Companies: VPP   

At the time of writing, just four newcomers had checked in on AIM during March, with the only fresh cash stumped up for a pair of oil and gas hopefuls. Brokers Oriel and Cenkos hauled aboard £50 million and £15 million respectively for North Sea-focused Valiant Petroleum and Newfoundland-operating Energi Oil – shares in both have gushed higher since listing.

The two other arrivals debuted without raising any money. BHK, AIM’s first Korean constituent, issued global depositary receipts (bank certificates issued for shares in a foreign company, trading as domestic shares) worth £1.6 million, although its valuation on the Korean stock exchange is actually nearer to £40 million.

Digitally financed
The company’s core business is medical technology development, where activities are financed through the cash generated by a consumer digital products division making
mp3 players, PDAs, etc. The medical business specialises in the development of cell therapies and artificial organs, both principally focused on the heart.

BHK’s principal cell therapy – MyoCell, currently in Phase II clinical trials – uses stem cells called myoblasts that can generate new muscle tissue when injected into a scarred heart wall. Management project a $215 million (£107 million) market in South Korea and $800 million in the wider Asia region once approval from the Korean authorities, anticipated for the first half of 2009, is granted.

The artificial organ division makes devices to assist or replace certain functions of various organs, such as the T-PLS life support system, used in surgery to replace the function of heart and lungs, and already on sale in Korea; the Carry-on pulsatile artificial kidney, for which approval is expected this year; and the e-liver artificial liver.

Intending to raise funds further down the line, BHK (which once stood for Bioheart Korea) made a KRW5.3 billion net loss (not quite as dramatic in sterling, at £2.7 million) in 2006 and lost KRW8.8 billion in the nine months to September 2007. Interesting, but high risk.

Also arriving on AIM was small-cap specialist broking and corporate finance house St Helen’s Capital, which stepped up from PLUS. It is the number one PLUS adviser, retained by 34 of the market’s companies, and provides brokering services to 12 AIM companies.

Arguing that AIM and PLUS ‘continue to demonstrate reasonable levels of activity’, St Helen’s turned a £90,000 loss to a pre-tax profit of £1.1 million in the six months to September, on a 460 per cent surge in underlying sales to £2.3 million. As chief executive Ruari McGirr states, recent turbulent markets have been unable to quash the team’s corporate finance activities: ‘We have maintained a steady flow of new transactions and business opportunities, allowing us to select those that we feel will further benefit our corporate profile.’

McGirr and executive chairman Mark Warde-Norbury, able to call upon the sage advice of board members Howard Flight and Jon Pither, see the AIM listing increasing St Helen’s market visibility as well as liquidity. With cash reserves of approximately £2 million bolstering the balance sheet, St Helen’s is well placed to benefit from the much-vaunted evolution of PLUS.

A devilish debut
At the time of going to press, PLUS had received as many newcomers as AIM in March, with Devilfish Gaming a notable name among the four. This online gambling group, looking to build a brand based on the nom de guerre of professional player Dave ‘Devilfish’ Ulliott, is chaired by biotech billionaire Kevin Leech and wisely plans to grow ‘in those jurisdictions where online gaming is legal’. This is as opposed to the US, where investors had their fingers badly burned when authorities turned against the sector. Having raked in £1 million of new chips, Devifish has the financial firepower to grow brand awareness and do deals.

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Valiant Petroleum	AIM	£233.58m	890.00p	10.00p
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