In a new trading update, SourceBio International has revealed plans to delist from the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.
The Nottingham-based provider of laboratory services says its board has conducted a review of the benefits and drawbacks to the company retaining its listing on AIM and maintaining its existing corporate structure.
Subject to shareholder approval, the firm believes that the cancellation would be in the best interests of the company and its shareholders as a whole.
Reasons noted by the business include that while one of the main benefits of a company being on AIM is the potential to issue new shares to raise additional funds for investment or to issue new shares as consideration for acquisitions, the company has been unable to raise money at what the directors believe to be a fair valuation and, due to the low liquidity, the shares do not represent an attractive currency.
Further, the board believes that the company’s current share price does not accurately reflect the future potential of the business.
The group also believes that as a private business corporate development and restructuring needed to drive and develop growth may be executed faster and more nimbly, and that it would be able to command a much higher valuation for the business on eventual exit, serving in the best interest of shareholders.
SourceBio estimates that it could save annualised costs of £600,000 per year in the move.
In conjunction with the cancellation, the company is planning a tender offer at a price of 115 pence per ordinary share to certain shareholders. It is expected that over half of issued shares will be purchased and the firm says it is in advanced discussions to secure the necessary financing for the tender offer.
The news comes as revenues from SourceBio’s three core business units (Healthcare Diagnostics, Genomics and Stability Storage) continue to perform well, as they did in the first half of the year, with all business units showing growth on last year.
Jay LeCoque, executive chairman, said: “We continue to be encouraged with progress and growth delivered across our three core business units. Our operational focus remains the continued expansion and scale-up of Cellular Pathology and Digital Pathology volumes through the rest of the year and beyond.
“We are confident that we can potentially grow the business faster as a private company and look forward to providing fuller details in due course.”
