Shares in Arria NLG shed 40% of their value yesterday after the firm warned it needs to raise additional funding as it cancels its listing in London and moves to markets in Australia and New Zealand.
The firm, which started as a spin-out from Aberdeen University, said it aims to raise £14million in a pre-subscription offer.
But it said that if this move was not approved and supported by shareholders it would need to pursue funding from “alternative sources”, adding that if it failed to do so its “ability to operate as a going concern may be put at risk during the first quarter of 2017”.
The company stressed it has invested around £35million in its “natural language generation capabilities” over the last four years.
The company said it expects its shares to be delisted from AIM on January 20 if the move to cancel is passed at a general meeting.
The company currently expects its New Zealand and Australian listings to complete in March 2017, via a new holding company, Arria NZ.
It further said its listing on the London Stock Exchange junior market had “commercial disadvantages” and that the costs of maintaining an AIM quote “outweigh the potential benefits”.
It said its market capitalisation of approximately £16.4million – as at 16 December, the last business day prior to the publication of yesterday’s document – was “materially below the true value of Arria UK”.
Last night the company was worth around £13.3million following the share price slump to 8.25p.
