It’s fair to say that the AIM All Share hasn’t exactly had a vintage year, trading in a 100-point range and by early December sitting just over 3% higher. From political upheaval on both sides of the Atlantic, a modest strengthening of the Pound against the US Dollar and stubbornly high interest rates, there’s been no shortages of excuses not to invest. However in the midst of the festive lull, we’ve taken the opportunity to look back at a selection of some of the brighter stars of the index through 2024. It certainly hasn’t been all doom and gloom – those who picked astutely will hopefully be enjoying a bountiful feast on Christmas day! Here’s my take on the best AIM stocks of 2024.
- Mobile Streams +567%
- Roadside Real Estate +408%
- Helium One +255%
- Beeks Financial +169%
- Savannah Resources +109%
#1. Mobile Streams +567%
Shares in Mobile Streams LON:MOS, the AIM-quoted mobile content and data intelligence company started the year at 0.06p and is now trading around 0.4p, giving it a market cap of £34million. Over the longer term the story is less impressive, with the company having IPO’d back in 2006 with institutional investors paying 87p per share, but did 2024 mark a turning point for the business?
The real momentum in the share price emerged in the latter part of the year with good progress with the Mexican casino and sports book business appearing to act as a genuine catalyst here. By late August the shares were trading at 0.04p, before posting a 9 times gain to reach 0.36p by early October.
#2. Roadside Real Estate +408%
Roadside Real Estate [LON:ROAD] is a multi-faceted company with interests in real estate, a PubCo and life science investments, too. Originally trading as Barkby, the company conducted a reverse takeover in 2019 before finally changing the name in January 2024. The name change was precipitated by a strategic decision to focus on the roadside real estate business in October 2023 when the company entered into a JV with a private equity business, securing up to £100m worth of funding and the combined entity set a target of double digit IRR over the initial 30 month investment period.
The refinancing via the JV has been transformative in terms of revenue and enabling the company to turn a profit, too. It hasn’t all been plain sailing however, with the stock being suspended for a month earlier this year as results were finalised, but again the share price didn’t suffer. Having started the year at 6p, Roadside is heading into the year end trading above 30p per share.
#3. Helium One +255%
Helium One LON:HE1, the helium exploration company had a stellar start to the year, with its valuation increasing more than 10x off the back of successful drilling results around the end of January. However, a series of funding rounds did serve to act as a drag on performance after that, so the foray up to almost 3p per share was short lived, but the stock remains broadly in favour. More successful drilling news, acquisitions and farm-in agreements have maintained the theme of support, whilst demand for cleanly-produced helium to support high tech industries is also set to remain robust.
Having started the year trading at just 0.25p, the share price is now closing in on 1p, although delays on a US drill site announced in mid-December have taken the shine off here a little.
#4. Beeks Financial +169%
Beeks Financial LON:BKS, the cloud computing, connectivity and analytics provider for financial services companies has had a vintage 2024, with the share price close on doubling. A series of contract wins and extensions to existing pieces of work have underpinned the success of the business, with full year results showing revenues up 27% and underlying pre-tax profits advancing 68%. With a growing sales pipeline and a general trend amongst financial service providers to migrate to the cloud, the support here is arguably warranted.
Shares stared the year at 103p, around 50% down from the April 2022 price which at the time had marked an all time high. The July trading update saw shares move back above the 200p mark, with a successful test of the 300p level being seen in December before broad-based general market malaise resulted in a degree of discounting.
#5. Savannah Resources +109%
Europe’s leading conventional lithium company and owners of one of the most significant lithium raw materials sites on the continent, Savannah Resources LON:SAV, made good headway in 2024. Most notable was the impressive move from February’s multi-year lows following positive drill results, partnership wins and stake building news, which proved sufficient to double the share price in the space of a month. Interim results showed losses continuing to build but with new investments, the company was holding a record cash balance by the end of June 2024.
Savannah noted in the half year report that it would continue negotiations with additional potential strategic partners and evaluation of government/EU funding opportunities. With demand for rare earth elements increasing and the global market becoming ever-more protectionist, the appeal of mining locally can’t be underestimated. Shares started the year at 2.1p and were trading meaningfully above 4p by mid-December.
