The FTSE 250 and AIM dropped on Friday erasing the weeks gains with retail stocks taking a hit today as retail sales slumped 1.4% in March, however, companies including as Homeserve, Vivo Energy, WH Smith and Moonpig provided support for the small and mid cap markets.
Homeserve boosted the FTSE 250 when its shares soared 11.3% to 952p after the home repairs company announced that it is in conversation with Brookfield Infrastructure over a potential takeover offer.
Homeserve said it had received numerous bids from Brookfield since the end of March and now Brookfield has until May 19 to make a firm offer. The deadline for Brookfield’s firm offer was extended from Thursday.
Ferrexpo shares were up 3.6% to 181p following the company’s report of higher pretax profit due to a growth in production volumes through investments in high-grade production.
Ferrexpo saw its revenue climb 48% to $2.5bn from $1.7bn and pretax profit rise 43% to $1.07bn from $747.9m in 2021.
The company said the total dividend paid for 2021 was $0.46, 46% lower than the 2020s $0.85. Ferrexpo will consider whether to propose a further interim dividend for 2021.
Ferrexpo reported a flat pellet production of 11.2m tonnes and sales volume fell 6% from 12.1m tonnes to 11.4m tonnes in 2021.
QinetiQ shares increased 1.8% to 347p as the group continued to attract investors throughout after announcing that its performance is exceeding expectations this week.
Broker ratings
Synthomer shares rose 1% to 301p despite Barclays cutting Synthomer’s price target to 420p from 460p.
Man Group gained 1% to 240p after Barclays raised Man Group’s price target to 255p from 240p.
Oxford BioMedica added 0.5% to 563p despite RBC cutting its price target from 1,340p to 1,070p.
EasyJet shares dropped 2.5% to 576p after Barclays cut its price target from 705p to 700p.
AJ Bell fell 0.2% to 283p following Jefferies’ amendment to its price target from 400p to 315p.
Retailers
Retailers are taking a hit today as retail sales have slumped again in March, except for the odd few like Vivo Energy, WH Smith and Moonpig.
Vivo Energy shares were up 1.4% to 140p as investors flock to the company which is in process of being taken over by Versor Investments.
WH Smith shares rose 0.2% to 1,505p after the company experienced “a recovery in travel activity and has a surprisingly resilient high street operation” according to Russ Mould, Investment Director, AJ Bell.
Moonpig shares gained 1.2% to 203p despite Mould’s view of how “its easy to cut back on items like greetings cards” which should lead to a decline in share price.
However, some retail companies suffered after poor retails sales data and saw their shares fall such as Frasers, Pets at Home, Currys, Dunelm and M&S, whose shares dropped between 0.4% to 1.6%.
Amongst the FTSE 250 fallers were Trust Pilot whose shares were trading down 7% to 123p, followed by Baltic Classified and Aston Martin down 4% to 147p and 864p respectively.
AIM Market
Nanosynth shares tanked 14% to 0.45p after the company confirmed its move for growth through acquisitions, scaring off investors.
Tungsten West shares dropped 11.3% to 41.5p after the mining company announced on Thursday that the recommencement of production at its Hemerdon tungsten and tin mine remains at a halt until the group evaluates alternative approaches to restarting mining operations.
Strategic Minerals reported a lower sales figure of $0.7m in its March quarter due to weaker January sales leading the company’s shares to lose 7% to 0.33p.
Uru Metals shares plummeted 25% to 300p and were the AIM’s top faller on Friday.
Rurelac shares soared 37% to 0.65p marking it as a top performer in the AIM market. Other top performers include, i-Nexus Global, Quadrise Fuel and Rockfire Resources whose shares increased 17.7% to 5p, 17.3% to 2.47p and 13% to 0.48p.
XP Factory shares rose 7% to 31.5p after the company announced it has made great progress, including completing the Boom integration, growing its UK base, and expanding the site pipeline.
One Media iP Group shares increased 6.3% to 6.75p the digital music company posted higher annual revenue for 2021, where revenue climbed from £4m to £4.4m. The group also noted a fall in pretax profit from £734k to £720k due to a £93k cost associated with asset disposal.
Blackbird announced that it will be showcasing sustainable cloud video editing on Microsoft’s booth at NAB 2022 resulting in the group’s shares gaining 6% to 17p.
Directa Plus shares were trading up 4.2% to 124p after the graphene nanoplatelets producer announced that it signed a non-binding Letter of Intent with a supplier of automotive interiors to Tier 1 manufacturers to develop products for the automotive industry.