Harvest Minerals Ltd (LON:HMI) shares proved fertile ground for investors this week, with the potash and phosphate explorer jumping 30% higher to 20.75p after the group unveiled a major sales order and said additional sales discussions are on-going.
The AIM-listed firm said the order, from Agrocerrado Produtos Agricolas e Assistencia Tecnica LTDA, a fertiliser distributor in Brazil, is for 36 kilotonnes (Kt) of KPfertil, the company’s multi-nutrient natural fertiliser and remineraliser produced at its Arapua Feriliser project in Minas Gerais, Brazil.
The group said the supply will come from existing stock already produced at Arapua, where annual capacity is being expanded to 320,000 tonnes, with delivery to commence in early May 2018.
Brian McMaster, Harvest’s chairman, said: “With a sales value in excess of US$2mln, this is truly fantastic news, and proves that we have a commercial product that is in demand in one of Brazil’s premier agricultural belts.”
Easily the biggest AIM gainer this week was RM2 International (LON:RN2), with the pallet provider’s share surging 336% higher to 4.5p on friday after it unveiled a boost to its financial position after a disposal and said it is in advanced stages of financing discussions with the support of its existing shareholders.
The AIM-listed firm said it received net proceeds of approximately US$2mln from the sale of a non-core office building in Switzerland and is, therefore, able to extend its cash resources to continue operating through mid-April.
The company also said it continues to transition its business to focus on IoT (internet of things) technology in pallet applications, servicing its existing customers and developing new relationships with certain Fortune 500 companies, which are in final trial phases.
Instem getting SaaS'ed
Technology firm Instem Plc (LON:INS) was also a strong riser, adding 28% at 227p after the group said it will see a rise in revenue after a client - one of the world’s largest chemical products companies - chose to adopt Instem’s Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) delivery model.
The AIM-listed IT solutions provider said that the move will result in an immediate 40% rise in revenue from the client as part of a growing shift towards adoption of its SaaS offering.
Instem added that the shift towards the SaaS-based revenue model will ultimately deliver an expansion to operating margins in-line with similar cloud-based delivery models.
Also in the tech sector, Nektan PLC (LON:NKTN) rose 20% to 24p after the international B2B gaming software and services provider announced a successful launch into the Asian market through the global platform deal for its Evolve Life gaming system with Tyche Digital Malta Ltd.
The group said, with more than 200 Asian games and other gaming content from a number of leading suppliers, including Realistic Games, Pragmatic Play, Booongo Gaming and Pocket Games Soft, Tyche is integrating Nektan’s content aggregation platform into its Asian partner sites.
Loopup encouraged
And LoopUp Group PLC (LON:LOOP) shares rose 11% to 367.5p as the company said 2018 has started in encouraging fashion with some major recent customer wins set to roll out.
Full-year results from the remote meetings technology firm confirmed the numbers in last month’s trading update, with a 36% rise in revenues in 2017 to £17.5mln, while gross profits jumped 40% to £13.4mln, as margins improved to 76.7%
Over the week, the FTSE 100 index managed to advance 1.7% to 7,203 as trade war worries over President Trump’s US tariff moves faded, while the small caps matched that gain, with the FTSE AIM All-Share index also up around 1.7% at 1,043.
On the downside, however, Bargain Booze firm Conviviality PLC (LON:CVR) was the biggest AIM faller, plunging 62% in value to 110.54p after warning that it expects its current year underlying earnings (EBITDA) to be about 20% below market expectations.
The alcohol distributor said the shortfall resulted from a material error in the financial forecasts of its Conviviality Direct business, impacting EBITDA by £5.2mln.
The company said sales and orders have increased, compared with the year before, but this was more than offset by softer margins in January and February, and it expects margins to remain weak until the end of the current financial year.
Fund-raising moves blight
Elsewhere, Metminco Limited (LON:MNC) shed 58% to 0.95p as the gold explorer launched a fundraising for up to A$5.3m through a deeply-discounted A$5.1mln rights issue and A$190,000 share placement.
The 7-for-2 issue and the placement are both priced at A$0.01 per share, and every three new shares come with an option for one more share exercisable at A$0.013.
The group said money raised will be used to undertake exploration on the company’s Colombia gold properties and to retire an outstanding convertible note.
Staying with resource stocks, Union Jack Oil PLC (LON:UJO) was also a big loser, shedding 16.7% to 0.09p after the AIM-listed explorer also launched a discounted fund-raising as it increased its stake in the drill-ready Biscathorpe prospect ahead of an exploration well in mid-2018.
The deal was agreed in tandem with Humber Oil & Gas, a private company, which is teaming up with Union Jack through a new commercial tie-up focused on acquisitions.
The firm is raising £1.25mln through an oversubscribed equity placing of1.47bn new shares priced at 0.085p each.
And fund-raising moves also blighted MySQUAR Ltd (LON:MYSQ), which dropped 20% to 1.95p as the Myanmar-language social media, entertainment and payments platform, said it is to raise £2.11mln through the issue of unsecured convertible bonds.
Atlas Capital Markets is buying the bonds, which carry a coupon of 5%, and will also be granted warrants that, if exercised, would raise a further £633,000 for MySQUAR in return for the issue of 20mln shares.
Nature knackered
Elsewhere, Nature Group Plc (LON:NGR) shares dropped 27% to 2.70p after the port reception facilities and wastewater treatment firm said its overall financial position remained ‘uncertain’ as a result of ‘difficult conditions throughout the second half of the year.’
The firm - which is in discussion to sell its under-pressure oil and gas business – said it has secured a verbal waiver from its lender, DNB, deferring the repayment of lease and debt financing facilities totalling £1mln.
But Nature Group warned that in the event that the proposed disposal is not concluded before late April 2018, and no further waiver is provided by DNB, it is likely to face serious liquidity constraints and that additional funding would need to be secured to ensure the continuity of the firm.