Press Release: London, UK
26 April 2018
Small Cap Awards

Small Cap Awards 2018 NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCEMENT

The Small Cap Awards is a once-a-year opportunity to recognise outstanding achievement focused on smaller quoted companies.

The Awards ceremony, which this year will take place on 14 June at the Montcalm Hotel in Central London, shines a light on the best companies and participants in the small and micro-cap community (sub £100m market capitalisation) across ten categories.

Since it started in mid-2012, the Small Cap Club has successfully enabled leaders and participants in the micro-cap sector to regularly meet together, based on the premise that meeting people builds trust and creates new areas of thinking and opportunity and the regular networking events have gone from strength to strength.

This year the Small Cap Awards is delighted to have secured headline sponsorship for a fourth year from Nex Exchange (formerly ISDX), a London based stock exchange providing UK and international companies with access to European capital through a range of fully listed and growth markets.

In addition, the event is co-sponsored by the highly respected commercial law firm Hamlins LLP; the Top 15 national audit and accountancy firm UHY Hacker Young; global leader in all aspects of digital corporate communications EQS Group; and the first new provider of CREST registry services in over 20 years, Avenir Registrars. This year the Impact Company of the Year award is sponsored by the Impact Investment Network. The awards are organised by London event and network agency Lily & Piper.

The nominations have been selected by a judging panel comprised of leaders in the Small Cap sector and is Chaired by Claire Noyce, Managing Partner at Hybridan LLP.

IPO of the Year
Alpha FX Group
Appscatter Group
Boku
Keystone Law Group PLC
K3 Capital Group
Rainbow Rare Earths Ltd
Ramsdens Holdings
Xpediator

Company of the Year
Bilby
Bioventix
Faron Pharmaceuticals
Frontier Developments
LoopUp Group
Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company
TMT Investments
Water Intelligence
Wey Education
ZOO Digital Group

NEX Exchange Company of the Year
Chapel Down
Crossword Cyber Security
Field Systems Designs
KR1
National Milk Records
Sandal
Thwaites
Walls & Futures

Executive Director of the Year
Zillah Byng-Thorne (CEO) and Penny Ladkin-Brand (CFO) - Future plc
Dr. Stuart Green, CEO - Zoo Digital Group PLC
Chris Gurry, Group Managing Director - CML MicroSystems PLC
Tom Ilube, CEO - Crossword Cybersecurity PLC
Dr Markku Jalkanen, CEO - Faron Pharmaceuticals
Bobby Kalar, CEO - Yu Group PLC
Dr. James Millen, CEO - Physiomics PLC
Ian Simm, CEO - Impax Asset Management Group PLC
Frazer Thompson, CEO - Chapel Down Group PLC
Andrew Wass, CEO - Gear4Music Holdings PLC
 

Impact Company of the Year
Sponsored by Impact Investment Network

Ashley House
HaloSource
Walls & Future

Fintech Company of the Year
FairFX Group
FreeAgent Holdings
Proactis Holdings
ULS Technology

Transaction of the Year
Proactis Holdings PLC - Acquisition of Perfect Commerce
Work Group PLC / Gordon Dadds Group PLC - Reverse takeover
Atlantis Resources Limited - Uksmouth power stations deal (SUSPENDED)
Frontier IP Group PLC - Transactions
FairFX Group PLC - Acquisition of CardOne
7digital Group PLC - Acquisition of 24-7
Impax Asset Management Group PLC - Acquisition of Pax World Management LLC

Analyst of the Year
Vadim Alexandre, Head of Research - Northland Capital Partners
Kevin Ashton, TMT Analyst - Cantor Fitzgerald
Eric Burns, Deputy Head of Institutional Research - WH Ireland Limited
David Johnson, Research Director - Allenby Capital Limited
Rob Sanders, Head of Growth Companies Research - Stockdale Securities Limited
Simon Strong, Head of Research Growth Companies - Cenkos Securities PLC

Journalist of the Year
Smit Berry - Small Company Sharewatch
Joanne Hart - Midas
Jamie Nimmo - Mail on Sunday
Paul Scott - Stockopedia
Mark Shapland - Evening Standard
Merryn Somerset Webb - Financial Times
Simon Thompson - Investors Chronicle

Fund Manager of the Year
Daniel Nickols - Old Mutual UK Smaller Companies
James Thorne - Threadneedle UK Smaller Companies
Nick Williamson - Old Mutual UK Smaller Companies
James Zimmerman - Jupiter UK Smaller Companies

Microcap Fund Manager of the Year
Guy Feld - Cannaccord (Hargreave Hale Limited)
David Horner - Chelverton Small Companies Dividend Trust PLC
Judith MacKenzie - Downing LLP
Katie Potts - Herald Investment Management
Gervais Williams - Miton Group PLC

Lifetime Achievement Award
To be announced on the evening

Special Services to Small Caps
To be announced on the evening.

The winners in each category will be announced on Thursday 14th June at a black tie event held at The Montcalm Hotel, Marble Arch, 2, Wallenberg Place, Marylebone, London, W1H 7TN and will celebrate success for UK listed Small Caps.

Peter Dickson, a British voice-over artist best known as the voice of E4, and the brand voice of The X Factor, Britain's Got Talent, will return for the sixth year to host the event.

This year's Keynote Speaker will be Gerald Ratner, a British household name and a well-known businessman. He is also a name associated with one of the business world's largest falls from grace.

Gerald Ratner took over as CEO of the family jewellery chain in the mid 80s, becoming one of Britain's best known businessmen. He transformed it from 130 stores with sales of £13m, to a public company with 2,500 stores and sales of over £1.2bn. By 1990, Ratner's was the world's largest jewellery retailer with profits in excess of £120m.

The event will be attended by institutions, fund managers, brokers, company directors, entrepreneurs and advisors, creating a chance for all attendees to network with those who have shown exceptional growth and performance in the small cap environment over the last year.

The nominations have been selected by a judging panel comprised of leaders in the Small Cap sector and is Chaired by Claire Noyce, Managing Partner at Hybridan LLP.

The judging panel consists of:

(Chair) Claire Noyce Managing Partner and Chief Executive at Hybridan

Andy Edmond
CEO at Equity Development

Dale Bellis
Investment Manager on the private equity and AIM investment team at Maven Capital Partners

David Coffman
Corporate Finance Director at Cairn Financial Advisers

Gervais Williams
Managing Director at Miton Group plc

Miles Nolan
Associate Director at IFC Advisory

Richard Gill
Head of Research at Align Research

-ends-

Notes to Editors

The sixth annual Small Cap Awards will take place from 18.30 on Thursday 14 June 2018 at The Montcalm Hotel in Marble Arch, London. A standard table for 10 is priced at £1500+VAT to include a champagne reception, three course dinner and wine.

Individual tickets are available for £200 +VAT

www.smallcapawards.com www.smallcapnetwork.co.uk lilyandpiper.com
Twitter @sce_club #smallcapawards
For more information contact:
Sponsorship and tables: megan@lilyandpiper.com
Other queries: lou@lilyandpiper.com

About the Sponsors:

About NEX Exchange
NEX Exchange helps companies reach investors and raise capital. Whether choosing to offer equity or debt products, once admitted onto our stock exchange, small and medium-sized companies have easier access to investors. Admission is straightforward and we fully support the transition to a public market environment. For the small and the ambitious, NEX Exchange is more than a source of capital - we are the platform for growth. And for investors, we offer simple access to a diverse range of dynamic companies. NEX Exchange is a NEX Group business.

For more information, go to
www.nexexchange.com

About EQS Group

EQS Group is a leading international technology provider for Digital Investor Relations. More than 8,000 companies worldwide trust EQS's products and services to securely, efficiently, and simultaneously fulfil complex national and international information obligations to the global investment community.

EQS has a unique portfolio of digital solutions. From the distribution of regulatory news (an FCA-approved Primary Information Provider), to insider list management and digital IR services. These include IR and corporate websites, stock charts and news feeds, online financial and sustainability reports and corporate audio and video webcasts.

For more information, go to
www.eqs.co.uk

About Hamlins LLP

Hamlins LLP is a commercial law firm renowned for its industry expertise, entrepreneurial approach, and quality lawyers who are recognised leaders in their fields. We have deep market knowledge of the media, digital, real estate, sport, retail and leisure industries.

For more information, go to
www.hamlins.co.uk

About UHY Hacker Young

The UHY Hacker Young Group is one of the UK's Top 15 accountancy networks with more than 100 partners and 590 professional staff working from 27 locations around the country. The offices within the Group provide a wide range of audit, accounting and tax services, with a reputation for integrity and reliability within the financial community, and particularly with London's Stock Markets. UHY Hacker Young are ranked 12th in the ARL Corporate Advisers Rankings Guide amongst other UK audit firms for advising London Stock Exchange listed companies.

UHY Hacker Young is a founder member of the UHY International network with 320 offices across 92, with representation in all major financial centres.

For more information, go to
www.uhy-uk.com

About Avenir Registrars

Avenir Registrars Ltd is a provider of CREST registry services. Avenir's clients include privately and publicly held businesses who have issued both debt and equity. Collectively, their instruments are listed at venues including NEX, the International Stock Exchange, the Gibraltar Stock Exchange, Nasdaq OMX and the London Stock Exchange. As the first new CREST registrar in over twenty years, Avenir's technology has been built from the ground up to deliver a revolutionary pricing model, with client support delivered by a team of experienced advisers.

For more information, go to
www.avenir-registrars.co.uk

About the Impact Investment Network

The Impact Investment Network Ltd (IIN) is the first organisation licensed to deliver the Social Stock Exchange brand and accreditation methodology in the UK.

IIN is a partnership of value-driven businesses working collectively to empower both public and private companies to grow in a sustainable and ethical way, bringing leading organisations together as part of a dynamic network of socially and environmentally driven, commercially-focused businesses from across the globe. IIN also provides access to Europe's only public market segment dedicated to enterprises making the world a better place, through the NEX Exchange.

For more information, go to
www.impactinvestment.com

About Lily & Piper

Lily & Piper is an integrated event and branding agency, which specialises in placing brands in selected events around the UK, building campaigns and creating and developing niche networks.

Recent networks founded by the company include the Foreign Direct Investment Awards, Small Cap Network, Fast Growth Entrepreneurs and Impact Investor Club.

For more information, go to
www.lilyandpiper.com