THE BUSINESS HAS BEEN Farming firm is dabbling on the stock market

VALUED AT £17.4 MILLION

A SOUTH Derbyshire farming technology company looks set to float on the London Stock Exchange in a move that would value the firm at £17.4 million.

Hilton business Light Science Technologies has announced to The Business Desk it intends to float on the exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

It is a specialist division of the exchange for small-to-medium-sized companies that want to sell shares on the open market to attract investment.

Specialising in agriculture technology – with an emphasis on sustainability and the environment – and contract electronics manufacturing, the firm expects an Initial Public Offering (IPO) to be sealed on Friday, October 15.

The company, based at Hilton Business Park, in Lowman Way, counts huge companies like Rentokil, Cloud Electronics, Calex Electronics and Sensonics among its clients.

“We eagerly anticipate the next step in our journey through the admission to trading on AIM,” said chief executive Simon Deacon.

“The company is well placed to use the funds raised in the placing to develop our substantial capital expenditure authorisation pipeline and take full advantage of our increasing presence in this growing market.

“We believe there will be significant demand for our solutions, especially given increasing food shortages and security issues, climate change and growing populations all underpinning demand as growers look to increase yields and reduce energy consumption and costs.”

Strand Hanson is acting as nominated and financial adviser, with Turner Pope Investments (TPI) acting as broker in relation to the placing.