While politics in the UK has once again been set on edge with the Britcard (which will never happen), and the economic metrics continue to appear lacklustre at best, we have seen the small caps gradually edge higher.
This is evident in the FTSE AIM All-Share’s recent upward trend. It would appear that when the going gets tough, looking for a multi-bagger on the stock market appears to be an increasingly attractive pursuit. This is something we have been treated to this week with the likes of EnergyPathways (EPP), Cloudbreak (CDL) and Ascent Resources (AST). All of these companies represent the opportunity to go for asymmetric risk, and in some ways, the more risk, the more appealing. In the case of EPP the company redeemed itself with the RNS on Friday afternoon.
Although the company had of course to be relatively coy about the steer it gave to the market, the 170% share price rise suggested that after having had the rug pulled from under them on August 14 by the NSTA, things are looking more positive. Indeed, the company with its proposed MESH project, could actually be in a better position than it was before the knock back last month. While there are questions regarding Net Zero, Ed Milliband, funding, and timeframes, there is little doubt that the market has decided to give the company the benefit of the doubt. We shall see how far this goes in coming days, with the share price being a direct barometer. Recent hard resistance has been in the 7p – 8p zone, versus the 6p close on Friday.
An early break of 8p could suggest that insiders feel MESH is a done deal in terms of approval. Indeed, from a charting perspective, especially looking at the price action of the shares on September 15 and September 17, one would suggest that one or two people successfully guessed that positive news was on its way. This was a bit like before the announcement of the green loan on October 3 last year, when on the days before there was positive looking price action, especially on September 26. But hey, good luck to people who make money in the market these days.
The Stock Market Exodus
Something that I continue to enjoy, perhaps in a masochistic way, is the ongoing exodus of companies from the London stock market. This is because I have nothing to do with the stock market establishment, or the people whose job it is to attract and keep companies on the market. As I think most of them are second / third rate people who are just jobsworths and have no interest in shares, to see them fail is almost pleasurable. This week the big scalp for those who hate the market and all it stands for was investment firm Petershill Partners. This was impressive for a couple of reasons. The first is that this company is part owned by Goldman Sachs, a justifiable reason for the underperformance of the stock and the exit. The second is that while I may have heard of the name of Petershill, that was about as far as it went. Whoever was doing the PR / IR has obviously totally failed.
For instance, look at the RNS this week. It looks like a kidnapping letter, and was longer than War and Peace. No wonder the shares underperformed.
At the other end of the scale, Smarttech247 (S247), said it was leaving the stock market, even though it has apparently never been in a stronger position. Clearly, paying half a bar plus a year to be on the stock market was not money it thought worth swallow / waste.
This led me to ask, what type of company decides to de-list? The answer, firstly a company doing really well, and second, one doing really badly. At a time when hacking is all over the place, it really should have been the case that companies like S247 were able to explain to the market their proposition, but alas this so far has not been the case to a sufficient degree.
Unfortunately, things will have to get a lot worse in terms of the exodus before all the people killing the golden goose stop making enough money out of it, to allow change to happen. Reducing red tape and cost is essential. But I do not see this happening, unless there is truly a challenger offering where one can be listed and all the major costs (accountants, lawyers, auditors, advisers) are included in a subscription. £100k a year max. In fact, let’s do it! Of course, let us see whether Revolut actually lists in the UK. Given the way that it has been treated by the UK authorities this would be a surprise. It has been treated as if it was a cross between a drug dealer and money launderer. How and why it does not yet have a full UK banking license is beyond belief. Actually, it is not, because the UK banking system is a cartel.
Stocks Rising On News
There is little doubt that EPP was the highlight, even though some of the gloss was taken off by the “credit hogs”, saying how clever they were for the share price rise. This is after being surprisingly muted last month when people experienced life changing losses on the stock when it collapsed. Still, we look on the bright side.
A decent share price transformation was witnessed this week at Oracle Power (ORCP). Shares of the international project developer were up 65% on the week as it said noted the announcement this morning on the ASX by Riversgold Limited, the Company’s partner in the Northern Zone Gold Project. Riversgold requested a halt in trading of its securities on the ASX effective immediately, pending an announcement regarding a capital raising and a material contract for the Northern Zone. Of course, project development in Australia has been a side hustle for ORCP while it awaits the big win in Pakistan. But it would appear that the side hustle is now doing rather better than the day job, especially with the gold price going through the roof.
Also in Australia, we heard that the newly revamped Cloudbreak (CDL) had exercised the option to acquire Phase 1 of Darlot West Gold Project that covers 60.6km2 and is located only 10km southwest of the “iconic” Darlot Gold Mine in Western Australia with production of 2.8 million ounces of gold produced to date. This is perhaps the first time anyone has described a gold mine as “iconic”. What is next? An iconic toothbrush, pencil case, tea cosy? That said, CDL delivered a truly iconic 106% share price rise on the week.
One of the ways that some people trading the stock market are looking to get as positive life changing win is to bet on the companies involved in big arbitration stories. The main ones of the moment are Zenith Energy (ZEN) vs Tunisia, Eco Buildings (ECOB) vs Kosovo, Panthera (PAT) vs India, and perhaps the one that is now set to be the quickest resolution, Ascent (AST) vs Slovenia. This week we learned that the award on merit will be delivered by the end of Q1 2026. The shares rose 63% to give AST a market cap of £3.9m, somewhat below the value of the €656.5m claim.
World Chess (CHSS) was also up 63% on the week, as the chess organisation that develops and operates the official online gaming platform of the International Chess Federation (FIDE), announced that it has entered into a partnership with the Chess Federation of Tajikistan. Even more exciting CHSS is to host eight national online qualifiers for the President’s Cup 2025 on worldchess.com. It sounds like it could be the F1 of its space.
Mila Resources (MILA), which has been championed here on a charting basis incessantly, had a decent 57% rise on the week. This was off the back of announcing that it had appointed its Exploration Manager since Q4 2023 as its new COO.
Hydrogen Utopia International (HUI) was up 55%. The company specialising in turning non-recyclable mixed waste plastic into hydrogen and other carbon-free fuels, announced that the presentation for the Company’s proposed access to exclusive licences for InEnTec’s advanced TRL9 waste to hydrogen technology across the MENA region is now available at: https://www.canva.com/design/DAG0BAwgCP0/BBczv8o2y2Q8Yone-8Tzrw/view?utm_content=DAG0BAwgCP0&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=hb5fc82837f. Indeed, the rise in the shares was all the more welcome, firstly given the persistent underperformance until this week, and more importantly off the back of the implication the market has finally realised it only needs one deal to get over the line in MENA and the £7m market cap company would merit a multi-bag re-rate.
Stocks Rising On No New News
Jersey Oil & Gas (JOG) was up nearly 40% on the week on no fresh news. The last we heard from the company as earlier this month when the CEO announced a share transfer at 123.5p, versus 164p currently. Up by 33% on the week was Europa Oil & Gas (EOG), as the Ireland and West Africa focused oil and gas company, announced its unaudited interim results for the eleven-month period ended 30 June 2025 a couple of weeks ago. The market clearly liked the after taste of Challenger Energy (CEG) in terms of its update earlier this month on its Uruguay assets, with the shares up 28% on the week. It was another positive week for Cadence Minerals (KDNC) as the aftermath of announcing the staged development strategy underway at the Company’s flagship Amapá Iron Ore Project, including the recommissioning of the Azteca Plant, continued to inspire. Shares of Mkango Resources (MKA) continued to rise after the previous week’s well received £3m fundraise. The main sizzle here remains the journey to the Nasdaq. It was a similar story for Guardian Metal (GMET) in the run up to its proposed US listing announced earlier this month, as well of course as the recent revelation that Stanley Druckenmiller is on the shareholder register via his family office.
You May Have Missed
Director dealing of any significant size is normally by definition an important cue and clue as far as the direction of a company and its share price. This has been underlined at Insig AI (INSG) where we have noted that CEO Richard Bernstein has been on the case in the recent past. All of this underlines progress at the data science and machine learning solutions company. The week before last the company announced its results for the year ended 31 March 2025, with revenue growth of 43% for the year to 31 March 2025, In the current year there is Q1 revenue growth of 143% against corresponding period. Of course, Bernstein is best known for being an activist investor, and the founder of Crystal Amber (CRS).
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.
