Exploring AIM: A-Z Part 7
High-Tech Defense and a Share Cannibal in between the usual AIM shitCos
Welcome to the next part,
20 more tickers. This one won’t disappoint you if you love pre-revenue companies, lol. In between you’ll find some quality defense stocks and a rare european share cannibal, one for the watchlist.
Here you find the other parts: https://increasingodds.substack.com/s/a-z-uk-aim
Some of you may notice a ‘upgrade to paid’ button in the top right (at least in the browser). I do not plan to put anything behind a paywall, especially not this A-Z series. I enabled payments as one reader wanted to support, which is completely optional. There is no paid tier and zero benefits if one chooses to support. Of course, thanks to that one person if you read this, definitely somewhat mindblowing to receive support for writing.
I will not further ‘advertise’ this support feature or spam you with ‘upgrade to paid’ buttons. Let’s dive into the tickers.
126) Clean Power Hydrogen (Ticker: CPH2)
22£m no revenue manufacturer of electrolysers. Currently undergoing tests for a electrolyser in Belfast. Pass.
127) Cleantech Lithium (Ticker: CTL)
7£m no revenue exploration and development company for lithium in Chile. Also listed in Australia and Germany. Just appointed a new CEO coming from Albermale, a lithium producer from Chile. Raised 2,4£m in February. Necessary contract to produce lithium in Chile has been rejected by the Chilean government. Pass.
128) Clontarf Energy (Ticker: CLON)
3£m no revenue exploration and development company for lithium and O&G in Bolivia and Ghana. No recent news. Pass.
129) Cloudcoco (Ticker: CLCO)
1£m company offering procurement solutions via its direct sales team and e-commerce platform. Just sold its data centre segment for 7,75£m and repayed loans with proceeds. Remaining segment grew 40% but remains unprofitable. There seems to be no clear plans to reach profitability soon. Therefore, it’s a pass.
130) Cloudified Holdings (Ticker: CHL)
0,3£m cash shell looking for something to acquire until July 2025. No operating business. 0,67£m cash on hand at 31 December 2024. Pass.
131) CML Microsystems (Ticker: CML)
CML develops mixed-signal, RF and microwave semiconductors for global communications markets and uses outsourced manufacturing but in-house testing. 42£m market cap. Recent trading updates suggests customers inventory correction is near the bottom, last year has been challenging. Its US Silicon valley team relocated to a smaller facility. Also restructered its UK R&D team, leading to a goodwill write-off.
EBITDA for the year will be about 5£m, lower than last year. Spent 0,9£m on buybacks. 4% dividend. Chair and managing director are with CML since over 30 years. Gurry family owns 15%, at least two of them work for CML.
I have barely any knowledge on semicons, its a somewhat cyclical market. FY24 showed 2£m in profits. Maybe this one is interesting if the telco market rebounds, but considering the valuation of maybe 15-20x p/e on rebounded earnings this seems not too interesting, pass.
132) Cohort (Ticker: CHRT)
732£m defense-tech company producing communication or sonar systems and offering digital service for data management. Shares doubled in last 12 month due to great operating performance.
Huge order book brings revenue visibility for future years. Duration of projects extending to mid-2030s. Spent 4£m on buybacks last HY. Fwd. P/E of 30, fwd. EV/EBIT of 22. Chair and executive directors are with CHRT since over 15 years.
Recent trading update shows a further increased order book, 80% of next years revenue expectations are already securred. Sold its small transport division for 8£m. Seems like a solid company benefiting from europeans defense spending, but the valuation catched up to operating performance, pass.
133) Colefax (Ticker: CFX)
48£m designer and distributor of luxury furnishing fabrics and wallpapers with multiple brands. Recent half year results show a more or less flat performance. Revenues and gross profit up slightly, EBIT down slightly, profits flat. But earnings per share up 12% because CFX is what we call a share cannibal:
2,3£m were paid for buybacks in the six months ended 31st October 2024. In 2023, they spent 7,2£m. Last buyback programm was announced in October 2024 for up to 4,8£m. Also paying a small dividend. 10x fwd. P/E.
In November 2024 the son of CFXs CEO joined the board as Commercial Director. All the other executive directors are with CFX since over 30 years. One even joined in 1975. CFX is on my watchlist since ever, I don’t want to spend more time on the business here because @
wrote about CFX and its competitor Sanderson (SDG) in more detail, absolutely recommending to read these articles:
134) Comptoir Group (Ticker: COM)
4£m operator of Lebanese and Middle Eastern inspired restaurants. Owns 20 restaurants, 6 more are franchised. Revenue grew 10% in 2024 but so grew losses. 2 locations were closed in FY25. Reports increases in national minimum wage as a challenge. Like-for-like sales grew by only 2%.
CEO has been with the group since over 10 years with a break in between. The group haven’t been operating profitable consistently during his tenure. One could argue closing locations may be a step toward profitability, but reading through the report, it doesn’t sound like profitability is around the corner, pass.
135) Concurrent Technologies (Ticker: CNC)
CNC develops and manufactures embedded computer products for use in high-performance, long-life cycle applications within the telecommunications, defence, security, telemetry, scientific and aerospace markets.
182£m market cap gives us a p/e of 35 on these great numbers. Expects positive momentum to continue in FY25. Revenues have always been growing over the medium-term, but the FY24 performance doesn’t seem sustainable. Doubled revenues in 2 years. But for example, 2022 saw a little dip. Top 10 customers account for 54% of revenue, the biggest one for 14%. Management team joined in recent years, no notable insider ownership. Growth seems to be attributable to increased defense spending. Considering valuation, relatively small order book and customer concentration it’s a pass for me despite great performance.
136) Conroy Gold & Natural Resources (Ticker: CGNR)
2£m no revenue gold exploration and development company with projects in Ireland and Finland. Pass.
137) Conygar Investment Company (Ticker: CIC)
20£m UK property developer. NAV of 63,8£m, representing a 70% discount. Sold two locations for 6,6£m. 7£m cash. Most assets are related to the Island Quarter in Nottingham. About 1£m in profits from rental, restaurants and events. There seem to be no plans to take advantage of the discount to NAV. Pass.
138) Cora Gold (Ticker: CORA)
38£m no revenue, west african gold exploration and development company. Share price up >200% ytd due to updated resource estimates in its projects and new mining permits by the government in Mali. Pass for me, but maybe worth to check for others.
139) Coral Products (Ticker: CRU)
9£m manufacturer and distributor of plastic products for the food sector. Half year report reflects a challenging time with decreased revenues and unprofitability. Reduced order levels and issues with new machines in manufacturing. The latter has been resolved. Also reports notable impacts from increase in national minimum wage. Group CEO who was appointed in Jan 2024 left in Oct. New CEO is the prior COO.
Expects improved performance going forward, cost reductions in place. Investments in production efficiency should enhance gross margins. 20% insider ownership. The business seems cyclical, 2021 was an unprofitable year too.
If demand rebounds and investments in manufacturing efficiency work out it’s definitely cheap. The question is whether anyone cares if they go through unprofitable years over and over again like in the past, pass. But maybe worth to revisit in a year or so.
140) Corcel (Ticker: CRCL)
0,36£m Angola-Brazil focused energy company without revenue. Share price just doubled. Announced increased interest in its main project in Angola. 4% insider ownserhip. Pass.
141) Cordel Group (Ticker: CRDL)
16£m producer of specialist hardware and software for capturing, analysing and reporting on large datasets within the transport sector. Mostly to automate inspections. Just announced two contract wins.
Revenues increased 16% last HY. Operates unprofitable but losses are shrinking due to increased gross margin, but rather seems like a one-off than a sustainble path to profitability. No debt. CTO is one of the Co-Founders. I can see the product working out, but no mention of profitability so it’s a pass.
142) Corero Network Security (Ticker: CNS)
81£m DDoS protection specialist. Recent results look strong: Growing, profitable, mostly recurring revenues, many new customers, no debt.
65x fwd. P/E (Koyfin). No other recent big news. I have no clue about cyber security so if I ever buy a stock in this field, I’d need a long track record of profitability and a low valuation. Both is not the case here so it’s a pass for me, maybe interesting for others with more expertise in this field.
143) Cornish Metals (Ticker: CUSN)
102£m no revenue tin exploration and development company with project in the UK. Placed orders for winders. Expects net present value of project to be >200$m. Pass for me, maybe worth a look for mining people.
144) Coro Energy (Ticker: CORO)
5£m South East Asian energy company focused on gas and renewables. About to construct solar sites in Vietnam. 0,13£m in revenue on >1£m losses. Pass.
145) CPP Group (Ticker: CPP)
7£m company providing assistance products for insurance and financial services’ clients. For example notifies clients on flight delays, offering access to online doctors or locksmith services. I’m not sure why there is a focus on financial services tho. Revenues down 10% and operating unprofitable. Management joined in recent years. Pass.
Wrap-up
145/669 companies covered so far.
Watchlist: 24/145.
Pass: 121/145.
No-Revenue counter: 35/145.
Feel free to provide opinions and sources on any of the stocks. Cheers.
Interesting links on Corero - Juniper (JNPR) owns 10%, another 36% owned by founder of JSE listed IT group Datatec ($800m mcap). One of the highest US revenue proportions of any London listed business. Wouldn't be surprised if they switched to New York or got t/over.
Keep'em coming!