London’s AIM Index spent the bulk of the session in negative territory but managed to work its way slightly higher by the close, finishing up just over one and a half points at 1222.61.
- MS International +21%
- Pelatro +15%
- Bidstack -16%
- Trackwise Designs -14%
- Petro Matad +11%
MS International LON:MSI found itself at the top of the board today, having added some 21% during the session. The diverse company published full year results this morning which relayed a marked fall in the cost of sales, something that fed through to the bottom line and helped move the business back to profitability. That said, the day’s trade has been rather lumpy, but with a £32m market cap and over £17m in cash at the bank, the results could have acted as a trigger for those hunting out possible acquisition targets.
Pelatro LON:PTRO added 15% today, with media chatter seemingly behind the move. Trade was certainly brisk and this goes a long way to reversing the impact of the dilution which was felt last week.
Bidstack LON:BIDS was the day’s biggest faller, sitting some 16% lower at 4.30pm. There’s no firm news out here but the stock has been on a downward trajectory since the start of February and there appears to be little belief that the situation will improve any time soon.
Trackwise Designs LON:TWD also had a rough ride, closing down 14%. Despite advising the market of an extension to a manufacturing contract, on the basis the revenues from this have also been pushed back a year, investors seemed reluctant to cheer the news. Downside here was likely compounded by the publication of final results which showed a more than doubling of revenues to over £6m but the 2019 operating profit of £0.26m slid to an operating loss of £0.77m.
A notable mention for Petro Matad [LON:MATD] whose shares added 10% off the back of today’s full year results. It was another set of losses, although these were trimmed significantly as the company remained focused on progressing its Mongolian drilling project. There’s evidently optimism that this is heading in the right direction.
