Arlington Capital Partners (ACP) has made an agreed bid of 1230p/share in cash for photonics company Gooch & Housego (LON: GHH) and shareholders will also retain the 4.9p/share interim dividend. This values Gooch & Housego at £345.6m. ACP already owns businesses in the defence and other sectors that Gooch & Housego is involved in, and it believes that growth can be accelerated with greater financial backing. The share price soared 38.2% to 1207.5p.
Retailer Shoe Zone (LON: SHOE) has good news for a change with better than expected trading in May and June helped by warmer weather. That means the 2025-26 loss will be less than £1m and there could be a return to profit next year. Net cash could reach £13.1m. The share price rebounded 15% to 57.5p.
There are signs of improvement in the US construction market and Cavendish has upgraded its forecast for concrete levelling equipment supplier Somero Enterprises (LON: SOM). Delayed work is starting to commence. Revenues have been raised 5% to $90.6m and operating profit is 17% higher at $15.9m with the margin one percentage point higher than previously forecast. Share buybacks help to increase the 2026 earnings forecast from 18.6p/share to 22.3p/share. The share price recovered 15.5% to 210p.
Pawnbroker Ramsdens (LON: RFX) has upgraded its pre-tax profit guidance to between £32m and £35m. This has sparked an increase in the bid by Nasdaq-listed pawnbroker FirstCash, which previously acquired H&T. The bid has been raised from 600p/share to 675p/share, plus 9p/share in retained dividends. The weight of gold purchased has fallen slightly in recent weeks, but sales to bullion dealers are higher than previously forecast. June was a record for pawnbroking and there was a World Cup boost for foreign currency volumes. The share price gained 12.7% to 665p.
Full year results from building services provider Northern Bear (LON: NTBR) show a 10% increase in revenues to £86.1m. A special dividend of 5p/share is proposed on top of the 2.5p/share final dividend. Net cash was £6.2m at the end of March 2026. The share price rose 7.32% to 110p.
FALLERS
Fund manager Premier Miton (LON: PMI) reports a 4% dip in quarterly assets under management to £8.6bn at the end of June 2026, which was worse than expected. The positive investment return was not enough to offset outflows. Annual costs are being reduced by £2.5m. Full year earnings have been downgraded from 3.2p/share to 3p/share and the dividend is likely to be halved to 3p/share. The share price slipped 6.49% to 36p.
Defence equipment supplier MS International (LON: MSI) full year revenues were 2% lower at £115m, but pre-tax profit dropped from £20.1m to £15.1m. The dividend has been raised from 23p/share to 26p/share. Net cash was £45.1m at the end of April 2026. There were problems with revenue recognition, which had already been flagged. There are negotiations for the sale of the Petrol Station Superstructures and Branding division. Forgings has also received approaches. Defence will be the focus. The Terrahawk counter drone system has substantial international interest. Michael O’Connell will become chief executive. The share price fell 4.48% to £13.85.
Ex-dividends
Character Group (LON: CCT) is paying an interim dividend of 4p/share and the share price declined 1p to 295p.
Victorian Plumbing (LON: VIC) is paying an interim dividend of 0.74p/share and the share price fell 0.3p to 77.1p.