A second listed business has announced plans to quit the
London Stock Exchange’s AIM in as many days. Specialist infection prevention and control specialist Byotrol said its directors have “concluded unanimously that being listed is no longer in the best interests of the company.” In a statement , the Chester-headquartered firm said that “despite recent good progress in the products business, it is no longer financially viable for Byotrol to continue to trade as an AIM-quoted business.” Byotrol said that as a private business it will be able to “take and implement decisions more quickly than a company that is publicly traded”. The firm, which has a market capitalisation of less than £1m, also said that continuing to be listed on AIM has become “unnecessarily costly and regulatorily burdensome” for the current stage of its development given its “urgent need to reach sustainable break-even and to eliminate all non-core costs.” If the plans are approved at a general meeting of shareholders on April 22, Byotrol will then seek an equity fundraise of up to £500,000. The news comes after drug company C4X Discovery announced plans on Wednesday, March 27, to quit the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market. The Manchester-headquartered business said the “recent downturn in the financial markets has adversely impacted our share price, and with it, our future ability to raise funds in the public markets.” C4X Discovery added that its current public market valuation “does not reflect the underlying potential of our business or our achievements to date and that this is unlikely to change in the short-to-medium term.” If the decision is approved at a general meeting on April 15, the move will take effect on April 26.