Vela Technologies (AIM:VELA) is on the rise after one of its investments unveiled plans to go public.
The investment group said EnSilica PLC intended to join AIM next week valued at 50p a share or £37.6mln in total.
Vela invested £750,000 in EnSilica - which specialises in mixed signal application specific integrated circuits - in the form of convertible loan notes as part of a pre-IPO funding round.
On an IPO, the loan notes and interest accrued since the investment was made automatically convert into new ordinary shares in EnSilica at a 12% discount to the placing price.
So Vela will be interested in 1,764,788 ordinary shares in EnSilica representing 2.3% of the issued share capital and worth £882,394.
Vela shares are up 8.33% at 0.032p.
12.11pm: Tandem accelerates as it appoints cycling expert as chief executive
Tandem Group PLC (AIM:TND) is pedalling faster after appointing a new chief executive.
The sports and leisure equipment group, whose brands include Falcon cycles, has given the top job to Peter Kimberley with immediate effect.
Kimberley has been a non-executive director of the company since last November. He has more than 30 years retail experience across a number of sectors including the cycle retail sector, most recently as chief executive of Pure Electric Limited, a specialised retailer of e-bikes and e-scooters in the UK and Europe.
He has been awarded 37,500 shares in Tandem and options over a further 37,500.
Tandem has accelerated 6.15% to 345p.
11.01am: Begbies Traynor (AIM:BEG) says results will beat market expectations
Begbies Traynor (AIM:BEG) is set to beat market expectations, helped by a burst of acquisition activity.
The consultancygroup said full year revenues were expected to rise 30% to £109.5mln, compared to City forecasts of £105.1mln.
It anticipates adjusted pretax profit of £17.8mln, up from £11.5mln and better than the £17.2mln pencilled in by analysts.
Its business recovery division was boosted by increased insolvencies and liquidations as government support measures were removed, while its property services business saw organic growth as well as a boost from acquisitions.
Executive chairman Ric Traynor said: "We performed strongly in the financial year with results comfortably ahead of market expectations and significantly ahead of the prior year. This reflected the material increase in scale and scope of the group since 2021 following our acquisitions and investment in both divisions.
"Our strong financial position has further improved and we retain substantial resources to make further acquisitions to build our scale and range of complementary services. We have started the new financial year confident in our outlook and anticipating a year of further progress."
The upbeat statement has lifted its shares by 9.6% to 137p.
10.25am: Portmeirion (AIM:PMP) cautious despite growth in sales
Shares in Portmeirion (AIM:PMP) have cracked a little after its latest update.
The homeware group, whose brands include Spode and Royal Worcester, said in a statement for its annual meeting that sales for the first four months of the year were up 2%.
Margins increased by 50 basis points as it passed on cost increases through in price rises.
It said it was confident of future growth, and order books for the key Christmas period and for its international markets remained healthy.
But it also said: "There has been a significant change to consumer sentiment and spending since last year as consumers deal with the impact of inflation in food staples, energy and fuel prices. In addition, there has been further COVID-19 related disruption in supply chains and sales markets, including China. So far we have successfully mitigated these challenges by forward-ordering stock and having long term energy contracts in place until March 2024.
"However, with a traditional heavy second half sales weighting, we remain cautious and watchful as to how macro conditions develop as the year progresses."
This caution has seen its shares fall 7.58% to 439p.
9.44am: Grafenia to sell manufacturing business to concentrate on software
Grafenia Plc (AIM:GRA) has seen its shares grow after unveiling a deal to sell its manufacturing business to concentrate on software.
The company has conditionally agreed to dispose of its Works Manchester subsidiary to Rymack Sign Solutions Limited, a privately owned company trading as PFI Group.
With the deal expected to complete in three to four weeks, Grafenia will receive a cash consideration of £3165mln for the business.
It said: "Grafenia is essentially two businesses: the manufacturing business and our Software-as-a-Service business ..Nettl Systems. They have different needs and require different strategies to help each grow and thrive.
"In recent years, the manufacturing operations have faced a challenging trading environment due to the impacts of both Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. Things have been improving gradually, but this part of our business has been operating below capacity. PFI is a natural fit for our manufacturing operations and can use this spare capacity. It also gives Works Manchester other opportunities to grow and prosper."
The company also announced that Peter Gunning has stepped down as chief executive, although he will remain as a consultant for Nettl Systems.
Gavin Cockerill, previously group chief operating office, will become acting chief executive while the company holds a strategic review, including seeking complementary software acquisitions.
Grafenia is up 5.78% to 5.76p.
8.43am: Immotion boosted by Milwaukee Zoo deal
Immotion Group PLC (AIM:IMMO) shares are going wild after it agreed to install a VR theatre at Milwaukee County Zoo in the US.
The revenue share agreement involves a 40 seat theatre in a standalone building at the zoo, featuring its Gorilla Trek show, created in association with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund.
Milwaukee County Zoo has an annual footfall of 1.3m visitors, with peak summer days seeing over 10,000 visitors.
Work will commence immediately with a target opening date of the second half of July 2022 and the contract will continue until 31 December 2026.
The installations at Milwaukee County Zoo, Pittsburgh Zoo and additional seats to be installed at Sea Life London will take the number of new headsets installed this year to 108 when completed and the overall estate to 468.
Immotion also said that trading continued to be in line with expectations, with unaudited revenue of around £870,000 for its core Location Based Entertainment business in April 2022. This brings total unaudited LBE revenue to £2.7mln in the four months to 30 April 2022 (versus £2.3mln in the first 6 months of 2021).
Chief executive Martin Higginson said: "The focus on both aquariums and zoos is starting to pay dividends, and I believe that once other zoos see this latest installation our order book will get even busier. Based on discussions and pipeline, we continue to be very excited at our prospects for further growth."
Immotion shares are up 7.9% to 4.1p.
Elsewhere legal firm Knights Group Holdings PLC (AIM:KGH) is 7.52% higher at 101.5p after a positive trading update.
It said it expected full year revenues to be around £125.5mln, up 22%, with underlying profits down marginally from £18.4mln to £18.1mln.
The firm has also announced the acquisition of south England business Coffin Mew for £11.5mln in cash and shares, and has other prospective purchases in the pipeline.
Chief executive David Beech said: "The group has performed as anticipated in our update in March and we are encouraged by the positive trading momentum we are seeing in the current year."