Partner Article

North West plcs add £300m to market caps

The North West’s listed businesses have continued to perform well on the public markets, adding over £300m to stabilise their collective market capitalisation in the first quarter of 2015.

Data from Deloitte’s North West Share Index reveals that businesses based in the region grew at an average of 1.25 per cent in the first three months of the year. This period of stability follows the region’s exceptional end to 2014, which saw the collective market cap grow by £2.2bn.

The strongest performing company so far this year is molecular diagnostics firm Premaitha Health, which witnessed growth of 45.39 per cent. The Manchester-based company, which uses the latest technology in DNA analysis to develop tests for non-invasive prenatal screening, was aided by a lucrative deal with a number of leading London NHS trust teams in March 2015.

Similarly, following a £34.75m fundraise, led by Manchester-based broker Zeus Capital, 4D pharma has grown its market cap by 39.52 per cent in the first quarter of the year. In addition, a number of firms including API Group, Assura, Cyprotex, Johnson Service Group, Nichols and Inspired Capital all witnessed growth of between 20 and 25 per cent.

The region’s largest listed companies, those on the FTSE350, continued to see growth, though at a slightly lower level, averaging just a 0.41 per cent rise collectively. Of the 10 companies on the index, six experienced market cap increases totalling in excess of £890m. In particular, buoyed by the £10m sale of its ground rent portfolios, Deeside-based residential and commercial construction company Redrow grew by 21.62 per cent.

Chris Robertson, partner in charge of plc activity at Deloitte, said: “The North West has picked up where it left off at the back end of 2014, with the region’s listed businesses experiencing exceptional growth figures. It’s extremely encouraging to see so many of our core sectors performing so well, with examples of manufacturing, construction, financial services, healthcare and life sciences firms all seeing market cap rises.

“We have also seen a number of the region’s businesses look to leverage additional shares and raise greater funds. Here, 4d pharma is a good example, with the demand from investors underlined by its fundraise in January – the second conditional placing of shares since the firm’s admission last year.

“The general election has been predicted to impact upon business growth and M&A, but with the continued success of the North West’s listed companies, this has not had a significant effect on business as yet, providing further momentum for the remainder of the year.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pablo Rodriguez .