Optimism over what an EU-US trade deal might look like seems to be helping cheer sentiment in equity markets on Thursday, although the London blue chip index is comprehensively outperforming the junior bourse. Just after 4pm, the AIM All Share was up almost three points at 773.28.
- Futura Medical +58%
- Norman Broadbent +31%
- Dekel Agri-Vision +13%
- Indus Gas -36%
- Northcoders Group -27%
Futura Medical LON:FUM is topping the board as we approach the close, with read across following news of a high profile pharma acquisition seemingly buoying interest. With a boardroom reshuffle announced earlier in the week, perhaps there’s hope that the undervaluation of UK assets could see Futura snapper up, too.
Norman Broadbent LON:NBB was 31% higher with the recruitment sector eventually seeing some relief. A H1 trading update published this morning highlighted not only growth, but record-breaking sales. The fact that news came on top of the disappointing update from PageGroup LON:PAGE makes it all the sweeter for investors.
Dekel Agri-Vision LON:DKL was 13% higher off the back of a H1 production update. This showed revenues around 20% higher than the comparative, helped by strong underlying pricing.
Indus Gas LON:INDI was down 36%, with the stock giving back some of yesterday’s gains. The rally earlier in the week appears to have been based on an assumption that the company would benefit from a run-on deal but with this unconfirmed, optimism is ebbing away. Volumes appear even more elevated than we saw on Wednesday.
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Northcoders Group LON:CODE dropped 27% following an update. This highlighted a change in the way government funding would work, clouding the outlook, leading to unpredictable profitability and management concluding that they are now unable to support current market expectations.
