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In terms of top-performing UK penny shares in 2025, Agronomics (LSE: ANIC) seems to be exhausting to beat with its 79% achieve to this point this 12 months.
However Carclo (LSE: CAR) is thrashing it in model, with a cracking 197% rise 12 months thus far. Let’s take a more in-depth look.
Time for development?
Each these shares have seen higher instances prior to now. However as with penny shares basically, a low valuation often tends to be the results of a beforehand fashionable inventory going by way of a tricky spell. And for every of those two, I see case for a renewed development section 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.
That enterprise has been within the information just lately after shares in US-based Past Meat soared 450% in every week. At one stage, they have been up greater than 1,000% earlier than falling again. In that case, it was triggered by ‘meme-stock’ buyers who have been pumped by merchants on a Reddit discussion board.
A meme-stock spike like that doesn’t often final lengthy. Nevertheless it 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 12 months — 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 reaching 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 value goal — greater than double the 7p on the time of writing.
Plastic, unbelievable
Carclo, in the meantime, makes plastics — however they’re no abnormal plastics. No, we’re speaking about supplies utilized in medical gadgets, telecoms, aerospace, and for different high-tech wants.
So what occurred in 2025? The corporate turned a reported lack of £3.4m final 12 months right into a revenue. At £0.9m it’s nonetheless solely a small revenue. Nevertheless it got here from £16.4m in underlying EBITDA. And the outcomes included £19.1m in operational money technology.
Wanting ahead, the board mentioned it expects “to proceed this constructive trajectory by way of FY26 with continued margin growth and constructive money technology“.
This sounds prefer it is likely to be fairly thrilling, however I see one clear warning. It is a small firm in a distinct segment market. And I’m actually unsure what the dangers from competitors are like. It makes me need to dig a bit deeper into no matter defensive traits the enterprise may need.
Two for the portfolio?
Investing in very small, high-tech corporations at penny-share costs is at all times a threat. And there’s additional hazard once we actually haven’t seen a dependable long-term revenue stream growing.
However I can see points of interest for development buyers right here who count on some threat. As a small a part of a diversified development portfolio, I feel each of those are price severely contemplating.
