Light Science Technologies Holdings PLC (AIM:LST) shares rose 15% to 6.77p after the company won a £460,000 contract to design and install a modular vertical farming system at Nottingham Trent University’s new Smart Agricultural Research Centre.
The AIM-listed company said the project, due for completion in early 2026, also includes a three-year maintenance deal worth £10,800 annually.
The system will serve as a high-tech research platform for controlled environment agriculture, where crops are grown indoors under carefully regulated conditions.
LSTH’s AgTech division will oversee the project, bringing together its nurturGROW lighting, sensorGROW monitoring systems and Tomtech controls into a fully integrated solution.
The company’s contract electronics arm, UK Circuits and Electronics Solutions, will manufacture the core components.
Chief executive Simon Deacon said the contract, won through a competitive tender, highlights the advantages of the group’s complementary divisions and growing ability to scale.
The deal is part of Light Science’s £45 million AgTech pipeline, which the company said is showing strong momentum and improving revenue visibility, reinforcing confidence in its growth outlook.
Shore Capital, in a note, said: "NTU’s [Nottingham Trent's] modular vertical farming system together with AgTech’s technology will provide a world-class research platform to support a diverse range of academic and commercial projects in controlled environment agriculture (CEA), with an emphasis on flexibility, modularity, and precision environmental control."