It was another bruising week for London's junior stock market, with two more homegrown companies agreeing to be acquired by American suitors.
Shares in Ramsdens Holdings PLC (AIM:RFX), the high street pawnbroker, leapt more than 29% after it agreed a £206 million cash takeover by FirstCash, a Texas-based pawnbroking giant.
Investors will pocket 600p a share, plus a dividend of up to 9p, valuing the business at an all-time high.
It is the second UK pawnbroker FirstCash has bought, following its swoop on rival H&T, and will leave the enlarged group running nearly 470 shops across Britain.
Hours earlier, Advanced Medical Solutions Group (AIM:AMS), a maker of surgical glues and wound dressings, fell to a £659 million bid from H.B. Fuller, the world's largest pure-play adhesives manufacturer.
Its shares jumped 19% this week, though the offer still sits well below where the Winsford company traded just two years ago.
Worrying trend
The twin deals underline a worrying trend: cash-rich overseas buyers are picking off undervalued British firms while London's AIM market shrinks by the month, with takeovers far outpacing new arrivals.
It was a tough week for investors in the junior bourse, with the AIM All-Share down around 3.7%, contrasting with a steadier performance from the FTSE 100, which nudged up 1.2%.
With no apparent risk-off change in sentiment, one wonders whether punters have been spending their cash elsewhere, possibly on the SpaceX IPO, which has seen thousands of retail investors flee the market with badly burned fingers.
Indian litigation
Mercantile Ports and Logistics Ltd (LSE:MPL) was the week's biggest winner with a 58% gain. The propellant was a rather obscure update to a long-running legal battle in India.
Stake-building by an unknown investor through the IG trading platform boosted shares in the upmarket cinema chain Everyman, with the stock up 26%.
Fletcher King (AIM:FLK) jumped 25% after the property services group announced a 20p special dividend of £2 million.
Kazera Global rose 24% after the investment company struck a $10.5 million settlement with Hebei Xinjian Construction over the Aftan arbitration award, paving the way for total receipts of roughly $14.6 million and an 80% cash return to shareholders.
Onto the fallers. Talon Resources endured a bumpy debut on AIM, falling 58% as it switched from a Main Market cash shell to become a fully-fledged gold explorer. Still, the long-term picture looks encouraging, with ambitious exploration plans focused on the Eagle Lake project in Ontario, where historic work uncovered bonanza-grade gold in excess of 200 grams per tonne.
Ouch!
eEnergy PLC (AIM:EAAS)fell 42% after the energy-saving services group slashed full-year guidance, with new interim boss John Gahan finding its sales pipeline had been materially overestimated. It now expects £32 million revenue against £38 million previously, and has launched a restructuring to cut costs by almost a third.
Filtronic PLC (LSE:FTC) tumbled 30%, even though the news looked perfectly good on paper. The maker of radio frequency products for the space and defence industries said full-year profits would land slightly ahead of expectations, and unveiled a fresh contract to supply satellite technology to a US customer.
But the stock had already doubled this year, and investors were clearly hoping for more to justify the price.
Finally, helium might be the gas that fills party balloons, but it is also a strategic commodity used in semiconductor production and MRI scanners. It is in short supply, and one small explorer finds itself at the vanguard of a new wave of prospectors hoping to meet rampant demand.
Significant upside
Oak Securities has begun covering Quantum Helium Ltd (AIM:QHE) with a high-conviction 'buy' rating and a 0.064p target, implying 113% upside.
The broker says the explorer has reshaped itself over 18 months into a US-focused player on Colorado's Four Corners helium fairway.
At its Sagebrush project, a well is already producing gas with helium concentrations well above commercial levels, while neighbouring Coyote Wash offers far bigger potential.
With more than $8 million in the bank and tight global supplies, Oak reckons an exciting period lies ahead.
