Welcome to our new product “Friday Takeaway”
This will delve a little deeper on individual companies and focus on non-house stocks under £200m market capitalisation to help raise awareness
Friday Takeaway from UK Small Caps
This will delve a little deeper on individual companies and focus on non-house stocks under £200m market capitalisation to help raise awareness
24th October 2025
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.
Recent updates show these businesses are moving forward which could be highlighted when results are published.
1SN Tin’s Hot
CSSG Safety in Numbers
First Tin 7.875p £35.58m (1SN.L)
Financial Calendar:
Year End June, Reporting 27 October, Interims December, Reported 25 February
Three Main Shareholders
MetalsX Limited 29.91%, Directors 12.09%, Baker Steel Resources Trust 10.32%
Key Investment Points:
Increased Tin Demand, Growing Resource, Significant Shareholder
First Tin is a development company with advanced, low capex projects in low-risk jurisdictions including Germany and Australia. There are two advanced tin projects in these ethical and reliable mining geographies that should deliver a sustainable material supply to industrial tin consumers, which may have prompted the investment by the company’s major shareholder, MetalsX. The 29.91% shareholder is Australia’s largest tin producer with revenue of A$219m. Brett Smith, Executive Director of MetalsX and Peter Gunzburg, Chairman of MetalsX, are on First Tin’s board as Non-Executive Directors.
Demand for tin is growing steadily as it is a critical, clean energy metal, essential for energy transition and digital transformation. The tin price is up from around $28,000 a tonne in January 2025 to recently $38,000 and steady growth is being forecast. Tin is needed for 5G, data centres, and for the semi-conductors enabling digital transformation, AI, robotics and advanced manufacturing. Currently, 97% of the global tin supply comes from higher risk jurisdictions such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, China and Indonesia where there are ongoing supply disruptions.
First Tin’s 100% owned subsidiary, Saxore Bergbau GmbH recently reported a finalised and revised Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) for the German Gottesberg project. The results confirmed the significance of this historical project, with total Indicated and Inferred Resources increasing to 90,900 tonnes of contained Tin. Assay results from its infill and extension drilling programme, are in progress at the Taronga tin project in New Zealand. The drilling is designed to convert Inferred resources to Indicated status and to test several interpreted zones of mineralisation close to the proposed pit. When completed this could significantly increase the overall resource and reserve base as well as lowering the strip ratio within the current pit outlines. The revised estimate takes First Tin's total tin resource base to 367,600 tonnes, the largest undeveloped tin resource base in the OECD and one of the largest undeveloped tin resource bases globally. Third-party studies estimate a combined development CAPEX of $263m for both projects, compared to a combined NPV of around $424m, based on a tin price of $30,000/tonne.
The Interims to December 2024 reported a Loss of £2.01m and a net asset value of £45.23m which is around 10p per share. During the year to June 2025 around £10m was raised with £8m last October 2024 at 6p leaving the FY June 2025 cash position expected to be £8.3m.
Hybridan Comment: Tin production is 3,000-years old and maybe not be a glamorous metal but finals on Monday could be a reminder that the Company is well-funded to increase the resource base of this critical metal.
Croma Security Solutions 78.5p £10.8m (CSSG.L)
Last Reported in Friday Takeaway, 8 November 2024 at 79p
Financial Calendar:
Year End June, Reporting 4 November, Interims December, Reported 24 February
Three Main Shareholders:
Roberto Michele Fiorentino 28.46%, Liontrust Investment Partners LLP 9.90%, Russell Long 7.44%
Key Investment Points:
Accelerated roll-out of proven concept, Scaling up, Cash for Expansion
Croma are due to report finals for the year to June 2025 in early November. The results are expected to show organic growth and the beginning of the expansion of its security network. The net cash remains £4.3m following two acquisitions and the purchase of three freehold security centres, which have development potential. In June 2023, the Group sold its manned guarding division, Vigilant for £6.5m in staged payments and has so far received £4.9m with a further £1.7m to be received quarterly by June 2026.
The strategy is firmly focused on investing to establish a national branded network of Security Centres. This will be by acquiring modestly valued, independent locksmith stores and upgrading them. The plan is to convert the stores into comprehensive security centres with an enhanced product offering. As Croma designs, installs, and maintains a wide range of security systems, from Intruder Alarms, CCTV, and Access Control systems, to Biometrics, Door Entry, and Automatic Door systems, and offers 24/7 Remote Monitoring. This roll-out model will over time drive cost efficiencies and significantly increases earnings potential. The target is to acquire 3-5 shops per year with a target ROI of at least 15% as they become Security Centres and to prove the concept two acquisitions have been made so far.
Revenue for June 2025 is expected to increase 10% to £9.6m with a PBT of £0.96m for an EPS of 5p and paying a slightly increased dividend of 2.4p. Using data from Alpha Terminal, we calculate a P/E of 16x with a 2.7% yield.
The organisational structure and operations are being expanded to support the roll-out. A new Non-Executive Chairman, John Wakefield and Non-Executive Director, Andy Wonnacott have recently been appointed. John has a deep understanding of the regulatory environment and deal structuring, and Andy is a Chartered Accountant with expertise in financial reporting and fundraising. The investment in internal expansion would hold back organic growth in 2026 in the absence of further earnings enhancing acquisitions or freehold developments.
Hybridan Comment: The valuation for organic growth seems fair but could react positively when the roll-out of the branded national network of security centres is accelerated.
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