It is certainly a busy time for Alba Mineral Resources (ALBA), with the latest being that it has acquired the minority interests in the Amitsoq Graphite and Melville Bay Iron Ore Projects in Greenland.
By Zak Mir
Alba now owns 100 per cent of both projects, with the acquisitions delivered ahead of the spin-off of Alba’s Greenland projects into a new AIM-quoted company. Alba will receive 100 per cent of the spin off company consideration shares from the disposal of the Greenland assets in the new entity. It will be interesting to see whether this process is going to start moving the dial as far as the Alba share price, which remains close to where it was when the shareholder value enhancing moves regarding Greenland were first announced.
Global pharmaceutical products and services company Clinigen (CLIN) and Orphelia Pharma, which specialises in orphan and paediatric medicines, announced that they have signed an exclusive agreement to manage the supply and distribution of Kigabeq® into unlicensed markets. Kigabeq® and is currently approved for the treatment of infantile spasms (West Syndrome) and partial seizures. Under the terms of the agreement, Clinigen will provide access to Kigabeq® 500 mg and 100 mg soluble tablets into markets where Kigabeq® is not commercially available. The deal underlines the way that in the pharma space the best margins can be for specialist treatments,
After a rather extended amount of jiggery pokery in recent sessions for shares of crypto miner Argo Blockchain (ARB), it appeared that a rebound for Bitcoin back above $30,000 and perhaps more importantly the company’s plans in the US, resolved the battle between the bears and the bulls well north of 100p. Argo said it had submitted a draft registration statement to the SEC to apply for a dual listing and initial public offering of American depositary shares. The company added it has not yet determined the number of shares in the offering or the price range, but expects offering to begin in the third quarter of 2021.
One of the key phrases to watch in the wonderful world of the stock market is when a company announces that it has raised guidance. This just what interior furnishings company Sanderson Design (SDG) has just delivered. The company said it expects profit for six months to July 31 to be ahead of board expectations as positive trading continues through first 23 weeks of current financial year. The company has been a winner in the US as consumer confidence rises, the pandemic – as people presumable spent a lot of time staring at their furnishings, and with Brexit leading to an enforced tendency to buy British.
There was a strong fundament boost to financial advisory group Alpha Growth (ALGW), as it said assets under control grew to $340 million in the second quarter, up from $300 million in the first quarter. The situation was helped along by Alpha’s recent acquisition, Providence Life Assurance Co, which increased its balance sheet to $308 million at the end of May, from $275 million previously. Alpha added that despite a slowdown effect caused by COVID, it has achieved strong growth and is confident regarding the prospects for the group.
It would appear that space technology investment group Seraphim (SSIT) is a company in a hurry, with the share price reflecting this by stretching up to a new high of 108p versus the initial 100p IPO price. Just a couple days after coming to market last week it announced it is investing $3 million into US-based space mapping firm LeoLabs as part of a $65 million series B round. Seraphim said it backed LeoLabs in its Series A round in 2018 since when the LeoLabs team has doubled their ground-based constellation. The latest investment will be used to accelerate the roll-out and capability of the investee company.
There was a sparkling update from Petra Diamonds (PDL), as it announced an unaudited trading update for the year ended 30 June 2021. On the operational side, FY 2021 production was at 3.24 Mcts (FY 2020: 3.59 Mcts) with increased year-on-year performance at Cullinan offset by lower production at Finsch and Koffiefontein. On the financial front FY 2021 revenue was up 38% to $406.9m (FY 2020: $295.8m) boosted by sales of exceptional stones contributing $60.2m during the Year (FY 2020: US$14.9m). An added bonus is that since the end of the period the company sold the 39.34 carat exceptional Type IIb blue diamond recovered from the Cullinan Diamond Mine in April 2021 for $40.2m.
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