Nanoco Group, a small-cap semiconductor company based in Manchester, is leaving the London Stock Exchange to cut annual costs of £700,000.
The firm cited weak liquidity and volatile investor sentiment as key reasons behind the decision to delist from the main market.
Nanoco told shareholders the move would help protect its £10.1m cash pile and extend its financial runway as it works toward commercialisation and break-even.
The company warned that remaining listed risked diverting resources away from core Business investment at a critical stage of its development.
“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.
Shareholders will be asked to approve the delisting next month, with trading in Nanoco’s shares expected to end in July if the vote passes.
The announcement follows Nanoco’s decision earlier this year to abandon a sale process, with its shares having fallen sharply in recent years despite securing major litigation settlements with firms including Samsung and LG.
Nanoco’s exit adds to mounting pressure on the London Stock Exchange, which has been grappling with growing concerns over the health of the UK listings market and its ability to retain Tech companies.
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 dampening appetite among firms preparing to float.
London’s newest listings have struggled badly, with five of the biggest listings of 2025 falling by an average of 26 per cent since the start of the year, with several trading below their IPO price.
Wise recently shifted its primary listing to New York, while City AM reported 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.
The government has faced intensifying pressure to revive the City’s equity markets, with Lucy Rigby recently admitting tax policy “matters” when firms decide where to list, following the Treasury’s introduction of a temporary stamp duty exemption for newly-listed companies.
Several fintech executives have privately warned that current reforms do not go far enough to compete with the deeper pools of capital available in the United States.
“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 has also attempted to revive market sentiment through a wider overhaul of listing rules and IPO regulation, while the London Stock Exchange is promoting its new private share trading venue PISCES as an alternative for growth companies reluctant to go public.
Nanoco said going private would provide 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 as a private business would allow management to move faster on commercial and legal negotiations as it continues developing its semiconductor technology.