Ricardo plc (LON:RCDO) shares slid 11.3% to 830p in late-afternoon trading as it forecast underlying pre-tax profits for the full-year would be at the lower end of its forecasts.
The engineering firm said that the lower estimate was mainly due to reduced performance in its EMEA Automotive business following a low level of UK orders in the second half of the year.
The group added that orders in its Technical Consulting division had seen further decline due to ongoing uncertainty in the market.
In the risers, shares in Eland Oil & Gas PLC (LON:ELA) rose 3.5% to 133p after it told investors that the Opuama-10 well, the latest at the Opuama field in Nigeria, had unearthed significant oil pay.
The well was drilled down to a depth of 8,121 feet and encountered six oil bearing reservoirs with some 307 feet of total net pay.
A dual completion will see the company open up the D1000 reservoir perforating a 32 feet interval along with the D5000 reservoir which will be an interval of 50 feet.
Meanwhile, in the FTSE 100, GlaxoSmithKline plc’s (LON:GSK) plan to bring in a huge new restructuring programme, aimed at saving the UK’s biggest drugmaker £400mln a year, caused shares to climb 0.9% to 1,571.8p.
Glaxo said it had been re-evaluating its cost base and what was required to deliver “competitive long-term growth”.
On the back of that, chief executive Emma Walmsley said the FTSE 100 group would look to make substantial savings through supply chain optimisation and reductions in administrative costs.
1.00pm: Medica Group rises as service demand drives revenue increase in first half
Medica Group PLC (LON:MGP) saw its shares climb 4.6% to 121.4p in lunchtime trading as demand for its Nighthawk and Cross Sectional services drove revenue growth in its first half.
The healthcare equipment provider said in a trading update that it expected revenue for the six months to be around £18.6mln, up 18% on the same period last year, while its full-year performance was expected to be in line with market expectations.
Elsewhere, Victrex PLC’s (LON:VCT) shares were up 1.2% at 3,044p as its strong first half momentum continued, but added that the fourth quarter comparative will be tougher.
Currencies are turning and a large consumer order won’t contribute this time.
Volumes rose 14% in the three months to June, while revenues increased by 10% to £84mln and for the year to date, revenues are 21% higher at £250.6mln.
In other news, shares in Ryanair Holdings PLC (LON:RYA) rose 2.6% to 14.3p as the budget airline evidently took an aggressive step in its stand-off with its pilots.
Ryanair has today threatened that as many as 300 crew members could be out of work this winter season as it cuts back its Dublin-based fleet by 20% (to 24 planes down from 30).
According to the airline, the move, which comes the day after the latest pilots strike, is a response to rapid growth in its Polish charter airline and a downturn in forward bookings and airfares in Ireland.
11.00am: Deltex Medical sinks as weaker dollar causes revenue slump
Deltex Medical Group PLC (LON:DEMG) shares sank 7.5% to 0.9p in late-morning trading after a weaker US dollar saw revenues shrink in the first half of the year.
The AIM-listed medical equipment group said in a trading update that total revenues for the first half of the year had declined to £2.3mln from £2.9mln in the same period last year, although its cash balance at the end of the period had increased to £1.1mln from £0.2mln a year ago.
In the FTSE 100, fierce competition in Italy, Spain and India led to a slowdown in first-quarter organic service revenue for Vodafone Group PLC (LON:VOD), with shares dropping 1.9% to 174.2p.
The company said organic service revenue increased 0.3% under its new IAS 18 accounting basis in the quarter ended June 30.
Under the old IFRS 15 basis, organic service revenue rose 1.1%, slowing from the 1.6% growth recorded the same period a year ago.
Elsewhere, shares in Indivior PLC (LON:INDV) plunged 18.4% to 271.9p as it warned that the hit to full-year net revenues from the launch of a generic competitor to its blockbuster opioid addiction treatment could be “materially higher” than the US$25mln it had previously forecast.
The FTSE 250-drugmaker, which also reported a second straight drop in quarterly profit, is embroiled in a legal battle with Indian giant Dr Reddy’s, which recently launched a cut-price version of Suboxone – Indivior’s star asset which accounts for 80% of its annual sales.
Indivior is adamant that the generic infringes one of its patents and is in the process of going through the courts to get legal confirmation that Dr Reddy’s will have to wait until 2022 to bring its drug to market, which is when Suboxone’s patent expires.
9.00am: APC Technology Group PLC jumps as it acquires electronic components distributor
APC Technology Group PLC (LON:APC) saw its shares jump 9.4% to 7.2p in early morning trading after it announced the acquisition of electronic components distributor Aspen Electronics.
The AIM-listed electronics firm said it had acquired Aspen for £2.2mln which would be funded through a combination of proceeds from share placing and the issue of around 7.4mln consideration shares.
The group also said the aforementioned placing would involve placing 26,761,587 ordinary shares and vendor placing of 3,835,341 ordinary shares by Stockdale Securities and subscription of 6,966,663 ordinary shares with existing and new institutional and other investors at 6.75p per ordinary share to raise around £2.54mln.
Meanwhile, shares in Gfinity PLC (LON:GFIN) were up 6% at 13.1p after it signed a multi-year strategic partnership with pizza chain Domino’s for it to become presenting partner of the Gfinity Challenger and Elite Series UK.
The AIM-listed esports broadcaster said that under the partnership, which will run until December 2020, Domino’s will receive bespoke content, broadcast and digital assets, player shirt sleeve branding, social media activations, customer relationship management, ticketing, and hospitality.
In other news, Tullow Oil PLC (LON:TLW) shares rose 2.5% to 222.6p as its interim results showed US$900mln of revenue and US$400mln of free cash flow.
"Today's results are further evidence of the progress that Tullow has made in the first half of 2018. With this firm financial foundation, we can concentrate on growth across our three core businesses,” said Paul McDade, Tullow chief executive.
The popular London oiler, meanwhile, also announced that chairman and co-founder Aidan Heavey has decided to step down and retire from the company.
In the fallers, Wizz Air Holdings PLC (LON:WIZZ) shares slumped 3.3% to 3,440p after reporting a contraction in its earnings for the first quarter as air traffic disruptions led to a spike in cancellations and passenger compensation costs.
The FTSE 250-airline reported underlying earnings (EBITDAR) of €151.4mln for the period, down from €155.9mln in the same period last year, despite a growth in revenues to €553.4mln from €469.3mln.
The group’s underlying margins also contracted to 27.4% from 33.2% in the first quarter of 2017, although both the number of passengers carried and the load factor grew in the period, to 8.6mln from 7.2mln and to 92.1% from 91.2% respectively compared to the same period a year ago.
Other Proactive news headlines:
Eland Oil & Gas PLC (LON:ELA) told investors that the Opuama-10 well, the latest at the Opuama field in Nigeria, has unearthed significant oil pay. The well was drilled down to a depth of 8,121 feet and encountered six oil bearing reservoirs with some 307 feet of total net pay.
Primary Health Properties PLC (LON:PHP) is seeing a continuing improvement in rental growth in the healthcare facilities sector, it said in its interim results statement.
Alliance Pharma PLC (AIM:APH), the specialty pharmaceutical group, said it is trading in line with expectations. In an update, it said revenues for the six months ended June 30 rose 10% to £54.4mln, though trading profit tracked at a slightly slower pace due largely to phasing of marketing spend.
Med-tech specialist ANGLE PLC (LON:AGL) has confirmed it is on target to complete by the end of the year a US Food & Drug Administration study of cancer detection device, Parsortix. A total of 400 people at four leading oncology centres are taking part in the trial, which it hoped will help the company gain Class II clearance for the device, which harvests intact circulating tumour cells.
Clinigen Group PLC (LON:CLIN) has made its second acquisition in as many weeks, buying the global rights to Imukin from Horizon Pharma PLC (NASDAQ:HZNP) for an undisclosed sum. Imukin is licensed in 19 countries to help boost the immune system of patients with chronic granulomatous disease and for the treatment of a bone disease called severe malignant osteopetrosis. Both of those conditions are hereditary and considered to be rare.
Drug developer Midatech Pharma PLC (LON:MTPH) has praised the “significant progress” it made with two of its key clinical programmes in the first half of the year. The AIM-quoted firm remains on track to announce the results of the initial phase of the ongoing first in-human study of its MTD201 drug towards the end of Q3 or start of Q4 this year.
Empresaria PLC (LON:EMR) will post slightly higher interim profits as strong performances in North and South America offset regulatory disruption in Germany and Japan. "For the first half, adjusted profit before tax is up approximately 2% and net fee income is down approximately 1% on the prior year," the staffing group said in a statement.
Mineral sands miner Base Resources Limited (LON:BSE) has predicted another year of steady production from its Kwale mine in Kenya. Guidance for the year to end June 2019 is 88,000 to 93,000 tonnes of rutile, 420,000 to 450,000t of ilmenite and 32,000 to 37,000t of zircon.
Mosman Oil And Gas Ltd (LON:MSMN) has extended the deadline for its option to increase its stake in the Arkoma field, where new well flow data is awaited to reflect the impact of work-over programmes.
United Oil & Gas PLC (LON:UOG) has revealed that the planned Colter appraisal well on the south coast of England has passed an important administrative milestone and remains on-track for drilling in the fourth quarter of this year.
RYVL (NASDAQ:TMG), formerly The Marketing Group, has announced the appointment of Alex Knight as the company’s new chief financial officer (CFO), joining its board with immediate effect. The firm said Mike McElhatton, its current CFO, has resigned to pursue other interests and having stepped down from the board today, will leave the group on 31 July 2018.
ANGLE PLC (LON:AGL) (OTCQX:ANPCY), a world-leading liquid biopsy company, announced after the close on Tuesday that, further to the announcement of 18 July 2018, the company has now received confirmation from HMRC that an investment in the company will qualify for VCT tax relief.