AIM Turns 30
Barring any nasty accidents, such as being closed down due to a lack of companies, AIM will turn 30 later this month. Forcing myself yet again to read Saturday’s Financial Times (it still does not like money or people who make it), I did note the article by Eustace Santa Barbara entitled “Why Should Investors Care About Aim?”
The answer according to Mr Santa Barbara, is that this is a market which is “ripe with opportunities, and vital to the health of the UK economy.” Of course, this is precisely the reason it was sabotaged by Labour during the Autumn Budget, with the halving of inheritance tax relief. We know that since July the new government’s policy is to erode / destroy anything which represents the greatness of this country, its people or its wealth creators. It wants to level everyone down to dependency and having to vote Labour to survive. It is working well, from farmers to fishermen, from entrepreneurs leaving the country to AIM? After nearly a year people complain that the government is clueless and incompetent. Au contraire, it has delivered socialist policies to perfection, including the two tier legal system – protecting its own, punishing its non-Labour voting enemies. Well done 10/10.
Bitcoin Treasury Strategy
This week saw the ongoing triumph of BTS (Bitcoin Treasure Strategy), something which has and probably will save the day for many listed companies, looking to make themselves immune from the slings and arrows of the UK economy, and the red tape / headache of being listed. What has been noticeable in recent weeks is the way that Bitcoin itself has been looking increasingly comfortable above the key $100k level. It has also been helpful that this week the FCA lifted its ban on the sale of crypto exchange-traded notes to retail investors, having banned it 5 years ago.
For an organisation which is normally behind the curve, or not even aware that there is one, this announcement is no less than a Man From Del Monte moment for all concerned. It will of course raise the ire of those who want small companies to fail / say all of this is a bubble et al. However, we have had a clear 4 year bear market in the minnows, and are overdue a bull run. But it is the case that it is better to have the rise and fall of a bubble, than no rise in the first place. Even Thisismoney has noticed, with mentions of the hero of the hour, Smarter Web (SWC), as well as Coinsilium (AQSE:COIN), Helium Ventures (AQSE:HEV), as well as Cykel AI (CYK) and Vinanz (BTC). Even Priority AI (PR1) and Bluebird Mining Ventures (BMV) have made BTS friendly announcements, as have Cel AI (CEL) and Anemoi (AMOI). Almost all have seen their share prices rise well as a result, and there will no doubt be more to come.
Companies Rising On News
The leader of the pack this week came at the end of the week, with waste to hydrogen group (and of late medical cannabis) Hydrogen Utopia (HUI). The shares were up over 200%, and so they should have been in the sense that with just one announcement the company revealed existing technology to deliver renewable hydrogen, but also a hungry buyer in the form of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It would appear that despite all the Net Zero alibi taxation, and worthy virtue signalling in Europe, it is actually the MENA region who appreciates and is happy to pay for renewable energy that will clean up the world. HUI announced access to access to 10 exclusive licences for InEnTec’s advanced TRL9 (Technology Readiness Level 9) waste-to-hydrogen technology. HUI will receive £1m for eac license sold, as well as $1m a year in management fees, and 10% of the SPV in which each project license will lie. This is clearly going to be a money-spinner for the group whose market cap was only around £5m before the announcement was delivered. HUI has crossed its Rubicon, and one would expect the shares to return to the glories of spring 2024 when they peaked at 10p, by the end of this summer or sooner.
Bluebird Mining Ventures (BMV) has, as I noted during the week offered something of a rollercoaster to shareholders during the week, alas with few of the ups. That said, it did offer a serious up move this week, after announcing that as well as gold, it would “seek to convert future revenues from its mining projects into bitcoin – essentially converting gold to ‘digital gold’.” You see what it did there. BMV also announced the appointment to the board of Altona (REE) CEO, and Truffaut era French film star lookalike, Cedric Simonet, which also probably helped cause the stock to rise 140% over the past 5 days.
Anemoi (AMOI) which until now most in the market might have thought was a type of tropical fish, also joined the BTS bandwagon, saying that “after multiple unsolicited approaches and discussions with third parties” said it would adopt a revised treasury management strategy for deployment of the Company’s cash balances. This revised strategy will include allocating up to 75% of the Company’s cash in Crypto currencies and/or recognised, liquid Crypto currency funds, instruments or derivatives. Given that one would presume that even the mother of the CEO has not heard of the company thus far, how many “third parties” were tracking the company down to do crypto. But a good story either way.
Cannabis based medicine group Celadon (CEL) continues to defy the bears by staying alive. Even worse, in its search for a sugar daddy / sugar parent, it is dangling the carrot of one being just around the corner. The shares were up 100%, and one hopes it makes it financially, if only so the shorters / defamers / market abusers, can get a slap in the face.
It has been a long wait (for some) for one of the main Jason Brewer vehicles to get over the line. But it would appear that we are very close to sniffing the sweet smell of success at Shuka (SKA) as the company led by the very affable Richard Lloyd as CEO said, the African focused mine operator and developer, confirmed that it has received interim unconditional authorisation from the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for the proposed acquisition of a 100% interest in Zambian mining and exploration company, Leopard Exploration and Mining Limited, which owns the Kabwe Zinc Mine located in central Zambia. SKA shares rose 57% on the week.
Another long awaited “getting over the line” situation has been Mila Resources (MILA), up 57% on the week. The gold exploration company announced the results from two additional holes from the Phase 1 drilling programme at the Yarrol Gold Project in Queensland, Australia. MILA said these results bring the total reported to four holes out of ten drilled in the current campaign.
Helped along by the charismatic “That Stocks Guy” Charles Archer, and of course my 0.2p initial technical target, shares of Jamaica license prospect United Oil & Gas (UOG) were up 54% to 0.17p. In response, I have upgraded the charting upside to 0.3p, as soon as the end of next month, on a sustained break of 0.2p. Shares of Guardian Metal Resources (GMET), a strategic development and mineral exploration company focused on tungsten in Nevada, USA, were back at record highs through 50p as an exploration update from its 100%-owned Garfield project, located in the Walker Lane Mineral Belt, revealed very high grade gold, silver, copper assay results.
Companies Rising On No New News
This remains a favourite category in the Week In Small Caps, in the sense that the small cap market is so on the sidelines, that no one would invest in this space in a major price moving way unless they were pretty sure of what they were doing. Galantas Gold (GAL) was a good example this week, with the stock up 57%. The last we officially heard from the company was the week before last, when the gold group announced a $1.2m loss, something which one would not have thought was a big reason to buy the shares. Cloudbreak Discovery (CDL), the natural resource explorer and project generator, added another 37% after setting out its redefined strategic focus the previous week.
Deal Highlights: Amirose (AQSE:ALH) & Sundae Bar (SBAR)
Although it would appear that many of us are BTS crazy at the moment, it may be the case that when and if the dust settles, investors may wish to focus on real companies, with real businesses. Into this category one could perhaps add Amirose, which this week came to market as Fileforge completed its acquisition of the cosmetics focused group. Indeed, Amirose provides contract manufacturing services in the personal care sector for global and boutique premium brands, as well as assisting such brands in developing formulations for personal care products. Those who are interested in such details will note that Aleksandra Binkowska is Non-Executive Chairman, as well as being the founder and CEO of Hydrogen Utopia International (HUI). The company came to market with an initial market cap of close to £6m, which seems cheap given the opportunity, as well as the ongoing business.
Sundae Bar (SBAR), a company creating a marketplace for AI Agents, this week came to AIM highlighting the launch of its live beta AI agent marketplace platform at sundaebar.ai and first agents: Lucy HR Agent, AROK and Marketing Mark. The company said the development of the platform is progressing well with live beta platform being released immediately following the Company’s successful admission to AIM on 3 June. Perhaps something that may need to be worked on is explaining to investors and the market in general what AI Agents are, and what they do. At the moment, even Alan Turing, Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates might be struggling to get their head around all of this.
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.
