Three of the week’s biggest casualties revealed just how tough it is for small-caps at the moment as they hit the funding alarm button.
Mirriad Advertising lost almost 90 per cent of its value after the company warned it may soon run out of money and could enter administration within days unless fresh funding is secured.
The AIM-quoted virtual product placement specialist revealed that talks over a potential takeover had collapsed at the end of April, leaving the board scrambling for alternatives to keep the business afloat.
For Enteq Technologies (down 69 per cent), the end of the line appears to have arrived. After failing to find suitable funding, the drilling group is bringing in the administrators.
Shares in Totally tumbled 60 per cent as a flurry of unsettling news hit the market.
The healthcare services provider cut its profit expectations sharply, announced the departure of its chief financial officer, and launched a strategic review to shore up its finances.
Mirriad, Enteq and Totally were blots on an otherwise serene landscape for the UK’s growth companies
Adding to investor unease, the group disclosed a historic medical negligence claim that may exceed its £10 million insurance cover.
Mirriad, Enteq and Totally were blots on an otherwise serene landscape for the UK’s growth companies, with confidence seeping back into the market.
The AIM All Share rose 4 per cent over the trading week and is up 11.5 per cent since hitting a 15-year low in early April after President Trump’s all-bets-are-off tariff assault knocked global stocks for six.
For once AIM outperformed the blue-chips, with the FTSE 100 up just 1 per cent over the last five trading days.
Sticking with the positivity, Metal One continued on its upward trajectory (albeit from a low base) as it formally inked the share purchase deal for uranium projects in the US and outlined plans to get the drill rig turning.
Last month it received £3.1 million in new investment to carry out the work. The structure of the deal means it could bring in a further £10 million (if the stock behaves as anticipated). Certainly, it seems to be heading in the right direction with a 74 per cent gain.
There was a buzz around Aurrigo International without the news flow to back it. It remains to be seen whether the Coventry-based autonomous vehicle technology firm has something up its sleeve to justify the 74 per cent ramp in the share price.
Dr Graham Cooley, who built his reputation in hydrogen with ITM Power, is now turning his attention to drinks – and, in particular, Distil, in which he has built an 18 per cent stake. The maker of Blavod vodka, Red Leg rum and Blackwoods vintage gin saw its shares power up 55. per cent
Thursday was a big day for Seeing Machines, the in-vehicle eye-tracking specialist. Its third-quarter update revealed the business had emphatically turned a corner after being hit by the headwinds across the automotive industry.
Volumes reached 358,000 units in the quarter, up 34 per cent from the previous period and 14 per cent year-on-year, though still below the Q1 peak.
Brokers Peel Hunt and Stifel described the recovery as reassuring, with Stifel noting the company has now surpassed 3.24 million cars on the road using its driver monitoring systems.
Itaconix, the plant-based polymer specialist, had a decent week as its shares motored 10 per cent higher. The trigger? Stability in an industry riven by volatility.
In an update it said it still expects to meet its 2025 targets, despite growing uncertainty over US trade policy following tariff threats from President Donald Trump.
The group, which supplies sustainable ingredients used in household products such as laundry detergents, said recent US trade actions were likely to raise some of its production costs.
And finally, the progress of Ilika appears to have gone largely ignored or underrated by investors. But for how long?
On Thursday, it confirmed its prototype solid-state battery cells have met performance targets in third-party tests – a key step towards commercial traction.
The P1 Goliath prototypes, which have been undergoing evaluation by automotive manufacturers and suppliers, were found to meet targets on energy capacity, charge rate and durability.
Importantly, results were consistent across the batch, despite the cells being built on pre-pilot equipment.
In a note, Cavendish said the successful results pave the way for the next-generation P1.5 prototypes due later this year, which could show potential licensees that Ilika’s technology is both competitive and ready for industrial scale-up.
The broker said formal commercial partnerships could follow — a move it described as ‘a major catalyst for the stock’.
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