Good morning!

It's quiet for company news today, so I'll look into T.Clarke in a bit more detail, as it's a company that interests me. But first, a few other snippets.


Armour (LON:AMR)

Share price: 3.5p (down 26% today)
No. shares: 97.1m
Market cap: £3.4m

Suspension - shares in this tiny cash shell will be suspended tomorrow morning, because it has fallen foul of the rule that cash shells must invest in something within 12 months;

Unfortunately, in accordance with Rule 15 of the AIM Rules for Companies ("AIM Rules"), the Company's shares will be suspended from trading on AIM from 7.30 a.m. on 5 August 2015 as the Company has not been able to complete an acquisition which constitutes a reverse takeover under the AIM Rules, or otherwise implement its investing policy within the twelve months permitted.

This reminds me of a meeting I had about 8 years ago with the CEO of an acquisitive AIM-listed group. Well, I say meeting, it was more that he was in the area, and dropped in for a coffee at my place, and we had a chat about various bits & pieces.

One issue that we discussed was some cash shell which was being suspended because it had failed to find anything to invest in. The CEO was incredulous at this, and he quipped, "Why didn't they just buy a local hair salon, or a newsagent, anything!" in order to remain Listed?

Clearly such a small acquisition would not constitute a reverse takeover, but it could be described as the first in a series of investments, and thereby perhaps keep the shares listed?

What is also surprising, is that there seems to be a stampede for the exit today, the last day of trading for AMR shares before suspension, despite the 12-month rule being widely known. So how come AMR shareholders didn't see this coming, and sell their shares before today's announcement?

The company confirms that it had £3.7m in cash at the interim period end. Seeing as that was 28 Feb 2015, I cannot see the relevance of quoting today what its cash position was over five months ago. Surely it would have been more relevant to tell shareholders & other interested parties what the cash position is today?!

So, if anyone has a small company that you want to list, this cash shell might fit the bill, as it…

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