Some of the froth was knocked off All Bar One pubs group Mitchells & Butlers PLC (LON:MAB) following an 18% rally after a bullish trading update yesterday, with its shares on the FTSE 250 index dropping 9.9% to 243.3p.
The firm had said on Thursday that trading since the end of the first half had been strong, with like-for-like sales growth of 2.6% in the third quarter ended July 22.
Meanwhile Just Eat PLC (LON:JE.) shed 4.5% at 640.5p after the online food delivery group was downgraded to ‘equal-weight’ from ‘overweight’ by Barclays Capital after half-year results yesterday.
Elsewhere, Gear4music Holdings PLC (LON:G4M) saw its shares drop 11.9% to 722.5p after it reminded investors that this trading year would be more weighted towards the second half.
In an AGM update, it said a higher proportion of sales and profits will be generated during the second half of the year, with the first half also to bear the cost of new European distribution centres and a head office in York, it told shareholders.
And Myanmar-focused MySQUAR (LON:MYSQ) saw its shares shed 10.6% at 3.8p after it confirmed it is working on a placing to raise funds to set up a mobile payments platform.
It said the additional funds would also allow it to consider potential acquisitions and strategic investments.
11.10am: 7digital Group up on contract news, trading update
Investors tuned in to digital music and radio services provider 7digital Group PLC (LON:7DIG) in late morning trade, with the shares up over 6% to 6.38p after the firm said it had performed well in the first half of 2017 and announced the award of three new contracts.
The first contract is a two-year deal with in-flight entertainment content provider Global Eagle Entertainment Inc; the second is with French company Deedo SAS to provide technology, access to music and web app development for a new streaming; and the third contract is a deal with US company Fan Label.
In addition 7digital said group revenue for its first half increased by 13% to £5.9mln, up from £5.3mln a year earlier, reflecting growth across the high margin and strong creative revenue streams.
Chinese Investment for Frontier Developments
Elsewhere, Frontier Developments PLC (LON:FDEV) saw its shares leap 15% higher to 605p on news Chinese entertainment company Tencent Holdings Ltd has agreed to make a strategic investment in the business.
Tencent has purchased 3.4mln new shares in Frontier at 523.2p each, and will own around 9.0% of the AIM-listed firm after the deal.
The video game creator said Tencent's investment will help accelerate and improve its access to the growing Chinese market.
But on the downside, SimiGon Ltd (LON:SIM) saw its shares drop 12% to 18.5p after the developer of learning, training and simulation technologies warned it may not achieve market expectations for the full year, and was "disappointed" the revenue from its contract with the Israeli Air Force will not be recognised in its first half.
SimiGon said procedural delays in concluding the signatory processes over its contract with the Israeli Air Force have persisted, preventing revenue of US$800,000 from being recorded in its results for the first half of the year.
9.50am: Boxhill Technologies boosted by bullish AGM update
Boxhill Technologies PLC (LON:BOX) was the market’s top gainer in early morning trading, jumping 20% higher to 0.12p after the lottery administrator and payment processor issued a bullish trading update.
In a statement ahead of today’s AGM, the AIM-listed group said it has seen improvement across its Payments Division, both in revenue and technology roll out, since January.
Boxhill said revenue from EmexGo in the first half of the year has already exceeded last year's total and the group anticipates its card processing revenues to rise as in previous years, with growth and momentum return to above first half 2016 levels through the second half of the year.
Another good AIM gainer was Gfinity PLC’s (LON:GFIN) which rose nearly 6% to 22.25p after it revealed that its flagship eSports tournament will be broadcast on BBC Three this summer.
READ: Gfinity’s Elite Series tournament to be broadcast by BBC Three
The eSports promoter and events group said the online channel of the national broadcaster will show games and exclusive short-form content from the Gfinity Elite Series tournament. It is the BBC’s first contact of its kind for eSports.
And cancer-focused biotech ValiRx PLC (LON:VAL) saw its shares add 4.8% at 2.18p after it inked what it hopes will be the first of many licensing agreements for its products.
The deal is with Bangladeshi group Mystic Pharmaceuticals Limited, which will get access to ValiRx's patented technology, including pre-clinical products, to further develop them for the benefit of ValiRx for five years.
If it leads to a successful marketing of a product, ValiRx will receive up to 50% royalty.
Proactive news headlines:
Myanmar-focused MySQUAR (LON:MYSQ) has confirmed it is working on a placing to raise funds to set up a mobile payments platform. A mobile payments platform within Myanmar would involve the creation of digital wallet services, a mobile payment application for processing peer-to-peer (P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions.
Satellite Solutions Worldwide Group PLC (LON:SAT) has added a fixed broadband arm to its business with the acquisition of Quickline in Lincolnshire. Already one of the UK’s largest suppliers of wireless broadband packages to remote and inaccessible areas, the acquisition will make it the only supplier of both alternatives in the country.
Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE) told investors that strong momentum has continued for its Guardian SaaS fleet services unit. The company said it has booked more new multi-year contracts, with further bookings of A$13mln taking the tally of total contract value to over A$29mln at the end of the financial year (June 30).
Gfinity PLC’s (LON:GFIN) flagship eSports tournament will be broadcast on BBC Three this summer. In a statement, the eSports promoter and events group revealed that BBC Three, the online channel of the national broadcaster will show games and exclusive short-form content from the Gfinity Elite Series tournament.
Wolf Minerals Limited (ASX:WLF, LON:WLFE) interim managing director Richard Lucas told investors that the UK miner is heading into a pivotal time. The company, in a statement, said that the processing plant turnaround plan is starting to deliver improvements in production – with the plant treating 7% more ore in the three months ended June 30, and concentrate output was up 15%.
ValiRx PLC (LON:VAL) has inked a licensing deal with Bangladeshi group Mystic Pharmaceuticals Limited, which will give the latter access to ValiRx's patented technology, including pre-clinical products, to further develop them for the benefit of ValiRx for five years.
Vast Resources PLC (LON:VAST) shares ticked higher as it reported on a strong second quarter operationally and expects output to continue to increase from its mines in Romania and Zimbabwe.
Ferrum Crescent Limited (LON:FCR) told investors it had completed a programme of six holes at the Toral project in Spain, which all returned visually identified lead-zinc intersections. The work has led to the firm better understanding the structure of the deposit and it has now kicked off scoping and comparative studies as it begins the journey towards a pre-feasibility study, as well as efforts to expand the resource.
Amur Minerals PLC (LON:AMC) reckons it has added another three years of production at its giant Kun-Manie project in Russia - as it unveiled favourable drilling results from the Kubuk deposit. The results are from work between June 30 and July 21 this year, which aimed to drill gaps between the Kubuk and Ikenskoe/Sobolevsky (IKEN) targets, and to upgrade their existing resources to the more certain 'indicated' category.