Plant Impact raises £6mln ahead of investment programme

Agriculture bioscience specialist Plant Impact has raised £6.2mln in a placing with existing and new institutional investors.

The proceeds will partially fund investments into new products and technologies to improve the yield and resilience of soy and wheat production, the company said.

Plant Impact intends to make investments of up to £11mln over the next three years. The investments will also be covered by existing and internally-generated cash.

The company expects the investment programme will underpin a geographic expansion, particularly in the important North American markets for soy and wheat.

Chief executive John Brubaker said: "We are extremely pleased with the achievements of our business over the past three years, and aim to continue to support our strategy through the development of new products, the expansion into new geographies and the attraction of new talent to our company.

“This fundraising supports our multi-year technology development commitment to soy and wheat, accelerating our ability to commercialise new products in these important global crops.”

Charles Hall, analyst at Peel Hunt, repeated a ‘buy’ recommendation for Plant Impact and said the acceleration and investment substantially raises the long term prospects for the business.

“This follows the recent multi-region agreement with Bayer CropScience on its soy development pipeline,” he said in a note.

“This fundraising provides ample resources to deliver on the company’s plan.”