Franco Manca and The Real Greek owner The Fulham Shore PLC (LON:FUL) shares shot up 16.4% to 10.9p after it reported a jump in first-half profits and revenue.
The restaurant group said operating profit rose by a third to £1.6mln and revenue increased by a fifth to £33.0mln in the six months to September 23, boosted by new menus and digital growth.
The company also said it was considering increasing its restaurant opening programme for 2020 after a strong performance at new sites.
Elsewhere, 4D Pharma PLC (LON:DDDD) shares surged 24% to 111.15p after confirming all clinical study timelines continue to progress as expected. The company noted the recent fall in its shares but said it was not aware of any company related matter which could be responsible for this price movement.
Going the other way, DP Poland Plc (LON:DPP) shares dropped 30% to 16.30p after saying it was approaching 2019 with “caution” following softer fourth quarter of like-for-like sales growth.
The company, which operates the Domino’s Pizza franchise in Poland, said warm and dry weather into November, as well as sustained advertising spend by competing delivery aggregators, had impacted the group’s share of voice and sales performance.
Clear Leisure jumps as it strikes out-of-court deal with WPP subsidiary
Clear Leisure PLC (LON:CLP) shares surged on Wednesday after it reached an out of court settlement with one of WPP PLC’s subsidiaries, Fortune Cookie, and its founder.
The AIM-quoted company filed the claim back with the High Court back in May, claiming that Fortune Cookie and its founder Justin Cooke had breached a share purchase agreement.
Entrepreneur Cooke founded his company back in 1997 before selling it to ad giant WPP in 2012.
Clear Leisure had estimated at the time that the claim was worth between £700,000 and £5mln. It has agreed a deal which will see the defendants pay out £1.15mln.
“We are very pleased to have settled this case before the planned court hearing next year and for a sum which we believe reflects the appropriate outcome of our original investment, under the original share purchase agreement,” said chief executive Francesco Gardin.
“This is the company’s second successful asset disposal since the new board was appointed in 2015, and we will continue to prosecute strenuously our other investments where we believe the chance of achieving a positive financial settlement is high.”
£150mln wiped from value of Dixons
Shares in Dixons Carphone Plc (LON:DC.) plunged in early trading Wednesday after it slashed its interim dividend amid a swing to a loss in the first half.
The FTSE 250 electronics retailer reported a pre-tax loss of £440mln for the period compared to a £51mln profit a year ago despite revenues climbing to £4.89bn from £4.87bn.
The swing to a loss was mainly down to the firm booking non-headline charges of £490mln relating to non-cash impairments and goodwill.
The company has been struggling in recent months as slow mobile phone sales contributed to the closure on around 92 of its stores, while the share price has lost around 30% of its value this year following a string of profit warnings.
As a result, the group slashed its interim dividend to 2.25p per share from 3.5p a year ago, a decrease of about 36%. Shares dropped 8.6% to 138p.
Marshalls ups guidance as it snaps up Edenhall
Marshalls PLC (LON:MSLH) on Wednesday said it had acquired concrete brick maker Edenhall Holdings for up to £17.2mln and upped its annual guidance.
The company, which provides paving products for gardens and driveways, said the deal would include an initial cash payment of £11.8mln and a deferred consideration of up to £5.4mln.
“The acquisition of Edenhall represents a significant step towards achieving further growth in the new build housing market,” CEO Martyn Coffey said in a statement.
The landscaping group added it expects its full-year results to exceed its expectations, driven by better than expected revenue growth in the second half. Marshalls shares rose 8.5% to 452.4p.
Filtronic shares halve as major customer reins in spending
Antennas and telecoms filters maker Filtronic PLC (LON:FTC) halved in value on Wednesday morning after one of its major customers said it won’t be buying anywhere near as many Massive MIMO antennas as it first thought.
Filtronic had essentially built the antennas for this client and is now looking at what it does with this side of the business after the loss of potential orders.
The AIM company will write down £0.5mln development costs associated with the mMIMO products and now expects to turn a loss this year. Shares plunged 54.4% to 8.2p.
Surprising bullish outlook for Rolls-Royce
Despite numerous production issues with its engines in recent months, Rolls Royce Holdings PLC (LON:RR.) has told the market is expects full-year profit and cash-flow to be at the upper end of current guidance.
The FTSE 100 group has been grappling with problems with its Trent 1000 and 7000 engines but said today it expects to see a “significant improvement” in deliveries during the first half of 2019.
Rolls had previously said it expects to post group operating profit of between £300-500mln and free cash flow of between £450-£550mln. It now expects full-year profit and cash flow to be in the “upper half” of those forecasts.
The aerospace engineer is the top blue-chip riser, up 2.8% to 802.6p.
SuperDry blames warm weather (again)
Down on the FTSE 250, profits at SuperDry PLC (LON:SDRY) halved in the fashion brand’s first half. The company said the recent weather has been too mild for its liking, meaning it has been unable to shift its winter jackets and coats.
SuperDry took an £11mln weather-related hit in November and warned of a similar impact this month if trading and weather conditions don’t improve.
Given the poor performance so far, the group warned full-year profits would likely slide to between £55-70mln – well below the £97mln it generated last time around. The retailer is also looking at closing some of its stores.
Shares plunged by a third to 400p.
Proactive news headlines:
Taptica International Limited (LON:TAP) is to launch a share buyback programme for an aggregate value of up to US$10mln as cash generation of its business continues to be strong. The group said the buyback programme will commence on 12 December 2018 and will continue until 28 February 2019, or when the company enters a closed period.
i3 Energy PLC (LON:I3E) shares jumped in early trading Wednesday after it highlighted the Serenity prospect in the vicinity of its Liberator field in the North Sea.
Seeing Machines Limited (LON:SEE) shares surged in early trading Wednesday after it partnered up with L3 Commercial Aviation, a provider of pilot training solutions, to develop eye-tracking capabilities for flight simulators. Big Pic in August.
DP Poland Plc (LON:DPP) has issued an ‘in line’ update for its underlying earnings (EBITDA) for 2018, adding that it was approaching 2019 “with caution”.
Avacta Group PLC (LON:AVCT) has appointed a chief medical officer who will oversee the development of the life sciences group’s Affimer technology. Dr Jose Saro is joining the business from the Roche Innovation Center, Zurich, where he focused on immuno-oncology and the development of products that work in combination to treat illnesses.
Coinsilium Group Limited (AQSE:COIN) has raised £367,125 through the issue of new shares to finance “a number of high impact initiatives” as well as the strategic advancement of the firm.
Mkango Resources Ltd (LON:MKA, CVE:MKA) told investors that it has secured a licence extension for exploration in the Phalombe. The government of Malawi has given the company another two years under its current exploration phase, with the latest arrangement now running to January 2021.
Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) has agreed to sell its 30% in UK licence PEDL331, located on the Isle of Wight, which hosts the undeveloped Arreton oil discovery. UK Oil & Gas Investments will pay £350,000 to acquire the stake, to take its overall ownership of the project to 95%.
Capital Drilling Ltd (LON:CAPD) has extended its contract with Anglo Gold Ashanti for the Geita mine, in Tanzania. The AIM-quoted mining services contractor will continue underground exploration and grade control drilling, under a sub-contract to a five year master agreement which currently runs to December 2020. It has operated at the Geita mine since 2006.
Ariana Resources PLC (LON:AAU) has announced that a 1,000 metre diamond drilling programme is due to commence imminently at its wholly-owned Kizilcukur Gold Project in Turkey. The company said that drilling to be focused on the planned Zeki Pit area, with the aim of improving the classification of JORC resources to the Measured and Indicated categories.
Kibo Energy PLC (LON:KIBO) has renewed and expanded its Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Mozambican state-owned electric utility, Electricidade de Mocambique (EDM) to advance the financing, construction and operation of the Benga Independent Power Project in Mozambique. The multi-asset, Africa focused energy company said EDM is committing to assist and co-operate towards the successful development of Benga in Mozambique.
Horizonte Minerals Plc (LON:HZM) has filed the NI 43-101 feasibility study of its Araguaia ferronickel project in Brazil on SEDAR. Results from the FS were first announced at the end of October and showed that over a 28-year mine life Araguaia will generate US$1.6bn in cash flows.
African Battery Metals PLC (LON:ABM) said it intends to approach all of its existing creditors and suppliers with a view to negotiating a settlement of all of the company's existing liabilities on equal terms, in order to give the group the time to seek other solutions for the continuation of its trade.
Ceres Power Holdings PLC (LON: CWR) confirmed that, further to its announcement on 4 December, 16,879,964 new ordinary shares have been allotted to Weichai Power after it exercised its warrant at a price of 164.5p per share investing a further £27.8mln in addition to its previous £20.3mln investment. The group said this increases Weichai’s shareholding in Ceres Power from just under 10% to 20%.
Diversified Gas & Oil PLC (LON:DGOC), the US based gas and oil producer, announced that Cenkos Securities has been appointed as the Company's Nominated Adviser with immediate effect. The appointment follows the completion of the acquisition of the Nominated Adviser and Corporate Broking business of Smith & Williamson by Cenkos.
Circle Property PLC (LON:CRC), the specialist regional UK office investment and development company, also announced that Cenkos Securities has been appointed as its Nominated Adviser and Broker with immediate effect.
Echo Energy Plc (LON:ECHO), the Latin American focused upstream oil and gas company, announced that Cenkos Securities has been appointed as the company's Nominated Adviser with immediate effect.
Sound Energy PLC (LON:SOU) announced that Cenkos has been appointed as the company's Nominated Adviser with immediate effect.
Tekcapital PLC (LON:TEK), the UK intellectual property (IP) investment group focused on creating marketplace value from university technology, will be delivering a webinar on commercialising university IP with the Creativity and Innovation Center 4.0 of the Universidad Tecnológica de Querétaro on December 14th, 2018 at 1:00 PM CST.