Flaming June
Although the shine has been taken off the market with the fresh Middle East conflict, the London market has held onto the bulk of their post tariff rebound since the beginning of April. It is unlikely that those buying into stocks over the past couple of months have been buying from a sense of optimism, but more from that of value.
Put simply, there was a rug pull in the market, the weak hands sold out, and with small caps not far from their pandemic lows, and the FTSE 100 down 1,000 points, the value buyers came in. Rather helpfully, for the first time in four years there has been a catalyst for buyers in the small cap space: the Bitcoin Treasury Strategy. In 2021 there was along with furlough money, the digital assets craze with NFTs, decentralized digital assets et al. This time it would appear that buying bitcoin is the way forward, with Coinsilium (AQSE:COIN), Smarter Web (AQSE:SWC), Helium Ventures (AQSE:HEV), and more, entering the fray, and for now, doing very well indeed. Indeed, some investors exposed to these stock have reportedly made life changing amounts of cash. Good luck to them, as this is at the end of the day, what the stock market is all about. Note that all of these winners are listed on the Aquis market, although it was announced that crypto app Tap Global (AQSE: TAP) is leaving Aquis for AIM. Who does that?
What the stock market is not about is harassing CEOs, defaming companies, reporting them to the regulators, pretending to be a vigilante for investors. Alas, we still have such bad actors in our midst even in 2025, and apparently those who should be doing something about this are too scared or too weak, or simply just do not care enough to do anything about it, other than to say, ignore it. Maybe there are right.
In the 25 years I have been writing about / commenting on the stock market, I doubt there will be another 25 years. There has certainly been a lot of water under the bridge since 2000. But if the odd investor or two has found my contributions helpful, and the odd one writes in and says so, it makes it all worthwhile.
Stocks Rising On News
Karelian Diamond Resources (KDR), the diamond and natural resources exploration company focused on Finland and Ireland, saw its shares rise 123% on the week, as it announced it had been notified by the Finnish National Land Survey that the company’s mining concession (a diamond deposit) has been registered in the land registry. Haydale (HAYD), the global advanced materials group, highlighted the recent commercial progress of its JustHeat product line: a low-power, graphene-based heating system underpinned by Haydale’s proprietary HDPlas® plasma functionalisation process, Although there was a TR1 from Hamak Gold (HAMA), this did not appear to be the direct reason for the sharp 111% rise in the stock even though of late there has certainly been a lot of shifting around on the shareholder register. What was interesting is that the shares were finally on the up, a couple of weeks after a ZaksTradersCafe interview. Tower Resources (TRP) rose 60% this week, as the AIM-listed oil and gas company announced progress on its Thali license in Cameroon in Q4 2025. Distil (DIS) managed a 50% rise as it was revealed that Dr Graham Cooley, of ITM Power fame, amongst others, had topped up his stake in the AIM listed alcohol brands group to 20%. United Oil & Gas (UOG) was boosted by warrants exercise news, continuing the recent significant rally in the stock. It would appear that the market is finally catching up with the potential of the company’s ongoing farm-out process at its Walton-Morant Licence offshore Jamaica, and the disconnect between the value here, and the current market cap. The market appeared to like Atlantic Lithium’s (ALL) new hairshirt approach. The the Africa-focused lithium exploration and development company announced changes to its leadership structure and cost base as part of its ongoing cost-cutting and streamlining initiative. The shares jumped 43% on the week. GenIP (GNIP), a technology business providing Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) services, announced its expansion into the Republic of Chile through an engagement for 30 analytical assessment orders from a leading research institution. GNIP said this order increases the total value of Invention Evaluator orders received by GenIP since its IPO in October 2024 to over $850,000. GNIP shares were up 42% on the week, helped additionally by a well received investor presentation the company made on Tuesday.
Up a third was Solvonis Therapeutics (SVNS), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines for addiction and mental health disorders, It announced the initiation of an AI supported drug discovery programme focused on its proprietary central nervous system compound library. Also helping the cause here was a ZaksTradersCafe interview in the wake of this news. Serial entrepremeur Bob Holt’s EARNZ (EARN) managed a near 30% share price rise, off the back of news of an acquisition and a £1m fundraise. All of this is going to pursue the company’s energy sector strategy, in this case the purchase of A&D Carbon Solutions.
Arrow Exploration (AXL) finally saw its share price rise, off the back of share buyback news. Clearly the cash rich oil play has finally decided that if the market will not bid up its share price, it might as well step up to the plate itself. USA focused precious metals group Phoenix Copper (PXC), finally delivered the LOI on the long awaited $75m copper bonds it has been seeking. The shares held onto a 28% rise on the week, even after a £500,000 placing was announced on Friday.
There were also fresh gains for Empire Metals (EEE) as the exploration and development company, announced “exceptionally high purity” TiO at its flagship Pitfield Project, located in Western Australia. There was a 24% rise for under the radar Kendrick (KEN) as it announced it has entered into an option and joint venture agreement in relation to the acquisition of the Blue Fox Licence, 34412-HQ-LEL located in northwest Zambia. Lords (LORD), specialist distributors of building materials, announced that it has acquired the trade and assets of CMO Group Limited, the UK’s largest online-only retailer of construction products following a CMO pre-pack administration process. LORD was up 23% on the week.
The Smarter Web Company (AQSE: SWC) announced a placing £1.80 per share to raise a minimum of £15m, after the market close on Friday. This followed a further 125% rise for the stock on the week, and further BTC buying. Whatever happens, SWC is set to be the London stock of the year. Coinsilium (AQSE:COIN) saw its shares rise a further 74% this week, with the main news driving this being the announcement of more Bitcoin being bought. Wishbone Gold (WSBN) managed a 19% rise on the week, to accompany news of the Australia focused gold explorer raising £1.75m at 0.13p versus the 0.18p close on Friday.
Stocks Rising On No New News
The rising tide in the Bitcoin Treasury space clearly helped new adopter Helium Ventures (AQSE:HEV) deliver a 60% rise on the week. Last month the company announced a pivot to digital assets, including a rebrand to VaultZ Capital PLC and a new bitcoin treasury initiative in partnership with NewQube Holdings Ltd. Tao Alpha (TAO) continued its recovery, after last month’s announcement of “the Company’s evolving business focus and aligns with its strategic vision of developing fully automated revenue generating AI agents.” Of course, we all know what AI agents are / do.
Blackbird (BIRD), the technology licensor, and developer of the multiplayer editor in a browser, elevate.io, saw its shares up 25% on no new news, although it is due to have its AGM on June 18. We have heard nothing significant from TEAM (TEAM), the wealth, asset management and complementary financial services group for a couple of months. Nevertheless, the shares were up 30% on the week, so something overdue news must be brewing.
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.
