London’s stock market is ‘broken and closed’

A BRITISH pharmaceuticals company has criticised London’s stock market for being “completely broken and closed” after announcing plans to delist and pursue a potential flotation in New York.

Ali Mortazavi, chief executive of E-therapeutics, said “urgent reform and action was needed” after accusing British investors of failing to back innovative companies. E-therapeutics said it would delist 17 years after floating on Aim, London’s junior market, as part of a £29m fundraising from existing investors. It said it would “explore the option of listing on [New York’s] Nasdaq in due course”.

Writing on Twitter, Mr Mortazavi said: “My overriding feeling in delisting [the company] is one of sadness and great worry. To be clear, the UK markets are not just illiquid, they’re completely broken and closed. The situation is worse for small growth companies (in particular biotech) but even sizeable companies such as Shell and many others are saying the same thing.”

Wael Sawan, Shell’s chief executive, said this week that the oil giant was exploring “all options” and that the company was “undervalued” in London. E-therapeutics is joining a stampede of pharmaceutical companies quitting Aim, following Redx Pharma and C4X Discovery, which announced plans to leave the market.

The company aims to use artificial intelligence and large amounts of data to help develop new medicines. It has worked with companies including Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceuticals giant behind the Wegovy weight loss treatment.