STOCK WATCH

STRUGGLING stem cell company Widecells plummeted after announcing a new £2.7m funding deal to keep it afloat.

A fund managed by investment firm Alpha Blue Ocean will provide the cash, in an arrangement that analysts at Align Research called a ‘death spiral’. Widecells directors Joao Andrade and David Bridgland agreed to loan their shares to the fund for it to sell, effectively allowing it to make money at the expense of other shareholders.

Shares slumped by 65.8pc, or 1.25p, to 0.65p.