Small cap tech firm quits LSE to cut costs in latest market blow
Small-cap semiconductor firm Nanoco Group is quitting the London Stock Exchange in a bid to save £700,000 a year, in the latest setback for Britain’s struggling public markets.
The Manchester-based tech business said the annual costs of maintaining its listing had become too burdensome for a company of its size, as it blamed weak liquidity and volatile investor sentiment for the decision.
Nanoco told shareholders the delisting would help preserve its £10.1m cash pile and extend its financial runway as it attempts to commercialise its tech and reach break-even.
The company said remaining listed risked draining resources that could otherwise be invested into the business.
“The UK public market environment for small companies remains highly challenging,” the firm said, adding that companies with “early-stage, pre-commercialisation technology” had been hit especially hard.
The company plans to seek shareholder approval next month to leave the main market and re-register as a private company. If approved, trading in its shares would end in July.
The move comes after Nanoco abandoned a sale process earlier this year, with the company’s shares down sharply in recent years despite securing major litigation settlements with firms including Samsung and LG.
London tech market under pressure
Nanoco’s departure forms the latest hit to the London Stock Exchange, which has been battling concerns over the health of the UK listings market and the growing difficulty of retaining tech firms.
Just two companies were listed in London during the first quarter of 2026, according to EY-Parthenon, raising a combined £12.8m across the main market and AIM.
Analysts blamed geopolitical instability and sharp valuation resets across AI and software stocks for cooling appetite among firms preparing to float.
London’s newest IPOs have also struggled badly, with five of the biggest listings of 2025 falling by an average of 26 per cent since the start of the eyar, with several trading well below their IPO price.
Even some of Britain’s largest fintechs have begun wavering over London, with Wise recently shifting its primary listing to New York, while Morning Wire revealed in February that key Starling Bank investor Harald McPike had grown frustrated with the pace of UK market reforms and was warming to a US float instead.
The pressure has only intensified pressure on the government’s efforts to revive the City’s equity markets, with Lucy Rigby recently admitting tax policy “matters” when firms decide where to list, after the Treasury introduced a temporary stamp duty exemption for newly-listed companies.
But several fintech executives have privately warned the reforms do not yet go far enough to compete with the deeper pools of capital available in the US.
“This is about a direction of travel,” Rigby said at Innovate Finance’s Global Summit earlier this year. “What we want to do is further make sure that we are getting capital into some of the places where we really, really want to be able to drive growth.”
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also attempted to revive sentiment through a wider overhaul of listing rules and IPO regulation, while the London Stock Exchange is pushing its new private share trading venue PISCES as an alternative route for growth companies reluctant to go public.
Nanoco said going private would also give it greater strategic flexibility and make it easier to pursue future sale discussions away from the disclosure obligations attached to public markets.
The company added that operating privately would allow management to move faster on commercial and legal negotiations as it continues developing its semiconductor technology.