SMALL CAP MOVERS: Catenae Innovation rockets on coronavirus digital passports

Catenae Innovation ended the week with a blast, rocketing 147 per cent to 1p on the announcement it will take part in the development of ‘covid-19 passports’.

The Cov-ID will record whether individuals are unexposed, active or recovered from the virus by uploading results of swab and antibody tests.

Sharing the data will allow individuals to freely roam in public locations, such as workplaces or social settings.

The digital media firm, which specialises in blockchain systems, is joining a consortium led by London-based think-tank Z/Yen Group. The partnership aims at creating and finalising a prototype in the next four weeks.

‘The hard part of the project is social, gaining acceptance by government(s) and then society for a rapid rollout,’ Z/Yen said.

As of now, there are no guarantees that Cov-ID will be commercialised nor that potential sales ‘will be favourable to the company’, Catenae pointed out.

Turning to the wider market, the shorter trading week saw the AIM All-Share index rising 1 per cent to 755, outperforming the FTSE 100, which instead dipped 1 per cent to 5,774.

It was a difficult week for Anglo African Oil & Gas, which tanked 40 per cent to 0.1p after being forced to sell its Congo business for £200,000 instead of the £1million agreed initially.

The oiler, which is in the process of becoming a cash shell for new investment, agreed the reduction to avoid financial uncertainty, since there were complications in getting local authorities to approve the deal.

Turning to the risers, NetScientific led the field with a 238 per cent gain to 11p. The healthcare intellectual property group revealed that one of its portfolio companies, PDS Biotechnology, added a vaccine for coronavirus to an existing infectious disease development programme. Work is starting immediately.

N4 Pharma soared 51 per cent to 7p after receiving the initial quantity of coronavirus DNA needed to develop Nuvec, a product designed to deliver cancer treatments and vaccines in the correct areas of the body.

Meanwhile, radiation detection specialist Kromek Group surged 49 per cent to 23p on the news it will manufacture medical ventilators for patients affected by coronavirus.

Unrelated to the pandemic, biomaterials developer Collagen Solutions jumped 128 per cent to 2p after the group put itself up for sale, adding it is in discussions with a ‘number of parties’.

Elsewhere, Diurnal Group rose 14 per cent to 30p after announcing it continues to supply its drugs, designed for patients with chronic hormonal diseases.

Neuroscience data analyst IXICO headed 13 per cent higher to 70p on the back of a new £10.5million contract for a late-phase open-label study into Huntington’s disease.

Changing sector, Cadence Minerals jumped 78 per cent to 5p after the Amapá iron ore project in Brazil received court approval to start iron ore shipments.

Fellow miner Jubilee Metals advanced 22 per cent to 3p after restarting operations in South Africa in ‘strict adherence’ to the country’s lockdown rules.

In the IT space, software provider Castleton Technology climbed 44 per cent to 94p after agreeing to a takeover deal with real-estate focused MRI Software at a 43 per cent premium to its previous closing share price, valuing the company at £82.8million.

Financial services provider Morses Club ascended 31 per cent to 52p on the back of the launch of a fully remote lending product within its ‘home collected credit’ division.

Finally, estate agent Winkworth bobbed 15 per cent higher to 115p after confirming it will pay a quarterly dividend of 1.68p per share, against the widespread trend of scrapping payouts.