Digital commerce platform Samarkand (SMK:AQSE) has secured a £3.15 million investment from one of China's biggest delivery groups. The Aquis Exchange-listed business placed 2.7 million new shares with United Win Asia as part of an effort to develop the firm’s international expansion and technology strategy.
United Win Asia is a subsidiary of SF Holding, one of China’s largest express delivery networks, worth around £32 billion.
DIGITAL GATEWAY TO CHINA
Samarkand’s Nomad platform provides a cross-border direct-to-consumer way for western brands to sell goods and services in China. Its’ Nomad platform hands commerce, distribution, logistics, payments and analytics capabilities to western brands and a single platform package. Samarkand also sells probiotics goods itself under its Probio7 brand, generating sales of £3.5 million in 2020.
In the eight months to November 2020, Samarkand generated £16 million of overall revenue, including £5.8 million of exceptional Covid-related income. That saw the company report earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £2.3 million, after posting a £800,000 in 2019.
DEEP DISCOUNT
The placing shares were priced at 115p each, a 33% discount to its 172p closing price on 7 May. Despite the deep discount, the strategic investment could be pivotal for Samarkand, given the scale of SF Holding’s logistics and delivery network.
‘If Samarkand can successfully market its Nomad platform alongside SF Holding’s delivery services, the combined solution has the potential to significantly broaden Samarkand’s addressable market and geographic expertise,’ said Megabuyte analyst Cameron Naylor.
