The Telegraph: Rayner used disabled son’s NHS compensation to buy second home. The Deputy Prime Minister sold share of her Ashton-under-Lyne house to child’s trust for £162,500.
Comment: If a tax system is so complex and so counter-intuitive that the most vulnerable in society (The Deputy PM) fall foul of it, perhaps it should be changed or even abolished? For instance, why does HMRC not provide a free tax advice / avoidance service, rather than one having to hire accountants and tax lawyers. Why do we not just send all our money to HMRC, and let it decide how much we should keep at the end of the year?
Gem Resources GEMR) announce that it has raised £2.117m before expenses comprising a subscription of £617,320 from Mr Louis Ching and the issuance of unsecured convertible loan notes in the principal amount of £1.5 million.
Comment: After a perhaps understandably quiet period, GEMR is back with a bang, and with a decent deal. This should help the company get back on track, and then some.
Eco Buildings Group (ECOB), a UK-listed modular construction company, announced the award of a new contract to construct a luxury low-rise apartment block comprising 18 single dwellings, each averaging 100 square meters. Following the construction of this first apartment block, the Company has a letter of intent in place to build another two identical apartment blocks in Q1-Q2 next year. Negotiations are ongoing to then build a further 3 apartment blocks once the initial three are built. The Eco Buildings’ Board believes this will serve as a precursor to a larger villa development in Albania, which the Board hopes will commence upon completion of these 6 apartment blocks.
Comment: Just when you thought that ECOB might never get over the line, it does, and with the right rabbit being pulled out of the right hat. It even has the funding to build the dwellings. Cannot wait to visit my new villa in Albania.
Capital Metals (CMET), a mineral sands company approaching mine development stage at the high-grade Taprobane Minerals Project in Sri Lanka, announced a subscription by Sheffield Resources Limited (ASX: SFX) (“Sheffield”) at a price of 2.75 pence per share (the “Sheffield Subscription”), for a total sum of £183,959. The Sheffield Subscription is conditional on the admission of the Ambeon Subscription Shares. The Sheffield Subscription is a result of Sheffield, the 50% owner of the Thunderbird mineral sands mine in Western Australia, exercising its right, pursuant to the Relationship Agreement it signed with the Company in March 2024.
Comment: Ambeon has certainly lit the touch paper at CMET, so much so that our friends at Sheffield are back with a subscription too. CMET gathers momentum by the day, with its low capex flagship project. Yesterday’s updated updated research report by the best in the business, Hannam & Partners, on CMET, underlines the strength of the current investment argument.
Power Metal Resources (POW), the London-listed natural resources exploration company and project incubator with a global project portfolio, announced the signing of a binding Investment Agreement to acquire up to 49 per cent of Kingia FZCO (“Kingia”), a company incorporated as a Freezone Company in Dubai through a proposed investment of up to £3 million in cash. Kingia will be renamed Minestarters in due course.
Comment: Cash is Kingia, and POW is currently all cashed up of course. This is probably too clever an announcement for most in the market to appreciate, yet. However, mining tokenisation is set to become the new rock and roll in the space, if only on the basis of the real world advantages it brings to the sector.
Shield Therapeutics (STX), a commercial-stage pharmaceutical company specialising in iron deficiency, announces that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted ACCRUFeR®/FeRACCRU® (ferric maltol) as a Clinical Supplement and assigned Priority Review to extend the indication for ACCRUFeR®/FeRACCRU® to include adolescents aged 10 years and above. Pending successful review, approval in the US is anticipated in 2026.
Comment: Rubbing shoulders with the FDA is a no-brainer buy signal for UK biotech minnows, with shares of STX already up 160% so far this year. The run up to approval next year should deliver much more.
Fusion Antibodies (FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, announced its final results for the year ended 31 March 2025. FAB said, “We were very pleased to deliver an improved FY2025. We made significant progress in improving revenues and in Fusion’s strategic development in key new markets such as Diagnostics which has reduced our exposure to the more volatile VC funded biotech sector. We also announced large contract wins in May 2024 and again in February 2025, the latter being the source of three further contract wins announced on 27 August 2025.”
Comment: It might have been appropriate to say to the company a year or so ago when interviewed, “don’t forget me when you are famous.” The shares are up over 100% since the start of the year, and have been called up successfully via charting means since then.
First Class Metals (FCM) the UK listed company focused on the discovery of economic metal deposits across its exploration properties in Ontario, Canada, is pleased to announce that it has entered into an option agreement over two additional claim blocks contiguous to the Sunbeam Property, increasing the total land package to approximately 90km². The Sunbeam Property is strategically located between Agnico Eagle’s Hammond Reef deposit – which hosts 3.3 million ounces of open pit probable reserves (123.5Mt @ 0.84 g/t Au) – and Agnico Eagle’s wider regional holdings. This positioning underscores Sunbeam’s exceptional potential within a highly endowed and infrastructure-accessible gold district.
Comment: An expansion of Sunbeam is perhaps the best news that FCM could have delivered, especially as it totally deletes the idea that it is one of the many sub-scale earth scratchers on the London market.
Gunsynd (GUN) provided an update in relation to Barb Gold Project in Canada, in which the Company has a 100% legal and beneficial interest. Gunsynd has engaged the services of 10148942 Manitoba Limited O/A Critical Discoveries for a circa 24-day field campaign. The proposed work plan is necessary to step into a subsequent drill program. The campaign is scheduled to begin by end of September 2025.
Comment: GUN remains an unsung hero in general, as does the investment skill of NED Peter Ruse. All will no doubt be revealed.
Empire Metals (EEE), the resource exploration and development company, announced its interim results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2025. Metallurgical testwork has shown that we can achieve a product of extraordinary purity using straightforward, conventional processing methods. This rare combination of scale, grade and simplicity underpins our confidence that Pitfield can emerge as one of the world’s leading titanium projects, capable of supplying high-value sectors such as aerospace and defence for decades to come.
Comment: EEE hit the big time some months ago, and what has been interesting here is that rather than that marking the end of an already significant share price rally, it was actually the starting gun for an even bigger one. There is hope for the London market yet.
Currys (CRY) issued a Trading update for 17 weeks ended 30 August 2025. “Strong start to year, new £50m share buyback commencing. UK & Ireland like-for-like revenue +3%. Robust sales driven by market share gains with double-digit growth in new categories and B2B. Strong sales in gaming, AI computing, large appliances, coffee machines and cooling products, offset by declines in TVs, tablets and air fryers. Recurring Services revenue growing strongly with credit adoption +190bps to 23.3% and iD Mobile reaching over 2.3m subscribers, +22% YoY.
Comment: Haven’t people heard of just using Amazon? On the HiFI and TV front, Richer Sounds are also very efficient, with very knowledgeable staff.
Iofina (IOF), specialists in the exploration and production of iodine and manufacturers of specialty chemical products, is pleased to report that the 74.3MT of crystalline iodine produced at the Company’s IOsorb® plants in August 2025 was the highest single month of iodine production. The Company’s plants are currently operating efficiently and have not experienced extreme weather conditions. This, combined with the recent addition of IO#11 to the Iofina Resources portfolio, which has operated as expected, has contributed to the record production. Iofina owns and operates eight IOsorb® plants in two core areas, with five plants in NW Oklahoma and three plants in Central Oklahoma.
Comment: It has to be said, I have only interviewed IOF a few times. But every time I do, speaking to President & CEO Dr Tom Becker is like receiving a mini MBA.
Funding Circle (FCH) today announced results for the six months ended 30 June 2025. FCH said “The first half of 2025 demonstrates the clear success of our strategy and execution, delivering another period of strong, profitable growth as we extended £1.1 billion in credit to UK businesses across our product suite. We achieved 17% revenue growth to £92.3 million and a significant increase in PBT to £6.0 million.”
Comment: Given how woeful the UK’s High Street banking cartel / mafia is, or should that be de-banking, or non-banking SME’s, the current environment should be like falling off a log for FCH. Yes, the banking cartel / mafia does not even like listed companies.
Defence Holdings (ALRT), the UK’s first listed software-led defence company, will unveil to the global defence community at DSEI 2025 its first AI product, already in active development for the UK Ministry of Defence. The product is being developed by Defence Technologies, the newly branded platform formed through Defence Holdings’ strategic partnership with Whitespace Global Limited, a leading UK deep-technology company specialising in AI infrastructure for defence, national security, and regulated public sector operations.
Comment: Great new hires for the company, great products, we just await a great contract win. Hopefully our friends at the MOD understand deep-tech / AI, over the power of boots on the ground, discipline and field tactics.
Tern (TERN), the company focused on value creation from Internet of Things (“IoT”) technology businesses, announced its unaudited interim results for the six months to 30 June 2025.
Comment: We have had the IoT boom, the AI boom, crypto boom, robots, autonomous cars, cybersecurity, deep tech and deep fake in recent years. None of them have changed the direction of travel, so far, at TERN. But there is still time…
essensys (ESYS), the leading global provider of software and technology to the flexible workspace industry, announces a trading update for the financial year ended 31 July 2025. The Company is pleased to confirm that it has successfully delivered on its strategy of achieving a return to profitability at an adjusted EBITDA level in FY25 as previously targeted.
Comment: The market loves a swing to profitability, and that is just what ESYS has done. The only missing ingredient is that perhaps not as many in the market have heard of ESYS, hence the inclusion in the RNS Hotlist today.
Genus (GNS), a leading global animal genetics company, announced a positive update in relation to its existing strategic porcine collaboration in China with Beijing Capital Agribusiness Co. Ltd, the Group’s domestic state-backed partner. Strengthening PIC China’s local positioning by accelerating porcine joint venture formation in China, 51% owned by BCA and 49% owned by Genus
Comment: Everyone loves a good accelerating porcine JV, especially when it is in China, and involves the people’s communist party tyranny / state, where the leader is aiming to live to 150. Shares of GNS have soared 60% so far this year, reflecting the skills of the company, but also a wider biotech boom that it is surfing.
Pan African Resources (PAF) announced a Group Trading Statement for the year ended 30 June 2025.
Comment: If anyone outside the accounting profession / KPMG / PwC et al, understands this, please write in.
Altona Rare Earths (REE), a resource exploration and development company focused on critical raw materials in Africa, provided an operational update on Monte Muambe’s fluorspar resource drilling and gallium mineralogy studies. REE said “I am very pleased with the rapid progress of our understanding of gallium occurrences, which we discovered only a few months ago, and the possible synergies between the fluorspar mine project and the gallium assessment programme. As we start fluorspar resource drilling program, I look forward to advancing swiftly through resource definition and engineering studies for the fluorspar mine, and confirming whether gallium can be recovered from fluorspar tailings.”
Comment: Although the share price of REE has hardened in recent months, it will be coming weeks when we have the big reveal in terms of the drilling program, which ideally will deliver a proper re-rate for the company.
Tungsten West (TUN), the mining company focused on restarting production at the Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine in Devon, UK, announce its audited results for the year ended 31 March 2025.
Comment: It has been reported that TUN has received interest from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM), the official export lender of the US government, and that it could inject £70m into the company. What is not to like?
Mkango Resources (MKA ) announced that US-based PegasusTSI Inc. and Canada-based BBA USA Inc. have been engaged to complete the HyProMag USA, LLC expansion concept study for new Nevada and South Carolina rare earth permanent magnet recycling plants in collaboration with global electronics recycling company, Intelligent Lifecycle Solutions, LLC. MKA said “Momentum continues to gather for HyProMag USA with detailed engineering progressing well, and we are very excited to be pushing forward with the Concept Study for the expansion Project. This Project can unlock significant additional value for the group and help catalyze further development of a robust domestic ecosystem for rare earth magnet recycling and manufacturing in the United States. We look forward to continuing to work with the Project team as we move to the next stage of development.
Yesterday, NYCE International Plc (AQUIS: NYCE) announced the completion of the fundraising announced on 21 August 2025, £150,000 was raised. The net proceeds from the Subscription will be used to accelerate the group’s expansion into servicing the rapidly growing ‘crypto casinos’ channel. This will include: Licensing and certifications for Nirmata Play, our games aggregation platform. Develop proprietary games that align with crypto casinos. Expanding ClickSpin Media performance marketing operations to support crypto casinos. Expansion of the NYCE Crypto Advisory services, in accordance with the announcement on 24 July 2025.
Comment: There is a lot going on at NYCE, so far under-appreciated, in areas such as Crypto Advisory services and crypto casinos, which are not only highly sought after, but will be transformation to the company, and its current £1.1m market cap.
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.
