London, July 3, 2026, 16:02 (BST)
- Adnams Class B had a 1,600p mid quote on Aquis, with a 1,200p bid and 2,000p ask.
- Only 80 shares had traded on Friday, in two 40-share prints worth £1,306.
- Net bank debt was £9.2 million at Dec. 31, about twice Aquis’s quoted B-share market value.
Adnams plc AQSE:ADB traded in tiny size on Friday, leaving its Aquis Class B quote saying more about liquidity than a clean market view on the Suffolk brewer’s turnaround. The mid price was 1,600p, unchanged on Aquis’s price-change field, while the bid and ask stood 800p apart.
AQSE trades from 8:00 to 16:30 each weekday, and the London timestamp used here fell inside that session. Adnams’s last reported trade was at 14:41 BST.
Aquis data showed this tape:
| Measure | Friday reading | Calculated note |
|---|---|---|
| Mid price | 1,600p | 0.00% price change |
| Bid / ask | 1,200p / 2,000p | 50% spread versus mid |
| Shares traded | 80 | 0.028% of tradable B shares |
| Trade value | £1,306 | 0.029% of quoted B-share market value |
| Last trade | 40 shares at 2,000p | 58% above the 10:15 print |
The two trades were both for 40 shares. The first went through at 1,265p, worth £506. The second went through at 2,000p, worth £800. That is a 735p gap on £1,306 of total reported value, a warning that a single print can move the visible last price without much money changing hands.
Adnams has unlisted A ordinary shares, while its B ordinary shares trade on the AQSE Growth Market. Aquis lists 285,800 tradable B shares and a £4.57 million quoted market value, so the public quote captures a narrow slice of trading interest rather than a deep market in the whole company.
The reason it matters is the balance sheet. Adnams cut net bank debt to £9.2 million at the end of 2025 from £15.3 million a year earlier, but that debt was still about 2.0 times the quoted B-share market value on Aquis.
The 2025 accounts showed improvement, but not a full earnings repair:
| Year ended Dec. 31 | 2025 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £63.730 mln | £68.073 mln | -6.4% |
| Total operating profit/(loss) | £0.471 mln | £(1.169) mln | +£1.640 mln |
| Loss before tax | £(0.748) mln | £(2.776) mln | £2.028 mln narrower |
| Interest payable | £(1.245) mln | £(1.812) mln | -31.3% |
| Net bank debt | £9.2 mln | £15.3 mln | -39.9% |
Revenue fell by £4.3 million in 2025, with Adnams saying £1.7 million came from fewer owned sites and £1.2 million from lower contract work. Operating profit turned positive, helped by asset disposals, while no final dividend was recommended.
At the June 26 AGM, Chair Simon Townsend said the 2025 disposal programme covered assets with low returns, weak earnings prospects or locations outside the company’s main area. He said the process reduced borrowings while preserving net asset value. He also said borrowing facilities with Barclays had been extended to June 2027 and longer-term banking talks had started.
Townsend told shareholders 2025 had been a “difficult period of intense activity”. He said higher National Insurance, minimum wage and packaging-related costs added an estimated £2 million to the cost base. Investegate
Chief Executive Jenny Hanlon said Adnams had “worked tirelessly to gain market share”. She pointed to more than 3,700 new distribution points across major supermarkets and said Ghost Ship Alcohol Free had won distribution across 1,300 Marston’s sites. Investegate
Chief Financial Officer Andy Driscoll said his priority had been to understand the “true level of profitability” in each channel or business unit. For holders of a stock with an 800p bid-ask gap, that puts the next test on cash generation and bank refinancing, not the last Class B print. Investegate
Investegate’s Adnams feed showed the latest regulatory item as the June 29 AGM result, which said all proposed resolutions passed. No later Adnams company announcement appeared in that feed.
