On the final Friday trading session of August, ahead of a long bank holiday weekend in the UK, the corporate news diary is unsurprisingly pretty empty, with just a handful of releases to provide any interest.
Small cap hydrogen fuel and storage specialist ITM Power PLC (LON:ITM) recently revealed good growth in its order pipeline, which should bode well for progress when the firm posts its full year results.
READ: ITM Power's pipeline fills up some more
At the start of this month, ITM revealed that another £4.87mln of orders had rolled in, meaning the company currently has £23.54mln worth of projects under contract and £16.67mln of contracts in the final stages of negotiation.
Those numbers were reported when the AIM-listed energy storage and clean fuel company launched a series of large-scale refuelling station designs at the Hydrogen + Fuel Cells North America fair, part of the SolarPower International Conference in Las Vegas.
Back with half-year results in January, ITM Power said its orders totalled £15.68mln, which was a 100% increase year-on-year and the group said it remained confident of delivering full year results to end April in line with market expectations.
READ: ITM Power raises £5.7mln; expects to meet market expectations for full year
For its half year to October 31, the firm reported revenue of £0.4mln, down 39% compared to the same period of 2015, reflecting the early stages of build projects during which there is relatively little revenue recognition.
The first-half loss from operations was £2.27mln, an improvement of 28% on the £3.17mln loss posted a year earlier, as its cash burn decreased by £2.29mln to 1.61mln.
At the same time as the results, ITM Power said it had raised £5.7mln via an accelerated bookbuild as demand and interest for its products continues to grow.
UK concerns for Computacenter, but Europe could excite
Elsewhere, FTSE 250-listed IT services group Computacenter PLC (LON:CCC) will deliver its first half results, having said back in April that it expected to beat expectations in 2017 after solid first quarter growth.
READ: Computacenter expects to beat 2017 expectations after solid first-quarter growth
However, Swiss bank UBS recently downgraded its rating for Computacenter to ‘neutral’ as its analysts think the firm could be set for a rough ride over the coming years as the UK economy continues to show signs of stalling.
Around 40% of the mid cap firm’s sales and more than half of all profits come from its UK business, making it an “important market” for the company.
But UBS was a little more optimistic about the outlook for other parts of the business, with an “improving picture” across the Channel in continental Europe, while the Windows 10 cycle could also serve to boost sales.
Significant events expected on Friday August 25:
Finals: ITM Power PLC (LON:ITM)
Interims: Computacenter PLC (LON:CCC), Henry Boot PLC (LON:BOOT)
Economic data: US durable goods orders