Last week’s ASX small cap wrap: who smashed it and who netted it

ASX Small Cap Winners May 28 – Jun 1

It was a great week for ASX floats with strong results for debutantes Galileo Mining, PayGroup and Koppar Resources.

Mark Creasy’s Galileo Mining (ASX:GAL) made a stellar ASX debut this week, bringing home a 68 per cent premium on it 20c issue price.

Galileo raised $15 million selling shares at 20c apiece to fund development of cobalt and nickel projects in Western Australia.

The stock immediately doubled its issue price to 38c and closed the week at 33.5c.

British-born millionaire Mr Creasy is Galileo’s biggest shareholder with a 31 per cent stake.

His 37.4 million shares were worth more than $12 million at the end of the week.

On the same day, software maker PayGroup (ASX:PYG) made a successful public debut. The shares spiked to 87c on its first day of trade — a 74 per cent premium to its 50c issue price.

On Friday the shares closed at 78c.

PayGroup operates a Software as a Service (SaaS) payroll and HR platform aimed at Asia-Pacific businesses.

PayGroup finally made it to the local bourse after pulling an attempted float late in 2017 and changing its name.

Norway-focused copper and zinc explorer Koppar Resources (ASX:KRX) also enjoyed a strong ASX debut this week.

Koppar finished its first week on the ASX at 27.5c — a 38 per cent premium to its 20c issue price.

Koppar is about to start exploring 58 sq km of mining tenements in the Trondheim region of Norway.

The mines have a history dating back to the 1600s — and have produced 85 million tonnes of copper at grades of 1 per cent to 2 per cent, the company says.

Anything over 1.5 per cent is considered high-grade for copper.

Med tech stock Compumedics (ASX:CMP) soared 75 per cent after announcing a deal with China-based health-check organisation Health 100.

The pair plan to commercialise Compumedic’s Somfit “sleep tracker” device in China.

Somfit tracks a user’s activities during the day as well as collecting “medical-grade data” at night to provide insights and help understand a person’s “sleep architecture”.

Under the deal, Health 100 will buy a million Somfit devices over two years, bringing in an expected $133 million in revenue.

The shares closed the week up 56 per cent at 66.5c.

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Insurance and utlity comparison website iSelect (ASX:ISU) put on 51 per cent for the week after confirming it was a takeover target.

iSelect plummeted to an all-time low in April after its CEO resigned following an earnings downgrade of almost two-thirds of previous forecasts.

On Friday iSelect confirmed speculation that it had “in recent weeks received several unsolicited and non-binding proposals from both listed and unlisted parties in relation to mergers”.

Earlier this week it emerged that IHA Group — which is reportedly linked to rival comparison site Compare the Market — had bought a 12.2 per cent stake in iSelect.

The stock jumped to 78c — still below its value before the downgrade.

Tando Resources (ASX:TNO) — which last month started exploration at its newly acquired “SPD” vanadium project in South Africa — moved ahead 37 per cent for the week.

The stock — which recently underwent a 4.62-for-1 share split — gained 37 per cent for the week closing at 24c.

Tando is reporting high grades of over 2 per cent from magnetite pipes at the SPD site — similar to the magnetite pipe once mined by Xstrata at the Kennedy’s Vale mine.

Internet of Things developer Xped (ASX: XPE) continued to rise after signing a deal earlier this week with US start-up Heuresy Labs to develop a hardware security device that provides authentication and encryption.

On Monday Xped gained 40 per cent after announcing the deal would bring in “the first significant cash flow realised from the commercialisation of its core technologies”.

The shares finished up 33 per cent at 0.4c on Friday.

Melbourne-based cancer drug researcher Patrys (ASX: PAB) was heavily traded this week after announcing further results from ongoing trial of its PAT‐DX1 drug candidate.

The shares gained 30 per cent to 4.9c for the week.

Tests at the Yale School of Medicine confirmed the drug targeted tumour test “spheres” derived from human glioblastoma cancer stem cells, Patrys told investors.

The tests showed penetration into the centre of the tumour material and targeted cells inside as well as on the surface.

“Confirmation that PAT‐DX1 targets and kills primary human glioblastoma stem cell tumour spheres in vitro is another exciting development,” said Patrys CEO Dr James Campbell.

Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for May 28 – Jun 1:

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ASX Small Cap Losers May 28 – Jun 1

Poland-focused coal explorer Prairie Mining (ASX:PDZ) fell 29 per cent this week after losing an 18-month battle to extend the deadline for first production of coal from 2018 to 2025 at its Debiensko Hard coking coal mine.

“Prairie will appeal the decision on the basis that its justification for denial is fundamentally flawed for a number of reasons,” the company told investors.

“Prairie will strongly defend its position and continue to take relevant actions to pursue its legal rights regarding the Debiensko concession.”

The shares closed the week at 37c, down from 52c seven days earlier.

Meanwhile newly listed solar-powered glass maker ClearVue Technologies (ASX:CPV) has wilted since last week’s strong ASX debut.

The stock debuted at a 20 per cent premium to its 20c issue price last week — but this week cooled 24 per cent to 16c.

Perth-based ClearVue had been aiming to raise up to $6 million — but ended up with $5 million.

The high-tech glazier — led by founder Victor Rosenberg — has been working for six years on glass panels with built-in photovoltaic cells that can produce up to 30 watts of electricity per square metre.

Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for May 28 – Jun 1:

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