The difficulties faced by the construction industry are well-documented and today, are clearly visible in Travis Perkins’s full-year results.

Volumes were weaker as builders held off on new construction projects. However, the real blow for Travis Perkins’ financials is that after years of price inflation, the company is experiencing price deflation, especially in timber goods.

This is welcome news for the construction industry as a whole, but increased competitiveness in the merchanting business means Travis Perkins has to pass on the lower prices to their customers.

The result was a 98% drop in operating profits for the year and 9% drop in Travis Perkins shares as of the time of writing on Tuesday.

“Travis Perkins’ full-year results make for grim reading, with the company reporting a 23% drop in annual profits. Shareholders cannot seem to catch a break as Travis Perkins shares have sunk to a 16-year low in 2025, hammering home the difficulties the company is facing,” said Mark Crouch, market analyst at eToro.

“The building materials supplier attributes the disappointing performance to a slow recovery in the construction sector, as the UK economy continues to struggle. With interest rates remaining stubbornly fixed in place, uncertainty is weighing heavily on both investors and consumers, leaving them hesitant to act.”

The company’s outlook underlines how desperate they are for interest rate cuts. Unfortunately, the Bank of England seems to have other ideas, and we may only see one or two more in the rest of 2025.

Travis Perkins said: ‘the pace and rate of an overall recovery in construction activity levels remains uncertain and will likely need further cuts to interest rates and an uplift to consumer confidence levels to stimulate a meaningful increase in demand’.

1Spatial, the global leader in Location Master Data Management software, has secured a 12-month contract with Kent County Council worth £0.5 million for its 1Streetworks solution.

This is the third major contract for 1Spatial’s 1Streetworks platform, following significant deals with other councils announced last year. The company seems to be building a head of steam.

The cloud-based SaaS solution pioneers full automation of traffic management plans, diversion routing, and asset inventory lists. Its platform-sharing capabilities allow multiple users to view plans and locations. Implementation requires minimal disruption to existing operational processes.

Kent residents, like many of us across the UK, face substantial disruption from numerous annual road closures. 1Spatial’s solution is designed to reduce this disruption.

The council estimates that using 1Streetworks to review and adjust road closure requests could reduce closures by at least 40%.

“We are delighted to secure our third material contract for 1Streetworks,” said 1Spatial CEO, Claire Milverton.

“We are seeing growing appreciation of the product and its value to customers. Adoption by a second council will help accelerate growing market awareness of the benefits it brings. The Board will continue to focus on executing on the substantial addressable market opportunity.”

1Spatial announced a similar deal with Surrey County Council last year that was worth £1m.

GenIP has released its maiden unaudited results for its first year of operations, outlining early traction and a healthy cash position.

The AIM-listed firm provides solutions to organisations seeking to accelerate the commercialisation of new technological discoveries through AI-enhanced analytics services.

The Generative AI analytics firm generated $144k revenue in the period to 31 December, producing a gross profit of $37k. New services were launched towards the end of the year, with initial orders and associated revenue reported in maiden results reflecting the early stages of their rollout.

GenIP has since announced orders exceeding $400k, suggesting the company’s marketing efforts are having the desired effect. Recent announcements highlight an active approach to winning new clients through event sponsorship and engaging directly with technology transfer professionals.

Material losses were recorded during its first year of operations, but these were mainly the result of the listing process. Costs relating to the AIM IPO and fundraise totalled $896,322, while the total operating loss for the year was $806,815. This implies that much of last year’s overall loss would have been incurred as part of the IPO rather than ongoing costs.

The accounts revealed around $270k in share-based payments to contractors and staff as part of the IPO, which make up a large part of the IPO costs.

This meant GenIP entered 2025 with just under $1m in cash after raising net proceeds of £1.1m from the IPO. Assuming a similar pace of underlying operational cost has been incurred since, the company will be in a healthy position given the level of recent orders.

The company is confident in its growth trajectory and believes it ‘is well-positioned to drive sustainable growth by catering to B2B clients who benefit from repeat usage of GenIP’s services’.

GenIP’s customers include some of the world’s largest technology companies and leading research organisations such as Universities.

“I am delighted with the progress GenIP has made since its successful start-up in February, followed by the acquisition of Invention Evaluator and Vortechs in June, and our listing in October 2024,” said Lord David Willetts, Chairman of GenIP.

“The Company is now well-positioned to achieve commercial success and expand its global footprint by leveraging our AI-enhanced solutions within the technology transfer market.”

GenIP recently announced a $350,000 order from a Saudi Arabian client and a $65,000 order from a Singapore-based research institution, demonstrating a sharp change in order levels from the early months as a listed company.

Wood Group shares plummeted on Monday after the energy services and engineering firm announced damaging findings from a review of its finances. The findings cast doubt over whether Sidara’s takeover deal will go ahead.

Wood Group shares were 30% lower at the time of writing.

Deloitte’s review of the company’s financials ‘identified material weaknesses and failures in the Group’s financial culture within the Projects business unit and engagement between Group Finance and Projects’.

As a result, Wood Group said the P&L and balance for the past three years would be adjusted, and EBITDA would also be revised.

“The situation continues to deteriorate at energy services business Wood Group which is damaging its credibility not just with investors but crucially potential customers too and its current suitor, Sidara,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

“The deadline for Sidara to formalise a takeover deal has been pushed to 17 April but whether the latest revelations cause a rethink for the Dubai-based group or complications in the timetable remains to be seen.”

“While the issues revealed in a draft review of the business mainly relate to historical performance at its Projects business unit and do not relate to cash flow, they raise questions of culture given the failure to maintain robust accounting standards. The shares now face a suspension while historic accounts are restated.”

Investors who bought into the stock in the hope of a takeover deal now face a nervy wait for any update on the talks between Wood Group and Sidara. Dubai-based Sidara may be inclined to hold off making a move now to see what the fallout for Wood Group will be – and ultimately if they’re able to secure the group at a lower price.

Wood Group’s shares will be suspended from 30th April if the company does not publish FY24 accounts by 30th April. This is expected to be the case.

The FTSE 100 was firmly in the red on Monday as global equities sank ahead of Donald Trump’s ‘liberation day’ on 2nd April, when a raft of global trade tariffs are set to come into force.

The hope that Donald Trump was using the threat of tariffs as a negotiating tactic has evaporated, and market complacency has been replaced with mild panic.

With the US President showing little sign of backing down, tariffs on countries such as China, Canada and Mexico will come into effect on Wednesday.

Asian equities sank overnight after a sell-off of US equities on Friday, leading to European stocks trading deep in the red. The FTSE 100 was down 0.8% at the time of writing.

“The last day of March is spring-loaded with uncertainty on financial markets. Unease about the effect of Trump’s tariffs has been amplified, causing sharp moves at the start of the week. London-listed stocks will not be immune to the tariff fall out, with the FTSE 100 set for a difficult start to the week as investors brace for the debilitating effect of widespread tariffs,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

The sharp decline in the FTSE 100 on Monday reflects concerns in some quarters that the UK may be on the hook for Trump tariffs.

Despite the heavy selling at the end of last week and today’s decline, London’s leading index is still higher by 3% year to date compared to a 5% decline for the FTSE 100.

London’s losses were broad on Monday with only a splattering of utility companies and tobacco stocks making gains.

“When things are looking bleak, it’s natural for investors to hide in certain parts of the market that either act as safe havens or industries whose demand should be unaffected by fluctuations in the economy,” said AJ Bell’s Russ Mould.

“The FTSE 100 slipped 0.9% as commodity producers and banks weighed on the index, both economically sensitive sectors.”

Miners Glencore, Anglo American and Rio Tinto all fell more than 3%.

Primark-owner AB Foods shares fell after Primark’s boss resigned following an investigation that revealed inappropriate behaviour. AB Foods shares fell 2%. 

IAG, JD Sports, and Entain were affected by fears about consumers’ discretionary spending as tariffs threatened economic activity.

Imperial Brands was the top riser as investors bought into the relative safety of nicotine addiction. Shares were 1% higher.

Avacta shares were steady on Monday after the life sciences company developing peptide drug conjugates that target anti-tumour payloads directly to tumours provided an update on its progress during the first quarter of 2025 and upcoming milestones.

The update offered little in the way of material ‘new news’ and shares reacted accordingly.

Pipeline Developments

FAP-Dox (AVA6000), a pre|CISION-enabled form of doxorubicin chemotherapy, has completed the Phase 1a dose escalation portion of its trial.

The drug shows improved tolerability compared to conventional doxorubicin, with no severe cardiac toxicity observed. Patient enrolment has begun in Phase 1b expansion cohorts for salivary gland cancer, triple negative breast cancer and high-grade soft tissue sarcoma, with updates expected later in 2025.

AVA6103, a pre|CISION-enabled PDC linking the pre|CISION peptide to topoisomerase I inhibitor exatecan, remains in preclinical development. The compound is undergoing investigational new drug-enabling studies, with Phase 1 trials projected to start in Q1 2026.

The company will present three posters at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting in Chicago (25-30 April 2025). These presentations will feature data from the pre|CISION platform and PDC pipeline, including clinical data on AVA6000 and preclinical pharmacology for AVA6103.

Novel data from Avacta’s strategic collaboration with Tempus AI will also be presented at the AACR meeting.

Corporate Updates

In January, Avacta appointed Brian Hahn as Chief Financial Officer. Hahn brings over 25 years of biopharma financial and operational experience, including 15 years as CFO at GlycoMimetics, Inc., where he led the company’s 2014 Nasdaq IPO.

“We made a strong start to 2025, continuing to make excellent progress against all of our strategic objectives,” said Christina Coughlin, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Avacta.

“We are very encouraged by the Phase 1 data from FAP-Dox (AVA60000) so far, which continue to show an excellent tolerability profile and increasingly durable responses in salivary gland cancers. We are now enrolling in multiple dose expansion cohorts, including triple negative breast cancer with preliminary data targeted for later in 2025.

“Our pre|CISION^®-enabled exatecan program (FAP-EXd, AVA6103) also continues to progress toward a Phase 1 trial initiation early next year, underscoring our deep commitment to pioneering a novel, differentiated class of medicines to revolutionize drug delivery mechanisms. We are enthusiastic about the promise of a potent topoisomerase I inhibitor delivered in this mechanism.”

Mobile Streams, the AIM-quoted mobile content and data intelligence company, has announced its intention to pursue a reverse takeover to acquire the remaining 74.13% of Estadio Gana, valuing the recently launched company at £62.8 million.

The acquisition, which will be paid entirely in Mobile Streams shares at the 27 March 2025 closing price, will create an integrated sports, media and entertainment conglomerate focused on Latin America, particularly Mexico.

This move follows Mobile Streams’ recently announced deal with Capital Media Sports on 20 March, as the company aims to consolidate these businesses under its umbrella to create a comprehensive sports and entertainment platform.

The Mexican sports betting and gaming industry is proving particularly attractive, with independent data suggesting the market will reach US$11.47 billion by the end of 2025, with a projected growth of up to 70% by 2028.

Mexico’s role as co-host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup is expected to further accelerate this expansion.

As the deal constitutes a reverse takeover under AIM Rules, trading in Mobile Streams shares has been suspended from 7.30am pending publication of an Admission Document or an announcement that the transaction will not proceed.

The company will need to raise additional funds to complete the transaction and will require shareholder approval at an EGM, with further updates to follow in due course.

“We are excited and extremely pleased to announce our intended acquisition of Estadio Gana,” said Mark Epstein, CEO.

“This along with acquiring a controlling stake in Capital Media Sports and other possible businesses will enable us to form a sports media and entertainment conglomerate with the ambition to span Latin America. Our initial focus is on taking a leading position in the fast-growing Mexican market, but our ambitions are significant as we look to grow across the LATAM region. Simply put we want to create a world class sports, media and entertainment business.”

Interim results released on Monday showed the group’s revenue jumped to £415k in the half-year period to 31st December, up from £169k in 2023.