Directors’ Deals: Oxford Nanopore chair boosts holding

The temper music surrounding the London Inventory Change appears extra discordant by the day. After the likes of Ferguson and CRH determined to pursue main listings within the US, and chip maker Arm ignored the UK authorities’s lobbying efforts, the LSE’s bosses can have been stung by criticism from Intercontinental Lodges Group chief govt Keith Barr. 

Dwindling liquidity meant the UK inventory market is at present “not a really enticing place”, he informed the FT final week.

The final massive win for the LSE was convincing genomic sequencing firm Oxford Nanopore to record on its dwelling market somewhat than the Nasdaq alternate favoured by biotech friends. Nonetheless, given the reception since its market debut round 18 months in the past, it’s little surprise that its chief govt Gordon Sanghera additionally just lately thought-about pursuing a list elsewhere. After debuting at 425p, the shares initially soared to a excessive of 736p in December 2021, giving it a valuation of over £6bn. However they’ve been broadly heading downwards ever since, and closed final week 68 per cent off their peak, with a market cap of round £1.9bn.

It will be unfair to put the blame for this solely at its itemizing venue. Lossmaking expertise shares have been punished in most markets, with Nasdaq’s US small-cap biotechnology index falling in worth by 32 per cent over the identical interval.

Though the corporate halved pre-tax losses to £83.4mn in 2022, it’s nonetheless round three years away from breaking even at a money revenue stage, in keeping with analysts’ estimates. 

Its expertise is very rated, although, and the FactSet consensus goal value of 347p is greater than 50 per cent larger than present ranges. Chair Duncan Tatton-Brown appears to suppose there’s worth available — he just lately purchased over £215,000-worth at a median of 216p a share.

Hollywood Bowl HR boss knocks down stake

Whereas leisure tastes and fads have come and gone in current many years, tenpin bowling has hung round and continues to be a cheap choice. This has ensured that Hollywood Bowl has continued to extend gross sales. It reported report first-half gross sales this month of £111mn (2022: £100mn). This enchancment, equal to 11 per cent, or 3.5 per cent on a like-for-like foundation, got here regardless of a basic discount in discretionary spending. The corporate continues to develop, including new centres in addition to fixing up present places. 

Chief govt Stephen Burns mentioned Hollywood Bowl would maintain a development focus whereas its “insulation from value of products and power inflationary pressures” would maintain earnings from touchdown within the gutter. 

This was the backdrop towards which chief officer Melanie Dickinson bought simply over £300,000 in shares, at a median value of 248p. The corporate’s share value had run up earlier than the unscheduled buying and selling assertion, and it has continued that transfer up as of publication time, sitting at 256p. Dickinson has obtained in earlier than the closed interval earlier than outcomes are launched; Hollywood Bowl will publish its half-year figures subsequent month. 

Peel Hunt upgraded its forecasts after final week’s buying and selling replace, lifting gross sales expectations by 3 per cent to £197mn and pre-tax revenue estimates by 6 per cent to £42mn.