Personal care products business Swallowfield plc (LON:SWL) advanced around 17%, to 327.7p, after it reported strong revenue growth and positive financial results for the year to June 24.
"Swallowfield has delivered another very strong performance in the year with revenue, underlying profitability, EPS, and cash generation all showing significant improvements,” said chairman Brendan Hynes.
Independent energy firm Yü Group PLC (LON:YU.), meanwhile, rose 13% to 520p thanks to a 400% increase in revenue in the six months to June 30.
Metals Exploration Plc (LON:MTL) shares dropped almost 19% after updating on its Runruno project where it said it is continuing to experience difficulties.
11:35am: UK supermarkets rise as customers flock to own-brands
London’s listed supermarket retailers moved positively following the release of grocery sector data which showed that the sale of higher margin own-brand products is on the rise, amid continuing food price inflation.
Data from Nielsen indicated that own-brand sales were growing significantly faster, about five times, than the major consumer brands.
The trend was particularly evident for so-called ‘discount supermarkets’ like Lidl and Aldi, neither of which are listed in London.
Both Lidl and Aldi are also seen to be taking more market share from their more expensive rivals, according to a periodic industry study from Kantar Worldpanel, also out today. Kantar highlighted that the two German grocers now accounted for £1 in every £8 spent in supermarkets by UK consumers, compared to £1 in £25 a decade ago.
Some 63% of UK consumers shop with one of the two retailers in the past three months, up from 58.5%.
The Kantar data also indicated grocery inflation of 3.2% for the twelve weeks up until September 10.
Shares in Tesco Plc, J Sainsbury plc (LON:SBRY), Marks and Spencer Group Plc (LON:MKS), and WM Morrison Supermarkets Plc (LON:MRW) all traded between 1% and 3% higher, whereas e-commerce grocer Ocado Group Plc (LON:OCDO), meanwhile, slumped around 2% as it revealed in an update that it had seen a reduction in customer order size.
11:15am: Anpario Plc rallies as interims show international sales boost
AIM-quoted animal feed group Anpario Plc (LON: ) rose just under 10% after releasing half yearly results that highlighted strong performance, revenue up 39% and gross profit up 42%.
Share Centre analyst Graham Spooner, who recommends Anpario as a ‘buy’ for long term investors, in a note said: “Investors should note that the group’s interim results this morning, which led to a 6% rise in the share price in early trading, highlighted the global reach that the company is achieving.
“The group reported that it had seen solid growth in key target regions including Asia, the Americas and the Middle East during the first half period.”
Spooner added: “This is a higher-risk, smaller company that is trying to establish a niche for itself internationally.”
10:15am: Ryanair finds terra firma, recovering 3.6% after cancellation controversy
Trading in Ryanair Holdings Plc (LON:RYA) on Tuesday suggested the discount airline’s share price has a degree of terra firma, up 3.6% at €17.17p, after the turbulence that followed the news that it was cancelling nearly 50 flights a day to free up its pilots.
Ryanair has somewhat been in crisis mode since it revealed a scheduling problem that sees too many pilots due for their own vacations, leaving the airline no option but to cancel flights to ensure the remaining flights remain punctual.
The full list of cancelled flights is here: https://t.co/g9YyVNtWoZ. We apologise to all affected customers & are working hard to fix this
— Ryanair (@Ryanair) September 18, 2017
The share is down some8% for the past month, despite Tuesday’s gains.
9:27am - Petro Matad slumps as exploration drilling programme hits delay
Mongolia focussed oil explorer Petro Matad Ltd (LON:MATD) slumped more than 35% in Tuesday’s early deals after it told investors that a contracted drill rig won’t be certified and ready in time for the 2017 drill season and instead the planned three-well exploration programme will be delayed until spring 2018.
Petro Matad also announced that chief executive Ridvan Karpuz will be stepping down in October as the company implements a strategy to “re-structure the company's executive management to bring onboard senior executives with proven operational and commercial track record.”
The explorer’s shares were down 37% at 6.45p.
Elsewhere on AIM, junior drug discovery group ValiRx Plc (LON:VAL) moved lower, with its shares down 20% at 1.13p, following an issue of new equity with £500,000 brought in to help advance the clinical dose escalation of drug candidate VAL201 as well as other late preclinical development and working capital purposes.
In the main market, e-commerce grocer Ocado Group Plc (LON:OCDO) traded 5.2% lower at 286.3p following the release of its third quarter revenues.
Gulf Marine Services Plc (LON:GMS) shares were down 3.5% as it cautioned over its “tough environment” and revealed a drop in profits.
Proactive news headlines:
Myanmar-based social media group MySQUAR Limited (LON:MYSQ) will in future be able to access customers and subscribers on the Ooredoo telecoms network. In addition, MySQUAR will use Ooredoo's carrier billing service (purchases are made by deducting from the phone balance) for its mobile applications and games.
Mobile payments group Bango plc (LON:BGO) ended the first half of 2017 with enough cash to fund it through to profitability. Adjusted underlying losses, or LBITDA, for the first half of the year totalled £1.01mln versus LBITDA in the same period of last year of £1.64mln.
Rainbow Rare Earths LTD (LON:RBW) is shortly to commence mining and sales of rare earths from its mine in Burundi. The value of the basket of rare earths that the company will produce is up by 80% in the year-to-date.
Action Hotels PLC (LON:AHCG) said current trading remained “on track with current expectations” despite headwinds in some Middle East markets. “[The performance] underpins Action's resilient business model in the economy and midmarket hotel sector, with low break-even levels and the recently opened hotels delivering growth,” it added.
Trading in the second half of the year has been in line with expectations at video games services provider Keywords Studios PLC (LON:KWS).
OptiBiotix Health plc (LON:OPTI) is to launch an improved version of its hunger suppressant/weight loss product Slimbiome at a major US trade fair at the end of the month. The new formulation is a single homogenous product, a development that reduces separation in transport and makes it available in places such as in-store bakeries where previously it might have been difficult to blend or remix.
Adam Reynolds, chairman of the fertility specialist Concepta PLC (LON:CPT), said he expects the Chinese launch and CE marking in Europe of its lead product, myLotus, to occur in the first half of next year. The certification of its Doncaster plant, meanwhile, is expected to be complete by the end of 2017. The three landmarks will prime the business for commercial success.
Background checks specialist Clearstar Inc (LON:CLSU) achieved record half-year revenues in the first six months of 2017.
ValiRx Plc has raised £0.5mln through a placing of 50mln new ordinary shares at a price of 1p each. The AIM-listed biotechnology company said the funds raised will be used for “advancing the clinical dose escalation of VAL201 and for further progressing the late pre-clinical development of GeneICE and general working capital purposes.”
Brady Plc announced today that it has been awarded a contract by Gaelectric Trading and Market Services Limited (GTAMS), one of Ireland's leading energy trading and market services providers, for its I-SEM (Integrated Single Electricity Market ) Cloud solution product. No financial details of the contract were revealed .
ITM Power plc (LON:ITM) has sold a 1.1Mw hydrogen electrolyser to EnergyStock, a subsidiary of Gasunie, the Dutch gas transmission network operator. No details of the financial aspects of the contract were announced, but ITM said the sale was won in a competitive tender process and includes after-sales support.
US-based cell engineering technology firm MaxCyte Inc (LON:MXCT) said it continued to make progress in all areas as it lifted the lid on it financial and operational performance in the first half. Probably the highlight of the period was the US$27mln (£20mln) it raised from investors in April, which not only put the company on a firm financial footing, but provided its CARMA technology third-party validation.
Bezant Resources plc (LON:BZT) has produced its first platinum and gold from the Choco project in Colombia. The company will shortly move into higher value virgin gravels. It is a rare example of a platinum producing company outside of South Africa or Russia.
Asiamet Resources PLC (LON:ARS) has commenced drilling on the readily accessible BKZ prospect in Indonesia, a stand-alone high value polymetallic target, located less than 800 meters north of the feasibility-stage BKM copper deposit. A total five holes are planned and first assays are expected by end September.
Rose Petroleum PLC (LON:ROSE) has reached a new agreement which will see the group explore lithium as well as oil and gas in Utah’s Paradox basin. The company told investors that it is currently investigating the potential for the commercial extraction of lithium from the salar brines that exist within the Paradox basin.
Hurricane Energy PLC (LON:HUR) has told investors that its convertible bonds are now listed on the Official List of The International Stock Exchange. The issue, US$230mln of 7.5% bonds due 2022, has an International Stock Exchange symbol of HURCOVNT.
Columbus Energy Resources PLC (LON:CERP) confirmed in a stock market statement that it had issued some 20.3mln new shares in the company to Lind Partners in accordance with its revised convertible security agreement. It is expected that the admission of the new shares will become effective for trading on September 22.