Ebb & Flow

U.K. investors still are willing to dole out money only in dribs and drabs, as evidenced by the recent experiences of transgenics company PPL Therapeutics and cardiac device company Aortech. Thus for the foreseeable future, it looks like U.K. companies should expect to have to go hat in hand to investors more often than their U.S. counterparts.

PPL(LSE:PTH) last week postponed its £45 million ($66 million) open and international offer through Deutsche Bank. The stock tumbled 19.5p (15%) to 113p on Tuesday, putting the shares down 43.5p (27%) from their 156.5p price prior to announcing the fundraising on March 16. PTH closed Thursday at 110p and a market cap of $86 million...