Winners and Losers: Australian Vintage slumps after emergency capital raise
The owner of South Australian wine brands Nepenthe and Barossa Valley Wine Company was the week’s biggest Loser after raising $15 million.
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![Nepenthe owner Australian Vintage was the week's biggest Loser. Photo: Nepenthe.](http://wp.indaily.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/image-1200x800-2024-06-17T091648.709.png?resize=1313,876&quality=90)
Nepenthe owner Australian Vintage was the week's biggest Loser. Photo: Nepenthe.
Shares in Australian Vintage fell by almost 40 per cent on news that it was raising up to $20 million to stay afloat amid a challenging wine market and after its failed merger with the nation’s second-biggest wine company Accolade.
The company resumed trade last Tuesday after about three weeks off the board and announced a $20 million equity raise at 20 cents per new share to provide the company with liquidity and financial flexibility.
On Thursday, Australian Vintage confirmed it raised $15 million in the placement and institutional entitlement offer, and would issue about 75 million new shares to existing and new investors who took part in the raise.
The share price did not recover over the five days and closed out the shorter trading week at 19 cents per share, giving the company a market capitalisation of $48 million.
The company has about $65 million in debt, and chair Richard Davis also announced he would step down after the $20 million raise is completed.
It follows news that Australian Vintage’s proposed merger with Accolade – the second largest wine company in Australia – had failed to land.
PNX Metals was another Loser for the week. Over the four days of trading, the company said it would receive Northern Territory government co-funding for a deep diamond drill hole near the Thunderball uranium deposit in the Top End.
“We thank the NT Government for approving this grant to target deep uranium mineralisation at the Thunderball uranium deposit,” executive chairman Graham Ascough said.
“This approval highlights the significant uranium prospectivity within PNX’s Hayes Creek project area and the data collected from this drill hole and other planned drilling around Hayes Creek will provide stronger controls to target uranium mineralisation.”
Maggie Beer Holdings was another Loser despite making no new announcements to shareholders. At the same time, Koonenberry Gold fell by 15.79 per cent over the four days and announced drilling results from its Bellagio gold prospect.
“Our work at Bellagio continues to show that there is a lot of widespread bedrock gold,” Koonenberry managing director Dan Power said.
The top Winner of the week was NeuRizer, which shot up by 85.71 per cent before going into a trading halt after the ASX issued a speeding warning.
NeuRizer said it would make an announcement this week about a proposed acquisition, and would respond to the ASX’s questions about its sudden share price spike.
Axiom Properties landed in the second Winner’s spot with a 24.44 per cent share price increase, while LBT Innovations cracked into the Winners list on heavy trading volume. Like NeuRizer, LBT Innovations has to respond to an ASX price query.
The full list of Winners and Losers for the week ending 14 June:
Data compiled by Baker Young Limited analysts.