London, June 30, 2026, 21:05 BST
- Manolete Partners Plc (LON:MANO) was quoted up 8% after the London close, with sell/buy prices at 38p/41p.
- CEO Mena Halton sold 108,305 shares at 38p after exercising options, a sale equal to about 52% of the day’s HL-reported volume.
- The stock still traded at about 0.42 times FY26 NAV by market value, keeping the valuation debate on cash conversion and debt.
- Manolete’s FY26 forward book rose 37% to £67 million, while net cashflow moved to a £0.2 million outflow.
Manolete Partners Plc (LON:MANO) rose on Tuesday after a same-day director dealing notice showed Chief Executive Mena Halton sold shares to cover costs tied to an option exercise, a transaction that looked large against daily volume but small against the new share count.
Hargreaves Lansdown showed Manolete’s sell/buy quote at 38p/41p after the London close, up 3p, or 8%, with volume of 206,574 shares and a market value of £17.74 million. The FTSE AIM All-Share was up 0.27% near the close, Google Finance data showed. HL
Halton exercised options over 175,000 shares at a nominal 0.4p on June 29, then sold 108,305 shares at 38p on June 30 for £41,155.90, the RNS said. She retained 66,695 shares and now holds 627,939 shares, or 1.43% of the company. The new shares are expected to start trading on AIM on July 6, taking total voting rights to 43,985,966.
The investor point is scale. The CEO sale was worth only about 0.23% of HL’s quoted market capitalisation, but the number of shares sold was equal to roughly 52% of the day’s listed volume. The 175,000 new shares add about 0.4% to the enlarged voting-rights base.
| Tuesday transaction | Amount | Market read-through |
|---|---|---|
| Options exercised | 175,000 shares | About 0.4% of enlarged share count |
| Exercise price | 0.4p | Nominal-cost award |
| Shares sold | 108,305 | About 52% of HL-reported volume |
| Sale price | 38p | In line with HL’s quoted sell price |
| Sale value | £41,155.90 | About 0.23% of quoted market value |
| Shares retained from exercise | 66,695 | Worth £25,344 at 38p |
| Post-transaction holding | 627,939 shares | 1.43% of issued capital |
The stock’s larger issue is still the gap between balance-sheet value and market value. Manolete reported FY26 net asset value of £42.4 million, or 97p a share. Against HL’s £17.74 million market value, the stock was valued at about 0.42 times NAV. Investegate
| Valuation marker | Latest figure | Implied ratio |
|---|---|---|
| HL market value | £17.74 mln | — |
| FY26 NAV | £42.4 mln | Market value/NAV: 0.42x |
| FY26 NAV per share | 97p | Sell price/NAV: 0.39x |
| Forward book, excluding Cartel | £67.0 mln | 3.8x market value |
| Quote range after close | 38p/41p | 58%-61% below NAV per share |
Manolete’s audited FY26 results, released last week, showed why the discount has not gone away. Realised revenue fell 6% to £27.9 million as some large case completions moved into FY27, while net debt rose to £11.5 million from £11.1 million. Gross cash receipts rose 4% to £26.6 million, but net cashflow moved to a £0.2 million outflow. Investegate Investegate
| FY26 metric | FY26 | FY25 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Realised revenue | £27.9 mln | £29.8 mln | -6% |
| Realised gross margin | 37% | 32% | +5 pct pts |
| Adjusted realised PBT | £0.1 mln | £0.8 mln | -87% |
| Adjusted PBT | £2.8 mln | £1.9 mln | +54% |
| Gross cash receipts | £26.6 mln | £25.6 mln | +4% |
| Net cashflow | -£0.2 mln | £0.5 mln | n/a |
| Net debt | £11.5 mln | £11.1 mln | +4% |
The counterweight is the forward book. Manolete said signed cases rose 23% to £32 million, referrals rose 15% to 1,027, and the forward book excluding Cartel cases rose 37% to £67 million. The average forecast revenue value of live cases in the book rose to £158,000 from £124,000.
| Case-flow metric | FY26 | FY25 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signed cases in year | £32.0 mln | £26.0 mln | +23% |
| Forward book revenue value | £67.0 mln | £49.0 mln | +37% |
| Case referrals | 1,027 | 896 | +15% |
| Signed cases | 289 | 284 | +2% |
| Live cases in forward book | 446 | 419 | +6% |
| Average forecast revenue per live case | £158k | £124k | +28% |
Halton said with the FY26 results that Manolete had made “strong progress focusing on higher value cases”. On a results call, she also acknowledged it had been “a difficult year for investors” and said management was “disappointed with where the share price is”. Investegate Investing
The company’s medium-term targets put a harder number on the recovery plan: realised revenue of £42 million, average realised revenue per completed case of £150,000, realised PBT margin of 12%, gross cash receipts of £37 million and net cashflow of £2.5 million. CFO Will Sawyer told investors the plan “doesn’t assume any further external financing”, according to an Investing.com transcript. Investegate Investing
Manolete’s addressable market is tied to insolvency claims. The latest Insolvency Service data showed 1,868 company insolvencies in England and Wales in May, down 10% from April and down 16% from May 2025, while the 12-month rolling insolvency rate was 50.9 per 10,000 companies.
