Three things you need to know in the financial markets this morning from investment writer, Tony Cross.
Tasty plc
Tasty plc LON:TAST, the casual dining operator, has this morning published a trading update. 49 of the company’s 54 restaurants have now reopened and since the resumption of indoor dining, revenues have shown strong like for like growth against the comparable period in 2019. The board notes that international travel restrictions, increased disposable incomes and a desire to go out should be sufficient to keep trading robust over the summer, although a raft of issues including wage inflation and supply chain problems could weigh. All told however, there’s probably something in here for investors to cheer.
Novacyt
Novacyt [LON:NCYT] has announced the release of two new lateral flow tests to detect for COVID infections as it pursues new market opportunities in what it terms as point-of-care settings and also when it comes to rapid testing for mass events such as conferences and travel. The company notes the importance of being able to distinguish between flu and COVID as another market opportunity and Novacyt’s shares have drifted a long way down from the January highs. However investors are arguably going to be eager to see the sales pipeline, not just the product developments.
Mears Group
There’s a short trading update out from Mears Group LON:MER this morning. The company had seen revenues curtailed by COVID restrictions limiting their ability to carry out works on behalf of clients, but notes that there’s now a normalisation in place with group revenues for the first half of the year now expected to be in excess of £430m and the board anticipates returning to the dividend list for the six months ended June 30th. Interim results will be published in mid-August.
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