London, June 30, 2026, 09:17 BST
- London trading was underway as of 09:17 BST. The LSE’s normal trading runs from 0800 to 1630 local.
- ASBE offered at 10p to sell, 25p to buy, with the mid at 17.5p. Market cap sits around £0.36 million.
- AJ Bell recorded the most recent ASBE trade at 24 shares for 10.5p each, total value £2.52, on June 29.
- March interim numbers showed zero revenue, a £31,000 loss for the half year, and £256,000 in cash.
Associated British Engineering plc (LON:ASBE) traded Tuesday looking like a listed cash shell, not a typical engineering stock. The mid price stayed at 17.5p, but the order book showed a wide 10p to 25p quote, a 15p spread or about 86% of the mid. Anyone crossing the spread—buying at the offer and selling at the bid—would take a 60% hit before fees.
AJ Bell’s last recorded trade shows 24 shares moving at 10.5p at 0804 on June 29. Before that, the only other visible trade was 2,935 shares at 15.11p on June 23, a £443.48 deal. That’s all investors see on a tape where a single small trade moves the chart.
The thin trading is key since ABE’s value is mostly on the balance sheet. Hargreaves Lansdown lists 2.05 million shares out and a £358,573 market cap. According to ABE’s March 31 accounts, it had £256,000 in cash and £261,000 in shareholder equity. That comes to about 12.5p per share in cash and 12.7p per share in equity. The current bid is under both those levels; the offer is about twice the cash.
| ASBE market read-through | Latest figure | Investor read |
|---|---|---|
| Mid quote | 17.50p | Spread masked by unchanged mid |
| Sell/buy quote | 10.00p / 25.00p | Offer to bid shows a 60% haircut before costs |
| Last shown trade | 24 shares at 10.5p | £2.52 done June 29 |
| Market cap | £358,573 | Roughly 1.4x March book value |
| FTSE Russell YTD move | -56.3% | Down sharply year to date |
FTSE Russell kept ASBE at 17.5p at the end of June 29, unchanged for the day, week or month. The stock is down 56.3% so far this year. Versus the FTSE UK All-Share Index, ASBE is 58.4 lower for the year.
Investegate’s ASBE feed showed the half-year financial report as the latest RNS at 0700 on June 25. On the company’s results page, the March 31, 2026 interim report was also listed first. There wasn’t any newer ASBE RNS in that feed.
The company reported no revenue for the six months ended March 31, 2026, according to the interim statement, and posted a pre-tax loss of £31,000, worse than last year’s £19,000 loss. The statement also said operating costs climbed after the business was reclassified as a shell company.
| Interim metric | H1 to March 2026 | Comparator | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £0 | £0 in H1 2025 | No sales booked |
| Loss before tax | £31,000 | £19,000 loss in H1 2025 | Loss increased by £12,000 |
| Net cash used in operations | £62,000 | £30,000 in H1 2025 | Operational cash burn more than doubled |
| Cash and equivalents | £256,000 | £318,000 at Sept. 30, 2025 | Fell £62,000 |
| Equity attributable to shareholders | £261,000 | £303,000 at Sept. 30, 2025 | Lower by £42,000 |
| Financial assets at fair value | £11,000 | £22,000 at Sept. 30, 2025 | Halved by £11,000 |
Co-chairmen Rupert Pearce Gould and Colin Weinberg said the board thinks the dollar is “more stable” than sterling and is open on timing for when to switch cash for costs. The company can now talk to potential acquisition targets after trading resumed and the pension problem got sorted, the pair said. The board “continues to review options.”
Running the £62,000 operating cash outflow over six months gives an annualized figure of around £124,000. With £256,000 in cash as of March 31, that’s a bit more than two years of cash runway if nothing else changes on costs, funding or investment returns. Directors said their forecasts support at least 12 months of resources from the date the interim statements were signed.
AJ Bell listed no P/E or dividend yield for ASBE. Hargreaves Lansdown left P/E empty and put dividend yield at 0.00%.
