Pursuit boss quits after losses jump
BRITISH technology developer Pursuit Dynamics yesterday announced a deeply-discounted cash call to shareholders, a wider annual loss and the departure of its chief exec Roel Pieper.
The firm said it needed to raise £9.4m to fund the commercialisation of its portfolio, which includes technologies for saving energy and speeding up mixing and heating processes.
The one-for-eight rights issue at 100p a share — a 51 per cent discount to Wednesday’s closing price — comes just eight months after Pursuit Dynamics raised £8m through a placing in April.
For the year ended to 30 September the company reported pre-tax losses of £15.3m, compared with £8.7m last year. Sales totalled just £490,000.
Pursuit Dynamics forecast sales of at least £22m for 2011-12 and said it expected to be cash flow positive before the end of this financial year, having missed its prior target.
Non-executive director Jeremy Pelczer will act as interim chief executive until a permanent replacement for Pieper is found. Pursuit’s shares slumped 54 per cent yesterday.