A flurry of fundraising activity on the small cap market showed no signs of slowing down this week as a stream of AIM-listed firms sought to take advantage of the festive mood and persuade investors to give them an early Christmas present in the form of a cash injection.

At least five companies on the junior market have conducted fundraisings this week across a variety of sectors, with the haul totalling just under £85million.

One of the biggest funding rounds came from rare disease specialist Amryt Pharmaceuticals, which announced that it has raised $40million (£30million) from a collection of leading US biotech investors to fund potential acquisitions and investments in new technologies and businesses.

This week, a stream of AIM-listed firms sought to take advantage of the festive mood and persuade investors to give them an early Christmas present in the form of a cash injection

This week, a stream of AIM-listed firms sought to take advantage of the festive mood and persuade investors to give them an early Christmas present in the form of a cash injection

This week, a stream of AIM-listed firms sought to take advantage of the festive mood and persuade investors to give them an early Christmas present in the form of a cash injection

Amryt is one of a number of companies taking advantage of renewed interest in the biotech sector following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

These include clinical artificial intelligence (AI) group Sensyne, which raised £25million during the week to help “industrialise and scale” its data platform.

Other fundraisings in the week came from market software group Access Intelligence, construction materials firm SigmaRoc and mining firm Vast Resources.

Meanwhile, the ongoing growth of the hydrogen industry was also evident on AIM after clean fuel group ITM Power said two of its partners, energy infrastructure firm Snam and chemicals group Linde, have signed a deal to develop new hydrogen projects, sending the company’s shares up 1.9 per cent to 380p.

Another sector player on the rise was Ceres Power, which climbed 15.5 per cent to 1,074p as it unveiled a collaboration with Austrian powertrain specialist AVL List to license the firm’s fuel cell technology.

ITM and Ceres have now established themselves as major players on the small cap market, with ITM AIM’s eighth largest company while Ceres is thirteenth with a combined market cap of almost £4billion.

With a coalition of firms announcing this week that they will work to cut the cost of hydrogen to around £1.50 per kilo over the next five years, the sector’s rapid growth may be set to continue.

Turning to the wider market, the AIM All-Share was little moved over the week, down 0.37 per cent at 1,064 while the FTSE 100 was up 0.06 per cent at 6,554.

Looking to other risers, TruFin soared 67 per cent to 75p after banking giant Lloyds licensed its invoicing software for a six-month pilot scheme which could lead to a five-year agreement if successful.

Plastics maker Coral Products surged 58 per cent to 7.5p as it reported a rise in underlying operating profits of over 100 per cent in its first half.

In the oilers, Reabold Resources gushed 52 per cent higher to 0.6p after it said a discovery at the West Newton project near Hull has “exceeded pre-drill expectations”. Fellow industry player Union Jack Oil, which holds a 17 per cent stake in West Newton, also flowed 13 per cent higher to 0.18p following the news.

Elsewhere, cloud communications specialist IMImobile climbed 47 per cent to 593p after it accepted a $730million (£552million) takeover offer from IT giant Cisco Systems. The company advised its shareholders to accept the 595p-per-share cash offer, a 47 per cent premium to the closing price at the last session before the offer was announced.

In the fallers, online clothing retailer Quiz slumped 8 per cent to 7.9p after the company delayed the release of its interim results to the end of January, beyond the usual publication date of before the end of the year.

Renewable power group SIMEC Atlantis fell 22 per cent to 17.5p over the week after it said planning permission for a greenfield site as part of one of its projects could come later than initially expected.

Meanwhile, specialist bank PCF Group was also on the slide, falling 14 per cent to 24p after it suffered a profit hit from credit impairment charges worth nearly £8million and issued a cautious outlook due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business.

#fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle#mobile {display:none} #fiveDealsWidget {display:block; float:left; clear:both; max-width:636px; margin:0; padding:0; line-height:120%; font-size:12px} #fiveDealsWidget div, #fiveDealsWidget a {margin:0; padding:0; line-height:120%; text-decoration: none; font-family:Arial, Helvetica ,sans-serif} #fiveDealsWidget .widgetTitleBox {display:block; float:left; width:100%; background-color:#af1e1e; } #fiveDealsWidget .widgetTitle {color:#fff; text-transform: uppercase; font-size:18px; font-weight:bold; margin:6px 10px 4px 10px; } #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {float:left; display:block; width:124px; margin-right:4px; margin-top:5px; background-color: #e3e3e3; min-height:200px;} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {margin-right:0} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle {display:block; margin:10px 5px; color:#000; font-weight:bold} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage img {float:left; display:block; margin:0; padding:0} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {border:1px solid #ccc} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage img {width:100%; height:auto} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemdesc {float:left; display:block; color:#004db3; font-weight:bold; margin:5px;} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemRate {float:left; display:block; color:#000; margin:5px} #fiveDealsWidget .footerText a:hover{text-decoration: underline;} #fiveDealsWidget .footerSmall{font-size:10px; padding-top:10px;} @media (max-width: 635px) { #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {width:19%; margin-right:1%} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {width:20%} } @media (max-width: 560px) { #fiveDealsWidget #desktop {display:none;} #fiveDealsWidget #mobile {display:block!important} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {background-color: #fff; height:auto; min-height:auto} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {border-bottom:1px solid #ececec; margin-bottom:5px; padding-bottom:10px} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {border-bottom:0px solid #ececec; margin-bottom:5px; padding-bottom:0px} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem, #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {width:100%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {float:left; display:inline-block} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {width:35%; margin-right:1%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent {width:63%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle {margin: 0px 5px 5px; font-size:16px} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent .dealItemdesc, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent .dealItemRate {clear:both} }

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk

You May Also Like

MAGGIE PAGANO: The red warning lights of recession are flashing

Red warning lights that the world’s major economies are heading for a…

Premium Bonds prizes are 66 years old – but how much would they be worth now if they rose with inflation?

Premium Bonds from National Savings & Investments (NS&I) remain the nation’s best-loved…

CAA: Disabled passengers missed flights at Heathrow due to poor service

An ‘unacceptable’ number of disabled and less mobile passengers missed flights at…

Just Group profits supercharged by defined benefit pension derisking

Just Group expects to surpass annual earnings targets after the specialist insurer…