ITM Power has confirmed that the 20MW notice to proceed announced in February relates to MorGen Energy’s West Wales Hydrogen project in Milford Haven, which has now reached final investment decision (FID).

The company tends to make very short announcements on project updates, but today’s news should certainly be encouraging for investors with the MorGen project among the first backed by the UK Government’s HAR1 hydrogen allocation round to hit FID.

ITM will supply its POSEIDON 20 MW core electrolysis process module for the plant, which is sited at the former Milford Haven Refinery and will serve industrial clusters across Milford Haven, Port Talbot, and wider Wales. Commissioning is targeted for 2028, with an expected output of around 2,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year.

Alongside the deployment, ITM has signed a ten-year long-term service agreement with MorGen Energy to provide ongoing maintenance and support once the plant is operational, adding a recurring revenue stream to the initial equipment sale.

Dennis Schulz, CEO of ITM Power, said: “The MorGen Energy West Wales project is an important milestone for green hydrogen in the UK, and we are proud that our technology will be at its core. Our partnership with MorGen Energy highlights our dedication to providing reliable, high-performance electrolysers that aid the UK’s industrial decarbonisation efforts.”

ITM Power shares were marginally higher on Wednesday.

Nichols, the soft drinks group behind the Vimto brand, has reported a 7% rise in adjusted pre-tax profit to £33.6m for the year to 31 December 2025, as strategic changes across its business fed through to improved margins.

Group revenue edged up 1.3% to £175.1m, but underlying performance was strong as the group took control of costs and focused on expanding margins. Adjusted operating profit rose 9.9% to £31.7m, while adjusted operating margin improved to 18.1% from 16.7% the prior year.

The level of efficiency Nichols has demonstrated over the past year should please shareholders, even if they would prefer a little more top-line growth.

UK Packaged

The UK packaged division drove growth during the period, with revenue up 3.1% year-on-year. Vimto achieved a record retail sales value of £129.1m, driven by innovation and distribution gains across squash, energy and ready-to-drink categories. The group’s total UK retail sales value reached £135m, up 4.8%.

New launches helped boost sales. Vimto Wonderfuel, a functional health drink aimed at the breakfast occasion, secured national distribution and brought new shoppers into the squash category. The energy range continued its rapid expansion, with Vimto Energy delivering £4m in retail sales, a 41% increase on the prior year, just two years after launch. Brand licensing partnerships with Myprotein and Applied Nutrition extended the Vimto name into health and wellness products.

International

International revenue was broadly flat year-on-year, though the headline figure reflects a deliberate strategic shift in Africa from finished goods to a concentrate production model, which reduces reported revenue but improves margins. On a like-for-like basis, African revenue grew 9.4%.

Middle East revenues fell 15.5%, largely due to the timing of concentrate shipments and the phasing of Ramadan between years. The group relaunched Vimto cordial in Yemen and Iraq in partnership with Aujan Coca-Cola Beverages Company. Rest of World markets delivered solid progress, with European revenue up 6% and US sales growing 23% through regional expansion with a local partner. In Malaysia, launched in late 2024, Vimto cordial is now stocked in over 3,000 stores.

The out-of-home division trading was a little more benign amid tough conditions for the hospitality sector, which has been well documented.

The group exited the low-margin Starslush brand in the first half through a partnership with Polar Krush, simplifying operations to focus on post-mix in leisure and hospitality and the ICEE frozen drinks brand in cinemas.

Nichols finished the year with £55.7m in cash and proposed a final dividend of 18.7p, taking the full-year ordinary dividend to 33.7p, up 5.3%.

The 3.5% yield should be attraction of the business, which is fairly well valued on an earnings basis.

Analysis for informational purposes only. Capital at risk.

• The Cross-Border Shopping Misconception: Many assume Chinese cross‑border platforms compete on heavy discounts with slow fulfillment. JD.com is overturning that stereotype in the UK and EU with an asset‑heavy, premium delivery model. Through Joybuy and the JoyExpress last‑mile network, JD is exporting its domestic same‑day and next‑day execution standard, winning higher‑value customers and earning category‑leading Trustpilot scores.
• The Automation Edge: JD front‑loads capital into high‑density robotics, automated guided vehicles, and unmanned forklifts to materially reduce human OPEX. The result: up to a 250% increase in operational throughput and localised labour costs reduced by as much as 60%, creating a durable cost and speed advantage.
• The Incumbent Vulnerability: Legacy carriers such as Royal Mail and Evri face growing pressure. High labour costs and recent corporate distractions limit their ability to fund the large technology investments required to match JD’s automated infrastructure. This creates an opportunity for JD to scale premium delivery across Europe.

The Cross-Border Shopping Misconception

The market generally views Chinese cross‑border e‑commerce platforms such as Temu and Shein as hyper‑discount marketplaces selling low‑quality goods with long fulfilment times. Consumers expect to wait one to two weeks for items shipped directly from overseas factories. The prevailing assumption is that these models rely on tax loopholes for small‑parcel channels with poor service as a trade‑off.

From that follows a second assumption: high‑quality, fast, and reliable delivery in the UK and Europe will remain the domain of legacy local carriers.

The Reality: Joybuy’s “China Speed”

The reality looks very different.

JD.com (9618.HK / JD US), a leading Chinese e-commerce platform, quietly soft‑launched its international retail app, Joybuy, to UK shoppers in late 2025, targeting high‑frequency, high‑value categories such as groceries, household essentials, and consumer electronics.

Unlike cross-border rivals such as AliExpress and Temu, which ship directly from China with 1-2 week lead times, Joybuy disrupted the market by offering same- or next-day delivery, effectively transferring JD’s domestic “China speed” to international customers.

JD’s Logistics Edge

What explains the operational gap? Where AliExpress and Temu follow an asset‑light model by routing orders through third‑party air freight and local couriers, JD pursues an asset‑heavy strategy: localised inventory, company‑owned or tightly controlled delivery fleets, and end‑to‑end operational integration.

The result is predictable fulfilment, compressed delivery windows, and a premium customer experience, which are crucial for high‑ASP categories such as electronics and appliances.

That strategy is already translating into measurable brand equity. Joybuy scores 4.7/5 on Trustpilot, outpacing fast‑fashion rivals and even beating Amazon in the UK. Reviewers cite fast delivery and responsive service as recurring themes.

By contrast, Amazon’s UK rating has suffered (currently around 1.7), with customers pointing to delivery delays, third‑party seller errors, and fragmented refund processes. JD’s vertically integrated model reduces these pain points, creating a durable service advantage in categories where speed and reliability matter most.

The Last-Mile Catalyst: The JoyExpress European Rollout

Leveraging Joybuy’s retail traction, JD Logistics (2618.HK), JD’s infrastructure arm, has rolled out JoyExpress, a proprietary last‑mile network across the UK and Europe. JoyExpress guarantes same‑day and next‑day delivery in major cities and offers integrated delivery‑and‑installation for large home appliances.

JoyExpress is asset‑heavy by design: a self‑owned mixed fleet (heavy trucks to zero‑emission e‑bikes), more than 60 strategically located warehouses across Europe, and tightly integrated fulfilment operations. That physical backbone gives Joybuy local inventory depth and predictable execution to convert trial shoppers into loyal, high‑value customers and sustain ongoing expansion.

The JD Equity Split – JD.com vs JD Logistics

Overall, JD separates retail and infrastructure into two listed entities, each capturing different parts of the value chain.

• JD.com (JD US/9618.HK): The consumer‑facing parent that operates the JD.com marketplace in China and the Joybuy retail app in Europe. It benefits from the group’s asset‑heavy supply‑chain advantage and captures the retail margin and brand value created by fast fulfilment.
• JD Logistics (2618.HK): The infrastructure arm that runs the group’s logistics network (over 1,600 warehouses and c. 34 million sq. m. GFA). It earns direct B2B revenues from providing fulfilment, warehousing, and delivery services. Although JD Group was the largest anchor client in 2025 (37% of revenue), third‑party customers now account for the remaining 63%, reflecting JD Logistics’ growing external commercial business.

The “211” Blueprint: From Beijing to Birmingham

JD has successfully exported its domestic “211” operational standard in overseas markets. In China, JD’s control over its supply chain guarantees that orders placed before 11:00 AM arrive the same day, while orders placed before 11:00 PM arrive by 3:00 PM the following day.

This reliability supports JD’s strong market position in the domestic consumer electronics and home appliance sector. JD is now directly replicating this vertically integrated blueprint in Western markets. By offering last-mile delivery via JoyExpress, JD guarantees premium speed and seamless localised returns without relying on fragmented third-party networks.

The Automation Pivot

JD is not pursuing a labour‑intensive fulfilment model in Europe. Instead, it is front‑loading capital into automation to reduce local human OPEX and protect margins in high‑wage, unionised markets.

• Automated warehousing systems: JD deploys integrated automation across its network to replace repetitive manual tasks and accelerate throughput.
• Site examples: Venlo (Netherlands) uses autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs); the UK hub runs JD’s proprietary LangzuTech Goods‑to‑Person (G2P) robotic system.
• Measured impact: At its automated Poland facility, the combination of AGVs, automated sorters, and unmanned forklifts produced a c.250% increase in operational efficiency and a permanent reduction in localised labour costs of roughly 60%.

By investing in automation up front, JD converts high CAPEX into a cost advantage versus incumbents. The result is predictable service levels, lower labour exposure, and a scalable fulfilment model that makes same‑ and next‑day delivery economically viable across European markets.

The B2B Trojan Horse: Monetising Infrastructure

Although JoyExpress was initially launched to support Joybuy’s retail business, the underlying physical network is designed as a scalable B2B revenue engine. JD Logistics can monetise its fulfilment capability by offering third‑party logistics (3PL) services to European corporates.

• Plug‑and‑play capability: Local manufacturers and retailers that lack the capital to build automated supply chains can offer same‑ or next‑day delivery by connecting to JD’s warehousing, sortation, and last‑mile network.
• Asset leverage: JD turns fixed CAPEX into multiple revenue streams, retail margin via Joybuy, and recurring B2B fees from 3PL customers, improving return on asset (ROA).
• Competitive moat: The combination of localised inventory, guaranteed delivery windows, and integrated installation services creates a service offering hard for asset‑light competitors to replicate.
• Market impact: Easier access to premium logistics may accelerate digital adoption among European SMEs and alter customer expectations, forcing incumbents to consider partnerships, M&A, or heavy automation investments.

The Incumbent: Scale vs. Structure

European logistics incumbents control massive physical footprints and dense route networks, but their business models are structurally exposed as JD scales an automated, asset‑heavy alternative. Using the UK as a proxy:

• Royal Mail (IDS): Holding roughly 30% of the UK B2B courier market, the 500-year-old postal service was taken private by EP Group in 2025.
• Evri / DHL eCommerce: Backed by private equity Apollo Global Management, Evri merged with DHL eCommerce UK in 2025 to solidify its position as the second-largest courier.
• Yodel & DPD: Capturing high-volume segments through traditional depot and locker networks.

Structural Challenges

• Labour intensity and union risk: Incumbents run huge workforces. Royal Mail employs over 140,000 people, leaving them exposed to wage inflation, strikes and complex industrial relations. Evri’s reliance on a fragmented pool of over 30,000 self‑employed drivers creates vulnerability to driver shortages and quality inconsistency.

• Distraction from M&A integration: Recent acquisitions and restructurings are consuming management time and capital, diverting focus away from necessary technological upgrades.

• Regulatory obligations: Royal Mail’s Universal Service Obligation forces continued service to unprofitable rural routes, consuming operating capital that could otherwise fund automation.

The “Clean Slate” Advantage

JD entered Europe with a “clean slate.” It carries no legacy pension deficits, no universal service obligations, no unionised legacy workforce, and no outdated IT systems to integrate. That structural freedom lets the company design an automated, low‑OPEX network from day one.

After an unsuccessful bid for Evri in mid‑2024, JD shifted from buying legacy operations to acquiring and modernising assets. Instead of inheriting labour‑intensive operations, JD purchased strategic logistics real estate, such as big‑box sites in Milton Keynes and hubs in the Leicester “Golden Triangle”, and retrofitted them with high‑density proprietary robotics (AS/RS) and zero‑emission EV fleets.

The outcome is a materially different cost and service profile: JD can offer B2B partners and Joybuy customers faster, more reliable next‑day execution while operating at a lower unit cost. That “clean slate” approach creates a durable advantage versus incumbents who must reconcile legacy obligations and scale with the capital needs of automation.

This article is a “periodical publication” for information only and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell securities. This article does not constitute a “personal recommendation” or “investment advice” under UK FCA regulations. Investing in equities involves significant risk. The author holds NO position in the securities mentioned. There is no warranty as to completeness or correctness. Please do your own due diligence or consult a licensed financial adviser. Please read the Full Disclaimer before acting on any information. Images created with the assistance of Gemini AI.

Article provided by Asia Pulse.

Catenai (LON: CTAI) says investee company Alludium has Made its platform publicly accessible for the first time. The platform allows individuals to “build, deploy, and collaborate with custom AI agents through conversation, without writing code”. The share price jumped 60.5% to 0.305p.

Tap Global Group (LON: TAP) has bought three billion XTP tokens, which have a value of $1.8bn for nil cost. XTP is on of the most actively traded tokens on the Tap platform, which has more than 32,850 users with an XTP balance. The tokens will be used for cash back rewards and to acquire users and boost volumes. The share price increased 17.4% to 1.35p.

Sunda Energy (LON: SNDA) has been awarded the environmental licence for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well by the Timor-Leste authorities. This lasts until March 2028. This will enable further farm-in discussions with TIMOR GAP and potential new partners. Sunda Energy currently owns 60% of the gas project and TIMOR GAP is seeking to increase its stake to 70%. The share price rose 12.95 to 0.035p.

Copper and gold explorer Bezant Resources (LON: BZT) says that the NLZM mining licence has been renewed. This project was acquired at the end of 2025, and the renewal enables processing of gold from the company’s Hope and Gorab project in Namibia. The licence lasts until February 2036. The share price is 10% higher at 0.11p.

ASIC developer and supplier EnSilica (LON: ENSI) has announced another two contracts, plus a $4m extension to an existing contract with an automotive customer.  The new contracts are in life science and healthcare worth an initial $1.6m and $200,000 for a feasibility study respectively. Canaccord Genuity has increased its target price from 55p/share to 63p/share. The share price has rose 7.29% to 51.5p.

FALLERS

88 Energy (LON: 88E) says the sale of shares acquired through the small holding sale facility for holdings of fewer than $500 in value. There were 46.1 million shares sold. The share price slipped 22.25 to 1.4p.

Physiomics (LON: PYC) has raised £500,000 at 0.3p/share. A further £50,000 could be raised via a retail offer. The share price fell 11.1% to 0.4p.

Wishbone Gold (LON: WSBN) won a contested ballot for 67km² of mineral title on crown land, 25km north-west of Telfer, which was applied for by multiple parties. The share price declined 1.55 to 65.5p.

The FTSE 100 surged on Tuesday after Donald Trump hinted that the war in the Middle East could end sooner than many had first feared by saying the war was ‘very complete, pretty much’.

The US President’s comments to the US press sent oil prices into freefall yesterday evening and, remarkably, oil traded at a negative price for a period. Brent oil had traded as much as 22% higher in Monday’s Asian session.

Oil prices are notoriously volatile, but you will rarely see a day like we did yesterday. Brent oil prices surged nearly $25 to trade above $116 before sinking more than $30, peak-to-trough, as investors rolled back bets on a prolonged conflict that deepens the oil shock. 

Brent was trading at $90 at the time of writing on Tuesday.

The net result for the FTSE 100 was a 1.8% gain at the time of writing, as investors piled back into beaten-down sectors such as miners, housebuilders, and banks. Stagflation still remains a risk, but the mood has improved dramatically over the past 24 hours.

“The market is in highly speculative mode thanks to the absence of any certainty about what the next few days, let alone weeks will look like,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould. 

“In these circumstances, Donald Trump’s comments about the Iran war ending soon have been seized upon like water offered to someone who’s just consumed a full bag of salty crisps.

Familiar higher-beta stocks such as Antofagasta, Rolls-Royce, Barclays, and Fresnillo were among the risers.

Persimmon was the FTSE 100’s top riser after the housebuilder surprised traders with a notably upbeat set of full-year results that squashed concerns about their ability to grow revenues against a backdrop of general economic weakness. 

Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro, explained: “Shares in Persimmon got a welcome lift after the housebuilder delivered a solid set of full-year numbers, with higher home completions feeding through to stronger profits and revenue.”

“The group built 11,905 homes in 2025, a 12 per cent increase on the previous year, helping revenue climb 17 per cent to £3.75bn and underlying profit before tax rise to £445.6m.”

Persimmon shares were 9% higher at the time of writing.

The inevitable losers from the volatility in oil prices were Shell and BP, which both fell by more than 2%. 

It’s been interesting to see a relatively muted response to rising oil prices from the two oil majors whose shares are higher since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran, but only slightly.

Such price action would suggest that equity traders aren’t prepared to take a position on oil staying at current elevated levels for long. 

“All eyes are likely to be on the G7 and whether it will release emergency stockpiles of oil to help calm the markets further,” Russ Mould said.

In this article, we look at IAG, Rolls-Royce, and Ibstock as three shares that could warrant being added to a watchlist following recent market volatility stemming from the war in the Middle East.

IAG

IAG is an obvious choice. The airline was hit by concerns about grounded flights and rising oil prices, and followed the well-trodden path of airline shares sinking as geopolitical tensions turn into full-blown wars.

As fears about a prolonged war that could cause an oil shock subside, investors may shift their focus back to IAG’s record 2025 performance, which saw revenue grow 3.5% to €33,213 million and operating profit increase to more than €5 billion.

Notwithstanding the blip caused by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, IAG is enjoying a period of growing travel demand and is simultaneously securing more revenue per passenger.

The company recently announced an additional €1.5 billion return to shareholders, as free cash flow remained above €3 billion in 2025.

IAG shares trade at just 5.9x historical price-to-earnings, which may prove to be ludicrously low.

Rolls-Royce 

The dip in Rolls-Royce shares could be a rare opportunity to pick that shares on weakness amid a multi-year bull run that has seen shares rally more than 1,000% from 2022 lows.

There was a period last year when Rolls-Royce started to look a little rich on a valuation basis. Shares powered on regardless.

Full-year results for 2025, released at the end of February, went a long way toward justifying this rally, but profits for the period still left the company trading at above-average multiples.

The story here, however, is one of future growth, and it’s refreshing to see the UK market willing to price in a large company’s growth more than one year ahead.

Rolls-Royce has provided mid-term targets of £4.9bn-£5.2bn, which appear well within reach for a company consistently delivering on its promises.

The aerospace division continues to be the driving force, but the power business is certainly becoming an interesting contributor to the group.

Ibstock

Ibstock is a selection for those optimistic about the UK economy. As hard as this may have been with the Labour government manufacturing the decline of the UK economy prior to the conflict, being optimistic about the economy has become a whole lot harder with the threat of interest rate hikes in the coming months.

Ibstock shares sank like a stone last week as rising oil prices rocked the UK property sector amid growing fears of higher mortgage rates and slower demand.

As the UK’s leading brick-maker, Ibstock shares lost about 25% of their value last week alone. Shares are now 50% lower than the 52-week high.

But does the war in the Middle East really alter the long-term structural demand for bricks and the underlying requirement for the UK to build more houses? Probably not.

Disconnections in markets can create opportunities for investors, and that appears to be what’s happening with Ibstock shares currently.

Looking beyond this year and two to three years in the future, demand brick is likely to return and filter through Ibstock’s earnings.

Persimmon unveiled an impressive set of full-year results on Tuesday, underpinned by strong revenue growth and rising completions.

Despite a challenging economic backdrop, Persimmon reported a 12% increase in completions to 11,905 new homes and an underlying pre-tax profit of £445.6m, up 13%.

Persimmon shares were 8% higher at the time of writing.

New housing revenue jumped 16% to £3.31bn, helped by a 4% increase in the average selling price to £278,203. The underlying operating margin edged up 20 basis points to 14.3%, while return on average capital employed improved 60 basis points to 11.7%.

These results should come as a breath of fresh air to investors who have observed pretty poor results from other housebuilders.

Growth came across all three of the housebuilder’s brands, with the outlet count rising 3% to 277 at year’s end as the group progresses towards its target of at least 300 sites. Net private sales rates excluding bulk improved 4% to 0.59 per outlet per week, though total rates were held flat at 0.70 by slower bulk sales in the fourth quarter.

“In part, Persimmon’s resilient performance in the face of current market challenges has been helped by its houses being priced around 15% below the newbuild national average, offering a more accessible price point to buyers struggling with affordability issues,” explained Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

Persimmon continued to invest heavily in land, spending a net £541m in the year, up from £437m, while its strategic land pipeline grew 10% to more than 77,000 potential plots.

Current trading has been encouraging, with the net private sales rate in the first nine weeks of 2026 up 9% to 0.73 per outlet per week. The private forward sales position has risen 9% to £1.25bn, with average selling prices in the order book up 6%.

Mark Crouch, market analyst at eToro, said: “The figures suggest demand in the new-build market is holding up better than many feared, particularly as mortgage costs remain relatively elevated.”

“Encouragingly, Persimmon also reported a stronger forward sales position of £1.25bn for private homes at the start of March, indicating a steady pipeline of activity heading into 2026.”

Chief executive Dean Finch was cautiously optimistic about the outlook, noting improved mortgage availability and real wage growth, but flagged uncertainty about the conflict with Iran and its potential impact on customer sentiment, and, most importantly, interest rates.

Assuming that conflict in the Middle East proves short-lived, Persimmon expects to deliver between 12,000 and 12,500 completions in 2026, with underlying operating profit towards the upper end of consensus.

Concurrent Technologies has unveiled a new family of rugged embedded computing cards built on Intel’s newly announced Core Ultra Processor architecture, targeting defence, aerospace, and critical infrastructure applications.

The four new products, launched alongside the debut of Intel’s Panther Lake chipset, are designed to handle demanding workloads, including mission computing, sensor processing, AI-assisted edge analytics, and high-bandwidth data handling.

The suite of new products comprises Eir, Hermes II, Magni II, Caelus. Each has its own specialised capability, ranging from delivering increased computing performance to AI-enabled processing.

“These new products demonstrate our strategic focus on delivering high-performance computing solutions that are closely aligned with customer requirements,” said Miles Adcock, CEO of Concurrent Technologies.

“By expanding our SOSA-aligned VPX portfolio, revitalising our existing VPX and VME range, and integrating next-generation processor technology early, we are providing customers with clear upgrade paths, long-term lifecycle support, and the hardware-level security increasingly required in mission-critical programmes.

“The simultaneous launch of multiple new products also reflects the increased pace of innovation within the Group as we continue to broaden our portfolio to support future revenue growth.”