The Times: Growth in the UK economy unexpectedly contracted for the second consecutive month in the run up to the budget in October. Activity failed to rebound in October after growth was strung by the shutdown of production at Jaguar Land Rover over a cyber-attack for most of September. When measured on a rolling three month measure, output fell by 0.1 per cent, the ONS said.
Comment: It is not only the case that the government has failed to deliver its stated goal of growth, but that it has not even been able to deliver its real goal which is the Marxist one of destroying wealth, the causes of wealth, business, jobs et al, to create dependency on the state.
Connecting Excellence Group Plc (AQSE: XCE), the international executive recruitment group with a long term, ambitious and disciplined Bitcoin treasury strategy, announced that it has purchased 7.37325341 Bitcoin at a total value of £500,000.00.
Comment: The message from the market since the summer has been that it is not how much Bitcoin you have in your Treasury that is important, it is what you do with it. Yield may be key these days, buy and hold not so much.
(Alliance News) – SolGold PLC (SOLG) on Friday said it has received an all-cash takeover proposal that the board is minded to accept and that already has the support of shareholders with a 40% stake. The approach was the third from Jiangxi Copper Co Ltd. The latest proposal is for 28 pence per share, raised from its previous non-binding offer of 26p in late November.
Comment: Given the stance of China on so many matters (I spy with my little eye), one wonders whether shareholders of SOLG have not put the interests of their wallets ahead of any moral conscience. This is particularly given that one would suspect that there would be many buyers of the company from democratic nations.
Mindflair plc (MFAI), the AIM-quoted company focused on investing in Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) related technology, is pleased to announce that one of its portfolio companies, Vizgard Limited (“Vizgard”) (https://vizgard.com), has been selected for NATO’s prestigious Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (“DIANA”) 2026 cohort. Vizgard was selected from nearly 4,000 submissions, one of the most competitive defence technology programmes in the world, shaping the future of defence and security technology across NATO alliance nations.
Comment: Given that we are supposed to be engaging in an imminent war with Russia, which we would lose immediately as no one would join the army, NATO is good to have. MFAI looks to be in the box seat with at least one of its investees.
Ahead of the 2025 full year trading update scheduled for January 2026, Audioboom (AIM: BOOM), the leading global podcast company, provided this flash view of the Group’s excellent performance in November 2025. November 2025 highlights included: Revenue of US$9.1 million, gearing strongly to adjusted EBITDA profit, representing the highest monthly results for both key financial metrics. Total monthly distribution of a record 152 million downloads and video views, up 66% on November 2024 (92 million). Total monthly inventory hit a record 1.5 billion available ad impressions, with Showcase contributing more than 1 billion ad impressions for the first time. Record monthly video revenue, with video podcasts accounting for 16% of Audioboom Creator Network revenue.
BOOM said “Audioboom continues to deliver positive results in 2025. November represented our best ever month in our seasonally strongest quarter of the year, demonstrating both the capability of our operating model and the value of the automation embedded across the business. These efficiencies enabled November’s record revenue to strongly gear to adjusted EBITDA for the period.”
Comment: As a long standing and long suffering shareholder of BOOM, I can say that $9m revenue and £100m market cap sounds fair. That is unless we are looking at a hockey stick jump in revenues, and / or M&A. The latter would perhaps be more welcome at this stage of the game.
The boards of 1Spatial (SPA) and VertiGIS Ltd, a portfolio company of Battery Ventures announced that they have reached agreement in principle on the key terms of a possible cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued ordinary share capital of the Company for a price of 73 pence per 1Spatial share in cash.
Comment: This deal was apparently so well flagged that one could have been forgiven for thinking it had already been announced, especially with the share price movement in recent days.
Phoenix Copper Limited (PXC), the AIM quoted, USA focused base and precious metals emerging producer and exploration company, announces that on 11 December 2025, four of the Company’s Directors purchased ordinary shares of no par value in the Company.
Comment: As the saying goes, there is no smoke without fire, and in the case of the multiple director share purchases, one has to say that the long awaited copper bond / copper mine funding seems to be implied as being sooner rather than later. Given where the shares are now anyway, PXC is very much in bargain basement territory.
Ajax [AQSE: AJAX], the natural resources investment company, announces an update on the proposed equity fundraising announced on 11 December 2025. The Company confirms that the new Ajax ordinary shares of 1 pence each that will be issued under the fundraising will be priced at 5.5 pence per Ordinary Share, a 22% premium to the Company’s last fundraising round which closed on 28 July 2025. Due to investor interest, the proposed fundraising has been increased to £1,200,000 and is expected to close at 19:00 GMT tonight. The Company has now received commitments for approximately 90% of this increased fundraising amount, which includes participation from the Board of Directors as well as existing significant shareholders.
Comment: Not only a good deal with Appian announced yesterday, a decent price for the fundraise, and an increase in the quantum. All of this suggests that AJAX is the next developer to catch the eyes of the market and attract the momentum of investors.
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.
