Ethical Holdings Suffers Delay To London Listing

Ethical Holdings, a UK biotechnology company which is already listedon the Nasdaq in the USA, has decided to postpone its planned flotation on the London Stock Exchange (Marketletters passim). In recent weeks interest in biotechnology stocks in London has been subdued, and uncertainty ahead of the Labour government's first budget has also contributed to the decision to hold back.

Ahead of the budget scheduled for July 2, Justin Glover, the firm's head of corporate communications and executive assistant to company chairman Geoffrey Guy, told the Marketletter that the firm has encountered difficulties in relation to proposed measures rumored to be included in the budget that would remove the tax credit for dividend payments to pension funds.

"This has meant that pension funds are reluctant to pay into new issues at the moment," said Mr Glover. He stressed that the decision is only a delay and that the flotation, through which Ethical hopes to raise L20 million ($33.45 million), should take place shortly after the budget.