London’s AIM Index pushed out to fresh multi year highs at one point during Wednesday’s session before retreating slightly into the close, reaching the bell some five points ahead at 1228.63
- Fireangel Safety Technology +76%
- UK Oil & Gas +38%
- APQ Global -30%
- Hurricane Energy -26%
- 88Energy +26%
Home safety play Fireangel [LON:FA] found itself at the top of the board today, tacking on some 76% in an exceptionally brisk day of trade. The company announced a long term partnership this morning to develop a new generation of smoke alarm, which will yield royalty, management and support fees worth an estimated total of EUR21 million. The deal is seen as being transformative for the business and investors appear more than willing to throw their weight behind the idea, too.
UK Oil & Gas LON:UKOG also had a good run, adding 38% in the wake of a market update. The company has received drilling consent from the Turkish authorities which will make for the first key step in establishing the commerciality of an oil pool which could contain a transformational volume of oil.
At the foot of the board, APQ Global LON:APQ slipped 30% although the £4m market cap and a 33% quoted spread at the close need to be taken into account here. There has been no news out from the company for some weeks and this stock is very thinly traded anyway. Nothing to see here – at least for now.
Hurricane Energy LON:HUR arrived at the closing bell some 26% offside, with an update this morning sending the stock back towards lows from earlier in the year. The “competent persons report” sends some positive messages over the assets under development but came with a rider about dilution risk for existing equity holders. That uncertainty appears to have been reflected in the current price action.
A notable mention for 88Energy [LON:88E], which has seen some volatility of late. As we mentioned last night, the sell-off seemed to have the potential to look overdone in light of the latest operational update so the reversion here which added 26% should come as no surprise. That said, there can be no guarantee that further price action won’t be seen in due course given there’s clearly uncertainty over the near-term outlook for the business.