Shares in software group Gresham Technologies plc (LON:GHT) shot up 12.1% to 106.5p in late-afternoon trading after a number of significant contracts helped it make “an excellent start” to its financial year.
In an AGM statement, the group’s chairman Ken Archer said the company had closed two “significant” contracts with tier 1 global banks in the first quarter of 2019, which represented over £7mln in new revenue over their terms and added £1.4mln to the group’s annualised occurring revenues.
Professional services contracts related to these deals had also been signed and were expected to generate over £500,000 in revenue initially with potential for extensions.
Meanwhile, registrar Equiniti Group PLC (LON:EQN) was 2.9% higher at 221.2p after it said it had started the year well and predicted the drawn-out integration of Wells Fargo’s share registration arm (WFSS) would be completed next month.
Helped by new client wins across all its divisions, the group said it was “confident of delivering in line with expectations” for the full year.
On the outlook, management said Equiniti’s services were “largely insulated” from the continuing uncertainty in the macro-economic environment, stressing that they were “specialist and non-discretionary”.
In the mid-caps, transport operator FirstGroup PLC (LON:FGP) moved up 1.9% to 111.8p after it announced the appointment of Ryan Mangold, the former financial director of FTSE 100 housebuilder Taylor Wimpey PLC (LON:TW.) as its new chief financial officer.
FirstGroup also said it had appointed Julia Steyn, the former vice-president of General Motors Co’s (NYSE:GM) Urban Mobility and Maven car-sharing arms, as an independent non-executive director from 2 May.
1.15pm: Microsaic spins higher as it forecasts year of significant revenue growth and deepens collaboration
Microsaic Systems plc (LON:MSYS) shares surged 18.2% to 1.3p in lunchtime trading after the mass spectrometry instruments developer deepened a collaboration with a Chinese partner firm and predicted ”a year of significant growth in revenues”.
The company said its partner, Unimicro Technologies, had expanded its product range in March with a series of micro-Liquid Chromatography products, which were integrated with Microsaic’s technology, in order to extend its reach in the Chinese market.
Glenn Tracey, chief executive of Microsaic, added that the company’s “globally diverse partnerships”, consisting of Unimicro and eight others, were expected to drive the significant revenue growth in 2019.
Elsewhere on AIM, Haydale Graphene Industries PLC (LON:HAYD) rose 2.4% to 2.1p on news that it had started to produce ceramic blanks for the cutting tool industry in commercial quantities.
Jet engine and aerospace manufacturers have already approved the blanks and Haydale is now in the process of scaling up production.
At the bottom end of the junior market, touch screen maker Zytronic PLC (LON:ZYT) saw almost a quarter of its value wiped away as shares plunged 24.5% to 262.5p.
Zytronic’s tumble came in the wake of a trading update that forecast a pre-tax profit fall of just over a third in its first half to £1.4mln from £2.2mln a year ago. Revenues were also projected to fall to £9.5mln from £10.6mln.
The company blamed a decline in sales in the gaming sector, adding that it was “cautious” on any recovery in the second half.
11.20am: Pennant International flops as major contract looks set to be delayed
Shares in Pennant International Group PLC (LON:PEN) tumbled 16.7% to 97p in late morning after the group warned a potential contract worth up to £30mln could be delayed.
Pennant, which supplies training and support to operators and maintenance staff in the defence and regulated civilian sectors, said its prospective customer had informed the firm that the award had become contingent on a single-source ‘upstream’ contract becoming effective, which may not occur until the second half of 2020 as opposed to the original date which was scheduled for the latter part of 2018.
As a result of the delay, the firm said it would begin a cost-reduction programme to mitigate expenses caused by investments in its operating capacity in line with the original contract start date.
In the mid-caps, FTSE 250 Metro Bank PLC (LON:MTRO) tanked 13.8% to 677p after the lender said its profits halved in the first quarter following a £900mln loans error.
Metro said it lost a small number of large customers after admitting in January that many commercial loans had been incorrectly classified in an accounting error.
The discovery of the loans fiasco led to a sharp fall in Metro’s market value and forced it to reduce its long-term growth plans.
Pre-tax profit fell to £4.3mln in the quarter from £8.6mln a year ago.
In the risers, newspaper group Reach PLC (LON:RCH) jumped 3.7% to 79p after reporting a rise in revenues for the four months to the end of April, boosted by last year’s acquisition of the Daily Express and Daily Star titles.
Revenue rose 4.4% in the period, helped by a full contribution from the Express and Star, which were acquired last February.
On a like-for-like basis, group revenue fell 6.4%, although bosses were keen to highlight that was an improvement on the 7.8% drop registered in the first four months of 2018.
9.20am: Water Intelligence flows higher as subsidiary clinches deal with top US insurance firm
Water Intelligence PLC (LON:WATR) flowed 11.4% higher to 372p in early deals after its subsidiary, American Leak Detection (ALD), signed a national contract with one of the top insurance companies in the US.
The AIM-listed firm, which specialises in technology to prevent water leaks, said the deal was the third one for ALD with a top US insurer, although this one was “unique” in terms of the additional work the companies would also be doing on analytics. The insurer was not named in the announcement.
Another early AIM riser was drug discovery group ValiRx Plc (LON:VAL), which jumped 2.1% to 0.4p after it unveiled an acquisition and a joint venture agreement.
The former will see the company buy patents and intellectual property formerly owned by a Finnish company called FIT Biotech for a nominal sum.
The latter, meanwhile, was a letter of intent to cooperate with corporate financier Alpha Blue Ocean, outlining the terms of a therapeutic and diagnostic-based collaboration. ValiRx will provide the scientific, technological and clinical development expertise and ABO will focus on financing and commercial activities.
In the FTSE 100, blue-chip bookmaker Paddy Power Betfair plc (LON:PPB) saw the odds turn against it, falling 4.7% to 6,448p as it bemoaned a string of “customer friendly” sports results in the UK which put pressure on its first quarter results.
The company reported that retail revenue in the territory fell 2% to £77mln in the quarter, with 2% machine gaming growth offset by a 5% decrease in sports revenues as customers backed more winners.
Similarly, blue-chip consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB.) shed 1.2% to 6,049p after it blamed an “unusually weak” cold and flu season in the US and Europe for a sales decline in its first quarter.
Group sales in the period were £3.16bn, up 1% compared to a year ago on a like-for-like basis but slower than the 4% LFL growth in the preceding quarter and the 2% seen at this time last year.
Other Proactive news headlines:
Haydale Graphene Industries PLC (LON:HAYD) has started to produce ceramic blanks for the cutting tool industry in commercial quantities. The company has spent US$1.5mln in its own production facilities in the US and will now use internally-produced engineered ceramic blends to manufacture and sell sintered ceramic blanks.
Echo Energy Plc (LON:ECHO) managing director Martin Hull has told investors that the South America focussed explorer sees the remainder of 2019 as “very exciting” as it aims to advance the Tapi Aike project. In its financial results statement, for the year to 31 December 2018, the company highlighted the acquisition and initial advancement of the asset, located in Argentina.
Personal Group Holding PLC (LON:PGH) is eyeing an improved performance of its software-as-a-service (SaaS) business over the rest of 2019 after a solid start to the year. In a statement to be read at its AGM on Thursday afternoon, Mark Winlow, chairman of the employee benefits firm, said trading so far had been “in-line with expectations” and that the company was on course to meet its expectations for the full year.
Sativa Investments PLC (LON: SATI), the UK's first medicinal cannabis investment vehicle, is to open the first of its Goodbody & Blunt wellness centres in Bath and has leased a 60.67 square metre retail unit with frontage on to the prime, high footfall, Broad Street and Milson Place City-centre shopping destinations.
accesso Technology Group PLC (LON:ACSO) said its software will be deployed at the St Louis Aquarium and entertainment complex at Union Station in the US city. It is teaming up with zoOceanarium Group, a zoo and aquarium developer, and Lodging Hospitality Management, a hospitality group, for the roll-out.
Greencoat UK Wind PLC (LON:UKW) is to raise around £660mln to grow further its burgeoning portfolio of UK-based renewable energy projects. Through the facility, up to 500mln of new shares can be issued in tranches over the next 12 months. The initial issue will be priced at 133p, a 6% discount to yesterday’s 142p close.
Solo Oil PLC (LON:SOLO) has highlighted management changes at its 13.8% owned Helium One business, where Ian Stalker will now be hired as managing director. Stalker is an well regarded mining executive who among his previous roles was chief executive of Uramin Inc which was sold for US$2.5bn to Areva in August 2017.
African Battery Metals PLC (LON:ABM) said samples have been taken from 248 termite mounds at its Kisinka copper-cobalt project in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It follows the restart of activities on April 12.
W Resources PLC (LON:WRES) completed the first T2 mine blast at its La Parrilla tungsten project in Spain at the end of April.
OptiBiotix Health PLC (LON:OPTI), the life sciences business developing products to tackle obesity, high cholesterol and diabetes, announced that Stephen O'Hara, its CEO will be presenting at an investor evening hosted by Turner Pope Investments Ltd on Monday, 13 May 2019 in the City of London, which will commence at 5pm.
Shield Therapeutics PLC (LON:STX), a commercial stage pharmaceutical company with a focus on addressing iron deficiency with or without anaemia via its lead product Feraccru, announced that it will be presenting at the ShareSoc Growth Company Seminar in London on Wednesday 8 May, 2019. The event, at which Shield’s CFO Tim Watts will deliver a presentation detailing the company's strategy, will commence at 5.30pm at the offices of Link Asset Services, 65 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NQ.
Anglo Asian Mining PLC (LON:AAU), the AIM listed gold, copper and silver producer focused in Azerbaijan, said an updated corporate presentation, is now available on the company's website.
WideCells PLC (LON:WDC) announced yesterday that, further to the financing agreement, announced on 27 September 2018, with European High Growth Opportunities Securitization Fund, it has signed a deed of variation in which the two parties have agreed to set a minimum conversion price for the bonds at the greater of £0.004, or 90% of the lowest closing volume-weighted average price of ordinary shares in the 15 trading days prior to conversion. The group also announced that Peter Presland has stepped down from the board as a non-executive director with immediate effect in order to pursue his other business interests.