Poolbeg Pharma Plc (POLB), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company with a core focus on transforming the cancer immunotherapy field, is pleased to announce that it has raised £3.5 million (before expenses) pursuant to a placing with certain existing institutional and other investors. The Placing will be at the issue price of 6 pence per new Ordinary Share. The net proceeds of the Placing are expected to strengthen Poolbeg’s position in ongoing partnering discussions while funding both the POLB 001 TOPICAL trial and the Oral GLP-1 proof-of-concept trial through to completion. The net proceeds of the Placing, together with Poolbeg’s existing resources, are expected to extend the Company’s cash runway into Q2 2028.
Comment: It is perhaps a shame that POLB did not or could not wait a little longer to let the share price get on the right side of 10p. But then again summer is here and we all have holidays to go on, and more seriously the powers that be at POLB are aware one should never be underfunded in this space. Indeed, the runway into 2028
Rockfire Resources plc (ROCK), the base metal, critical mineral and precious metal exploration company, provided a drilling update from Rockfire’s 100%-owned Molaoi zinc deposit in Greece. Hole HMO-018 has intersected good zinc grades and successfully infills another 50m panel in the anticipated Indicated Resource model. Each hole returning good zinc, silver and germanium adds material tonnage to our targeted Indicated Resource.
Comment: There seems to be a disconnect between the enthusiasm that ROCK has for Molaoi and the updates from it, and the market’s response to it. Part of this may be funding concerns, but it should be that case that the prize of this asset outweighs the slings and arrows of the journey towards it. Anywhere near 0.1p seems too cheap.
Ironveld (IRON), the mining development company focused on producing high-value strategic metals and products for mineral processing applications, provided an operational update regarding its DMS Plant, highlighting significant progress in production stability, product quality, off take of finished product and the identification of potential new revenue streams, alongside an update on the Layer 21 mineralogical study. The Company is delighted to confirm that the plant has now entered sustained production, currently operating continuously for 16 hours per day on a double shift basis. Current processing throughput is between 2.5 to 3.5 tonnes per hour (tph), against a design level of 5 tph throughput. The plant is consistently producing an average of 1.4 tph of in-specification DMS grade Magnetite product, together with approximately 1 tph of Maghemite.
Comment: Fans of the Lassonde Curve will be aware that the start of production is a momentous time for any mining company, especially given the way that so many don’t actually have anything in the ground, or the money to extract it. The only issue with this update is that no one has heard of Maghemite, unless they have a geology degree.
SysGroup plc (SYS), an advisory-led end-to-end Managed IT Service Provider focused on cybersecurity, managed services and AI-enabled operational delivery for the UK mid-market, today announces that Executive Chairman, Heejae Chae, has purchased 416,639 ordinary shares of 1 pence each in the Company at an average price of 24 pence per Ordinary Share. Following the purchase, Heejae has a beneficial interest in 11,025,709 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 13.17% of the Company’s total voting rights.
Comment: SYS, a company that most have not heard of, has been a decent charting buy in recent weeks, as highlighted here. Given the latest director buying one would expect this to continue. Indeed, if more than five people were familiar with SYS, this would certainly be the case.
CelLBxHealth plc (CLBX), a CTC intelligence company specialising in innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) solutions for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology, will hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) today at 8:00 am at the Harbour Hotel, High Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 3DA. As I stated in last week’s announcement, nothing fundamental has changed within the core of our business and the commercial opportunity for the Company remains significant. We continue to be focused on disciplined execution and converting our commercial pipeline into sustainable revenue growth and, importantly, we remain on track to deliver revenues for FY 2026 of at least £2.1 million, a 50% increase on FY 2025.
Comment: Why meet up at Claridges when you can meet up at the Harbour Hotel in Guildford. Should be a great day out for the faithful, especially if they are insomniacs and are happy to get up at the crack of dawn to attend the event? At least the fundamentals here appear strong / improving and the company is well cashed up. 8am, really?
Sosandar plc (SOS), the women’s fashion brand, creating quality, trend-led products for women of all ages, is pleased to announce its results for the year ended 31 March 2026. Revenue growth of 14% year-on-year to £42.3m (FY25: £37.1m). Gross margin increased to 64.0% (FY25: 62.1%), reflecting the continued focus on margin improvement. Adjusted profit before tax increased to £0.4m (FY25: £0.2m), in line with market expectations. Underlying business delivered adjusted profit before tax of £1.3m, excluding the impact of own stores which continues to weigh on profitability until they mature (£0.9m loss). Strong net cash of £8.4m (£7.7m as at 30 September 2025), after returning £1.8m to shareholders through share buybacks in the Period.
Comment: it would appear that the crackpot, psychotic, malicious, shorting agenda commentary designed to bring the company down has stopped for quite a while as SOS gets above the clouds on fundamentals. This update and the ongoing rally in the shares speaks for itself.
Hercules plc (HERC), a leading infrastructure and construction services group, is pleased to announce that its Civil Projects division has secured new contract awards, with a combined value of approximately £6.1 million during Q2 and Q3 of FY2026.
Including these new awards, for the first nine months of FY2026, the Civil Projects division has secured contract awards of over £15.7 million. The majority of these contracts will be delivered during FY2026, reflecting continued growth in demand for the division’s capabilities. The Civil Projects division generated revenue of £13.5 million for the year ended 30 September 2025.
Comment: Whatever issues HERC had in filing its results (who cares?) the fact of the matter is that the company is on the public sector gravy train, at a time when the state is becoming as bloated and trigger happy with spending as could be imagined. The reason share price recovery should only be the start of a turnaround.
Shearwater Group plc (SWG), the cybersecurity, advisory and managed security services group, is pleased to announce that its subsidiary, Brookcourt Solutions, has secured a new contract valued at US$1.2 million over three years with one of Japan’s largest financial groups and one of the world’s leading banking organisations. Phil Higgins, Group Chief Executive Officer of Shearwater Group plc, commented: “This award from one of the world’s largest banking organisations is another endorsement of Brookcourt’s capability to deliver enterprise-class cybersecurity solutions to highly regulated organisations. Email remains one of the primary attack vectors for cybercriminals, and we are delighted to support this customer with a market-leading platform that strengthens its security posture, reduces operational burden and enhances resilience. This contract also further demonstrates the quality of our customer base and our continued ability to win strategic international business.”
Comment: As usual, the market is slow or simply asleep to a company which is clearly taking off in terms of its pipeline. True, it has taken rather longer than expected for SWG to gather such momentum. But the share price has gapped off the lows and looks to be on its way to an initial 55p price channel target by the end of next month.
Physiomics plc (PYC), a leading mathematical modelling, data science and biostatistics company supporting the development of new therapeutics and personalised medicine solutions, announced that Ian Bagnall, Director of the Company, has acquired, via market purchases, 1,111,111 new ordinary shares of 0.4p in the Company (“Ordinary Shares”) at a price of 0.45p per Ordinary Shares. Accordingly, Mr Bagnall’s total holding in the Company will be 16,111,111 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 3.55% of the Company’s issued share capital.
Comment: Another day, another splash of director buying in PYC. And its not just what normally happens when a share price tanks and directors step in to try and boost confidence with a token £5,000 purchase. This appears to be sustained, confident buying in a concerted way, highlighting the growth prospects of the company.
