MJ Hudson (LON: MJH) announced a £9.22m placing and PrimaryBid offer at 30p a share as the market was closing on Wednesday afternoon. The share price of the asset management services provider declined 8% to 28.75p today. The cash will be invested in the ESG division, help to pay deferred consideration and provide additional regulatory capital for the growing operations. The company wants to change the terms of its LTIP so that there is a 30p floor on the issue price of shares. Cenkos has adjusted its 2022-23 pre-tax profit forecast from £5.7m to £6m, although earnings have been cut from 3.1p a share to 2.8p a share.
Performance optimisation software provider Checkit (LON: CKT) grew annual recurring revenues by 48% to £10.2m. Interim recurring revenues were £4.4m out of total revenues of £5.4m. Non-recurring revenues continue to decline. Net cash is £19.5m and it could fall to £15m by January 2023. Securing deals is taking more time and this is worrying investors. The shares fell 5.17% to 27.5p.
Shares in rail infrastructure monitoring technology provider Cordel (LON: CRDL) rose a further 34.6% to 8.75p following the announcement earlier this week of a five-year contract with Angel Trains to install fully automated monitoring hardware and software on in-service passenger trains. The share price started the week at 5.25p.
Artemis Resources Ltd (LON: ARV) has returned from suspension after reporting additional results for drilling at the Greater Carlow Castle copper gold cobalt project in Australia. A review of the results has been completed. Crosscut zone results have identified an offset mineralised load to the west, while mineralisation is open to the north. Carlow West zone drilling has intersected two areas of mineralisation. A mineral resource calculation is planned. There will be a further announcement of assay results of ARC395 and ARC396 drill holes, but they are not considered material. The share price rose 11.9% to 3.3p having started the week at 1.5632p.
Buying by directors has pushed up the share price of recruitment and training provider Staffline Group (LON: STAF). There have been five director and management purchases since the interims on 2 August, including two today. Finance director Daniel Quint acquired 50,000 shares at 39.7p each, while Martina McKenzie, the managing director of the subsidiary in Ireland, bought 215,543 shares at 41.132p each. Interim revenues and pre-tax profit declined, although full year pre-tax profit is forecast to improve from £7.9m to £8.8m. The share price fell after the interims, but a 15.5% increase to 47.95p has more than recovered that loss.
Cell engineering company MaxCyte (LON: MXCT) increased interim revenues by 56% to $21.2m. The loss rose from $11.5m to $12.3m due to higher staff costs. There is cash of $240.9m. In July, LG Chem licensed the use of MaxCyte’s Flow Electroporation ExPERT platform to advance development of engineered cell-based therapies. Guidance is for a 30% increase in full year revenues. The shares rose 6.74% to 475p.
Electrical retailer Marks Electrical (LON: MRK) increased revenues in the first four months of the financial year by 14% to £27.7m. Marks is growing market share for major domestic appliances and consumer electronics. Televisions, vacuum cleaners, washers and air conditioning were strong categories. Rivals have been discounting prices and marketing costs are increasing, but management believes it can achieve profitable growth. The share price recovered 5.88% to 72p, which is still below the November 2021 placing price of 110p.
Ex-dividends
i3 Energy (LON: I3E) is paying a monthly dividend of 0.14p and the share price has declined by 0.125p to 29.175p.
Iomart Group (LON: IOM) is paying a final dividend of 3.6p a share and the share price has fallen 2p to 192.4p.
Quartix Holdings (LON: QTX) is paying an interim dividend of 1.5p a share and the share price is unchanged at 340p.
Riverfort Global Opportunities (LON: RGO) is paying a final dividend of 0.04p a share and the share price is unchanged at 0.875p.
