SMALL CAP MOVERS: From hydrogen to helium and the deal charging ITM Power towards the £1bn landmark
It has been a stellar week for investors in ITM Power, with the stock up 86 per cent after two big announcements in eight days that have the group knocking on the door of a £1 billion valuation.
The Sheffield-based, AIM-listed company makes machines called electrolysers, which use electricity to split water into hydrogen and oxygen.
When the electricity used comes from renewable sources such as wind or solar, the hydrogen produced is classed as 'green' because no carbon dioxide is emitted in the process.
That green hydrogen can then be used as a clean fuel or industrial feedstock in sectors that are difficult to electrify directly, such as steel, chemicals and heavy transport.
Founded in 2000, ITM has spent 25 years developing and refining the technology and counts Shell, Linde and RWE among its customers. Its shares jumped 36 per cent on Friday, valuing it at £901 million, after inking a deal with German engineering giant Rheinmetall.
The pair aim to create a Europe-wide network of synthetic fuel production plants for NATO armed forces. Earlier in the month, sentiment was given a boost by £86.5 million of investment to ramp up an electrolyser manufacturing line in the UK.
ITM Power has inked a deal with German firm Rheinmetall to create a European network of production plants
AIM finds its feet
Turning to the wider market, the AIM All Share had another decent week as the rebound from recent lows continued. The benchmark rose 2.7 per cent, once again outperforming the FTSE 100, which ended the week almost where it started.
Sticking with the risers. Trafalgar Property Group saw its shares surge 123 per cent after announcing a £1.93 million subscription by ROI Capital Holdings International Corp, a Latin American-focused investment vehicle, alongside a sweeping restructuring that includes the sale of its existing property subsidiaries for £1 and a complete change of board.
The entire current board will step down on completion, replaced by incoming chief executive Martin Hull and three new non-executive directors, with Hull flagging plans to pursue a reverse takeover.
IQE shares were up 68 per cent this week on zero news. The only notable update from the chipmaker came in September when investors were told it was expanding its strategic review to include a potential sale of the company.
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In the same update, IQE said it was in negotiations to offload its Taiwan operations. Since then, crickets. I'll leave the reader to fill in the gaps.
Interest in Great Western Mining was piqued by an announcement on Thursday confirming it has secured a drilling contractor to conduct work on its tungsten project in Nevada. The stock rose 46 per cent.
Micro-cap engineer Pipehawk jumped 43 per cent on stake-building by Stephen Bayliss, who now owns just over 11 per cent of the business.
Fallers: dilution hits, discounts sting
Now the fallers. Leading the pack was Forgent, which fell 26 per cent after the energy transition company announced the acquisition of a 51 per cent stake in the Peak Hills gold-copper exploration project in Western Australia.
To fund the pivot, the group said it planned to raise £1.3 million selling shares at a 35 per cent discount to the prevailing market price.
In a similar vein, Quantum Blockchain Technologies tumbled 24 per cent after moving to secure £500,000 of new investment via the market.
Investors will hope it is a case of short-term pain for long-term gain, with the tech group deploying the new cash to optimise its Bitcoin mining operation.
Helium: the gas nobody's talking about but everyone needs
Finally, Quantum Helium, down 21 per cent, brought in £5 million via an institutional share issue, giving the AIM-listed group fresh capital to push ahead with development work at its Sagebrush and Coyote Wash helium projects in the US.
Quantum said the cash will fund development planning and engineering at Sagebrush, permitting and drill-ready work at the wholly owned Coyote Wash asset, plus infrastructure design, technical studies and working capital.
Carl Dumbrell, Quantum chair, said the firm will now have 'the strongest financial position it has ever been in.'
It should be noted that £5 million is not an insignificant sum to raise in these choppy markets, and the institutional element underlines the interest in the sector.
That interest is likely spawned by the fact that 30-40 per cent of the world's helium supply, out of the Ras Laffan facility in Qatar, has been strangled off by Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The inert gas is used in MRI scanners and chip manufacturing, leaving large corporations and governments scurrying for new sources of supply.
For all the market's small- and mid-cap news, go to www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk
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