Alliance News: The UK Treasury plans to give a stamp duty holiday to investors in new stock market listings in London in an attempt to encourage more initial public offerings, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.

Author @ZaksTradersCafe

Investors in newly listed companies on the London Stock Exchange would be exempt from the 0.5% tax on buying those shares, the newspaper said, citing “two people with knowledge of discussions for the UK’s November budget”. There already is an exemption for shares bought at the point of issue in an IPO, the FT noted, but the new exemption would apply for a two to three years after the company’s flotation.

Comment: Things must be desperate if the government is willing to forego money it could waste on paying people to do nothing. And indeed, they are, especially as this reported news underlines how idiotic having stamp duty on shares / property (Angela Rayner) actually is. Remember, there will never be enough money to pay for Labour.

Bezant (BZT), the copper-gold exploration and development company, has today filed a Form 605 – Notice of ceasing to be a substantial holder with ASX listed Blackstone Minerals Ltd.  Bezant’s shareholding of Blackstone shares is now 80,574,880 Blackstone shares.  Since the Company’s announcement on 17 September the Company has in the period 18 September to 1 October 2025 sold 53,425,120 Blackstone shares at an average price of AUD 7.021 cents (approximately 3.45 pence) per share for gross proceeds of AUD 3.75M (approximately £1.84M).

Comment: Shares of BZT are already up more than 150% so far this year, and the company is enjoying the overall 2025 small cap resources revival. The good trade in Blackstone underlines the recovery.

UK Oil & Gas (UKOG) announced that it has successfully raised gross proceeds of £3 million by means of a placing of new Ordinary Shares at a price of 0.03 pence per share. The Issue Price represents a discount of approximately 35% per cent to the Closing Price of 0.046 pence per Ordinary Share on 1st October 2025, being the latest practicable business day prior to the publication of this Announcement. UKOG said In its latest Annual Report (see RNS 30th September, 2025) the Directors highlighted the Company’s  transition away from the petroleum sector into clean power, emphasising that its South Dorset and Yorkshire salt-cavern hydrogen storage and generation projects will constitute the Company’s future core focus.”

Comment: The soaring share price, the placing, and the way that these days everyone and their mother is getting into renewable energy / energy storage, even as there are questions as to whether Net Zero itself will survive, and who actually want it / wants to pay for it?

AdvancedAdvT (ADVT), the international software solutions provider for the business solutions, compliance, and human capital management sectors, announces a trading update for the six months to 31 August 2025. Group revenue is expected to be not less than £25 million, reflecting sustained momentum across all operating units and representing a double-digit increase compared to the reported figures for H1 FY25. Adjusted EBITDA is expected to be not less than £7 million, driven by continued operational efficiencies, customer growth, and successful contract renewals. Trading remains in line with the Board’s expectations.

Comment: ADVT has on the quiet got on with the job and made its money, and without any of the bluster apart from having industry great Vin Murria as Chair.

Wildcat Petroleum (WCAT) a company targeting investment opportunities in businesses and assets within the upstream sector of the petroleum industry announces that the Company’s listing on the Official List Equity shares (shell companies) category of the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange has been restored. The restoration of the listing of the Company’s ordinary shares of GBP 0.000028 each occurred at 7:30am today, 2 October 2025.

Comment: It would appear that WCAT is once again free to deliver the big deal it has been promising to deliver for so long. The question is whether it will be in the resources area, or perhaps something even more on the zeitgeist?

Vault Ventures Plc (AQSE: VULT), a London based technology developer focused on AI, blockchain and fintech innovation, announces that it has sold all of its Solana holdings and realised a profit of approximately £96,000 ($130,000).  Following the Disposal the Company only holds Ethereum (ETH) in its treasury. The proceeds from the Disposal of SOL will be allocated towards the development of the proprietary AI products the Company is actively working on, which include vSignal.ai and other products in the pipeline, with further information to be provided in due course. The Company currently holds 818.85 ETH in its treasury valued at approximately £2.6m.

Comment: Given how much is costs to be listed and all the red tape et al, checking in with 96k is not necessarily going to get the company over the line. This is particularly the case given the way that the Solana chart looks as though it is heading north. As stated previously, VULT should not give the impression that it is a subscale company.

ACG (ACG) announced that the net smelter return royalty agreement dated 17 July 2019 originally entered into between Lidya Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. (which assigned its interest to ACG Holdco 1 Limited), Polimetal Madencilik Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. and Alacer Gold Madencilik A.Ş (which assigned its interest to EMX Royalty Corporation) in respect of production at the Gediktepe mine was amended and restated on 30 September 2025. The amendment is the result of a consensual agreement with EMX on terms that are mutually beneficial to all parties.

Comment: ACG has delivered one of the best stealth share price rallies, re-rates of the year, in what has already been a great year for copper -gold companies, and resources generally. Today’s news finesses the rally, and underlines the prospect of a market cap moving towards the £500m mark over the next 12 months.

Ondine Biomedical Inc. (OBI) announced that the Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, one of the world’s foremost cardiothoracic centres, is launching a pilot program with Steriwave® nasal photodisinfection therapy. Developed in collaboration with Ondine’s distribution partner, Mölnlycke Health Care, a global provider of medical solutions, this strategic initiative aims to enhance patient safety and surgical outcomes by addressing the critical challenge of surgical site infections (SSIs) amid rising antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Comment: It does not get much better than Royal Papworth as far as a prospect for OBI. That said, it is probably time for less of the pilot programs and more of the actually signing up. Steriwave has already done enough to prove itself.

Fermi Inc. (NASDAQ and LSE: FRMI), the Texas-based company focused on developing electric grids that deliver on-demand power at gigawatt scale required to create next-generation artificial intelligence, announce that all of its issued shares have today been admitted to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker “FRMI”. Admission to trading on the LSE follows Fermi’s listing on Nasdaq on 1 October 2025.

Comment: Given how rare it is that companies are brave enough to list on the London market, and how so many are heading for the existing, one has to congratulate all those involved in keeping news of this new arrival so quiet. One presumes that the first day of dealings event at the LSE went smoothly.

MedPal AI (MPAL) announced the successful completion of the Placing and WRAP Retail Offer at the Issue Price of 8 pence per share. The Fundraise has raised, in aggregate, gross proceeds of approximately £545,304 comprising  £400,000 pursuant to the Placing and £145,304 pursuant to the WRAP Retail Offer. The proceeds of the Fundraise will be  used to progress the Company’s strategy with regard to the recently announced acquisition of assets from Universal Pharmacy Ltd (in administration), which will enable MedPal AI to establish itself in the rapidly growing GLP-1 agonist market for obesity treatment, including drugs such as semaglutide (eg. Ozempic and Mounjaro).

Comment: There are some companies that come to market hitting the ground running. This usually means doing deals, not just fundraises. But at least in the case of MPAL it is for a good cause in the sense that GLP-1 is an area so hot that even Pablo Escobar would have switched to peddling it.

Author @ZaksTradersCafe

Disclaimer & Declaration of Interest:
The information, investment views, and recommendations in this Zaks Traders Cafe interview are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this interview should be construed as a promotion or solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or referred to or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engage in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the commentator but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. The commentators may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.