The biggest small-cap riser this week was Trafalgar Property Group PLC (AIM:TRAF) and we’d love to be able to tell you why but if the company does not know, what chance do we have?
The week did see the company appoint Dr Paul Francis Challinor as an executive director, and if he is the reason for the79% share price surge, he has a lot to live up to.
Dr Challinor was described by Trafalgar as a renowned and respected, early-stage pioneer and executive manager who specialises in the construction and management of indoor hydroponic vertical farming facilities and in the food security sector.
The days of Ncondezi Energy Ltd (AIM:NCCL, OTC:NCDZF) being informally referred to as Oopsidaisy might be over, as the company’s share price rallied 63% this week on news about a potential solar and battery project.
The Ncondezi board concluded an internal review of the integrated Ncondezi 300 megawatt (MW) power project in Tete, Mozambique and believes there is the potential for a grid-scale solar plus battery storage power project at the project site.
Preliminary studies confirm the project site enjoys favourable solar conditions – who knew Mozambique was sunny? - and access to the Mozambique grid.
The board believes the solar project would be deliverable without compromising the main power project.
Wishbone Gold PLC (AIM:WSBN) jumped 26% this week as it kicked off a “heritage survey” at its Red Setter Gold-Copper Project located 13 km southwest of the Telfer Gold Mine, in the Patersons Range of Western Australia.
The aim of this survey is to increase access to peripheral targets, beyond those already cleared, where drilling will start in the next few weeks. The heritage survey will then move down to the Cottesloe Project located 55 km south-southwest of the Telfer Gold Mine, Wishbone said.
Shares in Immedia Broadcasting PLC surged 23% to 24.5p as the company’s disposal of its Immediate Broadcast Limited subsidiary went through. The company has changed its name to Acquisition PLC, signifying its new life as a cash shell.
Financial advisory firm DSW Capital PLC (AIM:DSW) issued its first trading update since floating on AIM last December and it was a goodie, with the company saying that revenue and adjusted profit before tax for the current year should be ahead of current market expectations.
Tungsten Corp PLC (AIM:TUNG), the invoice processing outfit, has been on AIM considerably longer than DSW – nearly 10 years – and it has not been a particularly glorious sojourn but shareholders should soon be put out of their misery.
Floated at 225p, the board this week recommended acceptance of a 48p per share offer from Pagero that trumped the 40p per share offer Kofax had lined up.
It may not quite be over yet, however, as Kofax is considering its options and has urged Tungsten Shareholders to take no action in response to the announcement by Pagero.
Circassia Group PLC (AIM:CIR, OTC:CSSPF), a company engaged in the design, development and commercialisation of medical devices for asthma diagnosis and management, cheered shareholders at the annual general meeting with an upbeat trading statement.
Clinical revenues for the first four months of the year were ahead of management's expectations and up roughly 17% compared with the same period in 2021. Research revenues were also slightly ahead of the previous year.
“We are conscious that our business in China (14% of sales in 2021) may be affected by the local lockdowns that have occurred since the end of March, but it has traded strongly in the first four months delivering growth in excess of 23% on the same period in 2021,” the company said.
Sector peer Open Orphan PLC (AIM:ORPH, OTC:OPORF), a rapidly growing specialist contract research organisation, saw its shares advance 5.8% this week after it drew attention to a key considerations document for developing and manufacturing challenge agents published in the Wellcome Open Research Journal.
The document was co-authored by Alex Mann, the senior director of clinical research of Open Orphan subsidiary hVIVO. The document is entitled, 'Considerations on the Principles of Development and Manufacturing Qualities of Challenge Agents For Use In Human Infection Models'.
“As funders of global infectious disease research, Wellcome are pleased to support this clear and practical document for developing challenge agents where GMP [good manufacturing practice] is not possible. This guidance can ensure the full potential of human infection studies around the world, which provide crucial insight into infectious diseases, helping to rapidly accelerate the development of vaccines,” said Shobana Balasingam, the research lead in infectious disease prevention at Wellcome.