SMALL CAP MOVERS: Quadrise blooms on shopper win

Quadrise shot to the top of the small-cap movers list after the alternative fuel developer added another top name to its rapidly expanding roster of clients.

Morocco-based fertiliser and phosphate giant OCP is the latest to announce a trial, following the announcement in April of a binding agreement between Quadrise, shipping company MSC and Cargill, the crops and food transportation business.

Quadrise is emerging as an intriguing small-cap play in the alternative fuels market. Its MSAR product and BioMSAR biofuel sister product have been designed to reduce the huge emissions pumped out by the shipping business and help its transition to greener alternatives.

House broker Shore Capital Markets said of Quadrise: ‘The company’s opportunity in the marine sector with MSC alone could be worth a multiple of its current enterprise value in potential annual revenues if only a small percentage of the shipping company’s overall fuel demand switched to MSAR or bioMSAR’.

Quadrise helps reduce the huge emissions pumped out by the marine and shipping sector

The shares rallied 70 per cent this week in response to this latest round of client acquisitions, bringing the stock’s year-on-year performance above 100 per cent.

The AIM All-Share Index dipped around 0.7 per cent in the shortened four-day trading session while in the blue-chip space, the FTSE 100 entered Friday around 63 points, or 0.75 per cent, lower.

Both indexes staged a bit of a late-week recovery following a bearish first half with equities across the board spooked by rising bond yields.

Looking at other top small-cap risers, digital transformation company TPX Impact rocketed up 33 per cent on the back of a bullish three-year forecast.

This year’s revenue growth should be up 20 per cent to £84million, said the group, while adjusted EBITDA margins are expected to be in the middle of the guidance range of 5 to 6 per cent.

In the mining sector, Golden Metal Resources added 28 per cent thanks to a promising update from the US-focused mineral exploration company’s 100 per cent owned flagship Pilot Mountain Project

Golden Metal said it is accelerating development of the project, using its current Mineral Resource Estimate as the initial basis for planning.

Kodal Minerals shares went up by a fifth after providing an update on its Bougouni Lithium Project in Southern Mali.

The company reported that the manufacture of a DMS processing plant and crushing circuit is progressing as scheduled, with equipment shipping from China to West Africa expected to begin in early June.

Prospex Energy was another top riser, adding 24 per cent throughout the week thanks to a promising update on its 37 per cent-owned Selva Malvezzi concession in Italy.

Scotsman and Yorkshire Post owner National World‘s Thursday trading update, which showed an 18 per cent year-on-year increase in sales, sent shares on a 12 per cent intraday rally.

Kromek Group shares rose 18 per cent as the company announced it would report record revenues and positive EBITDA, surpassing market expectations.

The radiation and bio-detection technology leader experienced strong commercial momentum in the second half of the year, which was fuelled by multi-year contracts in advanced imaging and CBRN detection.

Turning to the fallers, Longboat Energy was among the worst performers this week, dipping over 57 per cent come Friday.

Longboat conceded that production ramp-up at one of its concessions ‘has been disappointing to date despite an increase in production from 2023’, while ‘progress has been frustratingly slow’ at another site.

In the biotech space, Renalytix AI shares slid 22 per cent. The group announced a management change, with James Sterling stepping down as chief finance officer. An interim CFO has been put in place while Renalytix seeks a replacement.

MicroSalt shares fell 17 per cent on Thursday after the low-sodium salt producer published its first results since its IPO in February.

Microsalt said the rollout with new B2B customers ‘has been slower than hoped’ in 2024. However, shares staged a 12 per cent recovery on Friday.

Finally, what should we make of pharmacogenetic testing company Genedrive’s £6million equity round?

Retail and institutional investors jumped into the heavily discounted share offering, with the open offer seeing a 94.4 per cent take-up, generating £2.03million, although the retail offer undershot the target by raising £1.89million.

Genedrive was initially hoping to raise £3.5million via the retail offer conducted on Peel Hunt’s REX platform.

A mixed bag then. Shares dipped 16 per cent throughout the week.