The FTSE 250 fell 1% to 21,104 on Wednesday alongside a 0.5% drop to 1,051 in the AIM as concerns over Russia sanctions and Fed rates triggered a wave of caution from investors.
Moonpig shares sank 8% to 208p despite the company lifting annual revenue expectations to £300m yesterday as pandemic restrictions lowered across the UK.
Baltic Classifieds Group shares fell 5.6% to 172p as the stock faded back from to yesterday’s gains after the bounce back from losses sustained from the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Tui shares lost 3.6% to 233p despite the company recruiting 1,500 new employees to focus on digitalisation and destinations due to the company’s expectations of summer 2022 bookings to return close to pre-pandemic levels.
IP Group announced First Light’s achievement of the first-ever fusion with a projectile approach, which gained approval from the UK Atomic Energy Authority.
After the achievement, IP Group said it will be doubling its stake in its portfolio company First Light Fusion. However, the intellectual property commercialisation company shares fell nearly 3% to 90.77p.
Ascential shares rose 3% to 344p and Premier Foods’ shares gained 6.3% to 124p in early morning trade on Wednesday.
Osirium Technologies shares soared 30% to 16.8p, continuing the stock’s rise from yesterday when the company reported “continued growth in contract values.” In Q1 of 2022, the Osirium secured 5 contracts, each having “larger value than any individual contract” the firm obtained in 2021.
Avacta shares flew 19% to 76p despite the drug developer and diagnostics company reporting an increase of nearly £11m in pretax loss and no dividends for 2021. However, Avacta did note an £800,000 increase in revenue to £2.9m.
Sosandar shares increased 19% to 28.5p after the company announced that its annual results are currently projected to exceed market expectations, with a substantial reduction in losses and revenue reaching £29m, which is more than double its result for 2021.
Premium drinks retailer Distil shares increased 17% to 1.4p following strong Q4 results. The company saw a 32% jump in revenue from 2021 and volumes rose by 38%. The firm also more than doubled its investments in brand marketing and new product development.
Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas shares plummeted 16% to 30p due to a discounted equity fundraise to raise £19.5m to fund the drilling of the Gazania-1 well on Block 2B, offshore South Africa.
Chariot, the Africa-focused transitional energy company, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Port of Rotterdam International, a global energy hub linked to the green hydrogen project in Mauritania. However, Chariot’s shares suffered a fall of 8% to 20p.
BrandShield Systems’ shares gained 2% to 10.8p after the company announced that it had signed a new business agreement with a major pharmaceutical firm.
Price Target Changes
FTSE 250
Close Brother shares dropped 2% to 1,186p after UBS cut the company’s price target from 1,485p to 1,200p.
Berenberg raised Hochschild Mining’s price target from 130p to 160p, however, the shares still dropped 0.2% to 133p.
Centamin shares are down 0.6% to 91.6p despite Berenberg increasing the price target to 114p from 108p.
Tullow Oil shares fell 1% to 57p following Barclays raising the oil and gas price target to 87p from 85p.
Tritax Eurobox shares lost 0.5% to 105p after Barclays cut Tritax Eurobox’s price target from 145p to 135p.
Harbour Energy shares gained 2% to 478p and Capricorn Energy increased 0.5% to 227p as Barclays increased the price targets by 100p and 40p respectively.
AIM
Berenberg raised Pan African Resources’ price target by 1p to 28p, however, the company’s shares lost 4.5% to 22p.
Jubilee Metals’ shares gained 3% to 15p as Berenberg raised Jubilee Metals’ price target to 22p from 21p.
Griffin Mining shares rose 0.8% to 116p following Berenberg’s move to raise the company’s price target to 175p from 170p.
Greatland Gold shares increased by 0.8% to 13p following the price target increased from 24p to 26p by Berenberg.