Portmeirion (AIM:PMP), the homeware manufacturer known for its eponymous brand as well as Spode and Royal Worcester, is set to beat market expectations after a merry Christmas.
It saw strong demand from around the world during the festive trading period, and now expects full year sales of at least £104mln, some 10% ahead of forecasts.
That is 18% above 2020 sales of £87.9mln and 12% ahead of pre-COVID-19 sales of £92.8mln in 2019.
It said this was the highest ever level of sales for the group, helped by strong growth in its online business.
It now expects full year pretax profits to be at least £7mln, an increase of 9% over current consensus market expectations and significantly higher than the £1.4mln it reported in the previous year.
Chief executive Mike Raybould said: "Although our key seasonal sales period came later than usual due to global supply chain disruption affecting availability of stock, it finished very strongly, particularly in the US market. We are becoming an increasingly digital business and the new capabilities we have built to drop ship online orders continue to drive our business forward and should provide further opportunities for strong growth and improve margins in the future.
"Each of our core markets of the UK, US and South Korea have grown well in 2021. The measures we took to reduce overstocks and protect our brand in South Korea in 2019/20 have enabled a much more robust year, with strong consumer demand and expectations of further sustainable growth in coming years.
"We are mindful of ongoing COVID-19 risks and their potential impact on sales markets, global supply chains and the associated cost inflation, particularly in container shipping. We expect further growth in 2022 and with the current uncertainty will wait to update the market with detail on the outlook for the current financial year at the time of the preliminary results in March. Looking forward we continue to navigate these uncertainties and remain confident in our ability to improve margins over the longer term and grow the business strongly in the future."
Portmeirion (AIM:PMP) shares have added 12.9% or 80p to 700p.
3.20pm: S4 Capital climbs after it unveils deal with US data consultancy
Sir Martin Sorrell's digital advertising and marketing firm S4 Capital PLC (LSE:SFOR) has unveiled a deal with a California based data consultancy along with an in-line trading update.
The company's Media.Monks business is merging with 4 Mile Analytics, formed in 2017 to help its clients extract more value from their data.
S4 Capital said trading for the first 11 months and forecasts for December were in line with market expectations, with margins improving significantly in the second half.
It shares are up 3.58% at 549.28p.
2.30pm: Vimto maker Nichols improves after revenues rebound
Shares in Nichols PLC (AIM:NICL) have fizzed up after the soft drinks group reported a rebound in revenues.
The Vimto maker said full year sales were up 22.1% from last year's pandemic depressed £118.7mln to £144.3mln, less than £3mln below the 2019 level.
It expects adjusted pretax profits of between £21mln and £22mln, up from £11.6mln last year. This is in line with previous guidance.
For next year its profit expectations remain unchanged at £25.2mln.
According to Nielsen, Vimto's brand value increased by 5.6% during the year, and the drink saw strong double digit revenue growth in the international market.
Out of home sales rose 77.1% year on year but were down 31% on the 2019 level.
It expects to report a goodwill impairment with the full year results, given the continuing impact of the pandemic on the out of home drinks market.
Its shares are 3.41% better at 1515p.
12.12pm: Accrol falls after pricing pressures hit revenues and profits
Accrol Group Holdings PLC (AIM:ACRL) has seen its shares crumple as it warned it would not meet previous expectations for the year and unveiled a strategic review.
The maker of toilet tissues and kitchen rolls said it continued to face pricing pressures, including pulp prices, supply chain problems and energy costs.
Some of these rises have been passed on to customers but it recently faced further exceptional energy price increases which it has yet to recoup.
In October it expected full year revenues to rise by 25% and earnings to increase by 20% to around £18.7mln.
Now it is forecasting a 17% rise in revenues to around £160mln and earnings of £9mln.
It said: "In light of the..short-term but inherent volatility of earnings experienced in the current year, the board has concluded that it is now appropriate for Accrol to conduct a full strategic review of its business. Such review will be designed to capitalise on the evident strength of the business' market position, its balance sheet, and its solvency, underpinned by significant banking support, to ensure that the shareholder value is optimised."
Its shares are down 18.7% or 5.75p at 25p.
11.10am: Frontier Developments loses a quarter of its value as it cuts revenue forecasts
Video games group Frontier Developments PLC (AIM:FDEV) has fallen into the red and seen some of its projected revenues eaten up by delays, sending its shares sharply lower.
The maker of Jurassic World Evolution 2 said revenues rose from £36.9mln to £46.1mln in the six months to the end of November, but it moved from a profit of £6.9mln to a loss of £1.3mln.
It blamed a higher proportion of revenues attracting licencing royalties - step forward the dinosaurs - as well as lower profit margins on sales of physical discs rather than digital sales - dinosaurs again.
There were also higher marketing costs and non-cash foreign exchange and amortisation charges.
Since the end of the half, it said it had seen its strongest ever December in terms of revenues, helped by the Jurassic World launch in November.
Future plans include a Formula 1 game, as well as Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate - Daemonhunters.
But it now expects full year revenues of £100mln-£120mln compared to the £130mln-£150mln outlined last September.
And for the 2023 financial year its forecast has dropped from £160mln-£180mln in September to £130mln-£160mln. This follows a delay in its Warhammer Age of Sigmar IP real-time strategy game, from the 2023 financial year to 2024.
All this has seen its shares slump 24.94% or 442p to 1330p.
10.42am: Ten Lifestyle jumps as it unveils contract with major private banking group
Ten Lifestyle Group (AIM:TENG) has made its shareholders a little wealthier after unveiling a new contract in the Americas.
The company operates global concierge platform for the world's wealthy and mass affluent, assisting them to organise and book travel, dining and live entertainment.
It has now won a multi-year contract with one of the world's largest private banks and wealth managers, and will launch its service to the bank's customers in the Americas in the spring.
If the service it successful, it could be expanded to other geographies and private banking customer groups.
Chief executive Alex Cheatle said: "We hope the success of this programme may lead to the further expansion of the service and the growth of a strong and long-lasting partnership with this new corporate client.
"This is a significant development for Ten in the Americas, further strengthening our scale in the region, and the group's business within the private banking and wealth management sector globally."
Ten Lifestyle's shares are up 10.89% at 112p.
9.47am: Cairn Homes climbs as it beats expectations and upgrades forecasts
Cairn Homes plc (LSE:CRN) has built up a good gain after it forecast a better than expected full year performance.
The housebuilder said after a disruptive first half of the year with site closures due to the pandemic, the second half represented its strongest ever performance in terms of new homes sold, margin growth, profitability and cash generation.
With total revenues of €423mln, operating profits are expected to come in at around €58mln, more than 10% better than previous guidance.
It has now upgraded its guidance for 2022, with operating profits set to reach €95mln to €100mln compared to an earlier estimate of €85mln.
Victoria Scholar, head of investment at interactive investor, said the trading statement was very impressive: “The Irish housebuilder is returning €95mln to shareholders this year after achieving record 2021 profits... Cairn is planning to buy back up to €75mln shares and pay a final dividend of €20mln or 2.7 cents per share."
Its shares are up 10.22% at 104.71p.
8.47am: Botswana Diamonds unveils positive South Africa update
Botswana Diamonds PLC (AIM:BOD) is sparkling after a positive update from its Thorny River prospect in South Africa.
The miner's shares have jumped 13.51% to 1.05p as it said the projected kimberlite volume at the site had been raised significantly to an estimated 2 million tonnes.
Chairman John Teeling said: "The estimated kimberlite volume in the River area is considerably better than expected. Botswana Diamonds will now determine the mining potential. Let me put this in context. The 2 million tonnes is almost twice the size of the nearby Marsfontein deposit. We have identified other small potential blows which could further increase the kimberlite volume. This enhances the potential in developing a "hub and spoke" mining project".
Elsewhere Kinovo PLC (AIM: KINO), the property services group formerly known as Bilby PLC (AIM:BILB), has added 6.82% to 47p.
The company has sold its non-core construction division, DCB (Kent) Limited for up to £5mln to MCG Global Limited.
Under the terms of the deal, up to £1.9mln will be payable on the successful completion of current projects, most of which are due in the calendar year 2022;
Then up to £2.1mln will be payable on trade settlements relating to these current contracts and the rest relates to the business achieving profits of £3mln in the next two financial years.
Kinovo chief executive David Bullen said: "This marks an important step for Kinovo, strengthening the foundation of our core business and enhancing our strategic commitment to focus on regulation, regeneration and renewables. This commitment centres on the non-discretionary areas of compliance and regulatory work that offer long-term contracts, recurring revenues and strong cash generation."