Trader’s Cafe with Zak Mir: 88 Energy, AFC, Blencowe, Canadian Overseas, i3 Energy, Immotion, Tekcapital, United Oil and Gas, Zoetic

One of the issues with regard to the small cap world in recent months has been the removal of liquidity in the form of high profile IPOs and share suspensions. However, an event which is set to return some well deserved cash to investors is Canadian Overseas Petroleum (COPL). The company said that dealings in its shares will commence at 8:00 AM on 17 August 2021, after an eight months journey in terms of its block buster Atomic acquisition. The $64,000 question is of course now at what price COPL shares will return? They were suspended at 0.38p in March, and the Atomic deal was completed at a equivalent oil price of $39 versus around $68 now.

Blencowe (BRES) provided a further update to the comprehensive JORC Resource diamond drilling program that has been completed on its Orom-Cross Graphite Project in Northern Uganda. The company said an additional 38 infill holes totalling 1,140m was completed in the Northern Syncline and a further 36 holes for 1,080m in the Camp Lode. 1,150 samples currently in transit to the JORC-accredited labs in Tanzania for sample preparation prior to assaying at SGS in Canada. The company said it expects to have enough tonnes drilled out to complete the first ten years' mine life at Orom-Cross and can continue to add to this cost-effectively, as required, to help meet the expected significant increase in graphite demand. It will now start work on the Preliminary Economic Assessment, being an internally generated first full commercial end-to-end study of the entire graphite project.

There was chunky news from hydrogen power generation technologies group AFC Energy (AFC). It announced a further milestone in its strategic partnership with ABB, the giant electrification and digitalisation technologies player. Following several months of dedicated electrical engineering work, AFC's zero emission hydrogen fuel cell system is set to arrive in Estonia for operational integration with ABB's high power Electric Vehicle charging system.

One wonders what is in a name as far as companies on the stock market are concerned? After all, it could be argued that Guinness was rather better a moniker than Diageo is. We shall soon find out if Chill Brands (CHLL) does any better with its new name than the former Zoetic (ZOE), as the company announces that it has changed its name at Companies House. Perhaps for most shareholders it may be that Zoetic might be best served by a focus on sales rather than just branding.

UK immersive entertainment company, Immotion (IMO) said that it expects its unaudited H1 results to show a near EBITDA breakeven outcome on revenue of circa £2.7m*. June 2021 was its best ever monthly result with unaudited Group EBITDA of £126k on revenue of £850k driven largely by the strong performance of the core Location-Based Entertainment business. The company said the second half of 2021 has started very strongly with July being yet another record month.

There was another healthy and busy update from independent oil and gas company i3 Energy (I3E), with assets and operations in the UK and Canada. It said the recent strategic acquisition of approximately 8,400 boepd from Cenovus Energy is expected to close on or around 20 August 2021. It has closed both the South Simonette and Wapiti acquisitions and commenced well reactivation programmes in both areas. At the company’s Marten Hills Clearwater acreage and at Elmworth Wapiti initial well drills have been completed. Q2 2021 average production was 8,905 boepd but in the final week of July hit 10,031 boepd. Full-year 2021 net operating income is now forecast to be approximately $62.4m, and $94.8m for the next twelve months from 1 August 2021.

There was also good news from 88 Energy (88E) as it said that the post-well evaluation of the Merlin-1 well has successfully demonstrated the presence of oil in multiple stacked sequences in the Cretaceous Nanushuk Formation (N20 and N18 targets). An additional new target, the N19 sand, that was not previously mapped, also returned a strong hydrocarbon signature following geochemical analysis.

United Oil and Gas (UOG) also stepped up to the plate in a similar vein, revealing the spudding of the ASX-1X exploration well in the Abu Sennan Licence, Egypt on 14 August. United holds a 22% working interest in the Licence, which is operated by Kuwait Energy Egypt. The company said there is considerable exploration potential in the Abu Sennan licence, and it is actively drilling its second exploration well this year to further unlock this potential.

There was a bumper results update from UK intellectual property investment group Tekcapital (TEK) as it announced its results for the six-month period ended 31 May 2021. In particular, NAV increased 56% to $51.1m (30 Nov 2020: $32.7m). Total Revenue hit $14.5m (H1 2020: US$2.9m), delivering profit before tax of $13.0m (H1 2020: US$1.9m). The company said that the IPO of Belluscura (BELL) was a particular highlight over the period.