What’s this? An IPO of a company in the renewable energy sector? Time To Act [AQSE:TTA] became the Aquis Exchange’s newest member company last Wednesday (29th May), taking the index up to 103 companies.
The exchange is gradually becoming a real alternative for small-to-medium-sized companies looking to raise capital in the UK, but not having to deal with onerous expense and administration of a FTSE listing. The Time To Act IPO is the first on Aquis this year and gives the UK stock markets a welcome shot in the arm after the FTSE saw a slew of departures and non-starter IPOs in 2023.
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Moreover, the fact that Time To Act is hoping to become a key operator in the transition story, is notable, given the rhetoric being bandied around by politicians in the ongoing general election campaign who are talking up the UK’s next industrial revolution being focussed on sustainable technologies and renewable energy.
Key to renewable energy roll-out
The Stockton-on-Tees-based company issued just shy of 14 million shares with a market capitalisation of GBP6.9m and is currently trading at 50p. Time To Act is a renewable energy-focussed engineering business, and operates through two subsidiaries: Diffusion Alloys, which manufactures coatings that protect against metal degradation with specific applicability in large-scale hydrogen generation, and; GreenSpur, an intellectual property holding business that has developed a Rare Earth-free generator, that can be used in wind and tidal generation.
Time To Act says that the generator, should it reach commercial-application, should be the most environmentally-friendly generator ever built and can be scaled between 10kW to more than 20MW. The roll-out of renewable energy generators has been stymied by the need to integrate Rare Earth magnets into the design. Rare Earth is, well, rare and the minerals’ supply chain is controlled by a few state actors, which raised flags as to gaining true energy independence for many countries in the West developing their renewable energy assets.
Time to Act IPO raises its public profile
The company primarily operates in the onshore wind, offshore wind and tidal energy markets, all technologies being rapidly developed in the UK and across Europe. Management at Time To Act explained that the company went down the IPO route with Aquis to raise its profile with the public and attract new investors, although the company is well-capitalised with GBP1.9m cash on hand at end of 1Q24 and sees its revenue and topline growth at least 50% per annum.
Time To Act’s executive chairman, Chris Hemmingway said: “Listing on the AQSE Growth Market marks a significant milestone for the company […] Time To Act is committed to fostering innovation in this sector and developing engineering-led solutions for a cleaner, greener world. Being listed on the AQSE Growth Market will play an important role in helping us to deliver on this commitment.”
The company is on a growth trajectory and is not averse to making future strategic acquisitions to develop the business, and with its listing on Aquis can fund these acquisitions through the issue of new share capital.
Time to Act’s decision adds to the growing reputation of Aquis as a new home for new economy business looking to raise their profile and tap into new sources of capital in a straightforward, lower-cost and transparent manner.
