Shares in Tintra PLC (AIM:TNT), the investor in technology plays, soared 338% to 230p this week after two deep-pocketed investors backed the company.
Firstly, the US-based family office of Omar Mangalji, a member of the Canadian Mangalji family, agreed to buy 148,511 new shares at 504p a pop. If that seems massively overpriced for a stock that was trading around 53p last week then at least the investor also has the option to triple its stake through warrants priced at 50p each.
The second investor, an unnamed Gulf-based strategic investor, is subscribing for 297,022 shares at the same price, with the same two warrants for every ordinary share attachment as the first investor.
Tintra is working with London-based Time Machine Capital 2 Limited, a specialised artificial intelligence investment and research business and its affiliate, Finsenr, on the construction of banking and infrastructure technology systems that are focused on frontier and emerging markets, which it believes are underserved by today's environment.
It was another week of big movers in the resources sector but then it is most weeks.
Chariot Ltd (AIM:CHAR, OTC:OIGLF) confirmed a 'significant' gas discovery at the Anchois-2 well offshore Morocco that materially exceeded expectations.
The Anchois-2 well was drilled to a total depth of 2,512 metres and encountered significant gas accumulations with the appraisal target, Sand B, marking some 50 metres of net pay across two stacked reservoirs – the uppermost was the reservoir seen in the original discovery well.
The news sent the shares 61% higher to 11.975p.
The market gave the thumbs-up to the purchase of Azinam Group Ltd by Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd.
The deal gives Eco a material offshore petroleum exploration asset base in Namibia and South Africa. The shares were up by a third this week.
Bradda Head Lithium Ltd (AIM:BHL) said preliminary metallurgical tests on samples from its Burro Creek East lithium project indicated extraction and production costs can be lowered significantly.
This cheered the market which drove the share price 38% northwards.
Helium One Global Ltd (AIM:HE1, OTCQB:HLOGF) shares have risen 24% over the past week on zero news flow with internet speculators talking up what they see as an undervalued asset – the Rukwa helium project in Tanzania – and an opportunity to pick up shares early ahead of a drill programme potentially slated for later in 2022.
Last year, Helium One shares chased up from 7p to as high as 21p in the month leading up to a drill programme that the company instigated to follow up with greater technical insights this year.
Away from the resources sector, React Group PLC (LSE:REAT) leapt 39% to 2.15p on the back of a contract win.
The specialist cleaning, hygiene and decontamination company won a significant new long-term contract with The ExtraCare Charitable Trust, a leading not-for-profit developer and operator of housing for the over 55s and an existing customer of the business.
Investors pigged out on Eco Animal Health Group shares, which were 30% heavier at 197.5p after it hinted at “meaningful progress” in its research & development investment in vaccines.
“We look forward to sharing some exciting insights and providing further details of the potential commercial value that exists within our new product development pipeline to existing and potential investors, analysts and media at the upcoming Capital Markets Day,” the company said.
On the downside, it was hard to look past Sensyne Health, which lost two-thirds of its value on Friday after it warned that it is taking longer to convert prospects into paying customers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic continuing to affect pharma companies.
The clinical artificial intelligence company put itself up for sale in November and said it is in detailed talks with a number of parties but Friday’s slump will obviously affect the asking price being sought in those negotiations.
The pandemic has given a boost to the share price of diagnostics specialist Avacta Group PLC (AIM:AVCT) but the gains are draining away quickly.
The shares, which hit a peak of 273p in May of last year, slumped by a third to 76.5p this week after the company said its AffiDX antigen test is less effective at detecting lower viral loads of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 compared to the sensitivity of the test on other forms of SARS-CoV-2.
The company has independently taken the decision to pause sales of the AffiDX antigen test whilst it replaces the antibody in the product to ensure that its performance with the Omicron variant matches the high performance with previous mutations.
Talking of the pandemic, it seems a long time ago that shoppers were panic buying toilet rolls, much to the benefit of Accrol Group Holdings PLC (AIM:ACRL), the tissue roll company.
The company said this week it has experienced further inflationary pressure on input costs including pulp prices, supply chain costs and energy costs, prompting it to lower full-year guidance.
The share price went down the toilet, shedding 29% at 22.5p.