APPRENTICESHIP LEVY LAUNCHED INTO CHAOS

08 NEWS THURSDAY 6 APRIL 2017
Tech innovation
group’s stock
takes a plunge
LYNSEY BARBER
@lynseybarber
SHARES in the Neil-Woodford-backed
tech innovation group Allied Minds
dived 29 per cent yesterday after the
firm announced a restructuring that
is expected to result in $146.6m
(£118m) of writedown costs.
Seven of the FTSE 250-listed US company’s
subsidiaries will be dropped,
via a sale, transfer of assets or liquidation
in order to focus on other areas
of the business.
“Capital and management resources
unlocked from this process will be diverted
to other companies and opportunities
in the portfolio where there
is greatest potential for value creation,”
the company said in an update
to the market.
Neil Woodford’s funds own a 29 per
cent stake in the firm and are collectively
one of its biggest shareholders.
Allied Minds, which invests in earlystage
companies and R&D to commercialise
their technology will discontinue
Biotectix, Cephalogics, CryoXtract;
Novare Pharmaceuticals, Optio
Labs, RF Biocidics, and Tinnitus Treatment
Solutions.
It expects to free up around $14m
from the restructuring for the year
ahead, minus charges of $4.7m in the
second quarter.
“Today’s measures are a necessary
step in refocusing the company on the
areas where we have most potential,”
said interim chief executive Jill Smith.
ALLIED MINDS
350
300
250
200
P
5 Apr
185
150
30 Mar 31 Mar 3 Apr 4 Apr
5 Apr
Imagination Technologies provides chips for Apple products like the iPhone
Imagine that: Apple supplier’s
shares have the break-up blues
SHRUTI TRIPATHI CHOPRA
@shrutitripathi6
IMAGINATION Technologies’s shares
fell more than 12 per cent yesterday
as its future remains uncertain after
it emerged this week that it may lose
its biggest customer, Apple.
Imagination’s shares plunged 60
per cent on Monday after news broke
that Apple plans to develop its own
technology. The drop saw the group’s
market capitalisation plummet from
£754m to £290m.
However, shares rose 12 per cent on
Tuesday after analysts said
Imagination is a takeover target and
could attract buyers from China.
Shares in the British chip maker
closed down 12.26 per cent to 102p
last night.
CITYAM.COM
Shoreditch is
out as top site
for UK startups
LYNSEY BARBER
@lynseybarber
SHOREDITCH has falled from
favour as the hotspot for tech
startups, while the popularity of a
reinvented King’s Cross is on the
rise, new figures reveal.
The majority of startups are now
looking for space in Soho and
Clerkenwell, data from Hubble
shared exclusively with City A.M.
shows, leapfrogging Tech City.
But it’s King’s Cross that has
experienced the biggest growth in
interest from startups searching
for a home.
Just three years ago it was
Shoreditch that attracted the
greatest interest on Hubble,
accounting for almost a quarter of
all searches on the platform, but it
has now been relegated into third
position due to a hike in rent costs.
Interest in the heart of Tech City
declined 14 per cent in the period
since the vote for Brexit compared
to the same period the year before,
and accelerating the previous
decline of five per cent experienced
in 2014/2015.
Interest in Soho and Clerkenwell
grew by a quarter to account for
more than a fifth of all searches.
Deliveroo to serve restaurant food
without bricks-and-mortar eateries
83North to focus on
Europe due to Brexit
LYNSEY BARBER
@lynseybarber
DELIVEROO is launching “dark
kitchens” across the UK to offer
delivery services to customers from
top eateries such as Gourmet Burger
Kitchen without the need for a
bricks-and-mortar restaurant to be
close by.
Some 30 kitchen-only locations
will be rolled out across 10 UK cities
by the end of the year with room for
200 restaurants, both well-known
chains and independents.
Co-founder Will Shu hailed
Deliveroo Editions as the biggest
development in the market since
the startup first launched and
expects it to become a “significant”
part of the business.
The new concept, which has been
trialled in a handful of spots in
London under the name RooBox, is
expected to create more than 1,000
new restaurant jobs and will
eventually be launched
internationally.
“For young entrepreneurs... who
don’t necessarily have the capital to
start a restaurant this is a way to
show banks that the business can
generate revenue, that there’s a
customer base,” Shu said.
“I think it’s a really good starting
point for entrepreneurs.”
LYNSEY BARBER
@lynseybarber
VENTURE capital firm 83North,
formerly known as Greylock IL and
a backer of Just Eat before it went
public, has raised a fresh multimillion
pound fund to invest in
startups in the UK, the rest of
Europe and Israel.
But it warned that it will
strengthen its focus on the rest of
Europe because of Brexit.
“Brexit definitely has the
potential to grow hubs outside of
the UK faster than it otherwise
would have,” said 83North London
partner Laurel Bowden.
“We still think the UK is a great
environment – that’s not going to
change overnight,” she added.
The firm will start making
investments with the fund early
next year.
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