Barely a month seems to go by without another small cap company announcing its intention to delist from the London stock market.
The latest escapee is leading cell therapeutics firm MaxCyte (MXCT:AIM) which announced its intention to cancel its AIM listing on 15 April.
The proposed cancellation, if approved by shareholders, is expected to take place on 25 June. The board of directors believe the AIM delisting has the potential to enhance liquidity of the company’s share which trade on Nasdaq, while also removing duplicative costs of dual listings.
The directors note that over the last 12-months more than 94% of the average daily trading volume has been transacted on the Nasdaq exchange. The company has a market capitalisation of £200 million.
MaxCyte was listed on AIM in March 2016 and raised £10 million to accelerate the development of the firm’s research and development platform and expand sales and distribution.
Another small cap exit from London in April was De La Rue (DLAR), after the Bank of England bank note maker agreed a takeover from private equity group Atlas for an all-cash consideration of 130p per share.
The board of directors of the 211-year-old firm recommended the proposed takeover which, if approved by shareholders, equates to a 19% premium to the closing price on 11 December 2024 when the company revealed it was in discussions with a consortium looking to take a partial equity stake in the business at 125p per share.
The offer price is 38% above the close on 14 October when De La Rue announced the sale of its authentication division to US-based industrial technology company Crane NXT for £300 million.
ONE NEW ISSUE
Companies coming to the stock market via new listings and IPOs (initial public offerings) have been few and far between in the last couple of years, so it was pleasing to see leading professional services provider MHA (MHA:AIM) take the plunge on 15 April.
The provider of audit, tax, accountancy and consultancy services raised approximately £98 million by way of an institutional placing of 98.8 million shares and a retail offering of 2.2 million shares at 100p per share.
Following the floatation MHA has a market capitalisation of around £271 million and a free float of 36.1%.
CONTRACT WINS
A relative lack of liquidity in small company’s shares means they often get a nice boost when announcing new orders and winning new business. That was the case for brain software group Cambridge Cognition (COG:AIM) whose shares jumped 4% after it secured a £1 million contract for a late-stage Autoimmune Disease trial.
The company said it was selected by an existing customer and views the win as ‘an endorsement of our product value and service excellence.’
The win follows quickly on the heels of a major £1.2 million agreement for phase three clinical trials in adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder.
Global leader in narrowband radio frequency mesh networks, CyanConnode (CYAN:AIM) revealed a £70 million contract (14 April) from the government of Goa’s electricity department to deploy approximately 750,000 smart meters.
For the uninitiated a mesh network is comprised of devices or nodes which communicate directly with each other, forming a decentralised network where any node can act as a relay. They are designed to be energy efficient and cost effective.
‘The contract validates our strategy, firmly establishes our credentials as an AMISP (Advanced Metering Infrastructure Service Provider), and substantially enhances our ability to secure further tenders,’ explained executive chair John Cronin.
‘This success is set to deliver a step change, accelerating CyanConnode’s future revenue growth and profitability,’ added Cronin.
MAIDEN DIVIDEND
Digital media, marketing and technology company Brave Bison (BBSN:AIM) reported a fourth consecutive year of revenue and profit growth for 2024 and gave a 2025 outlook ahead of market expectations, sending the shares up 13% on 10 April.
The company said it has reached sufficient size and scale to begin paying dividends to return excess cash to shareholders.
The board declared a final dividend for 2024 of approximately 0.02p per share representing 20% of operating cash flow after lease costs, the firm’s first dividend since listing 12-years ago.
Regenerative medical devices company Tissue Regenix (TRX:AIM) jumped 10% on 8 April after the board decided to terminate a strategic review and sale process to ‘focus on delivering sustainable growth as a standalone independent entity.’
CEO David Lee said: ‘Demand for our market differentiated tissue products remains strong and will be augmented with product line enhancements with existing and new customers to drive additional growth in 2025’.
The board insisted it will continue to assess the best route forward to deliver the ‘substantial’ value that exists in the business, which is not being reflected in the share price.
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.
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