ASX Small Cap Winners May 21-25

Prawn farmer Seafarms (ASX:SFG) looks finally set to realise its dream of creating the world’s biggest prawn farm in the Northern Territory.

Seafarms this week agreed on a $25 million investment from one of the world’s biggest seafood producers, $US1.7 billion Nippon Suisan Kaisha (better known as Nissui), to develop its huge Project Sea Dragon prawn farm in the Northern Territory.

The shares climbed 54 per cent this week to 8.8c — their highest point in 18 months.

Tokyo-listed Nissui gets 15 per cent of Seafarms and the right to sell the project’s prawns in Australia, Japan and potentially other Asian countries.

Seafarms chairman Ian Trahar called it (of course) a “company-making agreement”.

Seafarms has been working on Project Sea Dragon for about seven years. It won approval in December.

At full production the mega-farm will produce 150,000 tonnes of black tiger shrimp a year in 10,000 hectares of  ponds.

Seafarms Group shares (ASX:SFG) over the past five years.
Seafarms Group shares (ASX:SFG) over the past five years.

Another “fundamental transformation” took place this week when cobalt miner Highlands Pacific (ASX:HIG) struck a deal with Canadian miner Cobalt 27, sending its share price skyrocketing.

The two agreed to a private placement of $15 million at 10.5c a share as well as a $150 million “streaming” deal on future production from its Ramu nickel and cobalt mine.

Streaming refers to an agreement where an investor agrees to buy a percentage of a company’s future production at a fixed price below market value.

The new funds mean Highlands can repay its debt on the project. Cobalt 27 increases its stake in Highlands to 11.3 per cent.

Highlands finished at 13c, a gain of 51 per cent for the week.

“Outstanding” results from gold explorer Lodestar (ASX:LSR) pushed its shares up 41 per cent for the week.

The explorer reported its best ever drill results at its Contessa site — which it says extends well beyond current drilling — as well as its highest grades to date at Gidgee Flat.

The results required immediate follow up, with more diamond drilling planned.

Stockhead columnist Tim Treadgold wrote about Lodestar’s potential “company-making gold discovery” back in January when the shares were trading at 1.8c.

This week they closed at 3.1c.

Teacher background checker Schrole Group (ASX:SCL) gained 40 per cent to 1.4c this week after making the first sale of its “Schrole Verify” service.

American School of Doha — which teaches US kids who live in Qatar — will use Schrole as its “preferred pre-employment screening provider”.

The school will pay $US13,500 ($17,900) to use the Verify service to look for criminal records and other bad stuff among its staff.

Schrole reckons there’s a potential market of 6000 similar “international schools” whose accreditation now depends on teacher background checks.

Coconuts are the secret ingredient in the latest fabric from eco-friendly innovator Nanollose (ASX:NC6).

Nanollose — which specialises in plant-free fabric aimed at the sustainable fashion market — this week debuted its Nullabor fibre, the world’s first plant-free rayon fibre.

The shares moved ahead 29 per cent to 18c.

Nanollose — which isn’t yet making any money — listed last year after raising $5 million selling shares at 20c each.

Nanollose is best known for its ability to create “fermented fashion” out of beer and wine. The technology is based on the work of Perth scientist and winemaker Gary Cass, who accidentally discovered a new type of material when he ruined a batch of wine.

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for May 21-25:

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Best viewed on a laptop or desktop:

ASX code Company One-week price change Price May 25 Market Cap
EER EAST ENERGY 1.33333333333 0.007 2.5M
MXR MAXIMUS 1 0.002 3.2M
ACP AUDALIA 0.909090909091 0.021 8.1M
XTD XTD 0.65625 0.053 5.9M
SIE SCIGEN 0.5625 0.05 26.5M
SFG SEAFARMS GROUP 0.543859649123 0.088 113.4M
HIG HIGHLANDS 0.511627906977 0.13 104.5M
IGE INTEGRATED GREEN 0.506666666667 0.565 198.2M
MNB MINBOS 0.5 0.003 11.3M
RDS REDSTONE 0.428571428571 0.02 8.0M
LSR LODESTAR 0.409090909091 0.031 23.2M
SCL SCHROLE GROUP 0.4 0.014 8.1M
DMI DEMPSEY MINERALS 0.384615384615 0.18 11.6M
SFM SANTA FE 0.35 0.27 17.5M
MEY MARENICA ENERGY 0.35 0.135 7.7M
NVO NVOI 0.333333333333 0.012 5.0M
GGX GAS2GRID 0.333333333333 0.004 3.4M
PIL PEPPERMINT 0.32 0.033 29.6M
IEC INTRA ENERGY 0.3 0.013 5.0M
D13 DEPARTMENT 13 0.285714285714 0.099 47.1M
NC6 NANOLLOSE 0.285714285714 0.18 12.7M
GBI GENERA BIOSYSTEM 0.258064516129 0.195 21.0M
MWR MGM WIRELESS 0.25625 2.01 19.6M
NVA NOVA MINERALS 0.25 0.035 24.2M
PIQ PROTEOMICS 0.25 0.225 14.8M
WGL WANGLE 0.25 0.005 4.4M
VPC VELPIC 0.25 0.005 4.5M
MRD MOUNT RIDLEY 0.25 0.005 7.6M
ICG INCA MINERALS 0.25 0.005 13.0M

 

ASX small cap losers May 21-25

Just when it looked like it had recovered from an earlier profit downgrade, organic fast food chain Oliver’s Real Food (ASX:OLI) this week unloaded another pile of bad news onto investors.

Earnings were expected to drop 30 to 37 per cent this year, Oliver’s announced. The shares plunged to a record low of 9.7c before closing the week at 11.5c — down 53 per cent.

It’s the second profit downgrade in a year for Oliver’s. In July — a month after a $15 million IPO priced at 20c — Oliver’s stunned with a warning it would miss its prospectus forecasts.

The shares lost half their value but had recovered to around 27c by this month.

Full year EBITDA earnings are now expected at $3 million to 3.3 million, as opposed to $4.8 million.

Sales revenue had been forecast to hit $41.9 million in the prospectus after Oliver’s listed in June last year.

It’s now expected to be in the range of $36 million to $37 million.

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for May 21-25:

Swipe or scroll to reveal the full table. Best viewed on a laptop or desktop:

ASX Code Company One-week price change Price May 25 Market Cap
OLI OLIVER'S REAL FOOD -0.530612244898 0.115 25.6M
RMT RMA ENERGY -0.5 0.001 4.2M
PCH PROPERTY CONNECT -0.5 0.001 1.8M
IDO INDO MINES -0.5 0.005 2.7M
FCR FERRUM CRESCENT -0.5 0.001 4.8M
AJC ACACIA COAL -0.5 0.001 1.6M
OXX OCTANEX -0.413793103448 0.017 4.6M
T3D 333D -0.4 0.003 3.5M
BOA BOADICEA -0.379310344828 0.09 5.0M
UNL UNITED NETWORKS -0.366197183099 0.045 5.7M
TMK TAMASKA OIL & GAS -0.333333333333 0.002 3.9M
EMP EMPEROR ENERGY -0.333333333333 0.002 1.8M
NME NEX METALS -0.318181818182 0.015 2.3M
PDI PREDICTIVE -0.3 0.021 5.7M
MLS METALS AUSTRALIA -0.285714285714 0.005 11.7M
WHA WATTLE HEALTH -0.285387081997 1.56 226.5M
AUR AURIS MINERALS -0.278350515464 0.07 29.8M
JHL JAYEX HEALTHCARE -0.272727272727 0.016 2.5M
NGY NUENERGY GAS -0.266666666667 0.044 65.2M
FDX FRONTIER DIAMOND -0.259259259259 0.1 24.0M
FEL FE -0.257142857143 0.026 11.9M
FEI FE INVESTMENTS -0.256 0.093 18.3M
BYH BRYAH RESOURCES -0.25 0.12 8.2M
SUR SUN RESOURCES -0.25 0.003 2.3M
SHK STONE RESOURCES -0.25 0.003 2.4M
ROG RED SKY ENERGY -0.25 0.003 1.8M
PNL PARINGA -0.248366013072 0.23 97.2M
AO1 ASSETOWL -0.245283018868 0.04 4.7M
KP2 KORE POTASH-CDI -0.235294117647 0.13 100.3M
OOK OOKAMI -0.233333333333 0.023 7.5M
OAR OAKDALE -0.233333333333 0.023 1.9M

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