SRT Marine Systems plc woke up to a rollercoaster trading session on Friday.
Shares in the onboard electronics systems group dropped over 40 per cent before rebounding sharply on what was, consequently, a bit of a ‘curate’s egg’ of a trading update.
Market makers initially marked down the stock after SRT provided lower-than-expected full-year guidance.
The company announced that project revenue milestones anticipated for the current financial period have been delayed, pushing expected revenues into the next financial year.
These delays, stemming from extended customer contract completion processes, will result in significantly lower revenues, leading SRT to a loss for the period.
Sailing away: SRT Marine Systems manufactures onboard electronics systems for ships
However, the following paragraphs in the statement showed the group is making progress with a flurry of potential orders worth over £400million.
From the 40 per cent nadir, shares shot up into the green to the tune of 4.4 per cent, all within the space of 45 minutes.
Nobody ever said market makers weren’t a reactionary bunch.
The AIM All-Share Index moved 1.5 per cent lower throughout the week, underperforming against the FTSE 100’s 0.4 per cent fall.
It was a poor week for global equities as a whole, with US and Asian markets also posting losses.
A sizable dip in oil prices didn’t help matters – a mid-week sell-off saw Brent crude down to $77.64 per barrel, close to four-month lows, which impacted London’s energy-weighted capital markets.
Kibo Energy plc’s shares flopped 50 per cent following the announcement of a wholesale corporate restructuring that includes a new board, an equity fundraiser and financial re-engineering.
The £500,000 equity round at 0.015p was likely the key factor at play (no surprises then that the stock sank to….0.015p).
As part of the overhaul, Kibo is bringing in micro-cap natural resources veteran James Parsons as a non-exec along with shareholder Clive Roberts and City spinner Stefania Barbaglio, who will become Kibo’s new chairperson.
Tasty plc was AIM’s biggest mover for the week after the operator of Dim T and Wildwood restaurants emerged from a court-sanctioned restructuring plan.
Announced on Tuesday, the plan will see Tasty shed 20 lossmakers out of its 53 outlets. This, according to Tasty, will enable a ‘significant EBITDA improvement’ of up to £2.1million between financial 2023 and financial 2025.
Shares in the slimmed-down operation rallied 64 per cent.
From adjectives to adverbs, Totally plc shares flew over 30 per cent. There was no immediately obvious catalyst for the rally, though as a frontline healthcare services provider to the NHS, the likelihood of a Labour election victory may be breathing optimism into the healthcare services sector.
Insig AI added 37 per cent after the data solutions company announced an £813,000 equity round. A small sum, no doubt, but at just a 2 per cent discount primarily bought into by an entirely new investor, a tidy one.
Shares in Jacamo and SimplyBe owner N Brown Group plc swung 40 per cent higher after its final results showed a swing back into the black.
Statutory profit before tax came in at £5.3million, a big reversal from the £71.1million loss the year before.
The retailer ‘kept to our transformation plans, despite the macroeconomic backdrop, whilst building resilience through our strong balance sheet, and achieving adjusted EBITDA above market expectations’, said chief executive Steve Johnson.
Shares in Strip Tinning Holdings plc, a maker of components for electric vehicles, revved up 46 per cent to 72p after winning a major high-volume contract from an unnamed US carmaker to make battery connectors for autonomous vehicles.
Mosman Oil & Gas Ltd was a top mover in the energy sector. The junior added 60 per cent throughout the week after announcing a significant move towards building a global helium-focused portfolio.
Inspecs Group plc was among the junior market’s biggest fallers, with shares dropping 12 per cent following a cautious statement about current trading conditions.
The group said it anticipates that revenues and earnings for the first half of the financial year ‘will be lower than the prior year, more in line with historic trading’.
Clontarf Energy plc topped the AIM fallers list though.
In an unfortunate turn of events in its Bolivian operations, state-owned producer the Bolivian State Lithium Company (YLB) rejected Clontarf’s bid for seven priority salares (salt pans) in Southern Bolivia.
Clontarf did not have the requisite credit rating, according to YLB. In fact, as an exploration company that doesn’t issue bonds, Clontarf has no credit rating at all.
Clontarf identified an offtake partner to pursue the bids, but even this was rejected due to the partner’s BBB+ long-term credit rating. Shares crashed 56 per cent.
In the biotech sector, Faron Pharmaceuticals moved 47 per cent lower in a technical markdown following the announcement of a €30.7million (£26million) financing round.
Proceeds from the latest financing round will underwrite ongoing work on its key asset, bexmarilimab, while negotiations continue to secure a licensing deal for this highly promising cancer treatment.
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