We start the review on a positive note with the news of two small-cap IPOs (initial public offers), one in the healthcare space and one in the red-hot AI (artificial intelligence) space.
Having sold its governance, risk and compliance software business to private equity earlier this year and returned £225 million to shareholders via a buyback and special dividend, business services group Marlowe (MRL:AIM) announced earlier this month it would demerge and list its occupational health division Optima Health.
Marlowe shareholders will receive ordinary shares in Optima by way of a dividend on a one-for-one basis, following which Optima will join the AIM market as an independent entity with Marlowe continuing as a pure testing, inspection and certification business.
Meanwhile, intellectual property investor Tekcapital (TEK:AIM) announced it had filed to list portfolio company GenIP separately on the AIM market.
GenIP ‘harnesses the power of GenAI’ using bespoke software and its executive recruitment platform to provide companies, research bodies and venture groups with support and expertise in AI to ‘cost-effectively mitigate adverse selection and commercialise new discoveries’.
Following the listing, which is expected to raise around £1.5 million, Tekcapital will retain 63% of the shares.
NEW ORDERS
Following on from last month’s update on its order book, Light Science Technologies (LST:AIM) revealed it had received further contracts for both its passive fire protection unit and its contract manufacturing unit.
The fire protection business now has orders worth in excess of £7 million while revenue at the manufacturing business is expected to top £9 million this year.
After the sad news of the sudden passing of chief executive Paul Webb in August, this month security and surveillance firm Synetics (SNX:AIM) revealed it had been awarded a further contract worth $3.2 million on top of its existing $10 million contract to upgrade and expand surveillance at a major gaming resort in South-East Asia.
It followed this news with a positive third-quarter trading update and raised its full-year outlook, saying underlying pre-tax profit for the 12 months to the end of November would be ‘materially ahead of forecasts’.
Data and technology services firm Made Tech (MTEC:AIM) announced it had won a four-year, £13 million contract with the Department of Education with an option to extend for a fifth year at a cost to the government of a further £3.3 million.
GAME ON
Holding company TruFin (TRU:AIM) swung to a profit, beating market estimates partly thanks to two hit new indie games for its Playstack business, Balatro and Abiotic Factor, which ‘significantly surpassed internal expectations, were met with critical acclaim and have garnered extraordinary interest from players and platforms alike’.
Chief executive James van den Burgh described the firm’s performance as ‘full of firsts: growing revenue by more than 200%; recording profitability; and generating cash for a half-year for the first time’.
Transense Technologies (TRT:AIM), which makes sensors and measurement systems for car and aircraft makers, was selected as a key partner in an ambitious £11 million government-funded EV (electric vehicle) drive-system project.
Winning the bid was ‘testament to the confidence in our technology and expertise’ said managing director Ryan Maughan, underpinning the firm’s near-term revenue forecasts and presenting long-term opportunities for production revenue.
MORE IS LESS
On the other side of the ledger, hospitality firm Hostmore (MORE) dropped a bombshell on investors with the news it was no longer pursuing the acquisition of the TGI Fridays Inc brand due to a management change which meant it would no longer be able to collect royalties, undermining the value of the deal.
The group also revealed that the sale process for its existing restaurants was at ‘an advanced stage’, but the leading bids were lower than the par value of the holding company’s debt and therefore the process was ‘unlikely to recover any meaningful value’.
The strategic review confirmed that none of the strategic options up for consideration were unlikely to provide value and therefore the company would most likely be wound up and delisted ‘contemporaneous with the conclusion of the sale process’.
Investors stampeded towards the exit, sending the shares down 90% to less than a penny compared with 120p shortly after the firm came to market in 2021.
SEE YOU IN COURT
Finally, Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) announced it was filing leave with a California court to serve subpoenas on a raft of companies in support of a lawsuit it intends to bring in England and Wales.
The group expects to bring claims against the companies ‘for breach of common law obligations of confidence, breach of duties under the Trade Secrets (enforcement etc.) Regulations 2018, and an entitlement claim to a license of certain patents’.
The filing singled out one firm in particular, saying Oxford Nanopore ‘does not believe BGI’s nanopore-based sequencing technology is able to be used in commercial products around the world without infringing or misappropriating the group’s substantial portfolio of proprietary rights’.
These articles are provided by Shares magazine which is published by AJ Bell Media, a part of AJ Bell. Shares is not written by AJ Bell.
Shares is provided for your general information and use and is not a personal recommendation to invest. It is not intended to be relied upon by you in making or not making any investment decisions. The investments referred to in these articles will not be suitable for all investors. If in doubt please seek appropriate independent financial advice.
Investors acting on the information in these articles do so at their own risk and AJ Bell Media and its staff do not accept liability for losses suffered by investors as a result of their investment decisions.
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