Allied Irish Banks returns to market

IRELAND has returned Allied Irish Banks (AIB) to the stock market in a landmark moment that underscores the lender’s recovery since it was saved from collapse during the financial crisis.

The Irish government completed the biggest European share sale this year, raising €3 billion (£2.6bn) in a flotation valuing AIB at $12bn (£10.5bn). The move carried an offer price of €4.40 (£3.90) per share and will see the state continue to hold a 71 per cent to 75 per cent stake, with a view to selling it off in the coming years.

Bernard Byrne, chief executive of AIB, said: “This is a landmark day for the bank.” AN EDINBURGH-BASED university spin-out behind a device which allows children of all abilities to play music has revealed it is in talks to raise up to £5 million in equity investment.

The creators of Skoog, a tactile musical cube initially developed to help children with disabilities and learning difficulties, have opened talks with venture capitalists (VCs) in Scotland, south of the Border and beyond as they seek funding for the next phase of its development. It comes after parent company Skoogmusic has seen use of the cube extend beyond the educational environment, with the device now on sale in 150 Apple stores around the world.

The cube, which retails for around £199, has been integrated by Apple into its own software platforms, meaning it can be used in conjunction with iPads on tools such as GarageBand. It can be automatically tuned to any piece of music played on Apple Music, which means users can play along to their favourite songs without any formal training being required.

Ben Schogler, who founded the University of Edinburgh spin-out with David Skulina in 2009, said the company is seeking investment to scale up production of the cube. It is currently manufactured in Leith, Edinburgh, but production may be shifted elsewhere in a bid to achieve economies of scale.

Mr Schogler said: “We have already started conversations with some of the larger VCs, both in Scotland, down in London and further afield as well to look at what we need to do to really do this. And at the moment, we are also growing with Apple.”

Asked how much the company is looking to raise from investors, Mr Schogler added: “Realistically between £3m and £5m, depending on the partner. Sometimes certain groups have strong connections within manufacturing or retail that will mean you can access a great deal of in-kind support.”

In its last financial year, Mr

Ben Schogler, right, and David Skulina are selling their Skoog device through tech giant Apple.

Schogler said the company sold 1,600 units in the nine months between launching the latest version of the product to February. But he said it has already sold more than that in the first quarter of its current year.

The latest fund-raising drive for Skoog follows an inaugural investment round in 2010, which raised £440,000 to allow it to bring the first version of device into production. The initial investment came from Glasgow VC Barwell and an Edinburgh angel syndicate called Daedalus.

Skoogmusic, which has raised £1.28m of investment to date, continues to manufacture its device in Leith, but Mr Schogler signalled that this may change in the long term. “We will be still be

making it in Scotland for a while [but] we are looking for economies of scale for certain parts elsewhere,” he said. “Alongside that there is a requirement for support and investment to really scale the manufacturing.”

An updated version of the product, Skoog 1.0, was launched online with Apple store across the EU in 2012, before Skoog 2.0 arrived in 2015. The latest model is wireless and is available globally online at Apple.com, as well as in Apple retail outlets. The technology allows budding musicians to create musical sounds with the device in tandem an iPad, with no musical skills needed.

While encouraging people to get into music using the device remains fundamental to Skoogmusic,

the creators have discovered the technology has other applications.

More recently, Skoogmusic connected to the Californian tech giant’s Swift Playground coding app for the iPad, meaning that users can learn and apply coding skills to programme, control and make music with Skoog.

Mr Schogler, who has a PhD in psychology music improvisation, said while Skoog’s initial focus was on helping people with the “most profound challenges”, it has developed into a “bigger thing, which is the challenges we all face in engaging with music”.

He said: “Music has become something we consume… we are no longer engaging with the raw ingredients.” ACTIVIST investor Crystal Amber has called on Hurricane Energy to monetise its assets in the North Sea as it criticised the oil and gas exploration company’s plans.

Crystal Amber cited Hurricane’s recent share performance for the decline in its own price. Crystal Amber is the single largest shareholder in Hurricane, with a 12.2 per cent holding.

The investor said its performance – which has seen the price drop from 246.7p in May to 201.5p – “primarily reflects the decline in the share price of… Hurricane Energy”.

The fund said Hurricane’s share price decline, which has more than halved since May, resulted from the “poor handling” of a warrant issue in May, and Hurricane’s decision to focus on funding and delivering an early production system.

The group said it was supportive of the monetisation of Hurricane’s assets, which it conditionally values at 219p per share.

Surrey-based Hurricane is focused on the west of Shetland, where it operates the largest undeveloped discovery on the UK Continental Shelf, believed to contain up to one billion barrels of oil.

Hurricane declined to comment on Crystal Amber’s statement, but shares climbed 22 per cent as the City reacted to signs that the group has become a focus of attention for the investor.