The AIM All-Share Index showed less vigour, declining by 1.1% over the week. A predictable market rally occurred on Thursday following the Bank of England’s first interest rate cut in 16 years, reducing the base rate to 5% after holding at 5.25% for the past year.
The cut was cautious, reflected in a 5-4 vote split and a warning from the BoE that “monetary policy will need to continue to remain restrictive for sufficiently long” to control inflation.
This, coupled with a sell-off in the U.S., led to a downturn in UK markets on Friday, with the FTSE 100 closing 1.30% marking its largest decline since the 16th of April 2024.
HSBC, due to its significant size, was the biggest contributor to the index’s fall, declining by 3.4%. Conversely, Unilever provided the largest boost, with its shares rising by 1.3%. IAG, the owner of British Airways, experienced the biggest share price increase in percentage terms, surging by 4.7%, followed by toothpaste maker Haleon, which rose by 2.7%.
On the opposite end, the Intermediate Capital Group saw the steepest decline, falling by 7.13%, while the distribution group Diploma dropped by 7%.
FTSE 250 Experiences Largest Drop in Nearly Two Years. The FTSE 250 tumbled nearly 3% on Friday, marking its worst day since September 29, 2022. A total of 241 of its constituents ended the day in the red amid a global market downturn.
Carnival led the losses, with shares plummeting 8.5%.
Keras Resources PLC (LON: KRS) saw its shares surge by 45% over the week after announcing the commencement of fertilizer production at its jointly-owned site in Utah.
UK Oil and Gas (LON: UKOG) announced that its Dorset and Yorkshire underground hydrogen storage projects have received a letter of support from RWE, which is developing three hydrogen plants near the storage sites. Additional support letters came from the Japanese trading house Sumitomo and pipeline provider SGN. The projects are currently in the early engineering design stage. The share price increased by 20.8% to 0.087p.
Trinidad-based oil and gas producer Trinity Exploration and Production (LON: TRIN) is recommending a cash bid from Trinidad incorporated Lease Operators and has withdrawn its recommendation for the Touchstone Exploration (LON: TXP) offer of 1.5 shares for each of Trinity’s shares. The bid is 68.05p per share, valuing Trinity at £26.4m, with expected economies of scale between the two producers. Trinity’s share price rose 10.5% to 63p, while Touchstone’s dipped 0.74% to 33.75p.
Vector Capital (LON: VCAP) plans to exit AIM and is offering shareholders the opportunity to tender shares at 33p each. The tender offer covers up to 11.2 million shares, costing £3.7m. Interim pre-tax profit fell 45% to £707,000. Vector Holdings, which owns 75.2% of the property finance provider, will cover the remaining shares. The share price rebounded by 18.2% to 32.5p.
PHSC (LON: PHSC) increased its 2023-24 revenues from £3.44m to £3.78m, while underlying pre-tax profit grew from £305,000 to £452,000. The final dividend was raised to 1.25p per share, bringing the total to 2p per share, up from 1.5p per share. Cash reserves were £488,000 at the end of March 2024. The health and safety consultancy reported a decline in profitability in the first quarter due to employment agency fees for hiring five additional people. The share price increased by 3.92% to 26.5p.
Tower Resources (LON: TRP) reported that the Namibian government has extended the initial exploration period for PEL96 to October 2024 and invited the company to apply for a renewal period of two to three years. The work commitment for the initial period is nearly complete. The share price increased by 8.7% to 0.0125p.
Orcadian Energy (LON: ORCA) received £100,000 from its proposed partner for the Earlham licence in the North Sea, which has been paid to Shell. The partner will provide additional funds to settle the rest of the Shell loan. The share price rose by 7.69% to 10.5p.
Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas (LON: ECO) experienced a mid-week jump of over 8% following a positive operational update. The update highlighted the first tranche of US$8.3 million from the farm-out of Block 3B/4B offshore South Africa, expected next month. However, shares retreated in the latter half of the week.
Mkango Resources Ltd (LON: MKA) saw strong interest after announcing that the Government of Malawi had signed a mining development agreement (MDA) for its Songwe Hill rare earths project. By Friday, shares were up 7.4%.
Onto the fallers
Aptamer (LON: APTA) announced on Thursday evening that it raised an additional £60,000 at 0.2p per share due to a reconciliation error by its broker, bringing the total fundraising to £2.89m. The share price declined by 3.85% to 0.25p.
Despite housing some of the week’s top performers, the energy and mining sectors also saw some of the biggest declines.
Alien Metals (LON: UFO) fell an additional 6.52% to 0.1075p following yesterday’s announcement of a planned placement to raise up to £600,000 at 0.11p per share. Discussions with a potential partner for the Hancock project are ongoing.
Synergia Energy (LON: SYN) has finalized the farm-out deal with Selan Exploration Technology, transferring a 50% interest in the Cambay PSC in India. Synergia Energy received a $2.5 million upfront payment and will be carried through the $20 million, 18-month work program, which includes three workovers and three new wells. The share price remained stable after a dip on Thursday and a slight recovery on Friday, holding at 0.12p
Cash-strapped Chaarat Gold plummeted nearly 50% as its AIM delisting approaches later this month. Jersey Oil & Gas dropped 30% after announcing it will reassess its North Sea developments once the full impact of tax changes and allowances proposed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves are revealed in the October budget. Europe-based energy investor Prospex Energy also fell by 25%.
