AIQ (AIQ) joined the Standard List in early January and spent most of the first four months of its life suspended due to a disorderly market, had to correct its admission document because it had missed out some information and steps had to be taken to remove some internet references to businesses which, we are told, it had nothing to do with. It was a shambles. This morning it released its interim numbers to April.
I called Standard Listed AIQ (AIQ) lower when it announced its Open Offer and the shares have (very roughly) halved, but there is plenty more to go. This morning it announced that the offer, at 20p, had been oversubscribed but remember that the net assets per share (all cash) are around 8-10p.
Having made it back to the market after its second suspension (and it only listed in January!), Standard-listed AIQ (AIQ) has now launched the promised open offer at 20p. Meanwhile, the shares have been collapsing from the suspension price of 135p to just 55.5p last seen. So the open offer is a giveaway, right?
Amazingly, the cash shell that is Standard Listed AIQ (AIQ) – with somewhere around 8-10p per share of cash and nothing else – has again returned from suspension this morning. The shares, having peaked (ahead of the last suspension) at 150p to buy are now in free fall, sitting on a spread (last seen) of 80p (to sell) to 130p (to buy). I have no hesitation in recommending a sell – there is, after all, only 8-10p of value here. What does surprise me is that there has been no official comment whatsoever from the company – or, indeed, anyone else.
The only surprise is that this didn’t happen sooner. Standard-listed AIQ has been suspended again, under Rule 1510 of the Rules of the London Stock Exchange. Unlike last time, it was not at the request of the company, this is the regulators in action (as opposed to inaction last Friday). It also means that having listed on January 9th this year, the stock has been trading for just 3 days in January and two and a half in April – a total of five and a half days over the course of a day short of fifteen weeks. Is this some kind of record?
On Friday at 1.21pm we published a piece asking what was going on with Standard listed AIQ (AIQ). After all, the shares had only just come back from suspension following a disorderly market from when it was first listed in January. But the share were once again rising sharply, and at 115p way ahead of the 8-10p a share of cash that this cash shell had. At 1.55pm the company released an RNS saying that it:
Standard-listed AIQ, (AIQ) having shaken off my questions, corrected the record over its directors’ other directorships and supposedly dealt with the lack of stock available which sent the shares sky-high when it first listed has finally got its shares unsuspended as of yesterday. But once again the shares are trading at an absurd level for a cash-shell with perhaps, at absolute best, around 10p a share of cash: at time of writing, and no investments, the spread is 100p – 130p!
In one of the most bizarre listings the UKLA has allowed through, AIQ (AIQ) got onto the Standard List in January, only to be suspended three days later. The shares had gone mad, rising to 125p at suspension despite being a simple cash shell having raised money at just 8p. It seems that there were buyers but nobody could sell as their shares were paper certificates which had not arrived. But there were a few other matters too.
Andrew Monk of VSA Capital has answered the questions raised in my previous two articles covering Standard-listed (but still suspended) AIQ (AIQ). He has to be credited for following up on the issues presented, and being open with his answers.
Nigel Somerville penned two articles on AIQ (AIQ) which, I thought were pretty damning as you can see HERE and HERE. The valuation is clearly bonkers and I say that as a shareholder (by accident not design). Andrew Monk of VSA floated AIQ and has penned this response which I am happy to publish in full as it all seems very comprehensive and reassuring. I really don't know what to think other than that the valuation at the suspension price is bonkers on steroids.
Having taken a look at the prospectus for the flotation of AIQ (AIQ) on the Standard list in part 1 we now move on to Mama Captain, Barrel2U, Mama Harbour and iBuddee. These outfits have faced allegations of being ponzi/MLM (multi-level marketing)/pyramid/money game schemes.
Last week’s flotation of AIQ (AIQ) on the LSE’s standard list raised a lot of questions. For a start there was demand for the stock, but apparently no stock available to buy: it seems the registrar had yet to send out certificates and so the shares rocketed until they were suspended. But after much digging, there appears to be rather more to the story than the listing of a bare Cayman Islands shell. Where to start?
Clearly, the whole AIQ (AIQ) IPO was a farce the way it has been handled and having also been digging around, there is more to come but I will leave it in the excellent hands of Nigel to report further on the dodginess here. I will just turn my hand to a bit of poetry inspired by Monk’s defence this morning and by recent Twitter hilarity.
Andrew Monk's VSA floated AIQ on the Standard List last week. Its shares soared 1000% and were suspended. As Andrew notes, through the passive investment vehicle RRR I own shares in AIQ (about £10 worth - CORRECTION I am told it is £1841 worth!). I will try to sell the lot as the valuation is insane. But Monk wants to defend his corner so before our writers really go to town - and I am on their side - here is Monkey in his private email to clients today...
Our good friend and occasional correspondent in these parts, Graham Chester, has also been looking at Standard Listed (as of Tuesday) AIQ (AIQ), which rose from 8p to 125p to have a value of £62.5 million for its £3.6 million of cash and nothing else. Like me, he has become a bit of an anorak on China Frauds so when a familiar name crops up….
Suspended today becuase the market is disorderly, AIQ (AIQ) listed on the Standard list just two days ago at 8p per share, raising £3.6 million. It is a special purpose acquisition company incorporated in the Cayman Islands and formed to undertake one or more acquisitions of target companies or businesses in the e-commerce sector. Er, so it’s got no business at the moment and just £3.6 million (minus costs) in the bank and is now worth an incredible £62.5 million! Bollocks.
