Strong corporate updates helped the FTSE 250 and the AIM index finish the week on a positive note, adding to a reasonable week of gains in the UK’s small and mid caps markets.
Travel shares enjoyed a positive session after airline regulators urged airline companies to set deliverable schedules in light of recent flight cancellations due to staffing issues as a result of the latest wave of Covid.
This lead to airline company’s such as EasyJet and Wizz Air shares to rebound after a turbulent week with over 200 flight cancellations between them.
FTSE 250 Risers
The iron ore miner, Ferrexpo shares flew 11% to 186p despite the company’s production update stating an 11% fall in iron ore pellet production due to operational and logistical constraints following the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ferrexpo reported a total iron ore pellet production of 2.7m tonnes in Q1 2022, in line with the same period in 2021.
The group generated sales of 2.6m tonnes in Q1 2022, scaling production activities to meet the accessible pellet demand in the market.
“Ferrexpo’s production was remarkably down just 2% year-on-year in the first quarter – its operations are after all outside the main conflict zones,” said Russ Mould, Investment Director, AJ Bell.
“However with the limitations associated with exporting to Europe via rail and barge, management are understandably looking for alternative seaborne options while activities at its usual hub – the Black Sea port of Pivdennyi – remain suspended.”
CMC shares gained 9% to 262p after the online trading company said it expects its annual profit to come at the upper end of forecasts after enjoying its “strongest quarter” of its financial year. The company saw annual net operating income amount to £280m, on the top end of expectations, in Q4 2021.
CMC saw a hike in usage during the pandemic despite market volatility leading to a net operating income of £409.8m, 32% higher than Q4 2021 figures. However, compared to pre-pandemic times, CMC’s net operating income increased 11% from £252m.
Volution Group shares rose 3.3% to 425p after Jefferies raised the company’s price target from 480p to 560p.
JP Morgan cut Countryside Properties’ price target from 280p to 250p helping the shares increase by 3.7% to 276p.
EasyJet and Wizz Air shares gained 3.3% and 2.3% on Friday after the UK aviation regulator urged airlines to set “deliverable” schedules after staffing issues disrupted operations leading to flight cancellations.
FTSE 250 Fallers
International Public Partnerships shares dropped 4% to 164p after the company announced its plans to raise £250m through an equity issue. The funds raised will be used towards part-payment of a corporate debt facility and investing in its pipeline.
888 Holdings’ shares fell after the company announced an accelerated bookbuild to acquire William Hill yesterday. At the time, 888 also announced the enterprise value of William Hill assets has been lowered to £1.95bn on Thursday.
UBS cut Victrex’s price target to 1,750p from 2,150p leading the company’s shares to drop 0.7% to 1,800p today.
On Friday, abrdn Private Equity Opportunities Trust, NCC Group, Spirent Communications and Homeserve saw their shares lose 2.3% to 500p, 2.2% to 192p, 1.5% to 237p and 0.8% to 873p.
AIM Fallers
Sensyne Health cratered 80% to 2p after the company had to raise £15m to save the sinking ship leading to worried investors as the company already was not generating returns.
Uru Metals’ shares rebounded 18% to 325p after seeing highs of 400p on Thursday.
Engage XR shares rebounded 8.8% after the share gained 50% yesterday following the company’s statement regarding funding being provided to Engage’s US partner VictoryXR by Meta Immersive Learning to help roll out 10 ‘digital twin’ university campuses in the metaverse using Engage’s platform.
Osirium Technologies stumbled on Friday after a transformational week for the company following the company’s announcement of a record quarter for bookings in Q1 2022 on Tuesday.
Sound Energy shares sank 8% to 2.1p after the company decided against making a bid for Angus Energy.
Sound Energy’s decision to not make an offer to Angus Energy lead Angus’ shares to fall 5.5% to 1.3p on Friday.
AIM Risers
The transport system services provider’s shares soared 38% to 146p after Journeo signed a 3 year deal with FirstGroup’s First Bus UK for £9m, marking it the largest deal till date for Journeo.
Webis Holdings gained 13% to 3.5p after the company said its US subsidiary, WatchandWager.com inked a deal for the next 5 years to operate at a racetrack in Arizona.
Avacta Group’s shares rallied 9.5% to 97.5p after drug developer and diagnostics company said AffyXell Therapeutics, its joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceutical, signed an agreement with Biocytogen to collaborate on a new immune disease in vivo models, testing the toxicity of and conducting proof-of-concept for AffyXell’s drug candidates, using the developed disease model.
Jet2 shares increased 4% to 1,204p after the company reassured investors that signs of recovery are being seen its order books as travel restrictions ease. The company noted a 14% increase in summer sale seat capacity compared to the summer of 2019.
Invinity Energy Systems rose 12% to 90.5p after the manufacturer of utility-grade energy storage announced the completion of a successful test and validation program by Hyosung Heavy Industries and subsequently signing a non-binding MoU for a global partnership with an exclusive relationship in Korea.
Nightcap shares gained 5% to 17.5p after the group announced its plan to open a new cocktail club in Birmingham later this year.
Oncimmune Holdings signed 2 new contracts for ImmunoINSIGHTS which lead the company’s share to rise 6.3% to 133p.
Physiomics, oncology consultancy company, signed a new contract with Servier Group to provide specialist mathematical modelling services using the Virtual Tumour software platform. The deal helped the company’s shares gain 0.5% to 4.5p on Friday.
