Bonmarché finishes AIM Market float on a high

As we reported last week on our Facebook page the Wakefield based company that is best associated with over 50’s fashion was looking to raise £40 million when it floated on the AIM Market last Wednesday. The firm had said that its decision had come following recovering consumer spending with the intention of expanding its footprint and range.

Chief executive Beth Butterwick said: “We are delighted to announce that our initial public offering has been successfully received.

“We would like to welcome our new shareholders and are looking forward to the next stage in the development of the business as a publicly quoted company.”

Their shares closed well above the initial share price offering that was set at 200p, finally closing at 220.5p and valuing the retailer at £110m.

Other News

It was a busy week on the AIM Market and in other news we saw Applied Graphene Material s (AGM) announce that they were looking to raise £11m with a placing price of 155p per share. AIM fever showed no signs of abating when the firm floated as the company saw a massive jump of more than 120% in its first two days seeing its shares changing hands at 342p giving the company a value of £57m.

This month has seen further announcements for two more start-ups planning to float on AIM further boosting the market’s reputation as a popular place for new companies to list.

SyQic and Caredus both plan to launch onto the Alternative Investment Market next month. The education group Caredus who offer vocational qualifications and basic numeracy, literacy and ICT courses are looking to raise £5m in a bid to further public sector contracts.

SyQic who are an on-demand online video system is looking to seek a market capitalisation of around £14.4m, “SyQic is operating in a fast growth market and the company is at a pivotal stage in its development,” said chief executive Jamal Hassim.

Both firms are looking to launch on the AIM Market in December.

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