SMALL CAP MOVERS: Property lender Lendinvest sinks 36% to a new low of 64p

While Friday’s political machinations and U-turns put a shine on the week, several small caps have suffered heavily from market expectations that the outlook for the UK economy will plummet under the recently arrived residents of Downing Steet.

One of the major victims of the instability of the financial sector is the real estate sector.

Lendinvestthe real estate borrower, which went public in July last year with the support of Wall Street giants JP Morgan and Citibank, fell 36 percent to a new low of 64p during the week after warning of the heightened risk of falling real estate prices.

While it has been bolstered by partnerships with Barclays and HSBC over the past year and was confident this summer it would not suffer too much from an expected slowdown in home price growth, it said Monday it now believes macroeconomic economic factors are ‘likely to decline’. reduce our growth, especially in buy-to-let in the second half of the year’.

With applications for new mortgages in the market having slowed down, it said ‘we have tightened our credit requirement to protect investor returns’ and now expects pre-tax profits to be stable throughout the year, a major slowdown in growth from 190 percent the year before.

Bonhill Group was also forced to change recently released guidelines due to the effects of the recent market eruptions, with the event organizer and business publisher formerly known as Vitesse Media putting itself up for sale under pressure from a major shareholder.

Just five weeks after the What Investment and Information Age publisher said it expected to break even this year, the publisher warned that trading conditions have deteriorated and it now expects to make a loss this year.

Upheavals like this saw the AIM All-Share plunge from a 30-month low earlier in the week, below 770 points, but despite a broader rally on Friday, the index resumed the bumpy decline it has experienced this year, dropping another 3 per year. year. cents to 785 – a contrast to the FTSE 100, which was roughly flat.

The market turbulence resulted in small caps being severely punished as investors distanced themselves from any potential risk.

Shareholders in distill seemingly saw things with an understandable glass-half-full attitude when the maker of RedLeg spiced rum and Blackwoods gin and vodka said selling more of its products directly rather than through a distributor was hurting sales and profits.

Half-year turnover fell 68 percent to £0.5 million and pre-tax loss rose from £45,000 to £555,000.

Executive Chairman Don Goulding said the decision to ‘gain direct control of relationships with our key UK retail customers’ was a ‘one-off hit’ for the half year results, but the board is confident this move will put the company in a stronger position . position to accelerate future growth.

Elsewhere, Autonsthat makes acoustic and thermal insulation materials screeched 35 percent lower after warning of a bigger loss for the recently completed fiscal year due to higher costs and a dent in fourth-quarter sales in the auto industry.

DeepVerge stocks gave up some of this summer’s gains, falling 60 percent this week after the artificial intelligence analytics specialist confirmed it is seeking new equity financing to phase out an existing loan.

Europe Oil & Gas sank 49 percent due to disappointing results of a valuation well in the North Sea

While the city’s fundraising roadshow is said to be making “good progress”, it warned “there can be no guarantees that sufficient equity can be raised.” Europa Oil & Gas sank 49 percent due to disappointing results from a valuation well in the North Sea.

Sareum fell 37 percent after it said rights to a drug licensed by Sierra Oncology should be given up after it was acquired by drug giant GSK.

There were still many success stories among the rubble. At the top of the list was Evgen Pharma, who shot higher after signing an autism-related license agreement worth up to US$160.5m with Swiss group Stalicla.

Stalicla, who specializes in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), will prepay $0.5 million for the license to treat neurodevelopmental disorders and schizophrenia, with other payments based on milestones, including royalties on any sales.

While Evgen has found evidence of effectiveness in improving ASD symptoms in previous studies, identifying the individuals most likely to respond to therapy has been a major challenge.

But as Stalicla has a patented technology to identify autism spectrum patients most likely to respond, this will be the focus of an initial collaboration, with the Swiss group funding all clinical development activities.

Shares in mediate rose 39 percent as the cybersecurity firm reported 23 percent revenue growth in the first half and said it splashed out £3m from its growing cash reserves on its acquisition of UK-based Authlogics.

The addition of the software vendor for multi-factor authentication and password security management increases the group’s recurring revenue and is expected to improve earnings in the next fiscal year.

Edenville Energy added nearly third to its market cap this week, after it said it expects to generate positive cash flow “soon” after restarting its Rukwa coal project in Tanzania, initially using 4,000 tons of washed coal per month.

Chief executive Noel Lyons noted that this “coincides with a dramatic rise in thermal coal prices around the world, more than tripling prices over the past year, with Tanzanian coal now also being exported to Europe.”

XP Factorythe owner of the Escape Hunt and Battle Bars chains, enjoyed a big surge in its shares two weeks after the results were published, when CEO Richard Harpham toured retail investor videos and podcasts detailing growth plans and the “experiential leisure activities’. trends that support the group’s expansion.