Nanoco Group, the North West-based nanomaterials specialist that famously won $150m in an IP battle with Korean tech giant Samsung, has watched its shares plunge 45% to £3.75 this morning after it announced plans to cancel its listing on the London Stock Exchange and re-register as a private company.
It said the move would save around £700k a year in listing costs, extending the company’s cash runway as it pursues commercialisation of its technology.
Runcorn-HQ’d Nanoco had cash and cash equivalents of £10.1 million as at 19 May and said in a statement that it is not experiencing financial difficulty: “The company is neither currently experiencing any financial difficulty nor is it expected to in the near term,” it claimed. “These cost savings will extend the group’s cash runway, with a view to being break-even in the medium term. Additionally, this will also free up significant resource which can be allocated to the achievement of the group’s strategic objectives.”
The delisting would require approval from at least 75% of votes cast at a general meeting scheduled for 19 June.
If given the green light, the last day of dealings on the main market would be 17 July, with cancellation taking full effect on 20 July.
A matched bargain facility provided by JP Jenkins would offer shareholders a limited mechanism to trade shares after delisting, though the board cautioned that there is no guarantee of liquidity.
Today’s announcement follows the collapse earlier this year of a process to find a buyer for the group’s trading business, which was terminated in January.
Nanoco said it still believes it would ultimately be better served as part of a larger entity and that operating as a private company would allow it to pursue a future sale unencumbered by the disclosure obligations of a public listing.
The company has made recent operational progress, including extending a joint development agreement with one Asian chemical customer by three years, completing its first commercial production order, and landing £70k Innovate UK development funding last year.
Nanoco also received further proceeds from a successful litigation against another Korean giant, LG Electronics, concluded in November 2025, and reached a separate settlement with Shoei Chemical and Shoei Electronic Materials.
The board has already cut costs significantly, with four board members departing since February, reducing gross monthly cash operating costs by up to £400k.
Directors acknowledged that the UK public market environment for small companies with pre-commercialisation technology remains highly challenging, characterised by persistent undervaluation and limited liquidity, particularly where there is “significant customer concentration risk.”
