The north west’s listed businesses have continued to perform well on the public markets, adding more than £300m to stabilise their collective market capitalisation in the first quarter of 2015.

Data from Deloitte’s North West Share Index reveals businesses in the region grew at an average of 1.25 per cent in the first three months of the year.

This follows the region’s end to 2014, which saw the collective market cap grow by £2.2bn.

The strongest performing company so far this year is molecular diagnostics firm Premaitha Health, which saw growth of 45.39 per cent.

The Manchester-based company, which uses the latest technology in DNA analysis to develop tests for non-invasive prenatal screening, was aided by a lucrative deal with a number of leading London NHS trust teams in March 2015.

Similarly, following a £34.75m fundraise, led by Manchester-based broker Zeus Capital, 4D pharma has grown its market cap by 39.52 per cent in the first quarter of the year.

In addition, a number of firms, including API Group, Assura, Cyprotex, Johnson Service Group, Nichols and Inspired Capital, all witnessed growth of between 20 and 25 per cent.