Weekly Brief 11th December
As we simultaneously wrap up another week of December and presents for under the tree, we are one week’s worth of chocolates closer to Christmas and, of course, one week closer to the end of this year.
Whilst we finish decking the halls, it looks like we will need to continue ‘elf’ isolating or at least stay within our holiday support Bublés as London looks like it will be facing stricter restrictions. Although festive favourites like Home Alone might feel a bit too close to reality this year, this week we got a glimmer of hope for 2021 as Margaret Keenan made history by being the first person to receive the Covid-19 vaccine – whilst wearing a Christmas top. Join Maggie in donning your boldest seasonal knit today for Save the Children’s annual Christmas Jumper Day, which has raised over £17m since its launch in 2012 with its campaign to ‘protect the magic’. With the holiday season primed for children’s imaginations to run wild with flying reindeer, Arctic toyshops, and ever-watching elves making sure you are on your best behaviour, the childlike wonder and sense of magic (and fear of receiving a lump of coal) has no age limit – despite some of the current changes to tradition. Not to worry though, as we have it on good authority that Father Christmas and his elves have not been furloughed and, with his reindeers’ herd immunity, will continue to be able to safely make his yearly rounds.
Client News:
Tirupati Graphite has been busy. The company will be awarded the London Stock Exchange’s Green Economy Mark upon listing; this accreditation recognises companies that derive 50% or more of their total annual revenues from products and services that contribute to the global green economy – a great accolade! This week Tirupati announced close and results of the intermediaries offer part of its IPO. Through PrimaryBid, the company raised proceeds of approximately £0.89 million through the issuance of 1,978,070 new ordinary shares at an offer of 45p per share. The intermediaries offer provided retail investors with the opportunity to participate in the company’s IPO on equal terms as institutional and professional investors. The company’s broker Optiva is very pleased with the strong demand from the intermediaries offering and additional demand from other investors. Together, therefore, the placing, subscription and intermediaries offer have raised gross proceeds of £6 million. The market capitalisation of the company will be approximately £33.64 million at the commencement of conditional dealings on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, anticipated 14 December 2020 under the ticker TGR.
Harvest Minerals Limited (LSE: HMI) announced positive agronomic test results for sugarcane plantation areas using its natural remineraliser KP Fértil®, which is produced at its 100% owned Arapua Project in Brazil. The tests using KP Fértil® returned superior yield performance compared to a more traditional and widely used reactive phosphate Bayóvar fertiliser, with a direct correlation of higher yields when using higher doses of KP Fértil®. The positive results were achieved in two different types of soils, distantly located from each other, and the yield results should improve year on year due to the residual set of nutrients left each time. Brazil is the world’s largest sugar producer and this therefore offers a strong opportunity for Harvest to develop a new sales market and increase its client portfolio.
Busy week for Dekel Agri-Vision (AIM: DKL). First up, the West African focused agriculture company announced the acquisition of an additional 2% interest in the large-scale raw cashew nut processing project at Tiebissou in Cote d’Ivoire, increasing its interest in the project to 54%. Dekel still holds an option to acquire another 16.7% interest in the project, which is on track to begin production in Q2 2021, at which point it will become Dekel’s second producing asset. As for Dekel’s first producing asset, the Ayenouan palm oil operation, the Company reported across the board double-digit growth for November 2020, including a 38% jump in CPO production to 1,530 tonnes, a 22% increase in CPO sold to 1,515 tonnes, and a 26% increase in CPO sales prices to €664 per tonne compared to the same period in 2019. This is the second consecutive month Dekel reports double-digit growth and, together with year-on-year improvements for H1, management is increasingly confident that FY 2020 numbers will show a material improvement on the previous year.
Oracle Power Plc (AIM: ORCP) has completed the field based exploration programme at its Northern Zone Gold Project in Australia in order to gain a further understanding of the potential and extent of the present mineralisation. The project was only recently acquired and provides the potential for low-cost high-impact exploration to be undertaken. The programme included evaluating the proximal infrastructure which includes excellent access to the site from the major mining centre of Kalgoorie, as well as verification of collar locations from previous drilling, orientation geochemical sampling with results expected soon, and starting geological modelling and exploration targeting. The information gathered from the geological modelling, exploration targeting, and drill planning will be used to refine the maiden drilling campaign that is planned for early 2021.
FastForward Innovations Ltd (AIM: FFWD) announced its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2020 with highlights from some of the Company’s investments including the following: EMMAC announced the UK manufacture of its range of premium medical cannabis products; Juvenescence announced a joint venture with G3 Therapeutics and is making plans to take the company public in the next 12 months; TSXV traded Globalive Technology Inc. is pursuing a reverse takeover transaction with Yooma Corp.; Leap Gaming expanded its extensive list of partnerships and agreements and is exploring its options to list in 2021; and Portage’s pipeline of projects under development are progressing well and it is on target to begin clinical testing for three products by the end of the year. Following a new investing policy introduced in July, the liquidity of FastForward’s portfolio is becoming more balanced and, despite the pandemic, a number of its investments have performed very well during the period. Moreover, the company completed a placing in October, raising funds of approximately £2 million with both new and existing shareholders. This was an endorsement of its core objective of providing investors with exposure to investment opportunities that have near-term re-rating potential and would otherwise be inaccessible and provided sufficient funds to allow it to invest in opportunities in line with this strategy.
Jangada Mines Plc (AIM: JAN) announced the initial results of the second phase of its 2020 drilling programme at its 100% owned Pitombeiras Vanadium Project in Brazil. The diamond drilling programme began in October 2020 and continues to evaluate the structural corridor associated with known VTM mineralisation, including the Pitombeiras North, Pitombeiras South and Goela anomalies. The initial step-out drill results confirm the company’s thesis that Pitombeiras North’s orebody footprint extends further north from the existing resource area and reinforces its conviction that Pitombeiras North holds a larger resource.
Empire Metals Limited (AIM: EEE) provided further positive drilling results from the Eclipse Gold Project, located 55km north-east of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, which the Board notes has boosted confidence in the project’s potential to host a profitable small-scale high-grade open pit gold mine. An additional work programme is targeted to begin before the end of the year and will include infill and extension drilling to better define the near-surface potential resource and extensions at depth and along strike, alongside target testing at the nearby Houdini target. Additionally, Empire confirmed that it has exercised its option to acquire a 75% interest in Eclipse following the company’s recent placing, the funding from which will also support future exploration work as the company prepares for the next phase of drilling.
You may have missed…
Watch Jubilee Metals (AIM: JLP)’s CEO Leon Coetzer give the December 2020 corporate presentation.
Watch Tirupati Graphite CEO Shishir Poddar talk to ShareTalk’s Zak Mir on all things regarding their upcoming IPO.
In the news this week…
The celebration of Hanukkah began yesterday.
Find out more about the first phase of the Covid-19 vaccine.
A poll in The Observer revealed that the number of people expecting to spend Christmas alone this year has doubled.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been jointly named as Time’s Person of the Year.
The album signed by John Lennon for his assassin is up for auction in New York and is expected to sell for $1.5 million.
The Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors national parks have been designated Dark Sky Reserves, making a total of seven in the UK.
Find out more about Save the Children.