London’s AIM index made little progress through Wednesday’s session. If the market had been hoping for more from Rishi Sunak in the budget it was clearly left underwhelmed with the junior market closing off around one point at 1188.62
- UniVision Engineering up 145%
- Barkby Group up 26%
- Mountfield Group down 40%
- Marechale Capital down 32%
- Manolete Partners down 10%
Shares in UniVision Engineering LON:UVEL surged 145% higher today after the market was notified of a proposed PDMR transaction. The move would see the Chairman sell part of his stake – equivalent to 52% of the issued capital – to a Singaporean investment holding vehicle. These shares would be sold for 4.1p each, so with the stock settling at just 2.7p, there’s arguably still room on the upside here.
The Barkby Group LON:BARK added 26%, leaving the stock in second place following a well-received trading update this morning. The business has diversified interests which arguably helps offset the downside from divisions such as its pubs operation, but the share price rise also needs to be taken in the context of a wide closing spread, limited order flow and a market cap of under £40m.
Mountfield Group [LON:MOGP] is being flagged as the biggest faller, off 40% after the company made disposals, became a cash shell and saw directors resign. However, the stock trades at a wide spread, has a market cap of around £1m and some movement out of hours suggests that the price may have rebounded, but that’s not being reflected across all price feeds.
Marechale Capital LON:MAC was another big faller, losing 32%. Strong gains for the company just over a month ago in the wake of financing news put it onto our agenda, but clearly enthusiasm is running dry. There’s no formal news out and the £3m market cap also leaves the stock susceptible to volatility.
Manolete Partners LON:MANO gets the notable mention today, with the insolvency practitioners off by almost 10%. Rishi Sunak’s generosity in the budget may help viable companies survive but it also enables some who have run their course to continue trading a while longer, which is by consequence bad news for this sector.
