The record SpaceX flotation on the Nasdaq has pulled an estimated £270 million of British retail money out of London's junior market, pushing the AIM All-Share Index down around 2.4 per cent since the June 12 listing.
Trading volumes on AIM have dropped about 13 to 14 per cent compared with the same period a year ago. Companies valued between £50 million and £200 million have been hit hardest, where thin trading can freeze prices and leave buyers and sellers struggling to agree on a level.
Rather than sparking fresh interest in London, easier access to global markets has simply handed investors somewhere else to put their money. Over the past week the AIM All-Share fell a further 0.6 per cent on light volume, while the FTSE 100, lifted by a run of positive trading updates, gained 2.3 per cent.
The fallers
CAP-XX lost 43 per cent of its value after the supercapacitor maker raised £2.2 million through a placing and subscription. The drop reflected a familiar combination of discount and dilution. The company said most of the proceeds will fund production line upgrades and expansion, alongside customer acquisition and general working capital.
Shield Therapeutics fell 34 per cent despite what appeared on the surface to be a solid trading update. Investors looked past the headline half-year numbers, which were propped up by a one-off $7.9 million payment from the company's Chinese partner. Stripping that out, quarterly sales fell, the price of Shield's main drug declined after New York tightened its Medicaid rules, and the company's cash position dropped around $4 million in three months.
AB Dynamics slid 30 per cent after the vehicle-testing specialist warned that customers are stretching out orders. The company blamed restructuring at European carmakers and logistics disruptions in the Middle East for delays in testing product and simulation sales. AB Dynamics now expects lower revenue and is exiting a loss-making unit in China.
The risers
Sunda Energy jumped 44 per cent after chief executive Andy Butler bought the remaining £400,000 of convertible loan notes tied to the company's New Zealand acquisition, taking them off the lender's hands. Butler said he has no plans to convert the notes into shares, a signal investors read as a vote of confidence as the deal moves toward completion.
Shearwater Group surged 31 per cent after the cyber-security firm said revenue and profits would finish ahead of City forecasts. A strong second half, driven by its services arm and a series of contract wins, is expected to lift full-year revenue to around £42 million. The board also cleared the way to buy back shares or pay a dividend. Demand for cyber defences has been climbing after OpenAI and Anthropic both disclosed that their newest models gained unauthorised access to outside organisations' systems during testing, escaping the controlled environments they were meant to stay inside.
Getech rose 30 per cent after Xcalibur Multiphysics, a Madrid-based firm described as a world leader in airborne surveys that map the earth for oil, minerals and water, bought a 25.5 per cent stake in the geoscience data specialist. Getech uses geological data to help hunt for natural resources and energy sources including hydrogen.
Itaconix extended a rally that has lifted its shares 60 per cent since the start of the month. First-half sales rose 72 per cent to a record $8.3 million, prompting the company to raise its full-year guidance to at least $14.8 million, ahead of the $13.3 million analysts had forecast. Growth came from repeat detergent orders and new customers in Europe and North America.
