High returns: David Beckham backed cannabis firm Cellular Goods sees share price surge over 400% on its stock market debut
- Cellular Goods’ share price was 470% higher than the IPO price earlier
- David Beckham’s investment firm DB Ventures has a 5% stake in Cellular
A trading frenzy has sent shares in David Beckham-backed cannabis company Cellular Goods soaring today.
The company made its debut on the London Stock Exchange this morning and within 15 minutes the share price had jumped by 310 per cent to 20.50p.
It later topped the 28.50p mark, which is 470 per cent more than the initial public offering price, and is now hovering at around 21.75p.
On the up: A trading frenzy has sent shares in David Beckham-backed cannabis company Cellular Goods soaring today
David Beckham’s company, DB Ventures, has a 5 per cent stake in Cellular Goods.
Cellular Goods completed an IPO on the stock market after a £13million fundraising. The IPO was hugely oversubscribed.
Today’s share price surge meant the company’s market capitalisation leapt to over £100million.
As part of the IPO, Cellular Goods offered up 260million shares at 5p each. This comprised 51 per cent of the business.
The company sells ‘premium’ products based on biosynthetic cannabinoids, which are compounds produced in a laboratory from cannabis plants. The products do not contain the psychoactive compound, THC.
One of the best-known cannabinoids, CBD, has surged in popularity over the last few years and can be found in everything from eye cream to drinks.
Alexis Abraham, the boss of Cellular Goods, said: ‘Cellular Goods’ debut on the London Stock Exchange is a major step in the company’s development and provides a strong foundation to execute our long-term growth strategy.
Launch day: Cellular Goods made its debut on the London Stock Exchange today
‘We are delighted with the strong support from a wide range of institutional and retail investors to build premium consumer products based on biosynthetic cannabinoids under the Cellular Goods brand.’
Abraham plans to use the money raised from the IPO to help bolster the company’s range of cosmetic and sports recovery products.
Susannah Streeter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: ‘With shares 13 times over-subscribed, initial demand for cannabinoid company Cellular Goods was always likely to be high and as trading has got underway it’s become a hot stock.
‘David Beckham’s backing certainly added a celebrity glow to its listed debut.’
She added: ‘Unlike many other IPOs which have made a debut on the market in recent months, this offer was open to investors, large and small.
‘192 million shares have been conditionally placed with institutional investors, and another 68 million were allocated to retail investors with 6,000 signing up through the Primary Bid platform.
‘It’s not clear exactly how Mr Beckham’s backing will evolve with Cellular Goods but whether he’ll remain behind the scenes, or appear on the packaging, his personal brand has given the launch a bit of a kick.’
Ms Streeter said the CBD skincare market looked set to grow to $3.5billion, or over £2.5billion, over the next five years, but added that the sector was already ‘highly competitive.’