FTSE 250 gained 1.2% to 20,457 and the AIM was up 0.6% to 1,004 on Thursday as companies including Trainline and UK Oil & Gas supported the indices.
Trainline shares flew 10.5% to 307p after the group reported a pre-tax loss of £15.5m from £106.8m in 2021.
Trainline reported an increase in revenue from £67.1m to £188.5m as significantly higher net ticket sales signalled a recovery for the rail industry from the pandemic.
Puretech shares gained 7.3% to 180p after the group approved a share buyback of up to $50m.
Morgan Advanced Materials increased 7.4% to 293p after the industrial products manufacturer reported an 11% sales growth in Q1 on an organic constant-currency basis compared to 2021.
The group said its Molten Metal Systems business grew the strongest, with sales growth of 16% YoY on the same basis, and its performance in line with executive guidance.
Playtech shares were trading up 1.5% to 522p after the group reported an “excellent” start to the year, as adjusted EBITDA came in at €100m in the first quarter.
Helios Towers shares rose 4% to 114p after the Africa-focused mobile phone tower developer posted revenue of $127.5m, a 23% increase YoY from $103.6m.
Helios said the increase in revenue was driven by acquisitions in Senegal, Madagascar and Malwai, as well as strong organic tenancy growth across the company.
IMI shares were trading up 4.3% to 1,407p after the engineering firm reported a 9% increase in revenue to £421m due to order book growth.
Derwent London shares gained 3.7% to 3,009p following the group’s announcement of its plan to acquire City Road Island EC1 for £239m, and said that its rent collection levels in the first quarter were in line with pre-pandemic levels again in its Q1 business update.
Virgin Money shares tumbled 7.6% to 163p despite the group reinstating its interim payout, and posted a sharp rise in pretax profit from £72m to £315m.
Hiscox shares plummeted 7.2% to 887p after the specialist insurer battled high inflation and interest rate rises, resulting in a quarterly loss in its investment return.
Hiscox Retail premiums climbed to $670.8m from $663.9m, as it continued “to progress with positive momentum”.
Domino’s Pizza Group shares dropped 5% to 316p despite reporting an order growth in the first quarter due to recovery of collections, which grew 45%.
Vast Resources shares tanked 20% to 1.6p, as shares rebounded from gains made on Tuesday.
Petro Matad shares were trading down 13% at 3.6p after the Mongolia-focused exploration firm said the recent increase in Covid-19 related lockdowns and travel restrictions in China continued to affect Mongolia, alongside the fact that no Chinese oil rigs are currently operating in the region.
UK Oil & Gas shares soared 42% to 0.16p after the company stated that the UK Environment Agency had granted its 86% owned Horse Hill oil field a full production permit which enabled production and water re-injection operations, incineration of waste gas, maintenance and the drilling of further development wells.
i-nexus shares were trading up 18% to 5.6p following the software company’s announced appointment of Drew Whibley to the board as chief financial officer, effective from August 1.
Petard shares rose 15.6% to 13p following the group’s swing to a pretax profit of £502,000 from a loss of £1.2m, as revenue increased 4.6% to £13.6m from £13m in 2021.
Open Orphan shares gained 5.6% to 14p following the company’s announcement that hVIVO, Open Orphan’s subsidiary, signed a contract for a new study with an existing Big Pharma client to act as a vaccination site for a Phase II field study of the client’s respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine candidate.
