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Will 2026 be remembered as the year the market ran out of money..?

Oracle has just announced a $50b raise on a Sunday of all things.

In the mix is Tesla which is rumoured to be be combining XAi, Tesla and Space X with a view to an IPO with a focus on robots instead of cars.

Open Ai and Anthropic are also planning IPO's this year

On top of that lot JP Morgan has highlighted difficulty is raising additional funds for Star Gate.

Bond yields have increased on Star Gate lending leaving existing bond holders stuck, unable to sell on..

Some good info there Crafty, definitely worth reflecting on..

Cheers,

The $100 Billion Megadeal Between OpenAI and Nvidia Is on Ice

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has privately played down likelihood original deal will be finalized, although the two companies will continue to have a close collaboration

https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/the-100-billion-megadeal-between-openai-and-nvidia-is-on-ice-aa3025e3

Might help raise general biotech awareness..

> AstraZeneca has announced it’s investing $15 billions in China, and said it is partnering with a Chinese biotech to develop weight-loss drugs.

> The developments come at a critical time for the pharma industry as companies are increasingly looking east for innovation to replace revenue from blockbuster medicines going off patent in the next few years.

> AstraZeneca will also list shares on the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, ending its American depositary shares program.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/02/01/astrazeneca-nyse-listing-china-pharma-pours-15-billion-into-china.html

As investors we are definitely up against it investing in UK stocks, its just too hard with the exodus of capital.

If Ingenuity can reverse into THG Group at some stage with a fair offer taking us private that would be a good option I feel, leave it a couple of years until the numbers line up then IPO in the US.

Being listed in the US and reporting in dollars may help get some of the fx moves on our side too.

https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/xlon/thg/ownership

He is right though, Vanguard hold 6 out of the 20 top positions according to Morningstar.

iShares has also dropped from c14% a year ago to now 9.38% on CD.

Neither of these two stats has anything to do with matt or the board, its just market dynamics.

I find it tricky to get a handle or direction from these interview, the last one with Wes seems to contradict what SMS said a bit earlier on billing?

btw I don't mean be picky, but that video (S4 Capital (SFOR) Beats Earnings: Can The Sorrell Comeback Last?) was Ai slop, its just scrapped info of the web with a voice over..

You guys spend every waking hour deriding the company your invested in, is it any wonder sentiment is low..?

Cheers Jatw, bit more welcome news..

I thought it was Jeremy Newman leading the action here in UK, not Co--Star?

Waited patiently, just doubled up this morning..

Limited movement on the share register, only notable change being Patient Capital in Dec likely a result the Nov TU.

Third Ave made a comment but nothing of note.

Nice one Yorek, that sounds a lot more honed and to the point, also emphasizes yesterdays numbers which is encouraging.

Good (brilliant!) start o the year..

What is APN's product mix like, how does it compare to Myprotein for whey based products ?

Then you have the Yen, what is the fx risk same question..

Came across this video which covers the recent moves in Yen and bond markets, worth a listen although most of it is over my head it does indicate things are a bit different this time around.

Japan seems to have an extraordinary influence over world markets given its relative size.

https://youtu.be/erhtMK2A5A8

That doesn't make sense, there was nothing 'telegraphed' in the Nov 24th update other than a miss hence the share price went under 16p.

Whilst they did indicate liquidity was improving they also said debt levels would remain at:

'Despite this, our liquidity continues to improve more than anticipated and our targeted range for the year end net debt remains £100 million to £140 million.'

I guess the point I was trying to make is can the debt reduction be repeated, not entirely sure what 'Treasury Management' means in this context.

RunS4, I would be cautious extrapolating for the current year as we don't really know how the reduction was achieved.

My guess is they had a cash injection of some sort facilitated in part by the 'Treasury Management' line, we had the sale of tvscientific to Pinterest during this period being a S4S Ventures portfolio company, did this contribute in some way ?

The 24th Nov was a triggered profit warning due to the below factors:

'Following the release of our third quarter trading update in early November, we have received and reviewed both the Company's financial results for October and the third quarter revised forecast for 2025, which show a decrease in net revenue versus the forecast and therefore impacts our fourth quarter performance.'

Its only 8 weeks, since the last update - take away seasonal holiday leaves maybe 6 weeks?

The dynamics this time around maybe different catching a few fx traders off guard, two big factors affecting the outcome are:

1. Election which has been called by current government in order to establish a majority, this is in Feb, if they win then next point is probable.

2. Financial reform to support the Yen which hasn't been possible without a house majority, gov have several options, one is to sell US debt where they are the 1/2nd largest holder and use funds to support the Yen, US likely thinks this is a bad idea so will help to stabilise the Yen to avoid a sell of on US treasuries.

From the WSJ (3 hours ago)

'U.S. and Japanese authorities signaled that they are ready to step in to support the yen, sparking a rebound in the currency'

3. Third option is interest rates, by increasing it helps eliminate the Yen carry trade, if this coincides with the US reducing it has double the impact.

Posted links a a while back, Yen has strengthened and could indicate a bottom in place as the previous falls have been nothing short of horrendous.

Just to put things into perspective we are still some 32% down on a five year chart.

The big mover apart from gov intervention is interest rates, if US goes down and Japan goes up (likely) then the carry trade will be less or possibly nonviable leading to an unwinding of positions..

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There is the possibility long term trends in Japan could change, the Yen being one of them.

Inflation is rising along with interest rates which have historically been at zero since wait for it..1999 ..the idea being to combat deflation.

https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/ECONOMICS-JPINTR/?timeframe=ALL

The election in early feb is important as the current party lack a majority which hinder decision making

We wait and see..in the meantime the counter balance in part, is the Euro which thankfully has strengthened recently..

https://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=EUR&to=GBP

What's seriously impressive is the double whammy of both..

'Net debt will be both significantly below current consensus of £133 million and below the previously indicated range of £100-140 million'

..and a dividend of 1p

I thought we might get one, but not both..

Knockout, great job !

'S4 Capital plc (SFOR.L) confirms that 2025 full year trading was ahead of the revised guidance issued on the 24 November 2025 and is above the current consensus of net revenue of £664 million and operational EBITDA of £75 million. The Company expects like-for-like net revenue to be down circa 8.5%, with an operational EBITDA margin of circa 12%.

Net debt will be both significantly below current consensus of £133 million and below the previously indicated range of £100-140 million, following a change in Treasury management and a consequent strong focus on working capital management resulting in an improvement in liquidity.'

..1p divi too..