Pinnacle climbs down from flotation attempt

The repairs and maintenance firm was unable to raise its target of £15m through flotation.

Instead, it has borrowed £10m from banks and investors.

This money will go towards expanding its private finance initiative work.

Chief executive John Swinney said the failed flotation was no reflection of the health of the firm.

“It was to do with the market and nothing to do with us,” he said.

He attributed the problems to an exceedingly busy period on the alternative investment market, the stock exchange for small firms.

He said: “It’s the busiest July it has ever had – there must have been 20 or so firms floating.”

He said Pinnacle had visited 40 potential investors and six had said they would put money into the firm.

This would have raised about £4m.

Competition to attract investors was stiff, he said, because Pinnacle was trying to float at the same time as advertising firm M&C Saatchi and phone company Virgin Mobile.

He added that Pinnacle had not been prepared to reduce its price.

He said the firm might try to float again, but not for at least a year.

“We don’t have any need for the money [from the flotation] but we did want the profile that goes with being a public company. We had to compromise but we are still going to do the things we were going to do.”

He estimated the flotation would have cost the firm less than £1m.