Spotlight 29 August 2024 by Shares Magazine

and, as such, are written by the companies in question and reproduced in good faith.

Introduction

WWelcome to Spotlight, a bonus report which is distributed eight times a year alongside your digital copy of Shares.

It provides small caps with a platform to tell their stories in their own words.

The company profiles are written by the businesses themselves rather than by Shares journalists.

They pay a fee to get their message across to both existing shareholders and prospective investors.

These profiles are paidfor promotions and are not

independent comment. As such, they cannot be considered unbiased. Equally, you are getting the inside track from the people who should best know the company and its strategy.

Some of the firms profiled in Spotlight will appear at our webinars and in-person events where you get to hear from management first hand.

Click here for details of upcoming events and how to register for free tickets.

Previous issues of Spotlight are available on our website.

Members of staff may hold shares in some of the securities written about in this publication. This could create a conflict of interest. Where such a conflict exists, it will be disclosed. This publication contains information and ideas which are of interest to investors. It does not provide advice in relation to investments or any other financial matters. Comments in this publication must not be relied upon by readers when they make their investment decisions. Investors who require advice should consult a properly qualified independent adviser. This publication, its staff and AJ Bell Media do not, under any circumstances, accept liability for losses suffered by readers as a result of their investment decisions.

What have been the best-performing AIMlisted stocks in 2024?

Looking at companies from various sectors throughout the year

In this article we discuss how companies that are listed on AIM have performed in 2024, encompassing anything with a market cap of £30 million or more.

WHAT DOES THE DATA REVEAL?

The table shows that not one sector dominates the list of top AIM performers.

Helium One Global (HE1:AIM) – a helium exploration company, Guardian Metal Resources (GMET:AIM) – a precious metals exploration and development company and Powerhouse Energy (PHE:AIM) have all generated big share price gains, of 464%, 235% and 227% respectively.

Helium One Global’s share price gains are in part due to progress mae with its flagship exploration project in Tanzania. The company’s shares rose recently after announcing drilling at the Itumbula West-1 (ITW-1) well in Tanzania.

‘We are pleased that we have been able to re-enter and deepen the ITW-1 well as planned. It has been very encouraging seeing the helium and hydrogen shows continuing whilst drilling this deeper section, and we look forward to evaluating these results further,’ said Lorna Blaisse, CEO of Helium

One Global.

Guardian Metal Resources announced a major development at the company’s flagship mountain project in Nevada revealing potential large scale porphyry style mineralization. Separately, it revealed details of a strategic financing deal worth $2.75 million.

‘Monies raised will directly support multiple drillholes in the various porphyry targets at Pilot Mountain and further resource drilling as well as various ongoing development workstreams associated with Pilot Mountain. Drilling at the Garfield project is also planned, subject to urgent completion of preparatory work, including the acquisition of relevant permits and final interpretations of all geophysical data,’ said Oliver Friesen, CEO of Guardian Metal Resources.

NEW CONTRACT WINS AND SPACEX TIE-UP

Another top-performer is Filtronic (FTC:AIM) – a designer and manufacturer of products for the aerospace, defence, telecoms infrastructure and LEO (low earth orbit) space markets. Filtronic’s shares were lifted in the first half of the year with several new contract wins and a five-year strategic partnership with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

Filtronic’s contract wins have been from strategic target clients, BAE Maritime Services, and QinetiQ (QQ) for £4.5 million and £2 million, respectively. The company’s shares are up 217% in 2024.

MORE MODEST GAINS

Further down the table there are more modest gains from AIM stocks.

LADBible owner LBG

Media (LBG:AIM) has seen shares gain 57.6%, Warpaint London (W7L:AIM) shares are up 56.8% an Anglo-Asian Mining (AAZ:AIM).

LBG Media shares jumped at the end of July, when the company issued a positive trading update ahead of first-half results in September.

The company expects first-half revenue of £42.30 million up from £27.2 million last year.

LBG Media also said its global audience has increased to 493 million, up from 410 million last year.

RAPID GROWTH FROM WARPAINT LONDON

The affordable colour cosmetics supplier, Warpaint London has performed strongly throughout the year, raising its year-toDecember 2024 outlook back in April after experiencing rapid growth in the first quarter.

Warpaint London which owns W7, and Technic brands supplies to Tesco (TSCO), and popular UK High Street brands Boots and Superdrug.

The company said: ‘Further progress continues to be made with expanding the group’s presence in larger retailers globally and the group has significant further opportunities to grow sales, both with new and existing customers.

Warpaint London reported a strong trading update for the six months to 30 June 2024 with sales guided to £46 million, which implies year-on-year growth of circa 26% according to analysts at Shore Capital.

Best performing AIM shares of 2024

WATCH RECENT PRESENTATIONS

Empire Metals (EEE)

Shaun Bunn, Managing Director

Empire Metals is an exploration and resource development company focused on the Pitfield Project in Western Australia, a globally significant titanium project contained within a giant, sediment-hosted, hydrothermal mineral system.

Incanthera (INC)

Tim McCarthy, Chairman

Incanthera specially focusses on innovative technologies in dermatology and oncology. Its current focus is Skin + CELL, its luxury skincare brand, utilising ground-breaking formulation and delivery expertise, to bring scientifically proven formulations to cosmetics and unmet skincare solutions.

Oroco Resource Corp (TSX-V:OCO.V)

Adam Smith, V.P Business Development

Oroco’s Santo Tomas copper deposit stands out as one of a very few independently owned copper assets with an ability to be put into production to meet future demand for copper.

ANGLE – advancing cancer care with innovative liquid biopsy solutions

ANGLE (AGL:AIM) is a worldleading liquid biopsy company with innovative circulating tumour cell (CTC) technology for use in research, drug development and clinical oncology. Headquartered in the UK, ANGLE’s mission is to revolutionise cancer diagnosis and treatment using a simple blood test.

ANGLE’s Parsortix technology enables the capture, harvest, and analysis of intact CTCs, from blood samples. ANGLE believes that CTCs are the best analyte because they are living cancer cells actively involved in spreading cancer to other parts of the body. Cancer changes over time and without repeat testing there is a critical gap in understanding how to treat the disease.

The global liquid biopsy market is forecast to grow significantly over the next decade with the US alone predicted to reach $130 billion per annum. This is driven by the increasing demand for non-invasive diagnostic tools, advancements in personalised medicine, and the rising prevalence of cancer. ANGLE is well-positioned to capitalise on these trends with its robust and versatile Parsortix technology and associated assays.

CORE TECHNOLOGY: THE PARSORTIX SYSTEM

ANGLE’s Parsortix system, is a highly sensitive and specific device for capturing and harvesting CTCs from blood. Despite there being worldwide demand for liquid biopsy solutions, ANGLE is the only company that has successfully secured a US FDA product clearance for harvesting CTCs from metastatic breast cancer patients for subsequent analysis, a clearance that took ANGLE over six years to achieve.

Unlike traditional tissue biopsies that require expensive, invasive surgical procedures, the Parsortix system allows for the collection of CTCs from a simple blood draw. This approach not only minimises patient discomfort

but also enables repeat sampling throughout the patient care pathway, crucial for treatment selection, progression monitoring and early identification of recurrence.

The Parsortix system is a patented microfluidic device that separates CTCs from blood based on their size and deformability. This technology has significant advantages, including the ability to capture different types of CTCs at high purity, making the harvest suitable for a wide array of established downstream analysis techniques.

ANGLE has also developed a range of assays as sampleto-answer solutions. These enable the identification of potentially clinically relevant biomarkers on CTCs through

immunofluorescence (a microscopy-based approach to visualise cells), and the identification of cancer mutations in DNA using sequencing techniques such as highly sensitive PCR and high throughput, low-cost Next Generation Seqencing. This includes assay development for the dual analysis of ctDNA (predominantly DNA shed by dying cancer cells) and CTC-DNA from a single blood sample to provide complementary and additional information compared to ctDNA alone. This information holds the potential to act as a signpost for clinicians, guiding personalised treatment throughout the patient care pathway.

COMMERCIAL MODEL AND OUTLOOK

ANGLE is executing a well-defined strategy to commercialise the Parsortix system through its products business, for Parsortix instruments and consumables, and its pharma services business, to utilise the Parsortix system in cancer drug trials.

Product sales are building with the expansion of a direct salesforce and a highly engaged network of global distributors. The pharma services business made a strong start to 2024 with three service agreements announced with two large pharma customers, Eisai (4523:TYO), and AstraZeneca (AZN)

The agreement with Eisai is to use ANGLE’s CTC solution for measuring HER2 status in breast cancer (which changes over time) to support Eisai’s development of a HER2 antibody-drug conjugate.

The two agreements with AstraZeneca are for the development of CTC solutions for measuring biomarkers in two other critical areas of cancer development, DNA Damage Response, which applies to many types of cancer, and Androgen Receptor, which is a key target in prostate cancer. The aim is that ANGLE‘s Parsortix-based CTC solutions will then be adopted by AstraZeneca in clinical trials as well as being utilised by other pharmaceutical companies developing drugs targeting these biomarkers.

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

ANGLE’s revenues doubled in 2023 and strong growth in revenues is expected to continue year on year as new solutions using CTCs harvested by ANGLE’s Parsortix system are rolled out and the technology becomes more widely adopted.

Revenues are being driven by increasing sales of the Parsortix system and consumables, and a growing number of services agreements with large pharma companies. Having completed a successful fundraise in June, ANGLE

has a strong cash runway for commercial growth in 2024 and 2025 with commercial expansion and new molecular assays driving profitability in 2026 and thereafter, following a sustained period of investment.

AT THE FOREFRONT

ANGLE is at the forefront of the liquid biopsy revolution in cancer, with unique solutions that have the potential to transform cancer care. With its cutting-edge Parsortix technology, strategic collaborations, and pharma services contracts, ANGLE is well-positioned for strong growth, benefitting patients and healthcare systems by enabling timely targeted treatment and reducing expensive, ineffective treatments which can have harmful side-effects.

Rome Resources – The next Alphamin in the making?

Rome Resources (RMR:AIM) came to AIM (alternative investment market) in late July, having raised £4 million in London for its tin project in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) and have now hit the ground running with their 2024 drilling campaign.

Rome’s two permits are neighbours to the world’s highest-grade tin mine at Bisie, operated by Alphamin (TSX-V:AFM), CDN$1.3 billion market cap. This mine, with a world-beating blended grade of 3% tin, is directly along geological trend with Rome’s permits at Bisie North.

Rome is currently drilling on two key tin prospects and anticipates being able to report a maiden resource by the end of 2024.

ACTIVE IN DRC FOR DECADES

The Rome Resources team have been active in the DRC for decades and have successfully brought several projects from discovery to substantial pre-mining value over the years.

The team, comprising Mark Gasson (executive chairman) and Klaus Eckhof (geological adviser) were responsible for Moto Gold.

Moto Goldmines was bought by Randgold Resources for circa $500 million in 2009, which then subsequently

merged with Barrick Gold Corp (GOLD) in December 2018.

Moto shareholders saw their investment increase from 4 cents to over $4.00.

Of most relevance in the context of the current project, they also facilitated the acquisition of the Bisie Tin Project in the DRC on behalf of Alphamin Resources, which was quickly transformed into the highest-grade tin mine in the world and now producing roughly 7% of the world’s supply.

The projects are situated in the mineral rich area of the eastern DRC.

The region is remote, though the nearest infrastructure at the Alphamin mine site is only 8km to the southeast.

The DRC is highly supportive of mining ventures, relying on its significant contribution to the national economy of this vast country.

The projects wrap around the northern margin of a tin-bearing granite complex, responsible for the cassiterite and other polymetallic mineralisation in the surrounding country rock.

Very high grades of tin, along with copper, silver, and zinc, have been encountered in this play.

Rome Resources operation

PURE TIN DISCOVERY

In the Rome projects, there are two key prospects that have been tested with the drill bit and yielded highly encouraging results: Kalayi is a pure tin discovery, whereas Mont Agoma, some 2km to the east, is a polymetallic deposit with tin, but also with significant copper (41m at 3.5%), silver and zinc.

These two prospects fit into both the Bisie and San Rafael models.

Kalayi, where the company is currently drilling additional holes, is a pure tin play with cassiterite veins at surface and is analogous to Alphamin’s Bisie Tin Project.

Rome’s drilling is taking the Kalayi prospect to greater depths in search of even higher grades than those encountered previously.

The Mont Agoma Prospect is next in line for the drill bit, having previously encountered tin along with other highly valuable polymetallic copper, silver, and zinc mineralisation.

This is where the mineralisation is analogous to another of the world’s leading tin mines, San Rafael in Peru, which exhibits a strong depth zonation.

At San Rafael, near surface copper mineralisation gave way to tin at depth where the temperature of the

The mineralisation is contained in vein systems within steeply dipping metasediments.

Only limited artisanal mining has taken place, resulting in mainly undisturbed surface conditions. Previous drilling has encountered grades of 3.4% tin over 2.5m, which are highly encouraging.

It should be noted that initial drilling of the extension of the Alphamin Bisie mine, Mpama South, encountered similar results, only improving at depth.

emplacement fluids was highest.

At Mont Agoma polymetallic mineralisation (principally copper) is developed nearer the surface, similarly, giving way at depth to tin. Rome’s 2024 drilling programme will quantify the mineralisation at depth.

Rome’s 2024 programme is for up to four rigs undertaking 3,000m of drilling across both prospects and a target to assess a maiden resource by year-end.

Frequent updates will

keep the market current on progress during the coming weeks and months.

Tin has been somewhat neglected as the ‘forgotten critical metal’ until recently.

Prices have been strong, in the order of $30,000 per tonne.

When set against operating costs in DRC of circa $12,000 per tonne, mining these deposits is highly profitable.

Tin is a key component in the drive to advanced computing as well as having a role in emerging battery technology, such as the use of tin anodes.

Rio Tinto (RIO) and the MIT regard tin as the most likely metal to benefit from the electrification of the world economy.

The forward curve in terms of demand is very strong and the Rome team believe timing is perfect to deliver a high value asset for shareholders in the coming months.

It is worth noting that the Alphamin deposit, where Rome is today, took only five-years from this point to commercial production.

The value of the tin play in this part of the DRC is demonstrated no more clearly than with Alphamin’s current market value of CDN$1.3 billion, witnessing a ten-fold increase in share price in those five years. With success with the drill bit, Rome aims to replicate that value proposition at Bisie North.

Alphamin’s Bisie Tin Project