On 14 May 2026, the Company announced the deployment of seven autonomous AI agents across its internal technology function, effectively doubling the size of the technology team. These agents are being deployed to automate key components of the SN121 incentive mechanism, including identifying commercially valuable AI capabilities, generating evaluation challenges, benchmarking submissions, and expanding the range of deployable agent skills and enterprise workflows available through the marketplace. The deployment is expected to reduce manual workloads by over 80% and serves as a real-world demonstration of the operational capabilities being developed and commercialised through the sundae_bar platform. The Board believes this creates a scalable development flywheel whereby real-world business demand informs new SN121 challenges, developers compete to deliver the highest-performing capabilities, and successful outputs are deployed commercially through the sundae_bar marketplace.
Comment: Hands up how many people understand what SBAR is going on about? At least it is making the right noises and deserves full marks for mention the management speak word of the moment: flywheel. SBAR has only lost half a bar in the period in question, so not too bad.
Physiomics plc (PYC), a leading mathematical modelling, data science and biostatistics company supporting the development of new therapeutics and personalised medicine solutions, is pleased to announce that so far this month, it has secured multiple new contract awards with a combined value of over £345,000. The awards comprise a combination of new and follow-on engagements with respected UK and international biotechnology and oncology-focused organisations, including a NASDAQ-listed clinical-stage biotechnology company, clinical-stage therapeutics developers, and leading cancer research groups. The contracts further reinforce Physiomics’ growing reputation as a trusted scientific partner across the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors.
Comment: A rhetorical question or two? Was there a change of management at PYC because the company was about to do well, or was it because it was about to do well and a change would make it better? Perhaps we shall never know / or perhaps it does not matter. In the meantime in the wake of today’s news the shares are hurtling towards year highs through 0.8p.
ValiRx Plc (VAL), a life science company focusing on early-stage cancer therapeutics and women’s health is pleased to provide the following updates on its majority owned subsidiary Cytolytix Limited. Cytolytix’s European Patent application “Nanoparticle for Anti-Cancer Peptides and Uses Thereof” (application No. 21798092.9) has been granted in Europe with the publication number EP4225803B1. This patent, licensed from King’s College London, forms a key part of the Cytolytix intellectual property portfolio.
Comment: In the wake of today’s serious sounding announcement breakthrough, the £1m plus fundraise early this month makes sense. The only question now is whether this is enough to get the company further along its milestones, especially given that the market cap remains only just over £1m.
Afentra plc (AET), an upstream oil and gas company focused on acquiring production and development assets in Africa, announced that the Risk Service Contract (‘RSC’) for onshore Block KON4 has been formally approved and awarded by Presidential Decree on the 26 May 2026. Afentra has been awarded a 35% operated interest in KON4 alongside our local Angolan partners Grupo Simples Oil, Sonangol E&P, Brite’s Oil and Gas and Sodedurs. The formal signing of the contract is expected at a later date.
Comment: It is perhaps a shame that shares of AET are already up over 80% so far this year, and therefore it may be the case that the news revealed today is already in the price. That said, with traders on X gushing over today’s announcement, it may be that the market is being rather hard on the company.
Nanoco (NANO): Since the announcement on 26 January 2026 relating to the termination of the process of finding a purchaser for the Group’s trading business, the Board has been considering various options to both maximise shareholder value and preserve the Company’s cash balances. The Board believes that by taking further measures to reduce the Company’s operating costs and carefully investing its remaining resources in existing high-potential business areas, greater value can be generated for Shareholders.
Comment: It has not exactly been plain sailing as far as NANO’s life on the stock market, so perhaps it is understandable that the board has raised the white flag. But then again, who would want to leave the greatest stock market in the world? Perhaps a company whose share price has just halved this morning. Not nice.
Disclaimer & Declaration of Interest:
The information, investment views, and recommendations in this Zaks Traders Cafe interview are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this interview should be construed as a promotion or solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or referred to or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engage in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the commentator but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. The commentators may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.
