Next 15 Group, the one-time suitor for advertising firm M&C Saatchi PLC (AIM:SAA), has had its status as one of AIM’s most valuable companies knocked down a few pegs.
The group’s share price took at 50% whacking on Friday when it disclosed that the largest customer of its Mach49 accelerator platform has decided to jump ship, taking an anticipated £80 million of revenue with it.
In delivering a profit warning, Next 15 stated: “While we anticipate that the client will continue to use Mach49’s services in the future, we believe it is prudent to materially reduce forecasts for the financial year to 31 January 2026.
“This will in turn reduce the earnout obligation to Mach49’s shareholders due over the next three years.”
Next 15 added that it “has continued to see an ongoing weakness in spend from its technology customers as well as a reduction in revenues from its public sector clients”.
Next 15 is hardly alone in this regard- Martin Sorrell-founded advertising firms WPP PLC (LSE:WPP) and S4 Capital PLC (LSE:SFOR) have taken a beating in 2024 amid sharply declining advertising budgets.
With shares slashed in half, Next 15 was booted from the AIM top-10 list.
Markets down
Markets were down across the board this week, with the AIM All-Share index falling more than 3% and the FTSE 100 blue-chip index approximately 2%.
The sea of red deepend in the middle of the week amid a widespread equities sell off.
Underwhelming manufacturing data emerging from the US didn’t help matters, nor did a batch of ex-dividend days from the likes of DS Smith, Croda International, IAG, Aviva, Admiral, Antofagasta and Prudential.
More risers and fallers
Among the other major AIM fallers was Xeros Technology Group PLC (AIM:XSG), which fell 40% following a significant downgrade in revenue expectations.
The company announced that delays in launching its laundry technology with Indian partner IFB Industries, now pushed to 2025, and uncertainties surrounding French microfibre filtration regulations have impacted its financial outlook.
Invinity Energy Systems PLC (AIM:IES, OTCQX:IESVF, AQSE:IES) flopped 40% following a Friday trading update and concurrent announcement that chief executive Larry Zulch was stepping down with immediate effect.
Though Invinity said the market for long-duration energy storage “continued to develop favourably”, the group warned that a delay in the commercial rollout of its Mistral battery product “will have a significant impact on full year 2024 revenues”.
Ashtead Technology Holdings PLC (AIM:AT.) dropped by a quarter in response to a trading update for the six months ending 30 June.
Revenues surged over 60% year on year, though this was mostly because of the ACE Winches acquisition. On an organic basis, revenues grew just 16% and investors in the subsea equipment rental and solutions provider took umbrage at the group’s tighter profit margins in the period.
Sports gambling small cap Mobile Stream plc shot to the top of the AIM movers list with a 46% gain.
Mobile Streams’ 23%-owned Mexican casino and sportsbook business has completed the beta testing phase and has begun onboarding clients.
“This is a major milestone for 'Bet' with a suite of VIP clients that will be registering on the platform by private invitation,” said the group.
Main market-listed engineering firm Carclo (LSE:CAR) plc shot up 35% after disclosing that its operational restructuring in the US was continuing to progress ahead of schedule.
Commercial lender Funding Circle Holdings PLC (LSE:FCH) soared nearly 30% after releasing its half-year results on Thursday.
Loan originations grew 47% year on year to £692 million, while net income added 32% to £79.1 million.
Safestay (AIM:SSTY) plc added 24% after the hostel operator disclosed a 23% increase in adjusted first-half earnings.
Ilika PLC (AIM:IKA, OTCQX:ILIKF) shares closed the week a healthy 10% higher following positive safety results for its Goliath solid-state battery prototypes.
Independent testing was conducted by University College London and showed that the Goliath P1 cells outperformed their lithium-ion counterparts in terms of safety, the company highlighted.
The assessment involved a nail penetration test, designed to simulate a catastrophic failure scenario.
Finally, labour supplier Hercules Site Services PLC (AIM:HERC) showed how it’s done with a non-discounted £8 million equity round at 49.5p per share.
Entrepreneurs Martin Tedham of Wadsell Packaging and Ged Mason of recruitment firm Morson Group subscribed to the round, with the former clinching a seat on Hercules’ board.
Having already doubled in value since the beginning of 2024, Hercules’ shares stayed put at around 50p.