RE: Back trading30 Jun 2018 19:23
Aim rules this meant that the shares were automatically suspended.
"We had been engaged in a fundraising process and had communicated to the market that we needed to raise funds this year," he said.
"We delayed the fundraising because we were waiting for a key deal with AkzoNobel to be agreed before we felt we could engage with investors. We still have enough cash, we aren’t in any insolvent situation."
Mr Matthews expects Itaconix to raise £3.2m through a share placing with new and existing investors. He said it would probably take up to 10 days before the shares could start trading hands again.
"Woodford will be supportive and others have indicated their support. We would expect this to get us well through 2019 and into 2020," he said.
US-based Itaconix has a complicated history. It developed a technology back in 2008 that enabled it to produce polymers made out of corn, rather than petroleum, at an industrial scale and without costing huge sums of money.
The hope was that biopolymers would become the next big thing as companies in the business of making things like shampoo and laundry detergent looked at more eco-friendly ways of manufacturing their products.