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On the subject of top-performing UK penny shares in 2025, Agronomics (LSE: ANIC) appears onerous to beat with its 79% achieve up to now this yr.
However Carclo (LSE: CAR) is thrashing it in fashion, with a cracking 197% rise yr up to now. Let’s take a better look.
Time for development?
Each these shares have seen higher occasions up to now. However as with penny shares usually, a low valuation often tends to be the results of a beforehand well-liked inventory going by means of a troublesome spell. And for every of those two, I see a great case for a renewed development part within the subsequent few years.
Agronomics is a enterprise capital agency that invests in environmentally-friendly alternate options to present meals manufacturing strategies. Fermentation, cell tradition development… these are the sorts of issues we’re speaking about.
A meme-stock spike like that doesn’t often final lengthy. But it surely does spotlight an underlying curiosity in different meals know-how.
Agronomics posted a loss in 2024. However the firm had £141m in invested belongings on the interim stage this yr — greater than twice the present market cap. And there was £10m in money and equivalents on the books.
Chair James Mellon spoke of “vital technological and business progress, with lots of our extra mature belongings attaining among the largest financing rounds within the sector“.
I can’t discover any earnings forecasts for the corporate proper now. However there’s one analyst recommending the inventory with a 14.9p worth goal — greater than double the 7p on the time of writing.
Plastic, implausible
Carclo, in the meantime, makes plastics — however they’re no abnormal plastics. No, we’re speaking about supplies utilized in medical units, telecoms, aerospace, and for different high-tech wants.
So what occurred in 2025? The corporate turned a reported lack of £3.4m final yr right into a revenue. At £0.9m it’s nonetheless solely a small revenue. But it surely got here from £16.4m in underlying EBITDA. And the outcomes included £19.1m in operational money technology.
Trying ahead, the board mentioned it expects “to proceed this constructive trajectory by means of FY26 with continued margin enlargement and constructive money technology“.
This sounds prefer it could be fairly thrilling, however I see one clear warning. It is a small firm in a distinct segment market. And I’m actually undecided what the dangers from competitors are like. It makes me wish to dig a bit deeper into no matter defensive traits the enterprise may need.
Two for the portfolio?
Investing in very small, high-tech firms at penny-share costs is all the time a danger. And there’s further hazard after we actually haven’t seen a dependable long-term earnings stream creating.
However I can see points of interest for development traders right here who count on some danger. As a small a part of a diversified development portfolio, I feel each of those are value significantly contemplating.
