SMALL CAP MOVERS: eEnergy Group shares skyrocket

In a week in which green initiatives from the government received a lot of attention, it was fitting that one of AIM’s biggest risers is at the forefront of the sustainability revolution.

eEnergy Group interim results caused some commotion around the share price, which soared 84 percent to 5 pence.

The company’s revenues, which help households, hospitals and businesses meet net zero goals, rose 58 percent year over year as it returned to profit. An order book of £26m bodes well for the company’s performance in the second half.

Across the broader market, the AIM-All Share Index posted marginal gains, rising 0.6 percent to 804 points. However, the index was unable to keep pace with London’s blue-chip companies on the FTSE 100, which rose 3 percent to 7,628 in the last week of March.

Elsewhere on AIM, Unbound shares more than doubled to 8p. The online fashion retailer, which specifically targets the over 55s, said it was considering a bid approach that valued the company at £6.8 million.

The 10.25 Pa share offer from WoolOvers, a wool, cashmere and cotton knitting company, represented a 162.5 percent premium over Monday’s close.

Sticking to clothing stores, Sanderson design saw its shares rise 5 per cent to 126p after striking a “major” licensing deal with Sainsburys.

As part of the deal, Sainsburys will create Habitat homeware and TU apparel ranges in partnership with Sanderson’s Morris & Co and Scion brands.

Sanderson signed a similar agreement with Next last month, which also resulted in share price increases.

Real estate franchise chain and financial services company from Belvoir shares are up a fifth this week on strong full-year results, with sales up 14 per cent to £33.7m at the end of the year to 31 December 2022.

Among some of AIM’s fallers this week, Scotgold Resources lost 43 percent after the miner said gold quality was lower than expected. It wants to raise US$500,000 to fund changes to the way it mines ore at its facility close to Loch Lomond.

Another big fall in the London junior market was Railwisewhich lost 43 percent in value over the week, with shares trading hands at 0.6p on Friday.

The manufacturer of products using printed circuit board technology warned that payments from recent contracts would be delayed as the customer undertakes redesign and validation of parts to meet revised design requirements.

Investors in indie video game developers were shocked to learn that CEO Debbi Beswick is seeking a non-executive director role, which, in addition to a small drop in annual earnings, sent shares down 15 percent to 367 pence.

One of Friday’s big fallers, pensanalost 45 percent to 32 pence after the company published interim results showing an urgent need for more funding.

The current cash balance for the rare earth exploration and processing company was US$200,000 in cash and US$9.1 million in outstanding accounts payable.

The appetite for new London listings may return, with one confirmed IPO this week, while another is set aside for April 4.

Onward Opportunities, a Guernsey-based investment firm, started trading on AIM yesterday.

Ocean Harvest, a specialist in producing animal feed from seaweed, is raking in £6 million at 16 pence per share with a market clause of £20.1 million on admission as it looks to be AIM’s fourth IPO this year.

Finally, the news seems to go from bad to worse if you are involved in any way with the London Stock Exchange market for growth companies.

Research by the accounting firm UHY Hacker Young found that there were only nine AIM floats in the year to March 27, 2023, compared to 74 in the previous 12 months and a rolling annual average of 138.

Much of that is now due to the volatility of markets in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine and against a backdrop of rampant inflation and rising interest rates.

However, for more than a decade and a half, entrepreneurs have eschewed the junior stock market in favor of foreign listings or taking up private equity or venture capital.

The growing and possibly unearned reputation for short-term thinking and a poor arbiter of value are some of the reasons given for avoiding the junior market – this and what is now widely regarded as the prohibitively high costs associated with a stock exchange listing.

Currently, there are just over 800 companies listed on AIM, less than half of the peak of about 1,700 in 2007.

If IPOs were expensive, so are secondary fundraisers. So much so that two of the brokers most active in chasing new capital – finnCap and Cenkos – have agreed to merge. This is believed to be a marriage of necessity than a marriage of true love.

See you next week funseekers.