MARKET REPORT: Amcomri float gives Aim market Christmas cheer
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London's junior Aim market received a Christmas gift to round off a tough year yesterday with the float of Amcomri. The group focuses on the acquisition and enhancement of specialist engineers and its listing comes after Aim shrank to its smallest size by number of companies in 23 years.
Amcomri raised £12m from an initial public offering to finance its ongoing growth strategy. The placing price was 55p, with 21.8m new shares issued, giving it an initial market cap of £39.5m. The company's co-founder and non-executive deputy chairman is Paul McGowan who has worked in corporate finance and restructuring for over 20 years.
He serves as executive chairman of Hilco Capital, the restructuring and asset-based lending firm. McGowan has particular expertise in stressed or distressed situations, including transactions involving HMV, Habitat and Allders department stores in the UK.
Boost: Amcomri focuses on the acquisition and enhancement of specialist engineers and its listing comes after Aim shrank to its smallest size by number of companies in 23 years. Investors seemed excited about the opportunity offered with Amcomri, pushing the share price up to 57.5p at the close on its first day of trading.
The London benchmarks were preoccupied by central bank caution in the face of stubborn inflation. But traders took some comfort from a lower than expected US inflation gauge published yesterday. The FTSE 100 index recovered from sharp earlier losses to end down by just 0.3 per cent, or 20.71 points, at 8084.61, and the FTSE 250 index ended up 0.3 per cent, or 51.31 points, at 20450.69.
