MARKET REPORT: Nanoco plunges despite David and Goliath victory

Shares in Nanoco plummeted despite the technology company settling its long-running legal dispute with Samsung out of court.

The Manchester-based group will be paid £124 million, which will end a three-year battle between David and Goliath.

But the agreed settlement fell short of analysts’ estimates, which predicted Samsung would pay out around £215 million.

Shares fell 26.6 percent, or 9.8 pence, to 27 pence following the news.

Nanoco filed a patent infringement lawsuit in February 2020, alleging that the South Korean tech giant was using its “quantum dot” technology on its TVs without permission.

The pair were due to go to court in Texas last month, but agreed to settle. By avoiding a jury trial, the companies had just 30 days to work out the terms of the no-fault agreement.

Nanoco insists the decision to settle was better than enduring a lengthy legal process, even though analysts said the value of a jury award could exceed £400 million. Nanoco also claimed last month that a final agreement would likely come in the form of a one-off payment.

Now the group has revealed that under the terms of the no-fault agreement, the £124 million settlement fee will instead be paid in two equal installments. The first will be paid on March 5, the rest at the beginning of February next year.

Nanoco expects to pocket more than £74 million after court costs are paid.

Chairman Chris Richards hailed the outcome as “remarkable” and said the company would like to use the fee to invest in the company and reward shareholders.

And the tech company’s boss, Brian Tenner, added: “We successfully validated our core IP against one of the world’s largest electronics companies.

“Others operating in our space need to take note. We remain vigilant for other possible infringement activities.”

In a separate update, the group said it expects annual losses to narrow.

The FTSE 100 rose 1.04 percent, or 81.64 points, to 7901.80, a record high – with traders and investors cracking open bottles of champagne. But the FTSE 250 failed, falling 0.10 percent, or 21.23 points, to 20593.46.

Retail stocks were a hot topic for Deutsche Bank Research.

The broker has upgraded B&M and Marks and Spencer from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’, adding that the outlook for this year is becoming ‘noticeably less cold’.

B&M’s target price was increased from 460 pence to 580 pence, while Marks and Spencer was upgraded from 145 pence to 210 pence.

Shares in B&M rose 3.4 per cent, or 16.4p, to 493.5p, while Marks and Spencer added 1.2 per cent, or 1.95p, to 163p. In the other direction, Asos fell 1.9 pence, or 19 pence, to 963 pence and Kingfisher fell 1.6 percent, or 4.7 pence, to 286.8 pence. However, Pets At Home rose 0.9 percent, or 3.4 pence, to 376 pence, and Wickes also rose 0.3 percent, or 0.5 pence, to 152.3 pence.

Commodity-oriented stocks also rose. Shell added 3.3 per cent or 76.5 pence to 2414 pence just a day after the oil giant posted a record annual profit of more than £32 billion for 2022.

Miners held their own despite a slump in metal prices.

Antofagasta was up 1 percent, or 17p, to 1736p, while Glencore gained 1.6 percent, or 8.9p, to 554.5p and Rio Tinto was up 1.1 percent, or 64p, to 6128p.

Meanwhile, Centrica fell 3 percent, or 2.92 pence, to 95.26 pence after energy watchdog Ofgem banned British Gas from using debt agents to break into people’s homes to install prepayment meters.

Office space provider IWG was hit after Barclays downgraded its rating from “overweight” to “equal-weight” and lowered its target price from 190 pence to 170 pence. Shares fell 0.5 percent, or 1 pence, to 196.7 pence.