The Telegraph: Neil Woodford and his investment company have been fined £46m over the collapse of his flagship investment fund, which lost investors hundreds of millions of pounds. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Tuesday personally fined Mr Woodford £5.88m and banned him from holding senior manager roles or managing money for retail investors.
His now defunct company, Woodford Investment Management, has also been fined another £40m over the collapse of the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) in 2019. The collapse led to 300,000 investors losing hundreds of millions of pounds.
Comment: Rather than handing out fines to Woodford and his company, would it not be better for the FCA to compensate investors. Neither the £40m or the £5.88m will go to the punters who lost due to the lack of oversight over the years. But at least the Treasury and the FCA itself benefits from these fines when things go wrong: “FCA fines are primarily paid to the Treasury. However, the FCA retains a portion of the fines to cover its enforcement costs. The Treasury then allocates the received funds to various government departments, including those supporting charitable causes, the NHS, and other public services.” (Google AI Overview)
KEFI (KEFI), a gold and copper exploration and development company focused on the Arabian-Nubian Shield with a pipeline of projects in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, provided update on the Tulu Kapi Gold Project preparations for full Project development. Highlights:
- Required Early Works completed to enable full Project development.
- Initial Major Works certified as being in order for full Project development.
- Updated Finance Plan and Financial Model completed and being certified for inclusion in Project financing definitive documentation.
- Signing of definitive Project documentation to start this month, with full Project financial close expected in September 2025, triggering full Project development.
Comment: KEFI is well on the way to the Promised Land of a full project financial close, something which given all the storms in teacups and name calling should be rather more appreciated by the market than it has hitherto. The achievement as far as Tulu Kapi should not be underestimated.
Mast Energy Developments (MAST) announced that it has signed a heads of terms for an exclusive joint venture to develop, construct, and operate AI datacentre power supply solutions. MAST said “MED have identified the rapidly growing AI datacentre industry and the associated increased need for power as an ideal opportunity to expand MED’s business model and complement our ultimate strategy to build a portfolio of 300+ MW. We are thrilled to join forces with C-Zero Markets in rolling out our new strategy, as they are an ideal JV partner with their strong connections and a proven track-record in the energy industry in the UK and EU.”
Comment: Adding AI to the mix here appears to be an even more winning formula than MAST’s existing niche in the market. One would expect exponential growth driven by increasing demand in this space.
Further to the Company’s investments announced on 18 and 29 July 2025, Metals One (MET1), a minerals exploration and development company with key interests in uranium and gold projects, announced it has agreed to increase its shareholding in NovaCore Exploration Inc., a private U.S.-based company advancing the large-scale Red Basin Uranium Project, from its current 30% to 35% by way of cash subscription of approximately US$297,000. This brings the Company’s investment in NovaCore to date to approximately US$1.45 million.Metals One’s additional investment is designed to enable NovaCore to accelerate its plans to conduct a maiden drilling campaign at the large-scale Red Basin Uranium Project in Catron County, New Mexico, anticipated to commence in Q4 2025.
Comment: MET1 seems to be happy to ignore the share price gyrations and simply get on with the job of aggressively building up a portfolio in the hottest areas of the moment, gold and uranium.
Metro Bank Holdings (MTRO) Underlying profit before tax of £45 million in H1 2025 – more than treble the profit in H2 2024. Revenue up 22% year-on-year to £286 million. Record £1 billion of new corporate/ commercial/SME lending in H1 2025, twice the lending originated in H1 2024, with a £800 million credit approved pipeline for H2 2025.
Comment: One can see why Pollen Street was / is keen on bidding for MTRO, as after years of graft the company has finally reached cruising altitude, with the SME initiatives particularly pleasing in the current Rachel Reeves induced horror show in the space.
Metals Exploration (MTL), a gold production, exploration, and development company with assets in the Philippines and Nicaragua, announced that it has been granted an exploration licence over the Dupax project area in Northern Luzon, Philippines (Figure 1), where it has commenced an Induced Polarisation ground geophysics survey and will shortly commence a 2,500 metre drill programme. MTL said “With the grant of EP-000168, we now control 10km of contiguous tenure only 20km south of the Runruno Operation. It is exciting to have commenced IP surveying and drilling programmes over the strong rock chip and trenching anomalies we delineated at the Dupax VMS Project.”
Comment: 2025 continues to be a golden year for MTL, something showcased by the acquisition of Condor Gold, and by the momentum newsflow such as today underlines. The shares appear to be in a relentless bull run.
Georgia Capital (CGEO) issued its Half-year Report. NAV per share (GEL) increased 17.7% in 2Q25, driven by both the robust operating growth of our private large portfolio companies and the continued growth in Lion Finance Group PLC’s share price. Outstanding quarterly results across our private large portfolio companies with 14.4% and 28.9% y-o-y increases in aggregated revenues and EBITDA in 2Q25, respectively, leading to a 45.0% y-o-y increase in net operating cash flow.
Comment: It is always good to highlight a company which even I have not heard of, especially one that is going great guns as CGEO is. Certainly, this a company which has exploited its particular niche successfully.
MTI Wireless Edge Ltd (MWE), the technology group focused on comprehensive communication and radio frequency solutions across multiple sectors, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, P.S.K Wind Technologies Ltd., has secured three contracts from existing local customers for the delivery of defence services and equipment, collectively worth approximately US$1.4 million. 75% of the value of these orders will be delivered in 2025 and the remainder over the period from 2026 to 2027.
Comment: It feels like there has been a constant stream of contract wins at MWE, without the market really giving credit in share price terms to the achievements. Presumably, this occasion will be the same. But worth a mention anyway.
Team (TEAM), the wealth, asset management and complementary financial services group, announced the launch of its new TEAM UCITS fund, established under European regulation, offering European and global investors a gateway to TEAM’s proven Managed Portfolio Services (MPS) range, which has consistently delivered strong performances across its three funds. TEAM said “This milestone represents a significant enhancement to TEAM’s international fund offering, with the UCITS structure providing a highly suitable and regulated solution for international clients seeking qualifying offshore investment funds.”
Comment: Team has seen its shares rally strongly in recent months, something which is all the more impressive considering one would imagine that few in the market are aware of the good work being done here, and the prospect of more to come in the wake of today’s news.
Kodal Minerals (KOD), the mineral exploration and development company, provided an update on progress at the open pit mining and Stage 1 Dense Media Separation processing plant at the Bougouni Lithium Project in Southern Mali. The Project is operated by the local Mali registered mining company, Les Mines de Lithium de Bougouni SA, in which Kodal has a 49 per cent. shareholding. KOD said “I am pleased to confirm that the LMLB team are continuing to work closely with the government of Mali to finalise the requirements for an export permit. Once granted, the export permit will allow, inter alia, the transportation of the large stockpiles of spodumene concentrate to ports for shipment to China. The recent visit by the Malian Minister of Mines, Professor Amadou Keita, and the Governor of the Bougouni region, General Ousmane Wele, was received positively and highlighted the team’s excellent work to reach this stage.”
Comment: Although aspects such as tax uncertainty, as well as the odd false red flag have caused the KOD share price to drift this year, this does appear overdone. This is especially the case in the run up to the company receiving an export permit, and with signs that the lithium price is starting to turn higher.
Jubilee (JLP), a diversified metals producer with operations in South Africa and Zambia, updated on its copper portfolio in Zambia and the implementation of its integrated production strategy. Definitive Agreements for the disposal of its Chrome and PGM Operations in South Africa are in near final form. A circular containing full details of the Proposed Disposal, including a notice of general meeting will be posted to Shareholders in the week commencing 11 August 2025. JLP said “I am pleased to report significant progress across our Zambia portfolio which has in place all the assets we need to maintain the momentum on our copper expansion strategy.”
Comment: JLP has certainly been grafting away as far as both Zambia and South Africa, despite somewhat challenging conditions at times. Presumably, a successful SA disposal could deliver the big share price turnaround shareholders are no doubt looking for.
Audioboom (BOOM), the leading global podcast company, announce key milestones and data points connected to the growth of its podcast video operations. BOOM said “As the industry continues to navigate podcast consumer’s shift to video, Audioboom and Adelicious have emerged as leaders in the space with our video strategy already generating significant revenue for those creators producing video content. Podcasters have trusted us as the leading independent platform for audio podcasting for many years, and now they can rely on us to create value for their work in video.”
Comment: It makes sense that BOOM is focusing on the video podcast phenomenon, as we know from the likes of Blackbird (BIRD), that social media and beyond is flourishing in this space, and that it offers the greatest upside versus audio.
Zenith Energy Ltd. (ZEN), the listed international energy production and development company, announced the acquisition of a development-stage Agrivoltaic solar energy production project in the region of Lazio, Italy, by its wholly-owned Italian subsidiary created to manage its solar energy portfolio, WESOLAR S.R.L. The Acquisition will have an installed capacity of approximately 10 MWp.
Comment: ZEN continues to beef up its renewable energy strategy, dusting itself down as far as the Tunisian arbitration, which no doubt it is still keen to prevail. In the meantime the company has the upside of going solar.
Vaultz Capital (AQSE:V3TC), a digital asset operating company, is pleased to announce a further purchase of Bitcoin as part of its long-term Bitcoin treasury policy. Purchase Summary: Bitcoin Purchased 47.853279. Total Consideration: £ 4,274,999.96. Treasury Summary: Total Bitcoin: 117.853279. Total Consideration: £10,039,140.
Comment: Hot on the heels of a very well received ZaksTradersCafe interview over the weekend, we have news of further significant BTC purchases at V3TC. No doubt there will be more to glean about the company in today’s broadcast this afternoon on X Space at 1500 BST with first X Space with new CEO Eric Benz and cornerstone investor, David Craven (Chairman of AURA),
Incanthera plc (AQSE:INC), the company focused on innovative technologies in dermatology and oncology announced the launch of Skin + CELL, its premium skincare range, on Monday 11 August 2025. Skin + CELL’s unique skincare range will, for the first time, be available for sale through its dedicated commercial website: https://www.skinandcell.com/, launching with face, body, hand, face serum and eye cream.
Comment: Only six sleeps to go until one can load up on bucket loads of face, body, hand, face serum and eye cream. It will be interesting to see how much of the products fly off the shelves after what has been a somewhat bumpy road to get here.
Tortilla Mexican Grill (MEX), the largest and most successful fast-casual Mexican restaurant group in Europe, provided a Trading Update for the half year ended 29 June 2025. Revenue for H1 2025 was £35.4m, up £3.9m on H1 2024, with UK like-for-like growth of +5.0%. MEX said “I’m pleased to report that Tortilla has delivered a strong first half, continuing the positive momentum across the business. Our UK operations are outperforming the wider sector and our LFL sales remained resilient through the spring and early summer, despite the impact of unusually hot weather.”
Comment: Normally citing the weather is a negative excuse, but for MEX the central American weather we have been seeing across Europe, seems to have triggered an increased appetite for central American style food.
The Smarter Web Company (AQUIS: SWC) announced the launch of Smarter Convert, a strategic, interest free capital-raising initiative structured as a convertible bond, denominated in Bitcoin. This innovative instrument has been fully subscribed by TOBAM for $21 million, a respected institutional investor and independent, employee-owned asset management firm founded in 2006 by Yves Choueifaty. TOBAM has been actively engaged in the Bitcoin space since 2016. SWC said “We have been building our Bitcoin-backed balance sheet with laser focus, and today’s announcement marks yet another first for the UK capital markets. We believe that this new structure will open up a new segment of capital for the Company and complement our existing funding strategies as we pursue our ambition to make The Smarter Web Company into one of the largest publicly listed companies in the UK.”
Comment: At least initially, the market seems to like the switch from an equity raise every few days, to a BTC convertible bond. The idea here is that as long as the share price is maintained, we have a win-win for SWC and bondholders alike. This is especially as it allows the former to gear up on as much BTC as possible.
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.
