Friday Takeaway—delving a little deeper into UK small caps
This will delve a little deeper on individual companies and focus on non-house stocks under £200m market capitalisation to raise awareness
Alphabetically arranged
Share prices and market capitalisations taken from Alpha Terminal from the current price on the day of publication.
Top three shareholders are taken from the websites of the companies that we are writing about, unless there is a more up to date TR-1 notification RNS announcement.
After corporate restructuring, these companies are establishing a new growth profile.
CRTX Point of Care
NEXS Ground work
Crism Therapeutics 10.00p £5.04m (CRTX.L)
Financial Calendar:
Year End December, reported 13 June 2025, Interims to June, reported 15 September 2025
Top Three Shareholders:
Andrew Webb (CEO) 14.1%, Christopher McConville (Chief Scientific Officer, Director) 9.65%, Brian Murray 9.49%
Key Investment Points:
Recent Funding supported by Director, Phase 2 Trails, Orphan Funding FDA application
Post a reverse in May 2024 at 11p into Amur Minerals, this UK clinical stage implantable drug delivery Company is focused on the localised and sustained delivery of chemotherapy drugs. Curative cancer treatments are urgently required and the ChemoSeed platform enables the sustained delivery of chemotherapy drugs exactly where they are needed, so treatments become less toxic to the patient, while also improving performance and cost-effectiveness.
ChemoSeed, CRISM's lead product, can be implanted directly into the tumour, so therapeutic concentrations of chemotherapy drugs reach the deep-seated tumour tissue. Prostate cancer, the most prevalent cancer in men, is the second programme in CRISM's pipeline of product opportunities using the implantable ChemoSeed drug delivery platform. Significant preclinical findings were reported on 14 October with a new research collaboration. This is an important milestone in the development of its innovative ChemoSeed platform in prostate cancer. The global market is projected to be $26.84bn by 2034, growing at a rate of 8.5% pa.
The Company's most advanced programme, however, will treat brain cancer. The initial target is irinotecan-ChemoSeed in glioblastoma, which is on track for the first patients to be dosed. This is a rare and aggressive form of cancer with low survival rates and limited treatment options. A submission for US Orphan Drug Designation application is in with the FDA for approval. The first part of the trial is focusing on patients who have been diagnosed as recurrent, meaning those whose brain tumour has returned, and the second part of the trial will also include newly diagnosed patients. The global brain cancer market is expected to grow to $4.67bn by 2030 from $2.29bn in 2024.
To cover the cost of running a clinical trial, £1m was raised at 9p a share on 10 December. Directors participated in the placing for around 10% of the new shares issued, which is around 22% of the enlarged share capital. The funds are to progress the Phase 2 open label clinical trial, with first patients expected to be dosed in Q1 2026 to establish the efficacy of the treatment in patients with recurrent disease. Although it is subject to patient recruitment, the subsequent results will be quickly observable. Trial results will be an important inflexion point and could attract potential partners.
The Interims to June 2025 reported operational progress including the successful Clinical Trial application to the Medicines & Healthcare product Regulatory Agency and the establishment of a Scientific Advisory Board to provide the Company with expert guidance on the trial. The operating loss was £0.9m and net cash was £o.9m.
Hybridan Comment: The Phase 2 Trials in aggressive brain cancer may indicate the potential for the ChemoSeed platform to treat prostate and other cancers and could spark a positive share price reaction.
Nexus Infrastructure 120.50p £10.62m (NEXS.L)
Last Reported in Friday Takeaway, 1o January 2025 at 125p
Financial Calander:
Year End September, Reported 23 January 2025, Interims to March, Reported 15 May 2025
Three Largest Shareholders:
Peter Gyllenhammar 28.5%, Otus Capital Management 12.2%, NR Holdings 9.3%
Key Investment Points:
Government Funding, Leveraged Growth, Near Cash Value
A civil engineering Company providing essential infrastructure solutions was restructured in 2023; after selling two energy transition subsidiaries and returning £60m to shareholders. The ongoing business, Tamdown, provides civil engineering infrastructure services to the UK housebuilding sector and is being renovated and reenergised. Orders for these services are an early indicator of the house building market, and the UK Government has ambitious targets for housebuilding.
The Coleman business was acquired on 30 October 2024 and has operations, predominantly within the water, rail and highways sectors. It is a complementary strategic fit, including the benefit of longer-term contracts, so the combined businesses are less vulnerable to short-term fluctuations and project delays. To meet the challenges of climate change, environmental protection and social needs, the water companies will spend more than £104bn during the AMP8 programme of works, running through to 2030.
The Trading update on 23 October set expectations for an approximate 16% increase in revenue to £65.9m. According to the market forecast on Alpha Terminal, a reduced loss of around £1.5m to September 2025 and a profitable 2026 are expected. The October Trading Update stated that Tamdown's order book at the year-end was up by 62% to £83.4m. Coleman is contributing positively to Group margins and is well positioned for the start of AMP8 and the anticipated growth in activity is expected to follow throughout FY26. There is a strong balance sheet with cash of £10.9m, after having paid £4.4m for Coleman and the interim dividend was maintained.
On 14 January, NED Dr. Christian Wurst was appointed to the Board with over 25 years’ experience in supply chain and industrial services, including management of operations, finance and commercial teams.
There is cash available for expansion. Diversification is a principal element of Nexus’ strategy; complementary acquisitions in key national infrastructure sectors are being sought.
Hybridan Comment: The near to cash valuation seems low assuming organic growth is solid and there are funds available with an ambition for further acquisitive growth.
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