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Top Five Aquis stocks in the first half of 2024

Top Five Aquis stocks in the first half of 2024

We’ve just passed the half-way point of the year, and this week for our Aquis Stock Market focus The Armchair Trader will look at the top five performers on the market to date.

Aquis is a market of growth, and as such has the potential for higher returns, as it boasts many smaller and younger companies at the start of their growth journey. The exchange is also a broad church, with many companies from a plethora of sectors, as opposed to being dominated by a few traditional industries. For private companies planning to go public it has lower investment barriers than the FTSE.  Not that it has lower standards, it just has a more streamlined process with potentially lower listing fees.  As such it is more attractive to smaller, more agile innovative companies that are more focused on growing their businesses than the nameplating that listing on another exchange can offer.

However, as the exchange has constituents that have smaller market capitalizations, trading volumes are smaller, which arguably makes it a lower liquidity exchange. Moreover, newer companies statistically have a higher chance of failure than established companies, so there is an increased investment risk with some of the exchange’s listed companies. Due to their relative size many companies on Aquis have a lower company profile, so don’t attract as many column inches in the media as FTSE titans, and there is less research coverage in the brokerage community, so it sometimes is harder to source information and data on Aquis-listed companies.

However, in my mind, the advantages of potentially higher growth and greater diversification outweigh the disadvantages of greater exposure in the mainstream media, and we have chosen to highlight Aquis-listed companies to help investors gather more information on these stocks and decide for themselves whether they fit into their own investment portfolios. There are still very good returns to be had in this market from serious and sustainable operational companies making money in the real economy. The top-performers we have picked have scale and have published a reasonable amount of news flow and announcements.

1. Incanthera [AQSE:INC]

Incanthera, the skincare specialist we wrote about at the end of last year was Aquis’ biggest mover this year, with its share price putting on 307.7% since the start of the year. The cosmetics company has a market cap of GBP33.25m. The company is focused on developing its Skin+Cell skincare brand and operates in a market estimated to be USD180bn in value. It is launching its skincare products through retailer Marionnaud, initially in Austria and Switzerland and then across Europe this year. Revenues from Marionnaud will be GBP4m, with further orders expected.

The fund has been well-backed by institutional investors which has accelerated the R&D of its Skin+Cell range and has designs on expanding to Asia. The company expects revenues to breach GBP10m and the company raised more than GBP4m in a recent fundraising issue.

2. Supernova Digital Assets [AQSE:SOL]

Supernova Digital Assets, the Solana and cryptocurrency investment company was also a triple-digit performer, with its shares going up 110% in the first six-months of the year. The company seeks to identify potential Solana and crypto opportunities and deploys the majority of its investment capital in the acquisition of minority interests in a number of different, yet to be identified, companies in the broad Solana and cryptocurrency ecosystem, and to apply expertise to the business operations and strategic plans to these companies.

Acting like a Venture Capital fund, Supernova’s management seeks to use their experience and expertise to help accelerate the growth of their portfolio companies – many of which are still in the start-up phase – to help them maximise their profit opportunities and raise their profiles. The company hopes to reward investors through both a significant appreciation in the company’s share price (110% isn’t bad in anyone’s book) and through a progressive dividend policy.

3. Vinanz Limited [AQSE:BTC]

Vinanz is also a player in the crypto scene. With a market cap of GBP20m, Vinanz is building a fully-fledged Bitcoin mining company. The BVI-headquartered company is looking at installing clusters of Bitcoin miners in the US and Canada, in decentralised data facilities. The company will partner up with third-party cryptocurrency miners.


Although focused on Bitcoin, Vinanz is also open to mining other cryptocurrencies and in February said that it was going to use some of the Bitcoin it had already mined to diversify into Solana, Ethereum, and Cosmos. Vinanz stock is up 51.5% in the first half of the year on the back of it opening-up or expanding operations in Indiana and Iowa, and in its last half-year report announced profit of GBP174,859 increasing its miners from 120 to 300. The company is also traded in the US on the OTC.

4. EDX Medical [AQSE:EDX]

We recently covered EDX Medical in The Armchair Trader. EDX designs and supplies digital and clinical diagnostic tests for the medical industry and has developed diagnostic tests for cancers, heart disease, neurology and infectious disease testing. EDX’s share price has increased by 43.5% in the first six-months of the year.

Subsequent to our report, the biotechnology firm signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Curesponse, to market its cResponse cancer assay in the UK, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark.  It also launched a comprehensive hereditary germline cancer testing product designed to accurately predict if family members of cancer patients are at increased risk from the disease.

In its last financial statements published in mid-December for the six-months to end-September 2023, EDX was still in loss-making territory, reporting a GBP1.3m loss for the six-month period, up from a loss of GBP684,854 in the corresponding six-month period of 2022. Much of this loss was attributable to administration expenses including new hires, acquisitions and product development. Nevertheless, the company is cracking the egg that is finding a cure to cancer, so has a bright future.

5. Phoenix Digital Assets [AQSE:PNIX]

Our review is rounded up by another company in the crypto market, the GBP16.8m Phoenix Digital Assets fund, an alternative investment fund specialising in the market for digital assets. Phoenix Digital has seen its share price increase 37.7% since the start of the year.

The fund allows retail investors access direct exposure to largecap liquid cryptocurrency firms through an investment fund. In its last results Phoenix Digital saw its profit for the year rise 287% y-o-y to GBP17.6m from a loss of GBP9.4m the year previously. The company also saw the value of its digital assets rise 558% y-o-y to GBP25.2m with total assets under management rising from GBP25.1m to GBP46.1m

Top five performers on Aquis 1H24

Investment January price June Price Percentage change
Incanthera plc 6.5p 26.5p 307.7%
Supernova Digital Assets Plc 0.1p 0.21p 110.0%
Vinanz Limited 8.5p 12.875p 51.5%
EDX Medical Group Plc 5.75p 8.25p 43.5%
Phoenix Digital Assets PLC 2.65p 3.65p 37.7%

Source: Aquis Stock Exchange

The Aquis Stock Exchange has proven its potential for high returns in the first half of 2024.  While the exchange is known for smaller, younger companies with inherent risks, top performers like Incanthera and Supernova Digital Assets demonstrate the potential for significant growth.  These companies, along with those in the healthcare and crypto sectors highlighted here, offer diversification opportunities for investors seeking exposure to emerging markets.  Despite lower liquidity and potentially higher risk compared to established exchanges, Aquis’ focus on growth and the success stories presented here suggest it’s a market worth exploring for investors with a higher risk tolerance and a long-term perspective.

Investors can purchase shares in Aquis-listed stocks through most investment platforms. Here’s a list of ISA providers for investors in the UK that are just starting out.

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