Kendrick Resources Plc (KEN), the mineral exploration and development company, announced that it has entered into a binding and exclusive Option Agreement to acquire not less than 70% interest on terms to be agreed with Bonya Exploration Pty Namibia to evaluate EPL4458 and EPL 6691 licenses for the prospectivity of developing a Rare Earth mining project.
KEN said “Rare Earths are globally accepted as new age strategic materials and these licenses are located in Namibia, a country recognized for its support of the development of natural resource projects. The historical Rare Earth values are higher than those generally reported in the industry and the high values of the magnetic elements are very encouraging since such elements are much sought after. The licenses have areas which are drill ready and historically been well evaluated with geophysics and exploration fieldwork. We intend to accelerate our due diligence and technical preparedness in order to release the high potential of the project area. We will keep shareholders advised as our evaluation phase develops.”
Comment: One can see the enthusiasm from KEN, something which is on the basis of the high grades on offer, and of course the market’s enthusiasm for defence sector related rare earths. Given that KEN only currently has a £1m market cap, it can be said that the arrival of the licenses is an obvious boost to the company.
Fiinu Plc (BANK) announced an update in respect of the earn-out condition relating to the acquisition of its Polish operating subsidiary, Everfex P.S.A., the completion of an independent verification of Everfex’s SME client order book, and the commencement of recruitment for a Country Manager in Poland. Pursuant to the Share Purchase Agreement dated 7 August 2025, an independent review of Everfex’s SME client order book has been completed by an external professional adviser, applying the same methodology used during the pre-acquisition due diligence process. The review confirmed an aggregate order book of approximately €340 million as at 31 December 2025. The earn-out condition required an aggregate order book of not less than €750 million at 31 December 2025. As this threshold was not met, none of the 20 million additional consideration shares will be issued to Granicus Holdings OŰ. BANK said “The independently verified order book confirms a solid commercial foundation and growing demand among Polish SMEs. It reflects the disciplined, transparent approach Fiinu has applied since acquiring Everfex and provides a strong platform for future growth. With the recruitment of a Country Manager underway and continued execution focus across the Group, we believe Fiinu is well positioned to build long-term shareholder value.”
Comment: The business proposition at BANK continues to look like a sparkling situation, with the key as far as this RNS being the rather large €340m order book. Given that this is an international, scalable technology business, we appear to be at the foothills of a rollout.
Upland Resources Limited (UPL) announced the appointment of Marc A. Bruner as Strategic Investment Advisor to the Company.
Comment: There have been one or two uncharitable comments about the spritely Mr Bruner’s age. That said, any development under his sage advice could and should be enough to get the many fans of UPL excited regarding ongoing prospects for the portfolio.
The Smarter Web Company (AQUIS: SWC) announced the purchase of additional Bitcoin as part of “The 10 Year Plan” which includes an ongoing treasury policy of acquiring Bitcoin. Details are as follows: Number of Bitcoin Purchased: 10 Bitcoin Average Purchase Price: £67,210 per Bitcoin ($90,289 per Bitcoin) Amount Purchased: £672,097 Total Bitcoin Holdings: 2,674 Bitcoin Total Average Purchase Price: £82,800 per Bitcoin ($111,232 per Bitcoin) Total Amount Purchased: £221,405,866 The Company has achieved a Quarter-to-Date BTC Yield* of -0.46% on its treasury.
Comment: The buy and hope BTC strategy continues. Of course, we all know that BTC is a store of value, so much so that SWC could have filled its boots with gold at $3200 in the spring and riding high at $4800 now. But that would have been boring.
Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (GWMO) announced the assay results of a Reverse Circulation (“RC”) drilling campaign at its West Huntoon Gold-Silver-Copper Project in Nevada USA. Au-Ag-Cu Mineralisation Confirmed at West Huntoon. GWMO said “The results of our focused but limited drilling campaign over part of the vast area which makes up the Huntoon Copper Project have delivered strong potential for significant gold and silver mineralisation in addition to the copper potential which we had already established. Confirmation of precious metals mineralisation over the Crown Point area is a major advance for the Company and will add an important new dimension to our 2026 exploration plans as we move forward, which will include further testing of the Crown Point granite.”
Comment: The newly rebooted GWMO, in the same jurisdiction as the star play Guardian Metal (GMET) seems to be gaining increasing traction. Given how beaten up the shares have been, if there is even a modicum of progress this year, we could see a decent revival.
MedPal AI plc (MPAL), the digital health and AI company, announced that, following recent technology infrastructure upgrades, it has achieved a substantial improvement in dispensing efficiency within its wholly owned subsidiary MedPal Limited. MPAL said “This 30x improvement in dispensing efficiency demonstrates the operational leverage inherent in our pharmacy infrastructure. By investing strategically in server technology, we have dramatically enhanced our capacity to serve patients across our NHS contracts and retail pharmacy services. This upgrade positions MedPal Limited to handle significantly increased prescription volumes while maintaining the quality and reliability our customers expect. The technology upgrade supports the Company’s broader strategy of integrating AI-powered healthcare services with regulated pharmacy operations, enabling efficient scaling across its care home and retail pharmacy divisions.”
Comment: Lots of decent announcements from MPAL, and yet the share price has yet to move positively in a convincing manner since the IPO. Perhaps the market is waiting for solid performance numbers, rather than just tweaks in the offering?
Kooth (KOO), a leading provider of digital mental health services, announces that it has agreed the terms of a one year contract with an undisclosed US State for the provision of digital mental health services for up to 100,000 students. The contract has an expected value of $2.6 million. Under the terms of the Contract, Kooth will deliver mental health support via its Soluna platform to up to 100,000 students aged 13-18 across the State. Soluna will allow students to access online behavioural health education resources, a fully moderated peer community and chat-based counselling sessions with State-licensed behavioural health professionals. The rollout of the Contract, which will include take-up across a number of specified school districts, will be managed through Kooth’s existing workforce and new in-State counsellors.
Comment: Although some older readers may feel that mental health is a snowflake / woke construct, that people like Ben Fogle talk about, it can be seen from KOO that there is money in this namby pamby area.
Landore Resources Limited (LND) announced the receipt of an updated independent mineral resource estimate (“MRE”) for its flagship BAM Gold Project on its 100%-owned Junior Lake Property in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, following the initiation of a growth strategy in 2024 to advance and de-risk this project. In conjunction with the updated MRE for BAM, independent updates of the key financial inputs and mineral resource estimates for the group’s B-47 Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-PGE Deposit (“B-47”) and the VW Nickel-Copper-Cobalt Deposit, located within 2 kilometres of BAM, were also undertaken.
Comment: LND is back in terms of the lifting of suspension, and notably near year lows for the share price. Given how hot its space is, and the MRE news today, some might feel that there is a rare opportunity to buy into an explorer at a ground floor level.
Boku (BOKU), a global network of local payment methods, announced the following unaudited trading update for the year ended 31 December 2025. Total Group revenue for FY 2025 is expected to be ahead of market expectations7 at c.$128.5m, representing growth of c.29% (FY 2024: $99.3m) and c.27% growth on a constant exchange rate basis. BOKU said “I am pleased to report another strong year for Boku, driven by deeper merchant relationships, continued revenue diversification and the benefits of sustained investment across the business. Our performance was broad-based across merchants, Local Payment Methods, products and geographies, reflecting the ongoing expansion of mobile-native payment methods and Boku’s position as a partner of choice for global technology leaders.”
Comment: BOKU remains independent, even though it should be a company where one of the multinationals it serves decides to bring the offering in house. That said, the longer the company flourishes on its own, the more compelling the offering becomes.
AJ Bell plc (AJB), one of the UK’s largest investment platforms, today issued a trading update in respect of the three months ended 31 December 2025. Customer numbers increased by 29,000 to close at 673,000, up 20% in the last year and 5% in the quarter Total advised customers of 185,000, up 6% in the last year and 2% in the quarter. Total D2C customers of 488,000, up 26% in the last year and 6% in the quarter. Record platform assets under administration (“AUA”) of £108.0 billion, up 21% in the last year and 5% in the quarter. AJB said “Record gross inflows were moderated by temporarily elevated outflows, driven largely by uncertainty ahead of the UK Budget. Customers nearing retirement responded to speculation around potential pension tax changes, resulting in a £500 million increase in pension withdrawals compared with Q1 FY25.”
Comment: It is perhaps understandable that AJB is enjoying a purple patch in the wake of the 20% gain for the FTSE 100 last year. The strong across the board metrics were achieved despite the uncertainties ahead of the economy destroying / money confiscating budget, something which may indicate a shift away from “safe as houses” investment in real estate, to the stock market.
Cloudbreak Discovery Plc (CDL), a London Stock Exchange Main Market listed company, announced that gold assay results up to 162 grams per tonne of gold (g/t Au), equivalent to 5.22 oz/t Au have been received from the maiden site visit to the Crofton Gold Project. Crofton is located 120 kilometres east-southeast of the famous Australian gold mining centre of Marble Bar and 75km northeast of the mining centre town of Nullagine, in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Multi-element results are still being processed at the assay laboratory and are anticipated to be received in the coming weeks.
Comment: Clearly gold and Australia go well at the moment, especially when combined with the rebooted CDL whose shares bounced over 4x last year. This may be a tough gain to follow, but even consolidating this gain with decent assay results to start 2026 would be a win.
Hardide plc (HDD), the provider of advanced surface coating technology, announced its audited annual results for the year ended 30 September 2025. Revenues up 27% from £4.7m to £6.0m driven by new recurring and development work wins across the aerospace and energy sectors. Gross margins up from 48% to 57% due to volume growth, strong commercial disciplines and operational efficiency gains. Revenue and margin improvements drove a material improvement in EBITDA to £1.0m (2024: break-even1), at an EBITDA margin of 17.0%. HDD said “I am pleased with the progress made during my first full year as CEO and would like to thank all my colleagues who helped deliver these encouraging results. We continue to work hard to drive further progress in FY26 towards our initial strategic target of at least doubling revenues from FY24 levels as soon as possible, utilising spare capacity to leverage significant potential for operating margin and earnings growth”.
Comment: It must be very gratifying for a CEO to hit the ground running in terms of turning around a hitherto relatively pedestrian company into a potentially decent growth story. Who knew that the world of advanced surface coating technology was that interesting?
Predator Oil & Gas Holdings Plc (PRD), the Jersey based Oil and Gas Company with producing hydrocarbon operations focussed on Trinidad and Morocco, announced that drilling operations under the Master Services Agreement with NABI Construction commenced in the Bonasse field on 20 January 2026 with the first well in a multi-well programme, BON-18 (previously designated TPD-CD1). BON-18 is a redrill of the legacy production well BON-2, which has damaged casing. This is a deeper well to approximately 1,800 feet which is expected to take two weeks to drill on current pre-drill forecasting. The primary objectives are two zones from which good legacy production was achieved.
Comment: After the kick in the proverbials fundraise this week we see the ever popular PRD boldly go into drilling in Trinidad. The good news is that even if this is a duster, PRD can simply raise again and no one bats an eyelid.
Greatland Resources (GGP) announced an Exploration and Resource Development Update. Targets maiden MRE for West Dome Underground project in Q2 FY26. GGP noted “promising” Telfer results so far, sees acceleration in FY26 and targets maiden MRE for West Dome Underground project in Q2 FY26.
Comment: Given the waterfall of positives on the fundamental side, all that is left it to try and work out how much further the share price can re-rate. That said, building on an already 3x rally last year will not be easy. The top of an August rising trend channel from last year is heading for 740p, something which could be achieved in Q1, should recent support in the 600p – 620p zone hold.
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.
