Today Chancellor Rachel Reeves warned: “When I was appointed Chancellor, people put their faith in me to take our country forward, not to be swayed by political convenience, not to always do what is popular.” “I will continue to deliver on the priorities of the British people, cutting NHS waiting lists, cutting the national debt and cutting the cost of living.
And in the context of the long term challenges on our productivity and heightened global uncertainty, any chancellor of any party would be standing here today facing the choices that I face. The difference is in the priorities and the values that will guide those choices.”
Comment: The double speak of Reeves’s speech today would embarrass George Orwell, full marks to the special advisor who wrote it. Breaking election pledges and squandering cash deliberately has been a characteristic of this government. The forthcoming Budget will primarily consist of confiscating even more wealth for no result, apart from either entrepreneurs leaving the country (less Conservative / Reform voters) and impoverishing those left (to create more Labour voters). The other point from the press conference is how poor the questions to Reeves were, and how lightly they let off someone who could not tell you the time while standing in front of Big Ben, or of course, successfully rent a house. Proper accountability regarding current profligate spending such as on migrants and overseas aid was notably absent, especially as potential sources of saving. No mention of taxes being so high already to make growth impossible.
The Small-Cap Rebuild: Six UK-Listed Companies Turning Strategy into Execution
Hydrogen Utopia International (HUI), a company holding the right to negotiate access to exclusive licenses for the deployment of InEnTec’s proven PEM Melter technology and developing its own technology to convert non-recyclable plastic waste into hydrogen and other low-carbon fuels, announced that it has been granted an Investment Registration Certificate by the Ministry of Investment of Saudi Arabia.
Comment: HUI is now in the box seat, with the thumbs up from MISA, in one of the richest potential markets in the world and a jurisdiction crying out for its offering. It only needs one first deal in order to be transformational for the company. As usual, congratulations on keeping a lid on the share price again this morning.
Alliance News: Associated British Foods (ABF) says an ongoing review into its structure may lead to the separation of the Primark and Food businesses. The firm says the review is being conducted with its largest shareholder, Wittington Investments, which remains committed to maintaining majority ownership of both businesses.
Comment: A great idea – about 10 years too late. Congratulations to whoever not only thought of the idea, but dared to suggest it to management.
Ferro-Alloy Resources Limited (FAR), the vanadium producer and developer of the large Balasausqandiq vanadium project in Southern Kazakhstan, announced significant progress following the completion of the Project’s Feasibility Study.
Comment: Any PFS is a major event, and the aftermath of this has certainly been significant for FAR. On this basis the decline from 15p to 5p in the share price feels overdone.
Aptamer Group plc (APTA), the developer of next-generation synthetic binders for the life sciences industry, is pleased to announce that it has secured a new contract with a top five pharmaceutical company, with a value of up to £617,000. APTA said this new contract is the third project with this pharmaceutical company and demonstrates a strong validation of the Optimer® platform, which continues to deliver tools to support their key therapeutic developments. Having demonstrated superior performance of Optimer® binders over traditional antibodies in the Group’s previous project, the partner is now scaling the relationship with a multi-target programme.
Comment: The drip-drip of new contracts for APTA has turned into something more significant, and the share price rise since the beginning of August reflects the inflection point that has been delivered at this company.
genedrive plc (GDR), the point of care pharmacogenetic testing company, announces that the Genedrive® MT-RNR1 ID Kit has been implemented at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The Rotunda Hospital implementation is in addition to the 14 hospitals in the UK that are currently utilising the Genedrive® MT-RNR1 ID Kit under the PALOH-UK programme.
Comment: Like so many previously struggling biotech companies, 2025 is a year when GDR seems to have turned itself around to make fundamental and operational progress. One would imagine the Nugent loan is on its way.
Alliance News: BP (BP.) reports a surge in profit in the third quarter. The London-based oil major says pretax profit jumps to USD3.24 billion in the third quarter from USD1.40 billion a year ago. Total revenue and other income advances to USD49.25 billion from USD48.33 billion. The company declares a dividend per share of 8.32 US cents, up from 8.00 cents a year prior. For the quarter, adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rise to USD9.98 billion from USD9.65 billion. BP says it expects total shareholder distributions of between 30% and 40% of operating cash flow over time.
Comment: Despite a relatively negative press for the company, it continues to prove that it is a money-making machine despite Net Zero. The distributions to shareholders are generous enough to deserve a break out for the share price through year highs above 460p. That said, this offers an opportunity for those not yet in the stock.
Kodal Minerals (KOD), the West African lithium producer and mineral exploration and development company, announced the official opening of the Stage 1 Bougouni Lithium Project in southern Mali by General Assimi Goïta, President of the Republic of Mali, in a ceremony held on Monday, 3 November 2025.
Comment: It is always great when your local tinpot military dictator turns up to visit your project, especially when there have been fears regarding the mining policies of the country in question. Indeed, it would appear that Mali’s approach to mining is rather more robust than the UK approach to the North Sea. One would certainly prefer the former jurisdiction to operate in currently.
Great Southern Copper plc (GSCU), the company focused on copper-gold-silver exploration in Chile, announce that Greenwood Capital Partners, has published a research note on the Company, commissioned by Great Southern Copper. The research note, titled “Cretaceous Park: deposits roaming free”, is available to view at the following link: https://greenwoodcp.co.uk/portal/#/portal/greenwood-capital-partners/research/794bf9f5-5856-43ba-92dd-1729b111303d
Comment: It is always interesting when companies one has heard of, and are impressive prospects, choose research notes from entities that hardly anyone has heard of. There is an irony here given that paid for research is supposed to be promotional. Hopefully, more people will have heard of Greenwood after the inclusion here in the RNS Hotlist.
IntelliAM AI plc (AQSE: INT), a leading provider of AI-driven software solutions for the manufacturing and engineering sectors, provided a trading update for the half year ended 30 September 2025. The trading performance reported in this statement is based on unaudited management accounts and refers to pro-forma growth defined at the end of the statement. Total Revenue: Increased by 58% to approximately £2.4 million (H1 2024: £0.927 million, equating to 48% organic growth, reflecting strong commercial traction and accelerating customer adoption. Annual Recurring Revenue: Grew to c£1.18m vs. £0.14m in H1 24 and £0.81m at year end 2025 (46% increase from March year-end), indicating a continued shift towards sustainable, high-quality revenue streams.
Comment: INT not only blows the lights out with the metrics announced today, but it underlines the way that it is a company with a real world application of AI, something so many businesses do not have or just hype up.
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.
