The last week of the financial year is upon us and it is full of sass – or should that be SaaS?
We’ll explain that more in a moment, but among the companies that made the ASX sit up and take notice this week, there was also a notable niobium discovery, proof that there is still value to be had in small telecommunication companies and further evidence of the genius of small Australian medical companies reaching for the stars to cure some insidious diseases.
But back to the SaaS … one of this columnist’s favourite things.
The advancement in AI-driven software-as-a-service – yes, that is where the SaaS kicks in – continues to astound and this week’s best ASX runner uses it in a bid to enable the elderly to stay in their homes for longer before an eventual move into higher-level care. And let’s face it, who among us wouldn’t like to enjoy the comforts of our own home for as long as possible?
InteliCare Holdings is SaaS technology firm that this week revealed it was set to raise $2 million via a two-tranche placement at 0.8c per share. The raise comes as the company has been commercialising its proprietary AI-driven platform in the aged care, disability and health sectors.
Any potential buyers of the stock who chose to sit on the sidelines after the announcement, may have needed their own health sector check for heart palpitations as they watched the company’s share price climb 144.44 per cent from last week’s close of 0.9c to a high of 2.2c, on much bigger-than-usual volumes.
Management provided a heads-up that the raising of funds, which has been well supported by institutional and sophisticated investors, will be used to kick some goals with key commercial agreements in the company’s sales pipeline. Essentially, it is aiming to enhance independence for the elderly and those requiring modern home-based care monitoring by developing a range of high-tech AI-inspired devices.
The product range includes smart sensors and wearable technologies that provide alerts, monitor the reading of a person’s vitals and enable incident and falls detection assessment. Its smart sensors even learn household routines such as sleeping patterns, bathroom visits and even movements within a residence.
If any changes in activity are detected, InteliCare will alert healthcare staff so they can alter the care and, hopefully, prevent any falls or incidents occurring.
InteliCare says it is laser-focused on increasing market awareness for its AI-driven platform as it seeks to assist healthcare providers in delivering superb outcomes for elderly individuals and those living with disability.
In what is always a positive in these situations, one of the company’s non-directors gave the raising a kick-along, with a $100,000 subscription for the new shares.
Driving into second place this week is multi-commodity explorer Encounter Resources, which at least in the short-term may be referred to as a niobium hunter after it hit high-grade niobium from air-core (AC) drilling at its Crean carbonatite target that is part of its 100 per cent-owned Aileron project in Western Australia’s West Arunta region.
And surprise, surprise, it sits just a stone’s throw away from WA1 Resources’ huge niobium discovery. It may actually be a handful of kilometres away, however, Aileron abuts the WA1 ground.
Encounter’s drill campaign targeted near-surface, high-grade niobium and rare earths mineralisation, with first assays returning several stellar intersections of 52m at 3 per cent niobium oxide including a “super-slice” of 16m at 6 per cent. A further hit of 32m at 2.5 per cent niobium including 12m at 3.3 per cent had management’s hearts racing as the realisation hit like a sledgehammer that it was onto something decent.
The company revealed that the shallow mineralised trend extends for more than 800m, remains open and looks to be strengthening to the west. The release of the drilling results got the party started and market punters joined in the celebrations, buying the shares in droves.
It was the first time in 25 trading days that volume exceeded 2 million shares and it blew that number out of the water with 22.43 million shares changing hands on the day of the announcement, soaring from a previous close of 34.5c to touch a high of 75.55c, up 118.99 per cent.
How far it can go remains to be seen, but let’s not forget WA1 made its discovery announcement when sitting at just 14c back in October 2022 and hit a high in May this year of $23.20 – an extraordinary increase of more than 16,400 per cent. Not bad for an 18-month return.
The bronze medal this week goes to telecommunications provider Vonex, which this week entered into a scheme of arrangement with privately-owned Queensland company MaxoTel.
The market clearly loved the deal put forward by MaxoTel to acquire Vonex shares for 3.75c, with the stock leaping to a high of 3.6c for a handy rise of 111.76 per cent from last week’s close of 1.7c. The offer price implies an enterprise value for Vonex of $34.4 million and contains a 107 per cent premium to the 30-day volume-weighted average price (VWAP) of 1.82c.
It was hardly a shock that all directors of Vonex jumped at the chance to sell the shares they control, amounting to 4.6 per cent of the total on issue, with a unanimous recommendation to shareholders to “grab the cash” and vote in favour of the scheme.
MaxoTel has gone above and beyond by providing Vonex with evidence of a financing commitment letter from its bank, in addition to proving a cash reserve exceeding the amount required to meet its obligations under the scheme.
Vonex supplies the small-to-medium business market with internet, mobile, fixed lines and a cloud-hosted PBX system. It also supplies a “white-label” offering to customers such as internet service providers that is provided at wholesale rates and can be marketed under the reseller’s own brand.
The bigger MaxoTel, which started its business in the good old days of the GFC (global financial crisis) back in 2007, has a similar offering and specialises in “hosted-PBX” – a business-grade phone system hosted in the cloud that uses an internet connection such as NBN, Fibre, and 5G and allows phone calls to be made and received with flexible routing options including queueing, voicemail, time switches and more.
The benefit is the provision of complete control over a business’s call flow, ensuring customers reach the right department as fast as possible.
Fourth placegetter this week was Actinogen Medical, a company specialising in developing novel therapies for neurological diseases like dementia and neuropsychiatric conditions such as depression. The company’s shares took a leap of faith, jumping from 3.2c to touch 6.2c – an increase of 93.75 per cent and on its biggest daily volume since May 2021.
More than 30 million shares were traded on each of the past three trading days.
Actinogen revealed its positive phase-2a biomarker trial, that demonstrated potential efficacy of its “Xanamem” inhibitor treatment, was recently published in edition No.100 of the renowned Journal of Alzheimer’s disease.
The peer-reviewed publication indicated the recent six-week, placebo-controlled trial was conducted with 72 patients that participated in an earlier trial testing patients living with mild Alzheimer’s symptoms. The patients had samples of their blood stored and consented to the new trial, with daily 10mg doses of Xanamem or a placebo for 12 weeks.
Actinogen says stunning results were returned from the trial and demonstrated a clinically-meaningful response to Xanamem compared to the placebo in 34 of its patients. The trial tested “pTau181” levels, a blood-based biomarker that is believed to affect cognition levels in Alzheimer patients.
A biomarker in simple terms is a measure of certain traits in the body such as blood sugar levels, thyroid hormones and full blood counts. High-cholesterol is an example of a biomarker to measure the risk of heart disease.
The company says the data is compelling and no other inhibitor has come close to exhibiting such robust central nervous system (CNS) engagement in this manner.
Hear, hear, I say, to any medical company that can produce hope to those aiming to overcome the horrible effects of dementia.
Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: matt.birney@businessnews.com.au
