AIM group boosted by deal for NHS ventilators
ANOTHER day, another chance for investors to reward innovative firms rallying to the Government’s call to supply more ventilators.
A small research and development outfit Science Group has become the latest firm to design a ventilator from scratch.
The AIM-listed business – whose Sagentia subsidiary is responsible for the machines – has signed an agreement with the Government to provide 10,000 of them if regulators at the Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approve.
The Government is scrambling to order at least 30,000 ventilators so that the NHS does not get overwhelmed when coronavirus cases peak.
It has put in orders for more than 60,000, thought to be a strategy to hedge its bets in case one of a cluster of projects fail to deliver.
Cambridge- based Science Group has sent 20 prototypes to the MHRA to be prodded, poked and tested – and believes its model could be simpler to produce than others because it doesn’t require parts that need to be sourced externally. Science Group insists it can make them itself or by working in partnership with sub-contractors – mirroring promises from industrial heavyweight Dyson.
Shares in Science Group surged 10.8pc yesterday, or 20p, to 205p, adding almost £8m to the company’s market value, which now stands at around £86m. And defence stalwart Babcock
International (up 7pc, or 25.2p, to 383.2p) has also inked an order in principle with the Government to provide 10,000 ventilators if the MHRA gives it the green light.
It is working with Germanowned firm Draeger, which makes medical equipment. Shares in engineering business Smiths
Group – another firm working on a ventilator project – also climbed.
FTSE 100- listed Smiths ( up 9.9pc, or 110.5p, to 1226p) has provided an existing design to Ventilator Challenge UK, which is a consortium of major businesses.
Smiths has paused a separation that was meant to be completed by the summer of the division responsible for the ventilator, Smiths Medical, and scrapped its interim dividend.
The boost from Smiths helped the Footsie accelerate 2pc, or 108.22 points higher, to 5671.96 last night.
It was boosted by rises in the shares of cigarette giants Imperial Brands (up 12.3pc, or 163.8p, to 1496.8p) and British American
Tobacco (up 4.7pc, or 124p, to 2759p), which both signed deals for new credit to help them weather any slowdowns during the coronavirus outbreak.
Shares in major mining firms also ramped up, with Anglo American ( up 5.9pc, or 78.6p, to 1416.4p), Rio Tinto (up 1.2pc, or 44.5p, to 3718.5p) and BHP (up 2.8pc, or 33.8p, to 1252p) edging higher as data showed industry in China starting up again after a drastic slowdown amid measures to halt the spread of coronavirus. And Hikma Pharmaceuticals rose 3.6pc, or 70.5p, to 2035p, as, in non-Covid-19 news, a district court in the US ruled one of its generic drugs does not infringe six patent laws.
Figures showed supermarkets had enjoyed a March even busier than Christmas as panic shoppers spent £10.8bn stacking up on food and other goods. Swindon- based retailer WH
Smith rose 7.7pc, or 82p, to 1141p as it inked a deal with Sainsbury’s to sell groceries in hospitals.
Sainsbury’s stock rose by a more modest 0.1pc, or 0.2p, to 210.4p.
Vimto-maker Nichols (up 0.4pc, or 5p, to 1200p) and the AA (up 3pc, or 0.5p, to 17p) jointed the dividend-cancelling parade.
The motoring association, founded in 1905, said it hadn’t seen any impact on trading yet but was bracing for possible disruption.