Traders Cafe with Zak Mir: Gunsynd, San Leon Energy, VR Education,Westminster Group, Wishbone Gold

Shares of independent oil & gas company San Leon Energy (SLE) have more than doubled in recent months, reflecting not only the oil price rising, but also progress it has been making via investee company Decklar Resources at the Oza Field in Nigeria. In its latest update Decklar said it anticipates that operations for the re-entry of the Oza-1 well are on track for initial production testing to commence by approximately mid-July. Given that the Oza Oil Field has significant export and production capacity through processing facilities and infrastructure is already in place and operational, this should allow for the immediate export and sale of crude oil from the Oza-1 well.

After some months of consolidation for investing company Gunsynd (GUN), with traders suggesting that the shares are now on the oversold side below 1.50p, the company delivered its latest investment. This is to the tune of A$400,000 (approximately £218,000) in Charger Metals Limited, an Australian Base metals and Lithium exploration company. Gunsynd has recently been notable for taking positions in companies at the pre-IPO stage, thus meaning less of a wait for liquidity events than is usual for comparable investment companies. Charger recently lodged a prospectus for an IPO to list its entire issued share capital on the ASX and to raise a minimum of A$6 million, with the listing due Q3 2021.

There was more bumper news from Australian focused exploration group Wishbone Gold (WSBN), as it unveiled the recent presentation by Dr Simon Beams, Terra Search’s Principal Geologist at the AusIMM Roundup Conference in Cairns Australia on the 27 May 2021. The highlight here was that the result of advanced geological and magnetic studies found similarities at Wishbone's Halo Project to the nearby 5 Million Ounce Ravenswood Gold/ Copper Mine. In the wake of this news, Richard Poulden, Wishbone Gold's Chairman, said that the company was looking forward to continuing its exploration and further preparing for the drilling campaign.

One might have thought that with all the cash likely to come into its coffers in the wake of recent very positive contract news, Westminster Group (WSG), a supplier of managed services and technology-based security solutions, would not need to announce a placing to raise £2.5m at 5.7p per share. But at least it was conducted at a 1.8% premium to the closing middle market price on the London Stock Exchange on 17 June 2021. The company said that fundraise will serve to put the company in a stronger position for the next stage of its development by providing additional working capital to support the growth and delivery of the recently secured contracts, which require upfront capital investment.

Also in placing mode was VR Education (VRE). The virtual reality technology company with its flagship ENGAGE product, announced an oversubscribed placing at 16p, raising £7.7m. Last month VR Education announced that ENGAGE had reached the milestone of 100 customers, and updated on its partnership with HTC Corporation – a global leader in VR technology and equipment and a strategic partner of VRE,in which HTC holds a 20% stake.