Alliance News: UK consumer price inflation accelerates to 3.1% year-on-year in August from 2.9% in July, in line with market expectations cited by FXStreet, according to the Office for National Statistics. The increase is driven by higher transport costs, particularly motor fuels, as rising oil prices feed through to consumers. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rise 0.5% in August, compared with a 0.3% increase in the same month a year earlier. Core CPI, which excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco, rises 2.6% annually in August, unchanged from July and also matching market expectations. Goods inflation accelerates to 2.7% from 2.2%, while services inflation remains at 3.4%, suggesting underlying domestic price pressures are broadly steady despite the rise in the headline rate. Meanwhile, the consumer prices index including owner-occupiers’ housing costs, or CPIH, increases 3.3% annually in August, accelerating from 3.1% in July. Core CPIH inflation remains unchanged at 2.9%.
Comment: While the focus here will be how much the Bank of England will further kill consumers with further interest rate rises, on top of say another £30bn in tax rises in the Budget, what our second rate financial media will not say, is that given all the negative factors these days to have inflation at 3% is actually a result. Obviously for people to be paying 5% plus on mortgages in such circumstances is simply unfair, especially as they are already drowning in taxation. The main priority remains paying welfare to people who are paid to come and live in Great Britain, as well as home grown Labour Party supporters.
Prospex Energy plc (PXEN), the AIM-quoted investing company focused on European gas and power projects, announced that Tom Reynolds, Chief Executive Officer, will provide a live presentation to update investors on its Polish licences, San and Dunajec, with a focus on the Mniszow oil discovery in the Dunajec block, via Investor Meet Company on 21 September 2026 at 12:00 BST. https://www.investormeetcompany.com/prospex-energy-plc/register-investor
Comment: Mr Reynolds has certainly presided over a sharp recovery for PXEN, not only in the share price, but also in the perception of the company in the market. That said, given the ongoing and extended Iran and Ukraine disasters, it was perhaps only a matter of time before PXEN and the value of its European portfolio were fully appreciated if only from an energy security perspective.
Helix Exploration PLC (HEX), the US-focused helium production and liquefaction company, announced that the Ollie #1 well was spudded on 14 September 2026. “We’re delighted to be drilling Ollie #1 – intended as the fourth production well at Rudyard, joining Darwin, Linda and Weil. This represents the next stage of the Company’s drilling campaign at the Rudyard field to increase production. This will be carried out in parallel with the planned purchase and installation of a new membrane, which the Company expects to increase the available throughput capacity of the facility and, subject to production volumes and sales arrangements, support increased sales volumes in due course.
Comment: It was spotted by eagle eyed investors on X, that the recent dip for the shares towards 22p could be an opportunity, as it looked like a bear trap / rug pull. Certainly, today’s news underlines HEX’s ongoing efforts to prove up its assets in the run up to some serious production.
Cobra (COBR), a South Australian mineral exploration and development company, is pleased to report results from 24-hour desorption tests completed by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (“ANSTO”) on bulk composite samples from the Boland and Head prospects. “Results demonstrate that Wudinna recoveries can be managed across a range of lixiviant strengths. At Boland, magnet rare earth recoveries were only reduced by 9% with a 40% reduction in ammonium sulphate reagent when compared to the industry standard 0.5M, while acidified site groundwater with no added ammonium sulphate recovered around half of the key magnet and heavy rare earths.”
Comment: In terms of the latest batch of London listed stocks getting on the rare earths bandwagon, it could be said that COBR is the OG. It was peddling its serious credentials in the space long before it was fashionable, and one could say that on this basis alone it has a first mover advantage.
EnergyPathways (EPP), the UK energy transition company, announced that it has filed patent applications covering key technology innovations it has developed in-house. The patent applications cover the Company’s innovative technology for storing heat or thermal energy created through the compression phase of its CAES system. Thermal energy will be stored in sub-surface salt caverns and released at a later stage to improve round-trip efficiency of CAES energy storage to as much as 72%. The technology efficiently enhances the CAES system’s capability to deliver system flexibility across seconds, hours and days.
Comment: While we wait for “the big one”, an announcement from the government /Ofgem saying that EPP is good to go, and various other milestones over the next 5 years, we are offered titbits such as today’s news. That said, above 8p we are looking at the shares revistig recent highs at 12p by the end of next month as a best case scenario.
Avacta Therapeutics (AVCT), a life sciences company developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs, announced today that it has achieved clinical proof of mechanism for AVA6103, its next-generation controlled-release pre|CISION® peptide-drug conjugate (PDC) platform in the ongoing phase 1 FOCUS-01 trial. AVCT said, “We are thrilled to report the proof of mechanism data with our first Next-Generation pre|CISION® molecule in the clinic, which continues to underscore the potential of our platform to make a significant difference to cancer patients. AVA6103 moved from candidate status to Investigational New Drug application in less than a year, and has now reached an initial clinical readout with excellent safety and PK data, showing it is performing exactly as expected from the data generated in our preclinical studies.”
Comment: It was suggested here that 80p could be hit in coming weeks, and in the run up to today’s news which clearly some clairvoyant investors were expecting, AVCT have exceeded expectations. I am expecting telegrams of congratulation on the charting call (which won’t arrive), as well as looking forward to AVCT shares hitting the top of the one year price channel at 100p by the end of next month, funding potholes permitting. Who else comes up with this stuff?
Filtronic plc (FTC), the designer and manufacturer of advanced RF solutions for the space, aerospace, defence and telecoms infrastructure markets, has secured a follow-on contract with a US-based customer for the design, development and build of prototype units to be deployed on satellites, with a total contract value of $8m (£5.9m). Today’s contract award follows on from the $0.5m (£0.4m) initial development contract announced in June 2026 and represents a significant expansion of the customer relationship. This also adds to the $8.0m order placed by the same US customer in March 2026 for amplifier technology.
Comment: It has been stated here before that FTC looks to be in the fast lane as far as consistent contract wins, and at the same time the market behaves as if any day these could dry up. All of this makes the share price retreat from a 450p peak to 230p now somewhat unfair.
Rift Helium plc (RIFT), the primary helium exploration company focused on the Upepo Project in Tanzania’s proven Rukwa Basin, announced its unaudited results for the six months ended 30 June 2026 and provide an operational update as the Company moves from funding into field execution, with mobilisation of its 3D seismic programme now underway ahead of its planned H1 2027 drilling programme. RIFT said “Since the IPO, our focus has been execution. With the EIA Certificate now secured, mobilisation of our 3D seismic programme has commenced, representing the next major step towards acquiring the data needed to select the strongest drill targets for our exploration campaign in H1 2027. Our third-mover strategy is an important part of the Rift proposition. We are not exploring a new basin from scratch: Upepo sits within the proven Rukwa Basin, adjacent to confirmed helium discoveries. By combining what is already known about the basin with modern 3D seismic, we aim to focus our drilling capital on the highest-priority structures.”
Comment: Given that hardly any of the London market’s coterie of helium plays are actually producing the stuff, having “third mover.advantage” is probably equivalent to not much less than first mover advantage, if one gets the gist. At the same time RIFT is well cashed up and one should not underestimate a CEO with a big R in the middle of his surname.
Hydrogen Utopia International PLC (HUI), a pioneering company transforming non-recyclable waste plastic into hydrogen, clean fuels and advanced materials, focusing on advanced fuels such as jet fuel and Sustainable Aviation Fuel, announced that Clear Capital Markets has published a broker note on HUI. The research note is available at the following link: https://www.hydrogenutopia.eu/new-page-1
Comment: It is a shame that HUI remains on the London stock market share price shadow ban list, otherwise the sustainable aviation fuel angle during the current Iran crisis would be worth 10p a share. It probably still will be, even as soon as Christmas, if someone can break the dam of the ongoing stifling of the company.
Rockfire Resources plc (ROCK), the base metal, critical mineral and precious metal exploration company, provides the market with a drilling update from Rockfire’s 100%-owned Molaoi zinc deposit in Greece. “The preliminary pXRF results and intercept widths encountered in hole HMO-021 are very pleasing and extends zinc mineralisation deeper on the 4078026N line. Samples have been sent to the laboratory for definitive analysis and the market will be informed once these are received back.”
Comment: We have enjoyed myriad Molaoi updates from ROCK, each of them as positive as the other, yet the share price remains near the low end of the range. Perhaps the market should stop obsessing over the possible need for funding here, and just enjoy the good news?
Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (GWMO), a strategic minerals exploration and development company, announced highly encouraging initial metallurgical results from bench-scale flotation test work on representative run-of-mine material from its Defender Tungsten Project in Nevada, USA. GWMO said “These preliminary results represent an excellent early milestone for Defender. Upgrading our 0.35% WO₃ bulk sample to a 7.21% WO₃ rougher concentrate while maintaining 93% recovery is a very encouraging result. This confirms that our metallurgical model is highly responsive right out of the gate. Additionally, very low levels of deleterious elements such as molybdenum were recorded, which is important as these can hinder further purification steps. We have established a remarkably clean, low-volume rougher concentrate that serves as the perfect springboard for our next phase of metallurgical test work.”
Comment: Shares of GWMO have gapped up today towards recent 4p resistance, and are threatening a new leg higher for a revisit of the year’s best levels at 5p plus by the end of next month. The newsflow should act as both a springboard for the fundamentals as well as the share price in coming months.
