A glimmer of hope that signs of life may be reappearing in the small to mid-cap secondary market emerged with Videndum‘s plc impressive fundraise earlier this week.
Against a wider backdrop of small-cap funding struggles over the past two years, the hardware and software supplier for content creation penned proceeds of £125 million from its placement on Tuesday.
Shares in the firm enjoyed strong gains as a result, having climbed 22.5% to 336p come Friday morning.
Software supplier shrugs off small-cap funding struggles
Those 46,870,787 new ordinary shares sold in the placing had been priced at 267p apiece, representing a marginal 3.3% discount on Monday’s closing value, not bad considering the current state of things!
The funds themselves will be used to pay off loans and other debt at Videndum, shoring up its finances for the long term.
However, it’s the company’s success in raising its targeted amount with little need for concessions that will have pleased investors.
Speaking of eye-catching fundraises, Great Southern Copper plc raised £905,000 to fund its operations in Chile, including the drilling of high-grade copper and gold targets.
Shares at 2.25p represented something in the territory of a 10% discount; a technical markdown pursued and shares closed the week around 7% lower.
CleanTech Lithium plc also dug into the secondary market with an £8 million share placing, successfully overshooting the Chile-focused mining company’s initial target by £2 million.
CleanTech’s discount offer was in the region of 15%, pursuant to which shares fell more than 20% in a similarly technical markdown.
What has Jersey Oil stakeholders excited?
Jersey Oil and Gas plc was a top mover in the energy sector, with shares adding close to 20% in value in the latter half of the week.
JOG has struck deals that give it a free carry of 20% on a North Sea project slated to have peak production of 35,000 barrels of oil a day – and is scheduled to get underway in late 2026.
The top line? In return for handing over an 80% stake in the Greater Buchan Area (GBA), JOG pays nothing towards the £850 million to £900 million capital investment required to get the operation up and running.
As well as this, it will receive around £30 million in staged payments from its partners, field operator NEO Energy and Serica, a specialist in North Sea oil and gas. JOG is partially subsidised on the ancillary work done before the field is approved for development.
At 257p a share, the company is currently worth around £84 million. Research house Cavendish reckons that number should be closer to £245 million.
AIM All-Share limps along
The junior market didn’t move the dial too much in the past five days. A buoyant Monday preceded a sluggish rest of the week, with the AIM All-Share Index closing around 0.4% lower.
Trading activity was decidedly more choppy among the blue chips, though the FTSE 100 also closed lower, shedding around half a percentage point come Friday.
With the US busy drinking Buds and scoffing turkey, trading volumes were pretty light across the New York blue-chip indices, leaving few transatlantic catalysts for the London Stock Exchange.
UK business sentiment was given a partial boost by a return to growth in the private sector, indicated by bullish PMI figures released on Wednesday.
Hunt’s Autumn Statement was more of a game changer for the pound sterling than the equities market, though one wonders if the surprise 2% reduction in employee national insurance charges will cause a bit of frenzy among retail investors.
More risers and fallers
RUA Life Science plc had a dizzying week. Shares nearly tripled in price on Tuesday following a promising update on its business operations alongside the news that it is looking for non-dilutive sources of funding.
Then on Friday, RUA recorded a 28% drop in revenues in a trading update for the six months ending September 30. All in all? The medical devices company’s stock still penned 60% in weekly gains despite the reality check.
On Friday, solid-state battery specialist Ilika plc said it exited the first half of its financial year with a strong balance sheet as it updated on the significant operational progress it made over the period. It was a good week all round for the group’s shares, closing more than 40% higher.
Phoenix Copper Ltd added 35% after announcing the initial term of a $2 million (£1.6 million) short-term loan facility had been given an extension.
Mercia Asset Management plc was on a roll. The regional investment firm successfully disposed of its largest direct investment nDreams, the leading virtual reality studio, in a profitable sale to diversified video gaming investment group Aonic. Shares ran up by a fifth in response.
Motorpoint Group plc shares skidded 6% to a new all-time low after the company swung to a first-half loss and reported a rapid fall in used car values in the early weeks of the second half.
Team17 Group plc shares plunged 46% as the games developer and publisher said it expects revenues to be “modestly ahead” of expectations, but said cost overruns and a number of accounting impairments will reduce earnings.
Victoria plc’s share price plunged by nearly a fifth after the company reported a decline in underlying revenue and operating profit and fell into a pre-tax loss in the first half.
Shares in Velocys plc shares 60% at the start of the week after updating on funding negotiations, which included an offer from a consortium led by Lightrock and Carbon Direct Capital to buy the entire business for a significant discount to the current valuation.
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