Coats Group PLC (LON:COA), the industrial thread manufacturer, climbed 1.9% to 59.2p in a falling market on the back of its 2019 results.

“Absent a material impact from Covid-19, Coats remains well placed to execute our strategy and deliver another year of growth in 2020,” said Rajiv Sharma, the group’s chief executive.

The impact of the coronavirus so far for Coats has been in its China business, which currently represents about 12% of group sales. Four of its 50 global manufacturing facilities are in the country and are back operating after the enforced closure over the Chinese New Year.

3.00pm: Airea outperforms the market

Airea PLC (LON:AIEA) shares jumped 12% to 43p after the floor coverings maker claimed it outperformed the market in 2019.

Revenues were broadly flat in a market where the market for carpet tiles in the UK declined by about 10%, according to the estimates of Airea's management.

Underlying profit margins increased year on year although profit before tax declined to £1.96mln from £2.61mln.

2..15pm: Spirent continues to see rising demand for 5G

Spirent Communications PLC (LON:SPT) climbed 8.2% to 230p after it left profit guidance for 2020 unchanged in its 2019 results statement.

The company has not changed its forecasts for any coronavirus impact as it continues to see rising demand for 5G and high-speed network connection and satellite positioning equipment.

The company dual sources its components and raw materials so has not assumed any financial impact yet from the Covid-19 disruption being seen elsewhere.

1.20pm: Indigovision resumes dividend payments as turnaround continues

Indigovision PLC (LON:IND) continued its recent revival, rising 34p to 228p on further signs that its turnaround programme is gaining momentum.

A little more than 18 months ago the shares were trading below a quid each, since when the designer and supplier of video security systems has moved into profit, with underlying earnings of US$3.3mln.

Today saw the company signal confidence in the future by resuming dividend payments; the board has proposed a final dividend of tuppence.

12.35pm: Angus Energy lifted by independent reserves estimate

Angus Energy PLC (LON:ANGS), up 24% at 1.05p, received a boost from an updated reserves report on the Saltfleetby gas field in exploration licence PEDL005.

Focusing on the mean sales gas reserves, which are roughly equivalent to proved + probable reserves in oilfield appraisals, these have been independently estimated at 16 billion cubic feet.

The total cash flow after costs but before taxes of these reserves is about £50mln at prices derived from the gas forward curve from the ICE exchange and an average forward condensate price of US$42 a barrel.

10.30am: Kier defies the trend

Kier Group PLC (LON:KIE) bucked the trend, rising 14% to 115.2p in a falling market after well-received half-year results.

The construction and infrastructure services company, which is valued about a fifth of what it was a year ago after it became the most shorted stock on the London stock market at one point in 2019, calmed nerves by narrowing its half-year loss to £24.4mln from £32.5mln the year before.

Excluding exceptional items, the operating margin improved to 2.5% from 2.0% although net debt grew to £242.5mln at the end of 2019 from £180.5mln at the end of 2018.

9.30am: Aeorema hopes revenue from delayed events will feed through at some point

Aeorema Communications PLC (LON:AEO) slumped 28% to 21p in early trade on Thursday as the live events agency became the latest company to count the cost of the coronavirus outbreak.

The company said it is maintaining an active dialogue with clients regarding its upcoming schedule of events but has received notification from some clients that they are rescheduling events beyond 30 June 2020 and is aware that other clients are considering the same.

Given the anticipation of a growing impact of the COVID-19 virus and the likelihood that other events may also be postponed beyond the end of the company’s fiscal year, which runs to the end of June, the board believes that revenue and profit before tax this year will be below current market expectations.

Knights Group Holdings PLC (LON:KGH), the legal and professional services businesses, fell 15p to 440p after it placed shares at 420p a pop.

The company is raising just shy of £20mln to help finance the acquisition of Shulmans, an independent law firm based in Leeds, for up to £20.1mln and ASB Aspire, a law firm based in Crawley and Maidstone, for up to £8.5mln.

The board of Knights anticipates significant synergies and margin improvement following the integration of the firms into the group.

Proactive news headlines:

Sirius Minerals PLC (LON:SXX) shareholders, those that have yet to exit in the market, will now endure the long goodbye – as the controversial UK mine firm confirmed the timeline to the completion of its acquisition by Anglo American Plc (LON:AAL). Yesterday it was confirmed that Tuesday’s shareholder meeting greenlighted Anglo’s £400mln takeover. Over 1,300 investors cast their vote, with 80.28% in favour to surpass the required 75% threshold for the deal to go ahead.

Faron Pharmaceuticals Oy (LON:FARN) (NASDAQFIRSTNORTH:FARON) said its MATINS phase I/II clinical trial has identified another partial response to its cancer drug, Clevegen. Remember, early-stage trials of this sort are usually only concerned with assessing safety, side-effects, and dosing. In Part I of the MATINS trial it was discovered the lung metastasis of a melanoma patient shrank by 44% after receiving the Faron drug.

Franchise Brands PLC (LON:FRAN) posted a 29% increase in adjusted underlying earnings (EBITDA) for 2019, driven by accelerating Metro Rod system sales. The multi-brands franchise business increased its adjusted EBITDA to £5.2mln from £4.0mln on the back of a 24%, while revenue rose to £44.0mln from £35.5mln the previous year. Profit before tax climbed to £3.28mln from £2.86mln the year before.

Zoetic International PLC (LON:ZOE) has delivered an update to investors on the progress of its cannabidiol (CBD) business. The company said that a contract with a US national distributor for smokable products and chew pouches was in final form and would be signed once it concluded successful trials with its contract manufacturing partners.

Stobart Group Ltd (LON:STOB), which holds a 30% stake in Flybe owner Connect Airways, said the collapse of the regional airline will result in a non-cash balance sheet impact of £43.3mln as well as an additional £7mln investment made in 2020. Both will be written down to zero.

Mineral & Financial Investments Ltd (LON:MAFL) expects that its portfolio could benefit from the gold price rally, as it is overweight precious metals. The company noted also that it has taken a position in ProShares UltraPro Short ETF. “The position cost us some performance in Q2, but in February 2020 they have rallied from US$16 to US$23.76, as at the writing of this statement,” the company said, in its interim results.

Futura Medical PLC (LON:FUM) said it is hosting an investor seminar later this month at which it will share the latest internal analysis and literature on its breakthrough erectile dysfunction gel, MED3000. The update follows the company’s phase III clinical trial, called FM57, which revealed the treatment, which uses the company’s DermaSys technology, to be “highly effective” and safe.

MTI Wireless Edge Ltd (LON:MWE) announced that its wireless irrigation control solutions subsidiary, Mottech Water Solutions Ltd has signed a renewal service agreement valued at approximately US$0.9mln. The AIM-listed technology group, which is focused on comprehensive communication and radio frequency solutions across multiple sectors, said the renewal service agreement is with one of the five largest municipalities in Israel and one of Mottech's largest service customers.

Eden Research plc (LON:EDEN), the AIM-quoted biopesticide products group, said its non-executive chairman, Lykele van der Broek has purchased a total of 571,000 ordinary shares in the company at an average price of 6.65p. Following the transaction, the group said, van der Broek's interest in the company is 929,500 ordinary shares representing around 0.45% of the issued share capital.

Chaarat Gold Holdings Limited (LON:CGH), the AIM-quoted gold mining company with assets in the Kyrgyz Republic and Armenia, has announced the appointment of finnCap as its joint corporate broker with immediate effect. The group said finnCap will work together with the company's existing brokers Numis Securities and SP Angel Corporate Finance.

Iconic Labs PLC (LON:ICON), a multi-divisional new media and technology business, has requested the suspension of the listing of the company's ordinary shares from 07:30am today. In a statement, the group said the suspension has been requested because it has come to its attention that, in respect of a number of ordinary shares issued and allotted by the Company during 2019, not all Form 1 submissions had been submitted, as was required and which relate in part to the securities referred to in the prospectus, published on 22 February 2019, and for which the time period to make such submissions has now expired. The company said it intends to address this issue through the approval and publication of a new prospectus and subsequent submission of all required Form 1 submissions. The group said it hopes to be able to publish the new prospectus within two weeks, but will update the market as to progress.