AMTE Power bit the bullet and filed for administration this week, bringing a seemingly inevitable close to the lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells manufacturer’s tribulations.
In a statement, the group said it had appointed FRP Advisory after failing to secure funding from an investor.
“The board has no other options to secure finance in the time available and has therefore concluded that the company has insufficient funds to continue trading,” it read.
An artist’s rendering of a new factory AMTE Power had planned to build in Dundee
FRP will manage an accelerated sale process to seek potential buyers of the business and assets and WH Ireland will resign as nominated adviser to the company.
Earlier this year, AMTE suffered a major blow to its market valuation following a hugely discounted keep-the-lights-on fundraise in September.
It had already slumped almost 50% in July after warning that its financing situation had become critical, with a solution needed “within days”.
At that point, AMTE warned that shares would be suspended if funding failed to materialise, with that warning becoming a reality today.
Investors were unsure of what to make of banknote printer De La Rue’s half-year results.
De La Rue’s shares initially fell on Tuesday when it reported a widening pre-tax loss gap and a year-on-year fall in operating profit.
Yet this was actually ahead of expectations, and De La Rue backed its full-year guidance of operating profits in the low £20 million range.
Shares ended up ticking 16% higher come Friday, as investors digested the mixed signals.
Bidstack Group was the MVP though. The in-game advertising specialist doubled its share price on Friday after announcing the settlement of a legal dispute with partner Azerion.
Azerion has agreed to pay €3 million to Bidstack with the companies planning to have a new collaboration up and running in 2024.
It appeared to be amicable enough, with Bidstack’s James Draper stating: “Bidstack and Azerion will move forward collaboratively following extensive discussions to settle all outstanding disagreements.
Sebastiaan Moesman at Azerion added: “We are pleased to announce both the settlement of all past disagreements and a new commercial alliance between our companies going forward.”
‘Tis the season to be jolly after all.
The FTSE AIM-All-Share Index was also in the festive spirit, adding 170 basis points (1.7%) to close the week above 751.
The junior market just managed to edge out the FTSE 100, with the blue-chip index closing 164 basis points higher.
Not even recession fears dampened the mood.
Data released on Friday showed that the UK economy shrank in the third quarter, increasing the danger of a mild recession.
UK gross domestic product was estimated to have fallen by 0.1% between July to September, revised down from a first estimate of no growth, the Office for National Statistics said.
Stocks managed to fend off the scaries though, probably because of the surprisingly large fall in inflation to 3.9% year on year in November, as announced in the middle of the week.
tinyBuild, developer of the popular survival horror game series Hello Neighbor, rallied over 90% after announcing a US$14 million (£11 million) equity round on Thursday. The 5p-per-share offer represented a nearly 100% premium to Wednesday’s closing price.
In the heavy industries, Angus Energy shares moved upwards by over 21% on Wednesday after the oil and gas firm announced a deal to refinance its £20 million worth of debt.
End-of-week trades cooled off a bit, but Angus still managed to close the week 10% higher.
Petrofac shot up 60% as shorters cashed in their positions after the oil and gas installation specialist announced another big order.
Petrofac has been one of the most shorted companies on the London market due to its huge debts, a string of profit warnings and run of bribery scandals.
This week’s announcement of another US$1.4 billion contract with TenneT suggests, however, that the mood might be changing.
N4 Pharma plc was a top mover in the biotech sector, with shares shooting up over 12% after the firm announced the successful oral administration of its Nuvec particle with a DNA plasmid.
Lastly, shares in genedrive shot up nearly 20% this week after the company announced a host of international orders for its antibiotic induced hearing loss test.
Orders have been received from France, Austria, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Netherlands for the MT-RNR1 test, genedrive announced, following recent commercial distribution agreements.
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