SMALL CAP MOVERS: Surface Transforms loses main buyer and it is existential

Surface Transforms’ shares hit the skids this week, collapsing 98% after the brake manufacturer revealed that General Motors has decided to cut ties with the company, terminating a supply contract that was supposed to run until 2030.

The news is as close to existential as it gets for a listed business. GM accounted for 84% of Surface Transforms’ revenues in 2025, representing £15.3 million of sales and 85% of all brake discs sold. 

The American automotive giant has also provided the company with £14.4 million in advance payments and operational support since November 2024.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, Surface Transforms said GM was ‘re-sourcing its supply of brake discs with effect from 31st March 2026.’ The company added it had not yet spoken directly with GM about the decision, a detail that underscores how sudden and one-sided the termination appears to have been.

The directors have moved quickly. They say they intend to immediately engage corporate restructuring advisers to protect stakeholder interests, language that signals the company’s survival in its current form is far from guaranteed.

Surface Transforms makes carbon ceramic brakes for high-performance cars, a technology it says delivers weight savings of up to 70% compared to conventional iron alternatives. It is a compelling product. The problem is the business built itself almost entirely around a single customer, and that customer has just walked out the door.

The loss of General Motors as a customer, is ‘existential’ for Surface Tranforms

The wider picture

A turbulent week for global markets made its presence felt in the small-cap arena, with the AIM All-Share down 3.9% and below 800 for the first time since mid-January. For all that, it fared better than the FTSE 100, which fell 4.6%.

Aferian was among the casualties. Shares in the video streaming technology group were suspended from trading on AIM on Friday, down 37%, as it prepares for a potential administration process and the sale of its operating businesses.

Central Asia Metals fared little better, falling around 25% after the miner warned of a shorter lifespan for its Sasa zinc-lead operation in North Macedonia. 

A new life-of-mine plan will result in a non-cash impairment charge of up to $120 million. A comprehensive review of 2025 performance now puts Sasa’s mine life at 2034, five years shorter than previously envisaged, based on the Svinja Reka reserve and resource.

Galantas Gold

The week’s biggest riser, and one of the strongest performers of 2025 so far, is Galantas Gold. A 780% advance is remarkable by any measure, but what makes it more striking is that it traces back to a single announcement made on January 7 that the market has taken its time to fully absorb.

We touched on Galantas a few weeks ago when the stock first started moving. The story merits a closer look now.

The company holds small-scale projects in Omagh, Northern Ireland, and Gairloch, Scotland. But last November it made a pivot, shifting its focus to Chile, where its primary asset is the Indiana gold-copper mine.

Indiana sits in what geologists would consider elephant country, neighbouring globally recognised operations including Cerro Negro and Mantoverde.

The catalyst for this year’s move, though, appears to be the January 7 deal to acquire the Andacollo Oro gold project, a past-producing open-pit mine carrying a historical measured and indicated resource of 2 million ounces of gold, in a transaction worth more than $30 million. There is also a lower-confidence inferred resource of around 5 million ounces, which hints at the potential scale of the asset.

Being open-pit and at surface is key. The ore is easier and cheaper to extract than material sitting kilometres underground, meaning the capital costs of rehabilitation are likely to be substantially lower than restarting an underground operation. Set that against a gold price above $5,000 an ounce, and investor excitement starts to make a lot of sense.

Other movers

Union Jack Oil, down 62% over the past year, was buoyed by speculative buying that pushed the shares up 66% this week. 

For SkinBioTherapeutics shareholders, hobbled by accounting issues and the departure of its chief executive, there was some relief, with the stock up 59%. It is still down around 35%, however, since the revenue recognition problems first emerged. Meanwhile, on-market share buying by the company bidding to acquire Deltic Energy spurred that stock 50% higher.

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