12 INSIDER March 2020 http://www.insider.co.ukTakeovers mark end of listings
as prices rise for 22 companies
S
COTLAND’S list of quoted companies
has lost another two names with the
departure of Eland Oil and Gas and
Murgitroyd.
Aberdeen-based Eland left the AIM market
after it was acquired by Seplat, the Nigerian oil
and gas company for £382m. The deal which
was originally announced in October completed
in mid-December after our last issue had gone
to press.
The move leaves just three Scottish oil and
gas companies on the Aim market – Bowleven,
Landsowne and Plexus Holdings and two, Cairn
Energy and Wood Group on the main market.
Murgitroyd Group, the Glasgow-based
intellectual property attorneys, left the market
after accepting a £62.8m takeover bid from
Sovereign Capital, a London-headquartered
private equity firm.
It also means that there is now a total of 22
companies on the secondary market.
The moves come amid a generally positive
time for Scottish stock prices with 22 companies
noting a rise, 12 experiencing a fall and five being
unchanged. Both markets were positive with 11
risers and five fallers and one unchanged on the
main market, and 11 ups and seven downs and
four unchanged on AIM.
The biggest percentage riser across the two
markets was Beeks Financial Cloud Group, the
Glasgow-based fintech which was up more than
17 per cent. The company, founded by Gordon
McArthur in 2010, has had a series of good news
developments in recent weeks.
The cloud computing business said in January
it was accelerating its project to automate services
for banks and other financial institutions after
securing a £2m research and development grant
from Scottish Enterprise. It said that the public
cash will pay for about half of its £4.2m “network
automation” project and allow it to expand its
head office.
Beeks had announed in December that it had
signed two “significant” contracts. It agreed a
£1.1m contract over three years with a paymentssolution firm and a £767,000 a year contract with
a global financial markets technology provider.
The company, which is chaired by former
Wolfson Microelectronics chief financial officer
Mark Cubitt, joined AIM in 2017.
Standard Life Aberdeen saw the second biggest
percentage share rise overall and the biggest on
the main market with the price having gone up
by more than six per cent.
The share has had a steady pattern of growth
over the last few months and year on year is up
about 30 per cent.
Its latest good news announcement came in
December when it said that Aberdeen Standard
Investments had been appointed as investment
manager of the £267.6m LF Woodford Income
Focus Fund.
The biggest faller was Quiz whose shares fell
more than 25 per cent after the Glasgow-based
retailer suffered from more difficult trading
conditions. It saw its sales over Christmas fall by
9.3 per cent due to lower footfalll in it shops nad
fewer sales on other companies’ websites.
But the brand saw a further fall for the seven
weeks to 4 January with online sales slumping by
almost 15 per cent after it cut back on the range
of garments it sold online through third parties,
leaving it to focus on its own website.
Sales through Quiz’s site climbed by 5.9 per
cent despite the company running fewer cut-
price promotions.
Revenues from the firm’s 71 shops and 169
concessions fell by seven per cent as footfall
continued to drop. The amount of net cash on
the company’s balance sheet fell to £10.7m on 4
January from £12.3m at the same stage last year.
Analyst comment on the company has
praised management for addressing the issues
through actions to boost margins and boost cost
efficiencies but concern about the business has
remained leading to the shares fall.
Parkmead Group was the second biggest faller
with their shares seeing a 21 per cent plus drop,
reversing the gains that it had seen towards the
end of 2019. ■BEEKS FINANCIAL CLOUD GROUP PLC 17.
STANDARD LIFE ABERDEEN PLC 6.
SSE PLC 6.
CALEDONIAN TRUST PLC 5.
SPRINGFIELD PROPERTIES PLC 5.
STV GROUP PLC 5.
NUCLEUS FINANCIAL 4.
ALLIANCE TRUST PLC 4.
CELTIC PLC 3.
IOMART GROUP PLC 3.Biggest risers
NAME % CHANGE 1 MTHQUIZ PLC 25.
PARKMEAD GROUP PLC 21.
MINOAN GROUP PLC 13.
SCOTGOLD RESOURCES PLC 13.
PLEXUS HOLDINGS PLC 10.
SPACEANDPEOPLE PLC 8.
A.G. BARR PLC 4.
JOHN MENZIES PLC 4.
FRONTIER IP GROUP PLC 2.
CAIRN ENERGY PLC 2.NAME % CHANGE 1 MTHBiggest fallers
Its latest good news
announcement came in
December when it said
that Aberdeen Standard
Investments had been
appointed as investment
manager of the £267.6m
LF Woodford Income
Focus Fund
SHARES: SCOTLAND’S QUOTED COMPANIES
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