Redx Pharma proposed delisting from AIM today, saying the market run by London Stock Exchange Group PLC (LSE:LSEG) is not providing liquidity and believing it will be able to raise more money as a private company.
It is not the first, and by no means the only small cap company to say this in recent months.
Indeed, only last week, AIM peer C4X Discovery Holdings PLC (AIM:C4XD) also concluded that it is in the best interests of the company and shareholders to delist from the junior market.
It's not just AIM, either.
In February, fully listed Dispensa Group PLC (LSE:DISP), a holding company for several international food brands, said it had decided to voluntarily delist as “the best path forward to maximize shareholder value and increase the potential for the long-term success of the company”, citing market conditions and the cost of remaining listed.
Financial training outfit Grand Fortune High Grade and book publisher Quarto Group also left in January after making similar announcements a month earlier. Tintra PLC and TCS Group Holding PLC also left after shareholder votes on the matter.
Some companies have left London for perceived better valuations in New York, with FTSE 100-listed Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment PLC (LSE:FLTR) joining the NYSE in January, though keeping London as a secondary listing but losing its blue-chip status. Similar moves were made by Footsie-listed CRH PLC (LSE:CRH, NYSE:CRH) and smaller Kingspan Group PLC (EURONEXT:KRX) last year, and are mulled by Plus500 Ltd (LSE:PLUS) and YouGov PLC (AIM:YOU), while some less well-known overseas names like Joint Stock Company Kaspi.Kz have fully cancelled their London listing for a New York one.
Others have delisted with barely any choice in the matter, such as Hawkwing PLC and Real Good Food in January after appointing liquidators and administrators respectively, and Esken, which wound itself up after agreeing to hand over its main airport asset to a private equity group for a “negligible” return, sending its share price crashing by two-thirds.
Similarly, double-glazing group Safestyle UK left after appointing administrators, becoming a cash shell and similarly telling investors that returns from any sale of its businesses was unlikely.
Shareholders in others, such as Superdry PLC (LSE:SDRY), have hoped to go private, in this case via a rescue bid from the retailer’s founder, though it since announced that any takeover deal was "unlikely to deliver an outcome for shareholders".
Revolution Bars Group PLC (AIM:RBG) today was suspended from trading on AIM after the company failed to publish results in time and continues to have an uncertain future, having said last week that a sale of all or part of the business was being explored alongside a restructuring plan, following reports that up to 20 pubs could close.
Two and a half months earlier, Unbound Group was delisted just two years after floating, with its shares having been suspended six months earlier for failing to publish its results on time. Online Blockchain was deleted in January too after its nominated adviser Beaumont Cornish resigned the month before, with no further announcements from the company.