The London Stock Exchange announced that trading in the shares of Thurso-based battery cell developer AMTE Power has been temporarily suspended “as a result of the deterioration in settlement performance” following AMTE’s “recent notification in relation to the issue of new shares which are conditional on shareholder consent.”
On September 8, shares of AMTE Power fell about 78% to around 2.07p after it announced details of a heavily discounted fundraising.
AMTE said on September 8 it has conditionally placed 124,476,380 new ordinary shares at 1.7p per share to raise £2.1 million.
AMTE went public at £1.75 per share in March 2021 and quickly rose as high as £3.14 — but its shares have since fallen about 99%.
The firm was founded in 2013 and is a developer and manufacturer of lithium-ion and sodium-ion battery cells for specialist markets.
AMTE Power’s purpose-built cell manufacturing facility in Thurso has the second largest cell manufacturing capacity in the UK and the company also has a product development team based in Oxford.
The company’s proposed gigafactory in Dundee would be capable of producing over eight million battery cells per annum.
The stock exchange said: “London Stock Exchange has been monitoring the settlement situation in AMTE Power plc following the company’s recent notification in relation to the issue of new shares which are conditional on shareholder consent.
“As a result of the deterioration in settlement performance, the trading of AMTE Power plc shares has been temporarily suspended under Rule 1510 of the Rules of the London Stock Exchange.
“Settlement of outstanding transactions can continue whilst the security is suspended.
“The Exchange will continue to monitor the settlement situation and when trading is to be restored, the market will be notified by Stock Exchange Notice …
“Rule 5000 (Obligation to settle) and its associated guidance places an obligation on member firms to ensure that every on Exchange trade is duly settled on the agreed settlement date.
“This obligation remains even if the reason for non-settlement is a customer or counterparty having failed to settle other transactions in the same security.”
Liam Smith
Head of Market Supervision