Mendell Helium (AIM: MDH) and European Green Transition (AIM: EGT) are both pursuing ambitious growth strategies in attractive underlying markets. More unusually, both boards have also publicly identified dividends as part of their future shareholder-return strategies.

For investors, that creates an intriguing proposition: exposure to companies potentially moving up the valuation curve while also having the prospect of being paid to hold the shares if management successfully executes.

Mendell Helium – Building a US Helium Production Business

Why Helium?

Helium is often associated with party balloons, but industrial helium is a very different market.

Its unique physical properties make it difficult to substitute in many advanced applications. According to the US Geological Survey, US helium consumption spans semiconductor and fibre-optic manufacturing, MRI, aerospace, laboratory and scientific applications, welding and leak detection. In 2025, controlled atmospheres, fibre optics and semiconductors represented around 17% of US helium use, MRI another 15% and aerospace approximately 9%.

Helium is also unusual because it cannot simply be manufactured when additional demand emerges. Commercial supply comes from specific geological gas accumulations containing sufficiently high helium concentrations to justify recovery.

That makes new, economically viable sources of helium strategically interesting – particularly domestic US production located close to major industrial markets.

And that is where Mendell Helium comes in.

The Mendell Investment Case

Mendell operates through its wholly owned M3 Helium subsidiary in Kansas, with its principal development focus at Fort Dodge.

The blueprint is the Rost 1-26 well, where helium concentration has repeatedly tested at approximately 5.1%. Production began in November 2025, and a December 2025 recorded flow rate of 250 Mcf/day was estimated by the company to equate to around US$1.4 million of helium annually, based on a US$300/Mcf helium assumption.

The important part of the investment case, however, is not simply Rost 1-26. It is whether Mendell can repeat and scale that production model across Fort Dodge.

The company has drilled Rost 2-26 alongside the original Rost well and has assembled additional leases at Bleumer, Enlow, Durler and Leffert, providing potential locations for multiple additional production wells.

A £5 million institutional-led fundraising announced in April was designed specifically to accelerate that expansion, including plans for four further production wells and additional helium purification infrastructure.

Mendell has also agreed a joint venture to recomplete the Schneweis Ventures 13A well. Schneweis previously produced at more than 300 Mcf/day and has a gas composition containing 1.39% helium alongside 70.06% methane. Importantly, the well is connected to an existing pipeline, potentially allowing Mendell to generate revenues from both helium and hydrocarbons.

Building the Infrastructure for Scale

The latest operational work at Rost is important because Mendell is attempting to increase production while simultaneously improving the economics of the wider operation.

At Rost 1-26, the perforated interval has been doubled to four feet and the surface pumping system upgraded to handle as much as 900 barrels of water per day.

At Rost 2-26, an optimised Halliburton electric submersible pump and variable frequency drive have been delivered, while upgraded electrical infrastructure is being installed to support de-watering, production and helium purification.

Meanwhile, the neighbouring Brobee disposal well has performed strongly, taking water under surface vacuum and holding permitted capacity of up to 10,000 barrels per day. That capacity is expected to support both Rost wells and potentially additional future wells.

This matters because Fort Dodge is increasingly looking less like a single-well project and more like a potentially scalable production hub where multiple wells can share disposal and processing infrastructure.

Why Mendell Could Pay a Dividend in 2027

This is where the investment proposition becomes particularly interesting.

Mendell itself has already put dividends on the agenda.

In its April £5 million fundraising announcement, the company stated there was potential to commence dividend payments in 2027, subject to successful commercial execution. More specifically, the Board said its intention was that, subject to sufficient new wells being drilled and the cash flow generated by those wells, Mendell would seek to pay a dividend during 2027.

That makes the milestones investors need to watch relatively clear.

Rost 1-26 and Rost 2-26 need to establish sustainable production; Schneweis could add another revenue stream; and the funded four-well expansion programme needs to broaden the production base.

If those pieces come together, Mendell could potentially transition remarkably quickly from a small helium development story into a multi-well cash-generative producer with shareholder distributions on the agenda.

European Green Transition – Building a Wind Energy Services Platform

Why Wind Energy Services?

EGT offers exposure to an entirely different underlying market.

Rather than developing renewable energy projects itself, its Wind Energy Services platform makes money by maintaining, repairing, monitoring and increasingly repowering existing onshore wind turbines.

That distinction is important.

The UK already has a substantial installed onshore wind fleet, and many of the earlier turbines are reaching the point where owners must decide whether to maintain them, extend their operating lives or replace them with more efficient modern equipment.

UK government policy is increasingly supportive of repowering. The Government's Onshore Wind Taskforce has specifically identified maintaining the existing fleet and replacing older turbines with newer, more efficient models as an important opportunity to increase generating capacity while continuing to use established sites.

More recently, government-backed research published in July 2026 examined the growing opportunities around lifetime extension, repair, maintenance and reuse across Britain's wind fleet.

That provides an attractive backdrop for specialist service providers.

The EGT Investment Case

EGT transformed its business in February 2026 when it acquired a collection of established Wind Energy Services companies for £3.5 million on a debt-free, cash-free basis.

The platform includes Earthmill Maintenance, Wind Energy Partnership, Silverford Engineering and Anemos Analytics and services more than 900 onshore wind turbines across the UK and Ireland.

The acquired platform generated approximately £14.7 million of unaudited revenue during 2025, and EGT paid an acquisition multiple equivalent to 3.9x 2025 adjusted EBITDA.

Since completing the transaction, growth has accelerated.

During the first half of 2026, the Wind Energy Services business generated approximately £8.5 million of revenue, while EGT reported statutory Group revenue of approximately £6.8 million for the four months following completion.

Management now expects Wind Energy Services revenue of approximately £17–18 million for the 12 months ending December 2026. The Group remained debt free at the end of June with approximately £5.8 million cash.

Repowering Could Be the Major Growth Driver

Perhaps the most interesting element of EGT's investment case is repowering.

Rather than simply maintaining ageing wind turbines, owners can replace older machines with newer and more efficient turbines while making use of existing sites and infrastructure.

At the end of June, EGT had grown its repowering orderbook to 65 signed Heads of Terms, with 30 planning approvals, 20 project commencements and deposits received, and eight completed repowers.

Beyond that signed pipeline, the company is engaged with approximately 280 qualified opportunities across its existing 900-turbine customer base, representing a potential £126 million repowering revenue opportunity according to management.

EGT's medium-term ambition is consequently much larger than today's business: management is targeting £50 million of Group revenue and double-digit EBITDA margins.

Why EGT Could Become a Dividend Stock

Unlike Mendell, where the dividend is dependent on new production wells delivering cash flow, EGT has already acquired an established, EBITDA-profitable operating platform.

And the Board has made its intentions unusually clear.

In its June annual results, EGT formally committed to a progressive dividend policy from the first full year following completion of the Wind Energy Services acquisition, targeting annual dividend growth of approximately 5% per annum.

With the acquisition completing in February 2026, 2027 becomes the first full financial year under EGT ownership.

The rationale is straightforward: recurring maintenance and monitoring revenues provide a base level of activity, while repowering provides the potential for significantly higher-value project revenues.

If revenue continues to grow towards management's medium-term targets and margins improve as the operation scales, EGT could potentially combine capital growth, recurring cash generation and a growing income stream.

Two Very Different Routes to the Same Destination

Mendell Helium and European Green Transition could hardly operate in more different sectors.

Mendell is attempting to scale a domestic US helium production business into a multi-well operation.

EGT is building a larger critical-infrastructure services platform around an established UK and Irish wind turbine customer base.

Yet there is a common investment theme.

Both are still small enough that successful execution could materially change their financial profiles, and both management teams have already told shareholders that dividends form part of their plans.

For Mendell, the catalyst is production.

For EGT, it is continued revenue growth, repowering and free cash generation.

The SmallCapPix Take

Investors looking at nano-cap companies usually have one thing in mind: capital growth.

That is what makes these two companies particularly interesting.

Neither should currently be viewed as a traditional income stock. Instead, the investment opportunity is the possibility of owning businesses before they potentially make the transition into dividend-paying companies.

EGT arguably provides greater visibility today. It already owns a profitable operating platform, has recurring revenues, a substantial customer base and an expanding repowering orderbook. Its progressive dividend policy is explicitly linked to the quality of the cash flows management believes the business can generate.

Mendell offers greater operational gearing. Rost has demonstrated high helium concentrations, Rost 2-26 is being brought towards production, Schneweis provides another potential revenue stream and the company has funded an aggressive Fort Dodge expansion programme.

The coming months should therefore tell investors a great deal.

If EGT continues converting its repowering pipeline into revenue and Mendell successfully expands helium production across Fort Dodge, 2027 could mark an important transition for both companies — from nano-cap growth stories into businesses capable of returning cash directly to shareholders.

For investors prepared to look beyond conventional dividend stocks, that combination of growth today and potential income tomorrow makes both companies well worth keeping on the watchlist.