Spire Healthcare (SPI) confirmed that Bridgepoint Advisers Ltd and Triton Investment Advisers LLP are among potential suitors in preliminary stage discussions as part of its ongoing strategic review, following recent media speculation.
The company stresses the talks are preliminary and that there is no certainty any offer will be made or what terms a potential bid might take. Under the Takeover Code, both Bridgepoint and Triton have until February 21 to announce a firm intention to make an offer or to walk away, unless the Takeover Panel grants an extension. The board says it will update the market “as appropriate”. (Alliance News)
Comment: My old rule (from my charting book), that 4-6 weeks before a bid for a company there is a rug pull in the share price has come true again with SPI. The lows in December were 164p. How this happens, whether inside information, or the market making sure that bulls are not in the stock by accident, remains a mystery. But it has happened at SPI.
Harena Rare Earths Plc (HREE), the rare earths company focused on the Ampasindava ionic clay rare earth project in Madagascar, announced the highlights from its completed pre-feasibility study (“PFS”). The PFS represents an important advancement in the development of the Ampasindava Project, confirming its technical viability and providing a robust economic and operational framework to support the next phase of project progression.
Comment: Given the size of the asset, and the low capex of Ampasindava, it was surprising that shares of HREE dipped at the start of this month. Perhaps, the explanation for this has been that the company has given interviews to everyone apart from Zaks Traders Café in recent months. Indeed, given how hot rare earths are currently, shares of HREE should have already
Zenith Energy Ltd. (ZEN), the listed international energy production and development company, announced the appointment of Andrea Pinna, Partner at Pinna Goldberg, to further broaden and complement the legal team of its claimant subsidiaries in the arbitration proceedings brought before the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) under the UK-Tunisia Bilateral Investment Treaty, against the Republic of Tunisia, led by Professor Thomas Clay (Clay Arbitration) alongside Maître Simon Le Wita (Charles Russell Speechlys Paris), and by Ben Juratowitch KC and Matthieu Gregoire (Essex Court Chambers).
Comment: While the market may have wrongly assumed that there is nothing to see as far as the Tunisian claim, we already know that the authorities there do not have a leg to stand on, apart of course of being a country fighting a small cap company. Unfortunately for Tunisia, it would appear that in this David and Goliath battle, David is building up some muscle.
S4 Capital (SFOR) said full-year 2025 performance comes in ahead of its revised November guidance and above current market consensus. The advertising firm expects like-for-like net revenue to fall 8.5% from GBP754.6 million in 2024, delivering an operational Ebitda margin of around 12%. This compares with analyst expectations for GBP664 million in net revenue – a roughly 12% drop – and GBP75 million in operational Ebitda, versus GBP87.8 million achieved in 2024. Net debt is now set to be significantly below the GBP133 million consensus and beneath the previously guided GBP100 million to GBP140 million range. The company attributes this to tighter treasury discipline and stronger working-capital management.
Comment: SFOR is one of those companies that for much of its life has been painful to watch. While today’s update is less painful than most, the overall impression here is of a company running to stand still, in an ultra tough environment. Perhaps a takeover would be a honourable escape hatch.
Valereum Plc (AQSE: VLRM), a company aiming to be the global market leader in the rapidly developing tokenised digital markets sector, provided a strategic update following the Company’s announcement on 21 January 2026 regarding the Share Subscription Agreement for USD 200 million medium term notes with Quorium Global Photonics SPC. Transaction Completion and Balance Sheet Impact. Under the terms of the Share Subscription Agreement:
- Valereum has received the USD 200 million principal amount of institutional-grade, senior-secured Qualified Medium-Term Notes (QMTN).
- These QMTNs generate an annual 7.95% coupon, providing USD 15.9 million of predictable recurring income per annum, paid quarterly until December 2030.
- On maturity, Valereum will receive the full USD 200 million principal.
Comment: What some people do not realise, is that when you have a listed company and make an announcement, there is a whole team of overpaid leeches that you waste your money on, to verify the announcement and make sure it is what it says it is. Therefore, we are going, with legal backing, with the “full USD 200 million principal. Unless, there is another announcement to the contrary.
Orosur Mining Inc. (OMI) the minerals developer and explorer with operations in Colombia and Argentina, announced its unaudited results for the quarter ended November 30th, 2025.
Comment: With gold at $5,000 plus an ounce even Coco The Clown could deliver the goods in terms of being a developer / explorer. However, OMI has caught the attention of the right type of investor and seems set to become a bona fide mid tier player in the space. It is a shame there were no comments by the CEO in the RNS. But presumably he is too busy watching the soaring share price.
Georgina Energy Plc, (GEX) advised that Harlequin Energy Ltd has formally confirmed its intention to proceed with funding for the Hussar EP513 prospect for the anticipated recovery of Helium, Hydrogen and Natural Gas. Harlequin has given notice to proceed with funding of the drilling of the Hussar-2 well within the EP513 Lease and undertaken to complete site repairs to the airstrip and access roads, construction of drilling pads, water wells and camp location pad, in preparation for drilling as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) signed on 24th August 2024. The Company has undertaken due diligence and been provided with Harlequin’s USD$25 million structured offtake funding facility to finance Georgina’s drilling program.
Comment: Just as with the VLRM announcement, we have a situation where a company has put out a RNS mentioning a large cash figure, that one has to assume to be correct. If this is the case than GEX at 3p and having sunk lower at the end of last year, would appear to be too low in its range.
Cloudbreak Discovery Plc (CDL), a London Stock Exchange Main Market listed company, announced that further gold assay results up to 142 g/t Au (or 4.5 ounces per tonne gold) and along with silver results up to 175g/t Ag (or 5.6 ounce per tonne silver) have now been received from multi-element assay and fire assay, from the 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
Comment: CDL proudly mentions that it is a London Stock Exchange Main Market listed company, as if this is something that one should be really proud of. Even better though is the progress the company is making in the Pilbara. Another company where some might start suggesting it could be the new Greatland (GGP), although there is of course some way to go.
Nativo Resources plc (NTVO), a gold-focused mining company with interests in Peru, announced it has engaged Constructora e Inversiones Andina Kuboc C&P SAC as Mining Contractor to operate the Bonanza Gold Mine on the Company’s wholly owned Tesoro Concession in the Arequipa region, within the Nazca-Ocona gold corridor. Founded in 2019, Kuboc is an experienced Peruvian mining services provider currently operating two mines. It has expertise in non-ferrous metals (including gold) as well as transport and construction in the mining sector. Kuboc is authorised by the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM) for exploration, exploitation, development and beneficiation of minerals.
Comment: Well, if you are a small cap gold company and you cannot get your share price rocketing in a $5,000 an ounce environment, you might as well pick up sticks and go home. That said, last summer’s dream of a 1p plus share price, looks more attainable than it did last summer. Perhaps it is a decent target for Q1 2026.
Andrada Mining Limited (ATM), a tin producer with a portfolio of critical minerals mining and exploration assets in Namibia, announced exceptional surface sampling results from Lithium Ridge in partnership with Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile SA through its subsidiary SQM Australia (Pty) Ltd. The results of the comprehensive geological mapping and grab sampling across the licence area provide strong validation for the ongoing Stage 1 drilling programme, funded by SQM under the previously announced earn-in agreement, to acquire a 30% shareholding.
Comment: The share price of ATM really has been something of an albatross around the neck of the company, as despite all the operational progress it remained in the doldrums until recently. That said, at 4p plus it looks to be on its way. It would now be surprising if 10p plus was not on its way by the end of 2026, or preferably rather sooner.
Botswana Diamonds Plc (BOD), listed on the AIM and the Botswana Stock Exchange announced the award of eight prospecting licences covering approximately 7,000 square kilometres in north-western Botswana. The licence areas, which are valid through to 31st December 2028, were selected following an extensive AI-driven assessment of the Company’s 95,000 square kilometres (including 375.000 line kilometres of geophysics) Botswana focused exploration database, which identified significant prospectivity for copper, with additional potential for gold and other critical minerals. Application of the same proprietary technology to diamond exploration has previously highlighted six previously unreported kimberlite-prone areas, over which the Company also holds licences.
Comment: It is perhaps a shame that diamonds do not appear to have joined gold et al in the great commodities boom of recent months. If this were the case one would have expected the latest announcement from BOD to have been accompanied by a reasonable rally.
Fulcrum Metals plc (FMET), a company pioneering the use of innovative cyanide free technology to recover precious and critical metals from mine waste, announced the receipt of a further 272,740 common shares in Loyalist Exploration Limited (CSE:PNGC) as part of the consideration terms and purchase agreement of the sale of the Tully Gold Project to Loyalist announced by the Company on 6 October 2025. FMET said “We are pleased with the progress Loyalist is making at Tully, a project with significant expansion and near-term production potential which is being recognised in Canada. This transaction has enabled Fulcrum to attain value through its shareholding in Loyalist with an exposure to a wider portfolio of highly prospective Timmins projects and a direct royalty interest in Tully. Importantly it allows Fulcrum to focus its resources on executing our strategy as a technology-led company focused on the recovery of precious and critical metals from historic mine waste tailings in Kirkland Lake. I look forward to updating shareholders in due course.”
Comment: The past year has seen FMET re-jig itself, a process that started even before the latest boom for explorers / developers. Now it is a matter of he who shouts loudest in terms of getting investor attention into the stock.
Rockfire Resources plc (ROCK), the base metal, critical mineral and precious metal exploration company, provided the market with this drilling update from Rockfire’s 100%-owned Molaoi zinc deposit in Greece. ROCK said “Drilling is progressing well, and it is excellent to see that high grades of zinc remain present at the southern extremity of the modelled resource. The portable XRF readings throughout the hole will be confirmed by comprehensive analysis at the laboratory. In most cases, high zinc values are usually accompanied by high germanium values. The presence of extremely high-grade barium is encouraging for the evolving geological model being adopted as we learn more about the Molaoi deposit. Lithofacies modelling and laser ablation studies have both suggested that Molaoi is likely to comprise an epithermal overprint of a VMS origin. Narrow veins of elevated copper being encountered by pXRF readings in hole HMO-011 at 188.50m (0.94% Cu) and at 249.00m (0.52% Cu) support this theory.”
Comment: The share price of ROCK remains something of a white knuckle ride, despite the way that Molaoi is supposed to be the company’s great, white hope. Part of the explanation is that ROCK seems to rely just on its RNS’s to communicate with the market, along with the odd die hard shareholder on X. This is not quite good enough.
Kavango Resources plc (KAV), the Southern Africa focused metals exploration and gold production company, announced the full results from its diamond resource drilling programme at Bill’s Luck Gold Mine at the Hillside Project, Zimbabwe. The resource drilling programme at Bill’s Luck was designed to establish a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (“MRE”) to support and inform future mine planning and scheduling while also unlocking the full value of what is increasingly believed to be a significant mineralised system at Bill’s Luck.
Comment: The departure of Ben Turney from KAV was perhaps the worse departure in the small cap world since George Roach from Premier African, or in the real world, Robbie Williams from Take That. But at least one can see that KAV is attempting to fill the power vacuum, with its new interim CEO, and latest results.
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.
