It was a week of contrasting fortunes for the UK’s two leading online clothiers – Boohoo and ASOS.
Shares in the former jumped 13 to 45p after it delivered better than full-year results.
Despite falling to a pre-tax loss of £90.7mln and revenues slipping 11% to £1.7bn, investors latched onto surprisingly positive cash generation.
Net cash for the year to 28 February stood at £6mln, defying forecasts the online retailer would be carrying £60mln worth of debt.
The prelims prompted Shore Capital, which has attained guru status in the world of online fashion, to upgrade its stock recommendation to ‘buy’ in a bullish show of faith.
“The upcoming fiscal year offers favourable year-on-year comparisons, along with streamlined inventory and then phased launch of a US warehouse, which are expected to boost the company’s prospects,” Shore added.
Boohoo’s share price movement was in stark comparison to its competitor, ASOS, which reported an increase in its debt position and a negative cash flow, sparking rumours it will need to pass the cap and raise millions soon. Its shares dropped 10.5% over the trading week.
Turning to the wider market, the AIM-All Share Index slipped 0.7% to 811 points, failing to keep pace with the FTSE 100, which gained 0.3% to 7,780 points and FTSE 250, which added 0.7% to 19,325.
AIM’s biggest riser this week was Egdon Resources, which nearly doubled in price to 4.3p.
The onshore oil producer will wave goodbye to the market, becoming the latest in a string to ditch a listing in London.
Petrichor, which can be traced to Explorers Petroleum Corp of the US, agreed to snap up Egdon in a deal worth £26.6mln, a 96% premium to Tuesday’s close.
Another company leaving London, but in less positive circumstances, is online estate agent Purplebricks.
Having put up the ‘for sale' sign in March following a plethora of profit warnings, the company agreed to sell itself to rival Strike for a measly £1, ending its stock market listing as a result. The shares shed 44% to 0.84p.
Property investment and development group Circle Property also announced its intention to leave London at the end of this month following a shareholder meeting. The stock more than halved to 3.5p.
Unbound announced it was putting itself up for sale just a week after missing out on funding from Marwyn Investment, sending shares 23% lower to 2.3p.
The owner of the Hotter Shoes chain had been banking on an injection of cash from the private equity house, although tough trading and a need for banks to continue waiving covenants spooked the London-based firm.
Onto some risers, and it was a good week for a couple of London’s bio-medical players.
Firstly, ImmuPharma soared 32% to 3.4p after the US Food and Drug Administration endorsed its proposal for late-stage clinical trial for the treatment of chronic idiopathic demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), a rare neurological disorder.
The drug, P140, is the firm’s main investigative drug which can be used for a wide array of autoimmune conditions.
Elsewhere, Genedrive added 13% to 23p after receiving its own endorsement from the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).
NICE, in draft guidelines, approved the use of the molecular diagnostics company’s CYP2C19 gene test in patients before administering clopidogrel, a medication used to prevent strokes.
In the natural resources sector, IOG also found itself on the up after reassuring investors that a “well control event” in the Blythe H2 well has now been isolated without the need to drill a sidetrack well.
First gas from the well is still expected to commence by the end of the quarter, with shares gaining 9% to 7p.