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AJ Bell hits the right note on its market debut

Last updated: 09:15 07 Dec 2018 EST, First published: 04:10 07 Dec 2018 EST

Initial public offering

AJ Bell PLC (LON:AJB) saw its value soar by almost a third as its shares started conditional trading on the London Stock Exchange on Friday.

Trading on the grey market started following an initial public offering (IPO) that valued the investment platform provider at around £651mln.

In afternoon trading, the stock was changing hands at 219p each, just below the session peak of 224p, against an offer price of 160p which had been bang in the middle of the target range of 154p to 166p.

For once, there was not a comment from Russ Mould, AJ Bell’s seemingly omnipresent quote machine, on the performance of the shares.  

2.15pm: Now, that's what I call a major moooover ...

Genus PLC (LON:GNS) has raised £68mln through a share placing.

The animal genetics company said 3.1mln new shares were issued to new and existing investors at a price of 2,200p per placing share.

The placing price represents a 7.8% discount to the closing price of 2,386p on 6 December 2018.

The shares slipped 142p to 2,244p despite Peel Hunt upgrading the stock to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ in the wake of the placing.

“The raise is slightly dilutive (c3% in the short term) but should be materially accretive as the company strengthens its strategic position and breeding capacity.”

Genus’s share price is 25% off the peak it reached last July, triggered by the outbreak of African swine fever in China.

Peel Hunt said the current share price was an attractive entry point into a high-quality business with attractive long-term growth potential combined with the transformative opportunity in gene editing. Peel Hunt maintained its 2,600p target price.  

1.45pm: CyanConnode's meter goes "up to 11" after it signs its first licensing deal with a Chinese firm

Shares in CyanConnode Holdings PLC (LON:CYAN) charged 22% higher after the narrowband radio network specialist signed its first licensing deal with a Chinese firm.

The company, which has predominantly been focused on India up until now, inked a US$4mln agreement with Beijing Jingybeifang Instrument Co, sending its shares soaring.

The deal provides Beijing Instruments with the right to use its designs to manufacture advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) including RF mesh network technologies, which Beijing Instruments hopes to supply to its customers.

12.15am: Prepare for some Liam Payne

Virtual reality content creator EVR Holdings PLC (LON:EVRH) said its first live-streamed event on MelodyVR will take place on December 19.

The event will feature Liam Payne, formerly of One Direction. His performance will be broadcast live in virtual reality from a secret London location – possibly his old bedroom in his mum’s house.

Probably not his old bedroom, actually, as there will be a limited number of tickets for the lucky few who win a competition.

“This event, represents a significant milestone for the company and is the first in a series of live VR broadcasts that both leverage MelodyVR's technical expertise in live-streaming, compression, automated-stitching, encoding and distribution, as well as the company's extensive relationships with artists, record labels, publishers, event promoters, music festivals and concert venues,” EVR said.

The shares were up 41.5% at 6.05p and with all due respect to Andy Brown, it is unlikely to be because the company also announced his appointment as chief financial officer.

10.15am: Quadrise Fuels in an emergency cash call

Synthetic fuels group Quadrise Fuels International PLC (LON:QFI) said it could wind the business down if it does not access additional funds soon.

The shares lost around a fifth of their value, sliding to 2.51p, as the company launched a share issue to raise around £2.2mln, with the shares to be issued at 2.5p each.

“As at 30 June 2018, the company held cash resources of £2.2mln. These cash balances were confirmed in the company's final results for the year ended 30 June 2018, to be sufficient to enable the continued development of the business into early 2019 with, at that time, a number of initiatives, including equity funding, under consideration to provide longer term financing for the business,” the company said.

The shares look set to appear on the end-of-year worst performers list of journalists looking for something to write about in the dead news period between Christmas and the New Year.

The shares started the year at 12.150p but plummeted in March after its interim results statement revealed a snag in a combustion boiler trial project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

READ Quadrise Fuels looks to broaden markets after Saudi setback

The group has been looking to develop a broader platform for its MSAR technology across a larger number of projects and is hopeful of buying more time with the share issue.

The company said its clients believe that there are substantial opportunities in the power generation and marine markets in the near term.

9.15am: ImmuPharma buoyed by progress on Lupuzor trial

ImmuPharma PLC (LSE: IMM), the specialist drug discovery and development company, received a shot in the arm from news about its Lupuzor treatment for Lupus.

Three months ago, the company said it was in the process of making Lupuzor available as a treatment to patients suffering from the life-threatening auto-immune disease via a managed access programme (MAP).

The shares rose 6.1% to 13p after the company said the MAP is progressing to plan including the preparation of administrative documents and assessment of the logistics in relation to the regulatory process in each country.

Following analysis of the regulatory processes in European Union (EU) countries, it is planned to begin patient recruitment for the programme in France and UK and then roll out to other EU countries, ImmuPharma said.

"We are delighted to be progressing the necessary activities for the managed access programme, allowing Lupus patients early access to Lupuzor. In conjunction, in the medium term we remain focussed on achieving the full regulatory approval of Lupuzor, which we are confident has the potential to be a ground breaking drug for Lupus patients,” said Tim McCarthy, the company’s chairman.

Meanwhile, the company’s search for a new nominated adviser (Nomad) is progressing well and the company expects to unveil the new Nomad in the near future.

Other Proactive news headlines:

Eurasia Mining plc (LON:EUA) told investors that it has now been given notice to pay a one-time license payment terms. Earlier this week, the company announced the official issue of a mining permit for the Monchetundra project.

Tower Resources PLC (LON:TRP) told investors that a contractor has been hired for the upcoming NJOM-3 well at the Thali project offshore Cameroon. Vantage Drilling International will supply the Topaz Driller jack-up rig and drilling services to deliver the well, with operations expected in the second quarter of 2019.

S & U PLC (LON:SUS), the specialist motor finance and bridging loan company, expects full-year results to be broadly in line with expectations despite a slowdown in the used car market.

Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) has now kicked off the drilling of the TE-10 well at the Tendrara project in eastern Morocco. It is the second of a planned three well exploration programme at Tendrara, and, it is located around 25 kilometres away from Tendrara’s currently anticipated production area.

Bushveld Minerals PLC (LON:BMN) has been given a severe rap over the knuckles by AIM’s disciplinary committee. The vanadium miner was fined £700,000, reduced to £490,000, and received a public censure for breaches of two of AIM’s listing rules.

Cash-strapped Myanmar-focused social media group MySQUAR Limited (LON:MYSQ) has temporarily shut down some of its operations to conserve cash. It will delist from AIM on Monday, having been unable to appoint a new Nomad.

Botswana-based copper miner Cradle Arc PLC’s (LON:CRA) future was placed in severe doubt last night after a proposed US$4mln loan fell through. Mining at the Mowana site has been suspended with trading in the junior’s shares also halted.

Kore Potash PLC (LON:KP2), the potash development company whose flagship asset is the 97%-owned Sintoukola Potash Project, announced that the Mining Convention covering the proposed staged development of the Kola and Dougou Mining Licences has been gazetted into law following ratification by the Parliament of the Republic of the Congo.

Rambler Metals and Mining PLC (LON:RMM) (TSXV:RAB) announced that on November 26 it closed its previously announced financing transaction with CE Mining III Rambler Limited of US$25mln in the form of senior secured convertible loan notes. The group said the proceeds received will be used by the company to strengthen its working capital position and for general corporate purposes.

Europa Oil & Gas (Holdings) PLC (LON:EOG) said it raised gross proceeds of approximately £0.3mln through its open offer priced at 3p a share that it launched last month, with approximately 29.77% of qualifying shareholders taking up their entitlements. The AIM-listed UK and Ireland-focused oil and gas exploration and production company announced on 20 November that it had raised £4.0mln via a placing of around 133.33mln new ordinary shares also at 3p each.

Sunrise Resources Plc (LON:SRES) announced that, further to the company's announcement last month, the company has appointed Beaumont Cornish as its AIM Nominated Adviser with immediate effect. SVS Securities Limited will continue to act as a broker to the company.

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