PLUS news

During an ‘exceptionally difficult’ 2009, in which new issues and fundraisings remained comparatively thin on the ground, PLUS says its stock exchange put in a steady performance in terms of new admissions and corporate activity.

Encouragingly, 30 companies applied to join PLUS last year and 18 of those were admitted by the end of December. Two December débutantes were HealthyDays, a profitable business marketing products to help people with mobility difficulties, and Wessex Exploration, the hydrocarbon explorer with interests across Africa and within the UK.

In another vital sign, the number of PLUS firms completing separate fundraising rounds reached a record of almost 150, with several concerns returning to the market to access capital on more than one occasion. PLUS insists that its exchange played host to ‘a healthy level’ of corporate activity last year, with a number of companies using their PLUS quote for takeovers, including Shepherd Neame for its purchase of 13 freehold pubs from Punch Taverns and restaurant group Cantina Augusto for its acquisition of Fast Consultants. Early 2009 also witnessed PLUS’s largest-ever reverse takeover, with Kuwaiti commercial property company Rafco reversing into cash shell RAK Real Estate in a deal creating PLUS’s largest market cap company (over £600 million) on admission.