Defence sector services provider RC Fornax (LON: RCFX) has won £1.4m in orders so far in the third quarter. Cavendish has maintained its full year forecast loss of £2m. The share price is two-fifths higher at 41p.

Kieth Morris has raised his shareholding in Silver Bullet Data Services (LON: SBDS) from 8.92% to 17.9% after Greham House Asset Management sold its 8.9% stake. The share price recovered 37.5% to 22p.

Blue Star Capital (LON: BLU) says investee company SatoshiPay’s Vortex fiat-to-crypto infrastructure platform achieved volumes of $10m in January, which is more than double the previous month. In February and March total transaction volume was $7.8m because of platform outages for upgrades and a major client is changing banks. Volumes should recover. The share price climbed 31.6% to 12.5p.

Greatland Resources (LON: GGP) benefited from a recovery in the gold price to $4,677.28/ounce. Earlier in the week, it revealed a mineral resource estimate for the O’Callaghans tungsten copper zinc lead deposit. There is 70Mt @ 0.35% of tungsten trioxide. The Telfer mineral resource estimate has been raised by 150% to 8 million ounces. Together with Havieron, the resources could be mined for many decades. The share price increased 29.6% to 662.2p.

Building products supplier BRCK (LON: BRCK) has received an unsolicited bid approach from Atlas Holdings LLC and after initial contact and exchange of information a 65p/share indicative offer was made. The share price has not been that level since June 2025. That offer was rejected by the board on 23 March. Atlas will be provided with additional information to see whether it can come up with a better offer, but it says this would not be enough for a firm bid. The share price gained 29.4% to 52.4p.

FALLERS

In-game advertising technology developer Mirriad Advertising (LON: MIRI) says that the expected upturn in February and March did not happen because of the Middle East conflict. It did sign a services agreement with a UK media conglomerate. There is £675,000 in the bank, but more cash will be required before the 2025 accounts are published. The share price dived 63.6% to 0.002p.

Trading was restored in Ironveld (LON: IRON) shares following the publication of full year results to June 2025 and interims to December 2025. Cash was £75,000 at the end of 2025. The company is exploring funding options and has raised £1.1m via a share issue at 0.0225p each. It hopes to generate cash when Daemaneng restarts operations and is producing DMS-grade magnetite. The share price slumped 41.4% to 0.0255p.

Wellheads and connectors Plexus Holdings (LON: POS) reported a reduction in interim revenues from £2.9m to £1.2m because of delays in projects, particularly in the North Sea due to tax uncertainty and inability to offset decommissioning costs. Activity is likely to remain subdued in the second half with the assumption that work will recover in 2026-27. A full year loss is forecast before a return to profit in 2026-27. The estate of William Black has built up a stake of 5%. The share price slipped 40.2% to 2.75p.

Litigation Capital Management (LON: LIT) shares fell a further 37.3% to 3.9p following the announcement of an interim loss of $116.7m on Tuesday. Cash at the end of 2025 was £23.6m, while NAV declined to £5.61m.

Asia-focused renewable energy developer Coro Energy (LON: CORO) has received approval for a senior secured debt facility of up to $20m. This will fund up to 70% of investment in solar and battery storage products in Vietnam. The share price jumped 19.7% to 3.95p.

Catenai (LON: CTAI) investee company Alludium has achieved ISO 27001:2022 certification (standard for information security management systems) and received its SOC 2® Type II attestation, which indicates the company’s controls are deemed to be effective. The share price increased 19.6% to 0.305p.

Deltic Energy (LON: DELT) shares rebounded 14% to 2.85p following yesterday’s fall after the Rockrose Energy bid lapsed. UK regulatory approval of the change of control of Deltic Energy North Sea licences had not been obtained. Deltic Energy has enough cash to last into the second half. The recommended offer was 7.46p/share. Rockrose Energy recently acquired 529,000 shares at 3.4822p each, taking the shareholding in the oil and gas company to 3.19%, which suggests continued interest.

Rockhopper Exploration (LON: RKH) has booked reserves for the Sea Lion project, offshore Falkland Islands. Phase one and two has attributed 2P reserves of 314mmbbl (110mmbbl net to Rockhopper) and there is significant upside to this figure. The first oil is expected to be produced in early 2028. There was $179m in cash at the end of 2025, but there will be net debt by the end of 2026. The share price gained 6,57% to 82.7p.

Reabold Resources (LON: RBD) has raised £1.51m in an oversubscribed placing at 0.1p/share. This follows a £1.9m investment by strategic investors. The cash will be spent on the West Newton project in the North Sea. The share price rose 5.13% to 0.1025p.

FALLERS

Peru-focused mining company Nativo Resources (LON: NTVO) has established an At The Market Facility with Axis Capital Markets of up to £5m. The company has issued 12 million shares to Axis, which will sell them to raise cash for the company. The share price declined 25.3% to 0.28p.

Sorted Group (LON: SORT) is asking for shareholder approval for the sale of its operating business, which was bought two years ago, for £1. It requires additional cash to grow Ongoing monthly operating costs will be around £18,000 and the board will seek to find an acquisition.  The name will be changed to SGH. The share price slumped by one-quarter to 15p.

Waste to energy technology developer FORGENT (LON: FORG) has received a non-binding offer from a global insurer for a customer’s potential project. This covers the two-year warranty period and a site acceptance test backstop. This derisks the project and it could be used for other projects.

Litigation Capital Management (LON: LIT) shares fell a further 3.83% to 4.52p following the announcement of an interim loss of $116.7m on Tuesday. The share price has fallen by more than one-quarter over the past week.

Ex-dividends

Caledonia Mining Corporation (LON: CMCL) is paying a dividend of 14 cents/share and the share price is 15p higher at £17.50.

Gattaca (LON: GATC) is paying an interim dividend of 1.33p/share and the share price is unchanged at 112p.

MHA (LON: MHA) is paying a dividend of 1p/share and the share price declined 3p to 128.5p.

Personal Group Holdings (LON: PGH) is paying a final dividend of 15.1p/share and the share price fell 10p to 349p.

Quartix (LON: QTX) is paying a final dividend of 7.5p/share and the share price slipped 4p to 222p.

Real Estate Investors (LON: RLE) is paying a dividend of 0.4p/share and the share price is unchanged at 29.1p.

The FTSE 100 slipped on Thursday after Donald Trump dashed hopes of a near-term end to the war in the Middle East overnight.

Those who were hoping Donald Trump’s speech last night would be the beginning of the end of the war were left disappointed. Instead, the US President used his 20-minute address to regurgitate threats he’d recently made on social media and did not mention a ceasefire once. 

Market expectations were high going into Trump’s speech, with oil lower and stocks surging in the US session yesterday. This was turned on its head after Trump wrapped up his unwelcome, but not unsurprising, instalment. 

“Global markets took a step backwards overnight after Donald Trump’s live address, with the mood shifting sharply from the cautious optimism that had been building in recent days,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“From a market perspective at least, the speech appeared to have the opposite effect investors were hoping for, with oil pushing higher, bond yields climbing, and equity markets falling back.”

Although Trump’s speech wasn’t what markets had hoped for, there is a clear sense that the US President is aware of how US military actions in Iran are affecting global markets and is ready to change his approach before too much damage is done to the economy or the stock market.

This belief was evident in the FTSE 100’s reversal in early trading, with the index rebounding from lows around 10,290 to 10,324 at the time of writing.

With Brent and WTI oil rallying 7.6% and 6.9% respectively, BP and Shell were back in favour, and the oil majors did a lot of the heavy lifting for the bulls on Thursday. 

BP rose 4% while Shell added 3%. But selling elsewhere was too much to get the index back into positive territory.

Weakness in gold and silver knocked Fresnillo and Endeavour Mining lower. Silver-focused miner Fresnillo lost 5% and was the FTSE 100’s top faller. 

Higher oil prices also reignited fears of an interest rate hike and fed through into the FTSE 100 housebuilders, which were mostly lower. Barratt Redrow lost 4% as it changed hands near its worst point since the war began. Persimmon was down 2%.  

Lloyds shares were marginally weaker after the bank confirmed it wouldn’t have to set aside more cash for the motor finance scandal which should draw a line under the matter from investors’ perspectives.

“There will be some relief that Lloyds is not being forced to change its provisions, at least for the time being, in the wake of the redress scheme for the motor finance mis-selling scandal being announced,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Details had shifted slightly from previous indications on average levels of compensation, but it seems Lloyds had been conservative enough in its assumptions to absorb this.

“Lloyds shares were lower this morning but the fall was similar to that seen for its peers amid broader market weakness relating to Iran.”

Lloyds shares were down 1% at the time of writing.

Rockhopper Exploration has secured a significant technical milestone at its Sea Lion field in the North Falkland Basin, with independent engineers NSAI reclassifying substantial volumes from contingent resources into the reserves category following the company’s Final Investment Decision in December.

The reclassification covers Phases 1 and 2 of the Northern Development Area. On a 2P basis, gross recoverable reserves now stand at 313.8 million barrels, with Rockhopper’s 35% working interest share coming in at just under 110 million barrels.

The undiscounted future net revenue attributable to their interest is estimated at just over $3.1 billion, or $965.8 million on an NPV10 basis.

At the 1P level, proved undeveloped reserves attributable to Rockhopper are 80.7 million barrels with an NPV10 of $720.9 million, while the 3P case increases the working interest to 142.9 million barrels and the NPV10 to $1.27 billion.

The project is undergoing preparatory work, with a target of first oil in 2028.

Rockhopper says its cash position of approximately $179 million as at the end of December is expected to cover its share of Phase 1 capex.

“We are delighted to book in excess of 100 million barrels of 2P reserves following the sanction of Sea Lion Phase 1 – another milestone for Rockhopper,” said Sam Moody, Chief Executive Officer of Rockhopper.

“The new NSAI report independently confirms the significant value we are now on the path to unlocking. Navitas, our Operator, has recently reported good progress on the project and has reiterated its target for first oil in early 2028.”

Transport technology group Tracsis has moved into the German public transport market with the acquisition of Vesputi GmbH, a digital ticketing technology provider based in Germany.

The deal centres on Mobilitybox, Vesputi’s ticketing platform launched in 2022, which connects public transport operators with consumers via third-party apps and websites.

The business generates revenue through transaction fees tied to ticket volume, a model that aligns neatly with Tracsis’ existing push to grow recurring and consumer-driven revenue.

Tracsis is paying gross initial consideration of €5.8m, funded from existing cash. A further €2.4m is contingent on performance targets through to the end of 2027, with up to €0.5m of that settled in newly issued shares.

The acquisition is described as immediately earnings-enhancing. Vesputi’s six-strong team will stay on following completion.

Strategically, the deal gives Tracsis its first operational foothold in Germany while bolstering its digital ticketing credentials beyond the UK rail market.

Vesputi will sit within the Group’s Rail Technology & Services Division, slotting in alongside its existing ticketing capabilities without requiring a new management layer.

“This is a quality bolt-on acquisition in a core strategic focus area for Tracsis,” said David Frost, CEO of Tracsis.

“Ticketing is being digitised to enable simpler, more flexible journeys, and the value is increasingly created in the software that makes distribution easy for operators and effortless for passengers.”