The Times: The jobs market is in better shape than expected with wages rising 3.7 per cent year-on-year and unemployment falling, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics. The wage growth in the three months to the end of August was better than the 3.6 per cent forecast by economists and the 3.5 per cent growth reported last month. These figures excludes bonuses. The ONS also reported that unemployment fell from 4.8 per cent to 4.7 per cent and that 13,000 people were added to monthly payrolls in September.
Comment: Good news just ahead of the Budget may mean that the Chancellor limits his tax rises to just the reported £35bn to pay for the non-working brigade. Instead, the rest of us left working for HMRC can hope that it will be the likes of banks and other rip-off Britain entities that bear the brunt of the hit. That said, one’s local council sending a letter to say that it will need to raise council tax by 150% suggests that it is not HMRC who will be the sole beneficiary of the “Burnham Bounce”.
Halo Minerals PLC | HALO:LN , the copper development company focused on recovering critical minerals from legacy mining waste, announced it has uploaded a new investor presentation to its website at https://halominerals.co.uk and will be hosting a presentation of these materials to new and existing shareholders on the Investor Meet Company platform at 14:00 GMT on Tuesday 27 October 2026.
Key highlights
Near term copper and gold production from surface stockpiled metal rich legacy mine tailings – 100%-owned Playa Verde Project, Atacama region, Chile
BFS stage project, EIA/RCA approved with 33.9 Mt Ore Reserves (JORC 2012) containing 83,626 tonnes of in-situ fine copper
After-tax NPV8 of US$ 195.9 million and IRR of 46% (based on CPR Ore Reserve case)
Total Mineral Resources are 53.44 Mt at 0.24% Cu, inclusive of Ore Reserves, containing 127,911 tonnes of in-situ fine copper
Upside scenarios including targeted CAPEX savings and full JORC Resource processing indicate project after-tax economics of up-to NPV8 US$ 337.7 million and IRR of 54%
Progressing forward towards a point where a Final Investment Decision can be made
Investor Presentation
The Company will host a live presentation through the Investor Meet platform at 14:00 GMT on Tuesday 27 October 2026. The presentation is open to all existing and potential shareholders. Questions can be submitted pre-event via the Investor meet Company dashboard up on the platform until 09:00 GMT on Monday 26 October 2026 or at any time during the live presentation.
Investors can sign up to Investor Meet Company for free and add Halo Minerals via: https://www.investormeetcompany.com/halo-minerals-plc/register-investor
Comment: One looks forward to HALO banging the drum regarding where the company is currently, especially the merits of the CAPEX savings and after-tax economics. What can said now is that with the shares near 2026 and improved projections, we should see a significant re-rate as the rest of the year unfolds.
Invinity Energy Systems Plc | IES:LN , a global leader in vanadium flow battery (VFB) technology, announce its intention to raise, in aggregate, a minimum of £20 million by way of a subscription for new Ordinary Shares with National Wealth Fund. Alongside the Subscription and Placing, the Company will also launch a separate retail offer which is the subject of a separate announcement in each case at an issue price of 10 pence. The Fundraising will enable the Company to progress its product cost reduction plans, building on the margin improvements reported in the H1 2026 results and strengthen its working capital position as the Company delivers against key commercial and corporate milestones. Alongside this targeted investment, and informed by shareholder feedback, the Company will maintain a disciplined focus on commercial delivery while actively managing and reducing corporate overheads.
Comment: It is amazing to note that as recently as June the shares of IES were trading as high as 40p, ahead of the bumper 10p fundraise proposed today. Aside from the magnitude of the raise, it will be interesting to see how far £20m will go for the company?
Ajax Resources PLC | AJAX:AQX , the natural resources investment company, announces that it has conditionally raised €2.5m through a subscription in connection with its application for admission to trading on Euronext Growth Oslo, as previously announced 12 October 2026. The Subscription is for a total of 26,560,000 new Ordinary Shares at an issue price of NOK 1.0 (approximately 8 pence). The net proceeds of the Financing are intended to support:
further drilling and development work at the Macacha Copper and Silver Project, Argentina, beyond the fully funded initial 5,000-metre exploration programme, following receipt of the relevant environmental approval;
additional drilling and development work at Pereira Velho Gold Project, Brazil, beyond the fully funded initial 3,000-metre programme, subject to positive results;
exploration, resource-definition and development work at Silver, Copper, Lead, Zinc Paguanta Project, Chile, following completion of the proposed acquisition;
subject to the Company exercising its option to acquire Nueva Celti Copper Project, Spain, a 3,000-metre drilling programme budgeted at approximately €500,000, with the objective of supporting the publication of a maiden JORC-compliant Mineral Resource;
the evaluation, execution and completion of additional potential acquisition opportunities; and the costs associated with the Admission and the Financing, including market, advisory and transaction costs.
Comment: Well, if anyone was keen to know the use of proceeds here at AJAX, we have all accounted for. It is evident that the £2m is to be deployed evenly across the various promising projects the company has. Also helpful to know is that the fundraise was carried out at the equivalent of a premium to the prevailing share price.
Shearwater Group Plc | SWG:LN , the cybersecurity, advisory and managed security services group, announced that its subsidiary, Brookcourt Solutions, has secured a new £1.7 million contract with an existing Central Government customer to provide advanced threat intelligence capabilities over a two-year period. The contract replaces the customer's previous agreement following its expiry and broadens the scope of services provided, incorporating additional platform capabilities and covering a larger number of users. The contract was secured through G-Cloud 15, following the expansion of Brookcourt's offering under the framework, as announced on 6 August 2026. Under the contract, Brookcourt will provide the Central Government department with an advanced threat intelligence platform, supporting its efforts to protect GOV.UK sites and services, UK citizens and its wider supply chain from cyber threats and fraudulent activity.
Comment: One can say that today’s news from SWG is welcome on at least three different fronts. The first is that after a long gestation period, the company has finally hit a sweet spot in terms of contract win momentum. The second is that SWG is on the government public sector gravy train, and the third, arguably most important, is that the shares have responded well since July when the market realised the company has turned the corner.
BSF Enterprise Plc | BSFA:LN , an operational life sciences platform focused on developing and commercialising biotechnologies across tissue engineering and cellular agriculture, announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, 3D Bio-Tissues Limited, has received a formal Notice of Allowance from the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") for patent application number 18/578,286. The patent, entitled "Cell culture medium and supplements for corneal and skin cell culture," covers proprietary formulations utilising macromolecular crowding (MMC) agents within serum-free and reduced-serum media. Prosecution on the merits is officially closed, with all 17 examined claims (Claims 2-18) approved for issuance. On issuance, the patent will provide proprietary protection in the United States-the world's largest market for biotechnology and commercial biomanufacturing - and will support BSF's hub-and-spoke business strategy.
Comment: Presumably today’s positive news from the company will attract the attention of the ongoing bear campaign against the company, which whether right or wrong is totally inappropriate. Of course, no one in the market has the gumption to do anything about this blight on the London stock market, in case the same thing happens to them. Ideally, today’s patent news will at least deliver a lift for BSFA shares from recent lows.
Optima Health (OPT) , the UK’s leading provider of technology enabled corporate health and wellbeing solutions, today provides a trading update ahead of publication of the Group’s unaudited results for the half year ended 30 September 2026.Revenue for the first half of FY27 is expected to be approximately 60% ahead of the prior year period at £96 million, reflecting the contribution from the acquisition of PAM Healthcare completed in March 2026, together with continued growth across the Group's occupational health and wellbeing operations. Trading during the period was in line with the Board's expectations. The integration of PAM Healthcare continues to progress to plan, with operational and commercial synergies being realised across the enlarged Group, and demand across the Group's core markets remaining resilient throughout the period. The Board therefore continues to expect full year FY27 results to be in line with market expectations.
Comment: Shares of OPT delivered a sharp rally in July, something which presumably tied in with the prospect of the company delivering as solid an update as it has today. Given the 60% revenue jump one would expect a fresh leg to the upside to end 2026, especially given the call being made on FY27.
Gear4Music (Holdings) Plc | G4M:LN , the largest UK based online retailer of musical instruments and music equipment, today announced a trading update for the six months to 30 September 2026. Gross profit expected to be £23.6m (FY26 H1: £22.6m; FY25 H1: £16.5m). EBITDA expected to be £5.7m (FY26 H1: £6.5m; FY25 H1: £2.9m), reflecting the previously reported setup costs associated with the new automated UK warehouse. First-half trading in line with Board expectations.
Comment: Budding Harry Styles and Taylor Swifts continue to boost the bottom line at G4M, with perhaps the odd Jimmy Page thrown in amongst the old demographic. What is clear is that since the bump the company received during the pandemic when almost everyone bought an instrument or two, it has sharpened up its act, a point witnessed by the new warehouse capacity.
Quantum Helium Ltd. | QHE:LN provided an update on oil production and revenue from its Sagebrush Project (90% Working Interest) for the third quarter and nine months ended 30 September 2026. The Company reports that gross oil revenue for the first nine months of calendar 2026 has already exceeded that generated during the entire 2025 calendar year by approximately 23%, with a further three months of production and sales still to be added by year end calendar 2026.
Comment: For a moment one might have thought that the production QHE is referring to helium production. But of course it remains generally very unfashionable for helium companies to actually produce the stuff. Instead we have an update on production which the company seems quite rightly proud of.
energy B plc | NRGB:AQX , announced that it has secured the path to increase its overall shareholding in the Gatwick energy site from 85.635% to 100%. In addition, the Company advises that it has received firm commitments to raise £100,000 at 12 pence per share, which includes a £50,000 conditional subscription from David Lenigas, the Company’s Chairman to assist with the funding required to increase the interest. “Consolidating our ownership of the Gatwick energy site into one single entity under energy B’s paves the way to reopen the site and supply British oil and gas to the British market. Historically, all of the oil from Gatwick has gone to the Fawley refinery near Southampton. It is the largest refinery in the UK, and it supplies about a fifth of the nation's refinery capacity. Around 85% of its products travel to five distribution terminals plus, Heathrow, Gatwick and Birmingham airports. The oil from HH-1 also goes into the mix for Fawley's dedicated jet fuel pipelines to the major airports. The Gatwick energy site can again be a home-grown contributor to Britain’s energy security.”
Comment: If there is anything this country needs is a secure sources of fossil fuels, rather than importing it from sometimes less that stable or friendly jurisdictions. It is pleasing to see the “Gatwick Gusher” back to save us from the Net Zero folly, and perhaps just as gratifying to see the father of the Gusher, David Lenigas, dip his hand into his pocket to the tune of 50 grand.
Rockfire Resources Plc | ROCK:LN , the base metal, critical mineral and precious metal exploration company, provided the market with a drilling and operational update from Rockfire’s 100%-owned Molaoi zinc deposit in Greece. ROCK said, “The interval of mineralisation drilled in hole HMO-021 is exceptional and we are very pleased to be getting such broad intervals of massive and semi-massive mineralisation. Importantly, the silver and germanium by-products are also strong, adding considerable value to any future concentrated product. Each drill hole continues to build resource tonnage and confidence in the mineralisation model.”
Comment: ROCK has been banging the drum regarding the merits of Molaoi for the longest time. That said, it is only in recent weeks that the shares have gone up and stayed up. This is even though the market is presumably aware that the company will be tapping it for funds off the back of the rally. However, the fundamentals now look to be strong enough for this to be absorbed successfully.