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(Alliance News) - C4X Discovery Holdings PLC shares plunged on Wednesday after it said it plans to delist from AIM in London, due to "the recent downturn in the financial markets" hampering its valuation.
C4X shares dropped 24% to 10.00 pence on late on Wednesday morning in London.
The Manchester, England-based drug discovery company will seek shareholder approval to delist from AIM at a general meeting on April 5. It expects the cancellation to take effect on the morning of April 26.
Following the delisting, C4X intends to re-register as a private limited company.
Chief Executive Officer Clive Dix said the decision follows "an extensive review and deliberation to ascertain the most effective way to maximise shareholder value in the longer term and increase the potential for [our] long-term success".
He added that "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...we can potentially access a larger quantum of future funding required to accelerate our strategy as a private company".
Also on Wednesday, C4X released its results for the six months to January 31.
The company swung to a GBP17.8 million pretax profit, following its GBP5.2 million loss in the first half of financial 2023.
Revenue, meanwhile, soared to GBP24.6 million from GBP1.7 million.
C4X said this reflected receipt of GBP15.9 million from selling the rights to its Orexin-1 receptor antagonist to Indivior PLC in August, and a USD11 million or GBP8.7 million milestone payment from AstraZeneca PLC. The latter, received in early January, stemmed from preclinical progress of C4X's NRF2 Activator programme which it licensed out to AstraZeneca in November.
Research & Development expenses remained stable at GBP5.2 million, "reflecting focused investment in key drug discovery programmes focused on immune-inflammatory diseases."
Looking ahead, C4X believes it is "in a strong financial position with the potential for further milestone payments over the next 18 months".
It said that once it officially becomes a private company, it will be able to "accelerate our strategy and...maximise revenue from our portfolio", assuming it can access those larger pools of potential funding.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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