SMALL CHAPTER MOVES: Applied Nutrition gets £350m valuation

AIM has recently seen an absolute tsunami of IPOs, with two, yes, two, IPOs in as many weeks, bringing IPOs so far this year to nine.

Joking aside, Applied Nutrition’s pricing on Thursday at 140p per share gave the Liverpool-based sports nutrition, health and wellness brand a valuation of £350m on its debut. Pretty good by 2024 standards.

“As a British company based in Knowsley, Liverpool, we couldn’t be prouder to be listed on the London Stock Exchange,” said chief executive Thomas Ryder.

The shares immediately bounced to 145p before falling to 139p on Friday. Fundamental investor Mohsin Issa, of Asda fame, will surely hope for the best.

The junior market as a whole was out of luck if it hoped to share some of the vitamins.

The AIM All-Share Index was dragged 2.1 per cent lower as jitters grow over Labor chancellor Rachel Reeve’s upcoming autumn budget.

Scheduled for next Wednesday, there are concerns that the Budget will remove inheritance tax reliefs built into AIM shares.

Although Reeves has not indicated this is on the agenda, anything is on the table as he attempts to plug a £22 billion black hole in British finances.

Energy and mining stocks bucked the bearish trend this week with some notable small-cap gains.

Helix Exploration plc added 27 percent after informing investors that it had successfully re-entered and deepened its Clink #1 well at Ingomar Dome on Montana Helium Fairway. CEO Bo Sears called it a “major milestone” for the company.

Deltic Energy plc added a bumper 70 per cent to its valuation after revealing the success of the Selene exploration well in the North Sea, while announcing a strategic review that aims to take the company in a new direction.

Faced with potentially higher taxes on North Sea windfalls, Deltic’s new chief executive, Andrew Nunn, said the board is evaluating opportunities in regions with more favorable oil and gas policies.

Seascape Energy Asia plc, an exploration and production company, topped AIM’s list of movers with a gain of 160 per cent.

This was in response to the company gaining a 28 per cent stake in a ‘Small Field Asset Production Sharing Contract’ in the DEWA complex off the coast of Sarawak, Malaysia.

With gold prices hitting record high after record high, Ariana Resources plcThe 23 percent rally was not a surprise.

An update from the company was no small feat either: Ariana said it is targeting at least two million ounces of gold at its Dokwe project in Zimbabwe following a review of internal exploration data.

So what dragged the AIM index down?

With a touch of controversy, Kooth plcwhich is a platform designed to address digital mental health wellbeing, fell more than 30 percent.

Reports emerged that Kooth’s multimillion-dollar contract with the state of California to develop mental health app Soluna was threatened by state budget cuts.

Kooth responded by saying that the report “raises no legitimate concerns regarding Kooth, its partners or third parties, and simply seeks to undermine the work being done by multiple parties within the State to implement a digital mental health strategy to address the mental health of the youths”. crisis in California’.

Plexus fell 26 percent despite reporting a return to profits in its full-year results. Sales revenue of £12.7 million increased more than eight-fold on the previous year thanks largely to a lease that increased from £5 million originally to around £8 million.

Eternal Networks fell 40 per cent after an underwriting exercise saw 195 million shares issued at 0.1p each (Ethernity’s share price at the start of the week was more than double that).

In the biotech space, Faron Pharmaceuticals Limited fell 17 percent after issuing a trading update.

Faron said it is in talks with several potential partners to fund Phase III development of its drug bexmarilimab, but has not yet closed any deals.

Finally, recruiter Business Group plc fell 25 percent after warning of worsening market conditions, saying overall permanent hiring demand remains “extremely subdued.”

This brings Empresaria in line with its larger-cap counterparts, Hays plc and Pagegroup plc, which have seen tight hiring conditions in 2024.