Evgen Pharma Admitted to the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange
 
Manchester-based corporate finance boutique Acceleris Capital is pleased to announce Evgen Pharma has commenced trading its ordinary shares on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

£7m oversubscribed fundraise

Approx. £27m market capitalisation

Follows over-subscribed £2m pre-IPO fundraise
 
Evgen is a clinical drug development company focused on cancer and neurological conditions. Its core technology Sulforadex® is a patent-protected method of stabilising natural and synthetic versions of the naturally occurring compound Sulforaphane, a known anti-cancer agent derived from broccoli and other brassica vegetables. Acceleris has advised Evgen Pharma through this admission to AIM aswell as a previous oversubscribed pre-IPO fundraise.

The use of the net proceeds of the placing will include funding a Phase IIa study in metastatic breast cancer, a Phase II study in subarachnoid haemorrhage (type of stroke), preclinical studies in multiple sclerosis and long-tern safety and toxicology studies.

Norman Molyneux, Chief Executive of Acceleris Capital commented, “Evgen Pharma is our second company to join AIM this year and we are truly thrilled to support the UK Biotech sector in this way. Having known Evgen for the last few years we were delighted to be approached by them and are pleased to have successfully concluded the Pre-IPO and Admission. We have been impressed by the progress the company has made with the Sulforadex platform and its potential to develop new pharmaceuticals based upon sulforaphane and related analogues. The company has also built collaborative relationships with cliniicians across three disease areas and a large number of preclinical collaborations which further proves the strength of the platform."

Read Evgen Pharma Plc announcement Here

Innovation Birmingham Campus-based e-learning company GuyKat receives a £50,000 Regional Growth Fund grant

Learning technology specialist GuyKat Solutions has received a £50,000 grant from The Birmingham Post Growth Fund to contribute towards a £200,000 investment plan.

The company – established at the Innovation Birmingham Campus five years ago – produces tailored corporate training for delivery online.  The training is animated, interactive, self-paced and blends gaming elements with voice-led instruction and video.

£150,000 of the new investment in GuyKat’s growth will come from retained profits and director loans. An additional £50,000 grant has been awarded by The Birmingham Post Growth Fund in partnership with Bournville College in order to accelerate the pace of growth.

Over the next 12 months, the £200,000 investment will enable the company to double the size of its team to 12. The rapid expansion is being driven by major new contracts from four blue-chip multi-nationals.  More than 50 per cent of GuyKat’s revenue is from overseas business.

Guy McEvoy, Managing Director of GuyKat Solutions said: “This is the first time we have received a grant to help to fund our growth. Business grants are vital to accelerate growth and enable small companies to capitalise on market opportunities, especially when bank loan finance is so difficult to secure.

“We are now underway with a phased recruitment plan, building on the success of our last financial year. We are creating roles for specialists in instructional design, creative media and web technologies, as well as recruiting our first apprentices. We’re also going to be far more aggressive in our marketing in the coming year, increasing our presence at the major learning technology events.”

GuyKat’s work with Mondelez’ European marketing team was shortlisted for ‘best eLearning Project in The Private Sector’ at the 2014 eLearning Awards. The company was also presented with the Digital Technology award at the Midlands Insider International Trade Awards in October 2015. 

Guy McEvoy added: “Online training delivery is booming, and more and more global companies are seeing how our technology can slash learning and development budgets, compress roll-out schedules, and free-up employee time without any compromise to people development objectives.  We’re trying to redefine people’s reaction to eLearning, and the feedback is great - people enjoy our training.

“Within five years of establishing our business at the Innovation Birmingham Campus, many of our programmes are being rolled out across Europe and beyond – to a total of 42 countries in the last year. Without seeking to be so, we have become a small ‘multi-national’, as more than 50 per cent of our revenue comes from overseas.”

GuyKat’s approach to all projects is to work alongside the client’s in-house subject experts as an instructional design and technology partner. Its focus is on rapid production without compromise to quality.

GuyKat is one of 20 early stage tech companies receiving support from Innovation Birmingham’s ‘e4f Inspire’ programme, which delivers a series of workshops, keynote events, entrepreneur dinners, off-site visits, funded internship/apprenticeship placements, and peer group sessions, in order to accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial tech companies.

For more information on GuyKat solutions, see www.guykat.com

Puma Investments launches VCT 12

• Highly experienced VCT investment team with proven 19 year track record
• By following its asset-backed funding strategy, each of the first five Puma VCTs led their group for total returns - Puma VCT 5 was the most successful limited life VCT returning over 106 pence per share
• Target average annual tax-free dividend of 5 pence per share from April 2018; equivalent to an annual tax-free return of 7.1%
• Early bird offer of 1% in additional shares for all applications received before 8 January 2016
• The VCT will be available to investors on the Transact platform

Puma Investments today announces the launch of its latest limited life VCT, Puma VCT 12. Seeking to raise £30m, and adopting its proven asset-backed investment strategy, Puma VCT 12 will primarily invest in established businesses in the form of ordinary equity together with senior secured loans.

Puma Investments’ principal focus is on capital preservation whilst seeking to produce regular, tax-free distributions to Shareholders from a portfolio of businesses with substantial tangible assets such as freehold property or contracted and highly predictable revenue streams.  Puma VCT 12 will target an average annual dividend payout equivalent to 5 pence per share (starting from and including the April 2018 dividend) over the rest of the life of the Fund.

In the 2014/2015 tax year, Puma VCT 11 was the largest limited life VCT fundraise, attracting £30.6m, which represents more than 60% market share of total fundraising over the period.  Puma VCT 12 will look to build on this, and the continued strong performance of the Puma VCT range has, to date, distributed over £75 million in dividends from raised capital of over £190 million.

Commenting, David Kaye, Puma Investments CEO, said: “Puma’s asset-backed investment strategy continues to be popular amongst investors seeking to support UK businesses in a tax-efficient wrapper.  Investors in Puma VCT 12 will benefit from the successful track record of the Puma Investments team and a strong flow of quality investment opportunities with SMEs starved of the capital they need for growth.  As a consequence, we are able to invest in companies which have substantial assets or predictable revenue streams, over which a first charge can be taken.”

A series of changes to the qualifying nature of companies which VCTs can invest into were announced by the Chancellor in the July 2015 Summer Budget, in order to comply with European State Aid rules.  The changes, set to come into effect under the latest Finance Act anticipated in November, will include the introduction of a lifetime limit on the amount of funding a company can receive from a VCT. The age that a company has to be in order to qualify for VCT investment is also being scaled back while qualifying companies will be prohibited from using funds provided by VCTs to acquire other businesses.

Commenting on the changes, Puma’s Investment Director Eliot Kaye said: “The ultimate impact that these changes will bring for the VCT industry is not yet clear but the sector is used to regulatory changes and VCT managers will continue to adapt to meet the new requirements.  We believe that we will continue to be able to successfully deploy capital and meet our investment objectives under the new regime.”

VCTs offer individuals 30% upfront tax relief on investments of up to £200,000 a year, as well as tax-free dividends and capital gains. Applications for shares in Puma VCT 12 received before 8 January 2016 will receive a 1% enhancement in additional shares. As with all Puma VCTs which are limited life, planned exit vehicles the directors have committed to convene an extraordinary general meeting after the fifth anniversary of the fund for the shareholders to vote on entering into solvent liquidation.  Puma Investments believes this to be the most efficient route to return capital to shareholders and avoids investors having to sell their shares on the secondary market.

Puma VCT 12 - key information:

Minimum investment            £5,000
Maximum investment           £200,000
Offer price                           100p
Annual management charge  2%
Initial fee                            3%
Initial closing date                5 April 2016

Further information on Puma Investments, its products and services can be found at www.pumainvestments.co.uk.

European uncertainty challenges SMEs 

“Nearly one third of UK SMEs which responded to Smith & Williamson’s quarterly Enterprise Index survey have delayed their investment plans following problems in Greece and subsequent uncertainty in Europe,” says Guy Rigby, head of entrepreneurial services at Smith & Williamson, the accountancy, investment management and tax group.

Rigby continued: “Ongoing macro-economic issues, such as a potential Grexit and a lack of confidence in the global economy, as well as national challenges, such as less friendly dividend tax rules introduced in George Osborne’s Summer Budget, appear to have contributed to a drop in the Smith & Williamson Enterprise Index to 114.4, five points lower than its record high of 119.4 three months ago,” explains Guy.

“Changes to dividends, the introduction of the new National Living Wage and a less generous than expected annual investment allowance in George Osborne’s first Conservative Budget were not well received by business owners. Whilst still remaining high, at 70%, belief in the Government’s promise to support private enterprise dropped 10% as a growing number of SME owners felt they lacked support.”

Other factors undermining business confidence include the prospect of a US and UK interest rate rise, a potential 2016 EU referendum and volatility in global stock markets, sparked by China amidst concerns around global growth.  These issues, which have been well aired in the press, are trickling down and undermining confidence amongst UK SMEs.  The real question is whether business confidence will continue to decline as we approach the end of 2015.”

Help to export

“87% of SME owners thought the government should provide more support to help businesses export,” says Stephen Drew, head of international services at Smith & Williamson. “Many of our clients recommend the official government websites as they are said to be both highly regarded and trusted.  However, like many large websites that have existed for a while, the SME section of gov.uk has been said to have become difficult to navigate, untidy and complicated. Therefore, an overhaul and promotion of the information in a clear and centralised information portal would be beneficial.

“Many are unaware that research and development (R&D) activity undertaken by UK SMEs to enable them to export would attract R&D tax credits. This can be helpful as part of a suite of financing options that will make it easier for businesses to trade internationally.”

The rise and rise of crowdfunding

“Over 90% of participants felt that, should their businesses require investment, they would consider using crowdfunding as a means to secure it.  This demonstrates an incredible awareness of crowdfunding, a financing technique which barely existed five years ago.  A recent Government consultation surrounding the use of crowdfunded investments in ISAs highlights that this is being considered as an increasingly important way of raising funds.”


Intensive deal activity marked by highest H1 value on record

Mergermarket’s Q1-3 trend report shows the UK at the centre of European M&A in 2015, with deal values already exceeding FY 2014.

Turmoil in the Greek economy and the weakened euro have increased investor confidence in UK transactions, according to Mergermarket.

    Inbound deals worth a record £138.6bn, up 233.5% on Q1-3 2014
    UK contributed 38.7% to total European deal value
    Energy, mining and utilities dominates, with £23.2bn of deals
    Outbound deals similar to 2014 levels at £65bn

Shell’s £54.6bn April acquisition of BG contributed heavily to the story, but even without it, the Q1-3 figure still exceeds the 2014 full-year total.

Mylan’s hostile £23.3bn takeover of Perrigo was the biggest outbound deal of the year to date.

Goldman Sachs leads the advisor rankings, having advised on three of the top five deals, while Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer consolidated its leading position, having advised on all five top transactions.

Click here to access the full report.