A resurgence in IPOs is underway following the dearth of new listings seen during the coronavirus crisis.
Coppa Club and Tavolino owner Various Eateries this week announced plans to float on the junior market, hoping to raise up to £25mln to capitalise on the crisis in the hospitality industry.
The founder is restaurant superstar Hugh Osmond, who grew Pizza Express from a small chain of 12 restaurants to a 367-strong estate at the turn of the millennium.
Meanwhile, Blue Star Capital PLCs (LON: BLU) investee Guild eSports, the esports team co-owned by David Beckham, is seeking a listing on the main market to fund recruitment of professional video gamers.
London has seen plenty of fundraisings this year from listed companies as early pandemic rescue issues to strengthen balance sheets turned into opportunistic fundraisers during the summer, particularly as the life sciences sector needed support for COVID-19 projects.
But after consultancy Elixirr launched the first lockdown IPO in July, the market has made a decisive move to traditional growth capital according to finnCap Group PLC (LON:FCAP). The broker adds we should expect more flotations this winter, as companies are attracted by a functional regulatory framework allowing them to raise capital with relative ease.
“The equity capital markets have shown themselves to be a good place to be,” said Christopher Raggett, co-head of corporate finance at the broker. “IPOs are looking more attractive.”
Looking at this weeks performance, the AIM All-Share rose 0.9% to 955, underperforming the FTSE 100 indexs 3.8% jump to 6,022.
Among the risers, project portfolio and performance management software firm i-nexus Global PLC (LON:INX) soared 75% to 5p after boasting its sales pipeline was rebuilt to pre-coronavirus levels.
Elsewhere, recruiter Hydrogen Group PLC (LON:HYDG) climbed 43% after revealing plans to go private and buy out shareholders at 40p a share.
Meanwhile, Wameja Ltd (LON:WJA) surged 36% to 7p after agreeing a takeover by US payment colossus Mastercard for £96mln. The pair are joint venture partners in the HomeSend global payment hub.
Amryt Pharma PLC (LON:AMYT) rose 34% to 208p after posting strong results from studies of its gel for rare skin condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB) and it is now applying for speedy regulatory approval in both the US and EU.
Remaining in the biotech space, Redx Pharma PLC (LON:REDX) jumped 18% to 65p after unveiling a new collaboration with US company Jazz Pharmaceuticals to discover and develop two targeted cancer therapies.
Moving on, driver monitoring technology firm Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE) shot up 28% to 4p after signing an initial deal with a global semiconductor company to license its Occula Neural Processing Unit.
Turning to the fallers, Phimedix PLC (LON:PHM) slumped 78% to 0.9p after announcing it has until September 14 to instigate a reverse takeoveRead More – Source
