Scots mining firm delays flotation

SCOTTISH Resources Group, the coal mining business, has delayed its £250 million flotation on the stock market due to what it called a challenging market.

In a statement issued after the London Stock Exchange closed, it said it had decided that the flotation should wait until after the summer. It is thought it will go ahead in September.

The delay has also hit its plan to buy an opencast coal mine in Fife from rival UK Coal, which was due last week.

Palmaris Capital, which has a 16.1 per cent holding in SRG, is considering selling either some or all of its shareholding when the firm floats. Responding to questions from The Scotsman earlier in the day a spokesman was careful to suggest that there was "no certainty that this (an IPO] will occur".

SRG is the last remaining investment of AIM-listed Palmaris, which is chaired by Tim Noble, who founded the Noble Group merchant bank. Shares in Palmaris spiked dramatically to 15.75p after it confirmed the potential sale of its stake in the coal miner, albeit shares closed back to levels before the announcement to 11.25p as the deadline passed.

SRG is aiming to raise 25m to finance the acquisition of an opencast site.

A spokesman for UK Coal said he "would have thought" that a sale of its opencast coal mine in Fife would go ahead before September regardless of the delayed IPO.

Fund managers who attended SRG's road show presentations noted that further news of the potential flotation had "gone quiet". SRG claimed it had been "well received".