It’s fair to say C4X Discovery had a fantastic start with the shares advancing 113 per cent over the foreshortened trading week after drug giant AstraZeneca delivered an $11million post-Christmas windfall.
It came in the form of what the experts call a ‘milestone payment’ under a $402million deal with Anglo-Swedish giant, which has licensed the right to NRF2 activator, created by C4XD to tackle chronic respiratory disease.
Analysts said the payment went further than adding a material sum to the AIM company’s coffers – it provided third-party validation of the technology.
C4X received a ‘milestone payment’ under a $402million deal with AstraZeneca
‘We see this as an important value inflexion which should reinvigorate sentiment in the share,’ said regional broker Shore Capital.
‘Moreover, this serves as a timely reminder that C4XD has licensing deals in place with some of the leading developers for its programmes.’
Sticking with the sector, Destiny Pharma (down 2.2 per cent over the trading week) reminded the market it was still around and in talks with a partner for one of two phase III-ready asset developed to tackle antimicrobial resistance.
Analysts at Cavendish, Equity Development and Intron Health have crunched the numbers, weighing the economic potential of assets against the chances of success.
In doing the sums, our abacus rattlers have come up with a per share valuation range of 120p-285p a share, or a market cap of £113million to almost £270million. Remember, the market currently values the business at £63million.
The market got off to a sluggish start to 2024 in general, with the AIM All-Share Index dropping more than 160 points to 751.66 over the four-day week.
FTSE 100 fared better, though the blue-chip index also finished in the red come Friday.
Equities were hit by fading hopes of near-term rate cuts, with US economic and labour figures stubbornly high and European inflation also creeping higher after six months of decelerating price growth.
UK economic data was thin on the ground and thus failed to move the needle too much, though at least the market can cheer UK house prices rising for the third month in a row, per the Halifax house price index.
Another huge mover was Angle plc (up 145 per cent), which has developed a technology that draws a liquid biopsy that essentially tests for cancer by identifying microscopic circulating tumour cells.
The company’s latest innovation involves the expansion of its Parsortix system, which now includes DNA molecular analysis.
This advancement allows for the detailed examination of both circulating tumour cells (CTCs) and fragments of DNA released by dying cells (ctDNA) from a single blood sample.
In a recent study involving 47 patients with breast, lung, prostate and ovarian cancers, ANGLE’s technology successfully identified key DNA mutations in CTCs that were not detected in ctDNA.
This finding is particularly significant as it includes mutations that are targeted by FDA-approved cancer drugs, yet were missed by traditional ctDNA analysis.
In the mining sector, Horizonte Minerals, which is building a nickel processing facility in northern Brazil, was up almost 50 per cent on follow-through buying on news (announced over Christmas) that it had secured an interim funding deal.
Sondrel (Holdings) plc was a top riser in the tech sector, adding nearly 30 per cent throughout the week.
A minnow in the world of specialist microchip designs, Sondrel appears to be on the rebound after project delays tanked its share price in the second half of 2023.
It has certainly been a mixed bag for Britain’s small and mid-cap hospitality stocks during the recent bear market.
On the one hand, diversified groups like Loungers plc, which operates cafes, pubs and food-led venues, held up remarkably well.
On the other hand, shares in hen do favourite Revolution Bars plc are in the out tray as the appetite for gaudy cocktails and vodka shots appears to have been watered down.
The group just announced the closure of eight of its least-profitable bars across Britain, with chief executive Rob Pitcher blaming incoming minimum wage hikes and the fact that younger customers ‘are still feeling the disproportionate effect of the cost-of-living crisis’.
Revolution Bars also disclosed that sales fell 2.8 per cent over the year, though festive takings were the best since 2019.
Shares tanked over 20 per cent on Friday following the updates, bringing the group’s market value below £10million.
In the energy sector, a heavily discounted funding round, that brought in £600,000 in new investment, saw the Landore Resources share price flop 18 per cent.
It was a similar story for Clontarf Energy (down 32 per cent), which brought in a meagre £350,000 of funding.
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