Shares in Sosandar (AIM:SOS) are in fashion after strong year and a positive outlook.
The women's fashion brand said 2022 revenues rose 142% to £29.5mln, with losses reduced from £2.9mln to £0.2mln and beating market expectations. It said every month in the second half of the year was profitable.
Since the year end, first quarter revenues came in at a record £104mln, up 81% on the same period in the previous year.
The first three months continued to be profitable, and it is trading in line with market expectations of full year revenues of £42.5mln and pretax profit of £1.9mln.
It said products across all categories were selling through rapidly with particularly strong sales of workwear, occasion wear and holiday clothes.
Its shares are up 4.03% at 19.24p.
2.37pm: System1 sees full year profits fall and warns on outlook
Marketing specialist System1 Group (AIM:SYS1) is under the cosh as full year profits fell and the start of the current year saw further weakness.
The company said revenues for the 12 months to the end of March rose just 6% to £24.1mln and profits fell 54% to £0.9mln, after an unexpected fourth quarter reduction in its US bespoke research business.
The weakness in this business has continued into the new financial year despite the company taking action to hire new staff and merge divisions.
So overall revenue for the first quarter to the end of June was down 20%.
The company said: "Although lower than the comparable period last year, revenue and profitability were broadly in line with the board's expectations and reflected inflationary pressures, tighter marketing budgets for some customers and continued softness in bespoke consultancy revenues, particularly in the US where we have only recently filled a number of vacancies in the sales team.
It added: "Notwithstanding the first quarter performance, the board is cognisant of market headwinds, including some customers' withdrawal from Russia and the possibility of recession in major economies that could squeeze their marketing budgets. If that were to materialise, the company's revenues and profits for remainder of the year would be adversely affected."
Its shares are down 13.55% to 268p.
12.31pm: Knights upbeat about prospects
Knights Group Holdings PLC (AIM:KGH) has seen its share price charge despite a dip in profits.
Full year revenues at the legal and professional services firm rose 22% to £125.6mln, helped by three acquisitions made during the year and despite the traditionally strong fourth quarter suffering due to the Omicron variant.
Underlying profit before tax slipped by 2% to £18.1mln.
It said it had made a positve start to the new financial year despsite the current economic uncertainty, with the recent acquistions performing well and further targets in the pipeline.
Chief executive David Beech said: "We have delivered another robust financial performance despite the short-term challenges experienced in the fourth quarter, with a positive start to the new financial year supported by the acquisitions completed in prior years...
"We continue to execute our strategy and remain confident in our outlook, as we leverage our enhanced scale and national reputation to realise our ambition to be the leading legal and professional services firm outside London."
Its shares have jumped 16.84% to 111p.
11.00am: Synectics (AIM:SNX) ahead as it returns to profit
Synectics (AIM:SNX) has moved out of the red in the first half of the year after an improvement in most of its markets.
It has turned a £0.8mln loss into a £0.5mln profit, with revenues edging up from £22mln to £22.8mln.
The company said it expected a further improvement in the seasonally stronger second half.
It said: "Activity levels in the major end-user markets that Synectics (AIM:SNX) serves generally continued to gather momentum as markets severely affected by the pandemic began their recovery, particularly in oil & gas and US gaming.
"That recovery is, as yet, less evident in casinos and gaming resorts in Asia-Pacific where leisure travel has remained subdued."
Chief executive Paul Webb added: "A strong team performance has delivered a substantial turnaround in profits despite challenges in the supply chain, and with some end markets still subdued. We expect this trajectory of revenue and profit growth to continue in the second half of this year and beyond."
Its shares are 9.73% better at 104.24p.
9.39am: Foresight hails resilient performance
Somewhat ironically Foresight Group Holdings Limited (LSE:FSG) has beaten expectations laid out at the time of its flotation last year.
The infrastructure and private equity manager reported a 23% increase in assets under management to £8.8bn, while core earnings before share based payments rose 33.1% to £31.8mln.
In the first three months of the new financial year, assets under management rose 20% to £9.4bn in what it called a resilient trading performance.
It has also announced the purchase of Australia's Infrastructure Capital Holdings for up to A$140mln (£79.6mln).
Chairman Bernard Fairman said: "Our financial performance was ahead of our expectations set out at the time of the IPO [in February 2021] and we made significant progress towards achieving our strategic priorities to grow, diversify and expand the business."
Its shares are up 5.43% to 390.1p.
9.04am: OTAQ in demand after Chilean deal
Marine technology group OTAQ PLC (LSE:OTAQ) has seen its shares swim ahead after a deal with a Chilean salmon and sea trout producer.
The agreement with Salmones Antártica will see the company supply its newly launched water quality measurement equipment at several cultivation sites.
The product monitors a site’s oxygen, temperature and salinity levels to provide aquaculture farmers with immediate information about the quality of their water environment.
OTAQ chief executive Phil Newby said: “SASA is a greatly respected salmon producer internationally, and an excellent reference point for OTAQ in the Chilean market. We look forward to working closely with SASA to improve their production yields and broaden our supply agreement.
“After this initial deployment in Chile, customer interest in Scotland and Australia is now being explored. The launch of this product is another important addition to OTAQ’s growing aquaculture solutions portfolio.”
Its shares are up 12.71% to 15.78p.
Elsewhere MJ Hudson Group PLC (AIM:MJH) is 7.25% higher at 37p after the specialist service provider to the asset management industry said it expected full year results to be modestly ahead of previous forecasts.
In May it expected 2022 adjusted EBITDA of at least £8.3mln, but a strong performance in the final three months of the year means it should surpass this.
It said much of the outperformance came from recurring client revenues, giving further confidence in the growth outlook for 2023, and beyond.