Battery cell maker in market flotation
A Scottish battery cell maker that works with the likes of Jaguar Land Rover has raised almost twice its initial target in its stock market flotation.
AMTE Power secured £13.7 million from existing and new investors for its float on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim), compared to the £7m it was originally seeking.
Based on a placing price of 175p a share, the initial market capitalisation of the Thurso-based business is approximately £61m.
The placing of new shares raised gross proceeds of approximately £12.9m for AMTE and around £740,000 for selling shareholders.
Its senior management will own approximately 17 per cent of the company, which also works with leading motoring industry names such as Cosworth and Williams. It intends to use the proceeds of the float to finance its working capital requirements, ahead of revenue from the commercialisation of its battery cell portfolio.
Chief executive Kevin Brundishsaidthefirmwas“naturally delighted by the investor response from both new and existing shareholders”.
“The high demand has enabled us to raise additional funds which will further enhance the commercial prospects of our portfolio of battery cells. The switch to electrification is clearly happening
and not just in the automotive sector but across multiple markets. These are trends we anticipated happening eight years ago when we created AMTE and today's listing has significantly strengthened our ability to make the most of this switch to battery power.”
AMTE was co-founded in 2013 by Brundish, together with several others, including former colleagues from defence technology heavyweight Qinetiq.
Brundish said: “Early on we
chose to focus on the requirements of specialist customers whose power, performance and endurance needs are, we believe, outside the scope of the international manufacturers and also to not simply be a developer but have the manufacturing capability to deliver our products.”
It has been working in collaboration with nine automotive companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Cosworth and Williams.
“We have also been working
with the UK government on our plans for building a British gigafactory. However, today’s announcement is about funding the final development and production of the company’s three advanced battery cells where we see significant commercial opportunities,” added Brundish.
The company said it was well placed as one of only five UK commercial battery cell manufacturers with its purposebuilt facility at Thurso, which boasts the second largest cell
manufacturing capacity in the UK.
In addition to its Thurso facility, the firm has entered into a framework agreement governing access to the UK Batteryindustrialisationcentre cell manufacturing facility and, in 2022, intends to commit to building a new UK manufacturing facility with a capacity of approximately 2GWH (gigawatt hours) per annum.
LONDON’S top index outperformed many of its global peers for the first time all week as it prepared for the weekend with a healthy rise.
The FTSE 100 closed the day up 24.51 points or 0.4 per cent to 6,761.47.
The index has not joined its counterparts in Europe and the US as they charged ahead through much of this week.
Even on Monday, when the index added 1.3 per cent, it was still well behind international peers, including the Frankfurt Dax, which has been around all-time highs through the week.
But Friday was very different, with only the Dow Jones in New York, up 0.4 per cent when markets closed in Europe, pulling ahead of the top 100 companies in London.
The Dax lost 0.5 per cent, the Cac in Paris rose 0.2 per cent and the S&P 500 in New York fell by 0.2 per cent.
Much of the market has been focused on the yields paid by government bonds through the week, although the FTSE’S mining companies held it back on Tuesday and Wednesday.
“Stock markets have enjoyed a positive run lately, largely due to the hopes in relation to economies loosening their restrictions in the months ahead, also President Biden signed off on the US’S 1.9 trillion dollar (£1.4 billion) stimulus package last night,’’ said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.
“The prospect of higher growth comes at a cost, the likelihood of higher inflation, and that is pushing up yields.’’
It was banks that felt the most benefit from this in London, with Barclays, Natwest and Lloyds all ending in the index’s top 10 best performers.
They rubbed shoulders with Burberry, up 6.9 per cent, which upgraded its financial forecasts based on strong rebounds in Asia.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Burberry, up 136.5p to 2123p, Barclays, up 6.34p to 180.6p, M&G, up 6.3p to 225.6p, Kingfisher, up 6p to 300.8p, and Natwest, up 3.75p to 190.65p.
The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were Berkeley, down 266p to 4306p, Fresnillo, down 25.8p to 930.8p, Rightmove, down 11.8p to 561.6p, Croda International, down 114p to 6182p, and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, down 20p to 1148p.