Fintech group Glantus Holdings PLC (AIM:GLAN) is the latest UK small cap to come under the enchanting take-private spell sweeping the junior market.
Glantus was in talks with private equity investors over the past couple of months, following a profit warning, plummeting cash levels and a workforce restructuring earlier in the year.
The group ultimately took Finnish procurement specialist Basware up on a £17.8 million offer this Monday, in a deal valuing the AIM-quoted company at a 67% premium to last Friday’s closing price.
Chief executive Maurice Healy said the deal represented “a compelling opportunity for shareholders to realise their investment in cash in the near term and is at a very significant premium to recent share prices”.
Glanuts stock consequently rallied close to 60% throughout the week, culminating in an 11-month high of 33p on a £16.8 million market capitalisation.
Given the suite of take privates permeating the junior market – consider brokerage Numis Corporation (which is being bought out by Deutsche Bank no less), energy group Solgenics, Applied Graphene Materials and more – much debate has emerged over the utility of AIM as a fit-for-purpose growth engine.
Perhaps we could start by cutting down on bureaucracy. As recently mentioned in Proactive Investors, “oppressive regulatory overreach, made worse by rigorous ESG reporting requirements, have added another layer of expense for companies, many with limited resources, wanting to list on AIM”.
China weighs on global stocks
In the meantime, the FTSE AIM All-Share Index took a 3% hit this week, though it was far from the only sluggish index.
The FTSE 100 and FTSE 350 both fell over 3.6%, while the Nasdaq blue-chip index in the US fell close to 2%.
Chinese economic contraction appears to be sending ripples of fear throughout the global equities markets while at home in the UK, stubbornly high wage growth has reignited calls for more rate hikes.
Furthermore, even though headline UK inflation fell two the lowest point since February 2022, 6.8% is far too high for the Bank of England to start easing off on the lever.
Tan Delta goes live on AIM
In brighter news, Tan Delta Systems PLC (AIM:TAND) saw its shares move to a first-day premium after floating on AIM this Friday.
The real-time equipment monitoring and data analysis specialist raised £6 million by offering shares at 26p a pop. As of 10.40am, shares had been market up to 29p.
Beacon Energy PLC (AIM:BCE) was another top Friday mover, with shares in the upstream oil & gas company being sent 39% higher after an update on its latest Schwarzbach well onshore Germany encountered "good quality oil-bearing reservoirs".
In the alternative energy space, Hydrogen Utopia International PLC (LSE:HUI, OTCQB:HUIPF) recovered 18% of its market cap this week after dismissing “adverse media content” around its cash position.
The waste-to-energy specialist said it was “satisfied it had enough cash reserves for at least the next twelve months”. Shares rebounded above 5p after being sent as low as 3.9% last week.
Verditek PLC (AIM:VDTK) pulled ahead in the solar energy sector, jumping 10.5% this week after the solar panel specialist announced a potential deal with Net Zero Valley (NZV), an Italian business in ESG-only investor SerendipEquity's portfolio.
Pathfinder Minerals (AIM:PFP) led the charge in the mining sector, with shares sent 24% higher after the appointment of new executive director Paul Barrett. A geologist with significant commercial and engineering expertise, Barrett also holds director roles at Southwind Corporation and OK Energy and was the former chief executive of Europa Oil & Gas.
There were some solid wins in the healthcare sector too.
Abingdon Health PLC (AIM:ABDX) soared 25% after Tesco said it will stock saliva pregnancy test Salistick in 298 larger stores and make it available online at Tesco.com later this month.
Shares of Belluscura PLC (AIM:BELL) jumped 15% after the medical device developer said it had received orders for over 6,500 units of its next-generation DISCOV-R portable oxygen concentrators, translating to potential revenues of around US$15 million.
SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (AIM:SBTX), Ovoca Bio (AIM:OVB) and Trellus Health PLC (AIM:TRLS) also enjoyed upper-teen gains on their respective share prices.
Technology investment firm Tern PLC (AIM:TERN) took a turn for the worse, falling close to 9% after releasing its interim results.
The group's net asset value (NAV) dropped to £22.2 million, from £30.0 million a year earlier, with chairman Ian Ritchie acknowledging that "the first six months of 2023 remained a challenging environment for early-stage technology businesses”.
Serinus Energy PLC (AIM:SENX) was at the top of the fallers list, dipping as much as 31% following the release of first-half results on Monday.
Serinus revealed the impact of falling oil prices on the Jersey-based company, with revenues dropping to US$8.9 million in the six months ended 30 June 2023, compared with US$29.3 million during the same period in 2022.
Other fallers this week included Harvest Minerals at 46%, Premier African Minerals Ltd (AIM:PREM) at 30% and Inspirit Energy Holdings PLC (LSE:INSP) at 19%.