Hospitality takeovers were back in the headlines this week, with Young & Co Brewery reaching an agreement to acquire City Pub Group PLC (AIM:CPC)’s chain of freehold pubs and bedrooms in a transaction valued at approximately £162 million.
You may have walked past, if not enjoyed a pint in, one of City Pubs’ string of boozers if you live across the south of England, but the market has been lukewarm on the stock post-COVID-19.
Thankfully Young’s sees value in the chain, with the deal valuing City Pubs’ shares at 145p each, representing a 65% premium over the three-month average.
There’s good and bad news for employees though; Young's said it intends to strip down City Pubs' existing management, corporate and support functions, though “does not intend there to be any material reduction in headcount” to the ground staff.
Following the takeover announcement, City Pubs shares shot up more than 50%.
Perhaps buoyed by the prospect of more M&A activity in the hospo sector, Revolutions Bars Group plc’s flailing share price rallied up 40% this week.
Revolution Bars greeted 2023 with a profit warning and temporary pub closures, so shares are unsurprisingly still in a rough patch (50% lower year to date, to be precise).
SkinBio has a technical markdown
There are signs of life at the lower reaches of the market with SkinBioTherapeutics PLC (AIM:SBTX) bagging £3 million before expenses via a placing of new stock with investors.
As eye-catching as this was - a small-cap receiving a much-need and comparatively substantial cash infusion from the equity market - the sale price of the new shares also caused followers to sit up.
After some horrendous discounts applied to fundraisers to get them away, it was a relief to see SkinBio had to drop the price by less than 10% to get its cash call away.
Shares in the group, which is developing skin health products, were off 2% at 21p - a purely technical markdown.
AIM All-Share goes green
It was a positive week for the AIM All-Share Index. The junior market tracker added around 2.2% across the week, thus outperforming the lead index by 60 basis points.
Stocks across the board took flight on Friday ahead of what were expected to be bullish retail figures. They unfortunately underperformed, with year-on-year sales hitting their lowest levels since the February 2021 lockdown.
The ONS said retail sales fell by 0.3% in October, confounding expectations for a rise of 0.3%. Delayed seasonal spending, unseasonally warm weather and continued volume/value divergence were trollied out as reasons.
In a pleasant surprise, the stock market shrugged off these disappointing figures, with even retail big caps like Next plc and Marks and Spencer Group PLC (LSE:MKS) climbing higher.
More risers and fallers
Back to the small-cap booze segment, the resignation of Naked Wines PLC (AIM:WINE, OTCQX:NWINF)’s former chief executive Nick Devlin appears to have injected some positivity into the market. Shares rebounded by 20% following a bruising 35% drop off following last week’s interims and resignation announcement.
Switching sectors, autonomous vehicles group Aurrigo International PLC (AIM:AURR) fell more than a third after it unveiled plans to raise £3.5 million by selling stock at a significant discount to Tuesday's closing price.
MYCELX Technologies Corporation was off 8% to 58.55p come Friday after a variable volume contract underperformed due to reduced plant activity, while an unscheduled shutdown delayed another project, now expected to commence before year-end.
It wasn’t a fully bad news week for the water-tech company though, with revenue guidance increased for 2024 and a new $5.4 million project win to boot.
Speaking of water, Genuit Group PLC (LSE:GEN) shares jumped 12% after the plumbing, heating and ventilation products maker said full-year adjusted operating profit is now expected to be "marginally above" current forecasts.
Shares in Renold PLC (AIM:RNO) rose by more than 7% after the company’s adjusted operating profits surged by 56% in the six months to September 30.
Allergy Therapeutics PLC (AIM:AGY, OTC:AGYTF) shares coughed up 21% in gains after the company reported success from a pivotal phase III trial to test its grass allergy vaccine, Grass MATA MPL.
Ondo InsurTech rallied a walloping 48% following the announcement of its partnership with Nationwide, a leading US insurance and financial services company, that will see the integration of Ondo's LeakBot technology into Nationwide's Smart Home Program.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that green fuel specialist Velocys PLC (AIM:VLS) staged a strong recovery after tanking more than 70% at the end of October after disclosing that it wouldn't be able to meet a deadline to complete a funding deal first mooted earlier this year.
Since then, shares have bounced back from 0.3p to 0.73p. Could sprouts of optimism for a funding deal be emerging?