Looking back8 May 2026 08:29
I have been a holder of Avacta for a long time. So long, in fact, that I couldn't remember when I originally got involved. I do recall going to a presentation in the City by Avacta management to hear about the potential of their offering, etc. I was quite blown away by the potential. So anyway, I checked with ChatGPT when it listed, and it came up with an interesting take; I hope you don't mind me sharing it with you below.
Broadly, AVCT’s price journey looks like this:
It joined AIM on 8 August 2006 at 2.25p per share, so for a long time it was a very small-cap, relatively low-profile stock.
For much of its earlier listed life, the shares traded at low levels and behaved like a classic speculative AIM biotech: long periods of modest valuation, punctuated by bursts of optimism around commercial and clinical developments. The huge step-change in attention came later, when Avacta became much more widely followed during the pandemic era and then again as its oncology story developed. You can see that long-run pattern on the historical price record and current long-range chart.
In simple terms, the share-price story has had three big phases:
First, an early long low-base period after listing, when it was still proving out the business and the market cap was relatively small.
Second, a major speculative surge years later, when investor interest increased sharply and the stock moved from being a niche AIM name to one followed much more actively by retail investors. That was the period that produced the really dramatic spike visible on the long-term chart.
Third, a sharp de-rating and recapitalisation phase, which is common in development-stage life sciences businesses once enthusiasm gives way to funding needs, dilution concerns and the slower reality of commercial and clinical execution. A good example is the 2024 fundraise, when Avacta raised money at 50p per new share, and the company stated that this represented a 34% discount to the closing price on 27 February 2024.
So the plain-English summary is:
AVCT started life as a 2.25p AIM stock, spent years as a small speculative share, then had a very large boom, and later suffered a big retreat, with fresh capital raised at 50p in 2024. Today it is still a stock whose history has been driven more by funding cycles, sentiment and milestone expectations than by the smooth, steady pattern you would see in an established blue-chip business.
Using the 2006 placing price of 2.25p, a £1,000 investment would have bought about 44,444 shares at listing, ignoring dealing costs and the fact you usually could not buy at the exact placing price as a normal market investor.
Using the recent quoted market price of about 81p on the London Stock Exchange page, those 44,444 shares would be worth roughly £36,000 today. That is simply 44,444 × £0.81.
So in very rough terms:
Invested at listing: £1,000
Approximate shares bought: 44,444
Value at 81p: about £36,000
That is about a 36x return before cost
Sign In
Follow the stocks
