SMALL CAP MOVERS: Harland & Wolff shares jump after Royal Navy contract win; Parsley Box to delist from AIM
Shipbuilding in the UK might be a sunset industry, but there is one company trying to instigate a revival.
Harland & Wolff surged 180 per cent to 25p this week after landing a major contract win.
Based in Belfast, the shipyard and offshore construction firm is renowned for building the Titanic.
It has now been selected as the preferred bidder for a £1.6billion contract to manufacture three vessels providing munitions, stores and provisions to the Royal Navy’s aircraft carriers, destroyers and frigates.
Harland & Wolff surged 180% this week after winning contract to build three vessels
The Belfast shipyard will construct all three 216-metre-long vessels, which upon completion will be the second longest UK military vessels behind the two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.
Harland & Wolff has secured MoD contracts in the past, but not on a scale of this magnitude.
Placed into administration in 2019 but back afloat again, the shipyard’s iconic yellow cranes are known by the locals as Samson & Goliath, a symbol of Belfast’s once-mighty shipbuilding industry.
This latest contract win ‘will be a significant boost to the UK shipbuilding industry… creating around 2,000 UK jobs, and showcasing cutting-edge British design,’ said defence secretary Ben Wallace.
Production is due to start in 2025 and all three support ships are expected to be operational by 2032.
As part of the proposal, a group called Team Resolute pledged a £75million investment in infrastructure to support the British shipbuilding sector.
Poolbeg Pharma was another Ireland-based business on the rise, climbing 27 per cent to 10.5p as a consortium it is part of won a €2.3million government grant from the Irish government to develop an oral vaccine platform.
The consortium plans to develop at least one anti-infective oral vaccine candidate to a Phase-one trial ready state in three years.
Elsewhere, it was good news for cows as BSF Enterprise announced wholly owned subsidiary 3D Bio-Tissues had successfully produced three prototypes of lab-grown meat, sending its shares up 42 per cent to 11.3p.
The investment company said in a statement that three small meat fillets, roughly 30mm in height and 15mm in diameter (smaller than a 5p piece), weighing five grams, were produced by the subsidiary.
Overall, it was a decent week for London’s junior markets, with AIM100 up 0.39 per cent to 4,034 though it again lagged Footsie, which rose more than 0.8 per cent.
Among the fallers was Firering Strategic Minerals, shedding 17 per cent to 13.2p after a first set of assay results from its drill programme at its Atex lithium-tantalum project in Côte d’Ivoire.
Firering liked the results and most likely there was an element of profit taking as the shares have doubled over the past month.
A second phase of exploration with Ricca Resources is being prepared, it said, following a recent $18.6million investment agreement.
Ready meals provider Parsley Box decided to delist after only a year and half on AIM
Eco (Atlantic) was less confident and halved in value to 19.3p as it revealed the Gazania-1 well offshore South Africa had come up dry.
More work will be undertaken to analyse the data, the oil company said.
Finally, another company from the 2021 IPO rush has come to an inglorious end with Parsley Box deciding to delist after only a year and half on AIM.
Shares, which were floated in March 2021 at 200p for an initial market cap of £83million, went on to lose over 99 per cent of their value.
The ready meals provider is arranging a shareholder meeting to approve the delisting move after it was unable to attract funding.
Parsley Box’s cancellation comes hot on the heels of the collapse of fellow ‘class of 21’ member Made.com into administration earlier this month, while other alumni such as In The Style, Revolution Beauty and Seraphine have seen their values plummet.
‘Another day and another recent IPO goes up in smoke,’ said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
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