Alumasc Group: with results tomorrow, despite challenging times 2025 sales and profits expected to be ahead

Mark Watson-Mitchell
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Alumasc Group: with results tomorrow, despite challenging times 2025 sales and profits expected to be ahead

Tomorrow morning, Tuesday 2nd September, the £121m-capitalised Alumasc Group (LON:ALU) will declare its 2025 results. 
Way back at the start of February this year, I featured the group, with its shares then trading at 292.50p, on the basis that I was expecting it to be a steady performer for any portfolio. 
Since then, the shares have peaked, hitting 395p in early June showing a 35% increase in price in just four months, before easing back on profit-taking to 335p. 
Now I expect that a good piece of corporate news will get them moving back upwards again, offering a useful buying...

ITM Power: shares at 66.20p expected to react upwards with increased contract win news, plus the Hydropulse deal

Mark Watson-Mitchell
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0
ITM Power: shares at 66.20p expected to react upwards with increased contract win news, plus the Hydropulse deal

The Final Results to end-April recently announced by the £410m-capitalised ITM Power (LON:ITM), showed a strong performance and pointed to ongoing growth – but, as yet, the group’s shares have hardly flickered with investor interest, however that could soon change. 
The group reported a 50% hike in revenues to £26.0m (£16.5m), but with an increased adjusted EBITDA loss of £33.0m (£30.4m), while its end-year cash balance was better than expected at £207m (£230.3m), against a ‘guided figure’ in the range of £160m to £175m. 
The contracted firm year-end order backlog was a record at £14...

5 tips for those approaching retirement by Scottish Widows

UK Investor Magazine
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5 tips for those approaching retirement by Scottish Widows

The FCA’s most recent Financial Lives survey found 31% of non-retirees had not thought about how they will manage financially in retirement.

To guide those savers nearing retirement who need to prepare financially, Scottish Widows has provided five tips covering tax, life plans, and state entitlements.

The five tips below have been kindly provided by Robert Cochran, Retirement Expert at Scottish Widows:

  1. Look at your income options

Ensuring you have fully considered how you will fund later life is a crucial part of the pension planning process. Drawdown normally allows you to take up to 25% of the value of your pension as a tax-free lump sum and keep the rest invested in a drawdown plan. You can then take taxable withdrawals from the rest, as and when you’d like. Any withdrawals you take from your drawdown plan will count as income for tax purposes.

On the other hand, partners may want to consider annuities and the role of joint annuities in providing an income after the death of a partner. 85% of annuities are purchased on a single life basis, but these do not provide an income to the surviving spouse after the death of the annuity holder. Men tend to have bigger pension pots, to be older and to die at an earlier age than their spouses, which means many women lose a significant source of their retirement income when their partner who held a single annuity dies.

  1. Know your tax implications 

There are a number of different ways you can access your pension savings, and there are tax implications for each of these so it pays to know ahead of time before you draw anything out of your pension pot. Most people accessing their pension at 55 years old will be able to take 25% of their pension tax-free but if you take it out as income all in one go, you maximise the tax you have to pay. 

  1. Factor in life events

Whether it’s a new addition to the family, property or big travel plans, you may need to use part of your retirement income to financially support family members. Ideally, aim for small, consistent contributions when you’re working in a full or even part-time capacity as this can help top up your pot for later life. It’s important, where possible, to maintain your earnings and pension contributions as much as you can so you can comfortably afford everything the future may bring with it. 

Launched specifically for the Pension Engagement Season, Scottish Widows’ #PensionMirror is a handy AI-powered tool, to help you get more engaged with your pension planning and ensure you’re on the right track for what you want the future to look like.

  1. State Pension entitlement  

Our latest Retirement Report shows that just over half (54%) expect the State Pension to eventually form a meaningful portion of their retirement income, with three quarters (75%) calling it hugely important in helping them pay for everyday necessities so it’s well worth knowing your entitlement ahead of time. 

You can check your projected State Pension entitlement and if there are any gaps that you might be able to top up. For instance, if you have been looking after children and haven’t earned over £12,584, you’ll be able to apply for national insurance credits to cover these years. You can do all of this at: gov.uk/check-state-pension. 

  1. Track down any lost pensions 

Track down lost pensions, using the Government’s pension tracing tool and consider if you should combine them into one so it’s easier to manage, it could save you money too. Visit Pension Wise (www.adviseme.co.uk) – the Government’s free service for over 55s. It’s also worth remembering that if you have any gaps in your National Insurance records, you can claim NI contributions going back to 2006 until 5th April 2025. 

Dialight maintains full-year profit outlook despite sluggish demand

UK Investor Magazine
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1
Dialight maintains full-year profit outlook despite sluggish demand

LED lighting specialist Dialight has reaffirmed its expectations for the year ending March 2026, despite facing continued headwinds in its industrial markets.

The group, which specialises in lighting solutions for hazardous industrial environments, reported marginally lower sales for the five months to 31 August compared with the same period last year.

Sales have been dampened by tariff uncertainty, weaker macroeconomic conditions, and their impact on the company’s core hazardous location sectors.

However, Dialight are still managing to carve out profit growth. Year-to-date adjusted operating profit at the end of August is expected to significantly outpace both the six months to September 2024 ($0.9m) and the six months to March 2025 ($3.2m).

Dialight shares were only 1% higher on Monday, but the positivity surrounding rising profits appears to have already been priced in, given a 100% rally so far in 2025.

The company has benefited from a $1.4m one-off Covid credit from the US Internal Revenue Service, previously disclosed in July’s preliminary results.

Net debt continues to fall. From $17.8m at March 2025, it fell to $15.1m by July before improving further to around $13.0m by the end of August.

These improvements reflect the ongoing benefits of Dialight’s transformation plan, which has delivered margin improvements, overhead cost reductions, and enhanced cash generation.

Despite the challenging operating environment, the board maintains confidence in achieving current market forecasts of $5.7m adjusted profit before tax for the full year.

UK house prices fall in August – Nationwide

UK Investor Magazine
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UK house prices fall in August – Nationwide

UK house prices unexpectedly fell in August as unaffordability weighed on prices and high mortgage rates acted as a barrier to entering the market for first-time buyers.

Annual house price growth slipped slightly to 2.1%, from 2.4% in July, while month-on-month prices dipped by 0.1%, according to data released by Nationwide on Monday.

“The relatively subdued pace of house price growth is perhaps understandable, given that affordability remains stretched relative to long-term norms. House prices are still high compared to household incomes, making raising a deposit challenging for prospective buyers, especially given the intense cost of living pressures in recent years,” said Robert Gardner, Nationwide’s Chief Economist.

“Combined with the fact that mortgage costs are more than three times the levels prevailing in the wake of the pandemic, this means that the cost of servicing a mortgage is also a barrier for many. Indeed, an average earner buying the typical first-time buyer property with a 20% deposit faces a monthly mortgage payment equivalent to around 35% of their take-home pay, well above the long run average of 30%.”

Gardner continued to explain that a combination of falling borrowing costs and rising incomes should underpin the housing market going forward.

“However, affordability should continue to improve gradually if income growth continues to outpace house price growth as we expect, Gardner said.

“Borrowing costs are likely to moderate a little further if Bank Rate is lowered again in the coming quarters. This should support buyer demand, especially since household balance sheets are strong and labour market conditions are expected to remain solid. “

Director deals: boohoo founder buying but retailer still has problems

Andrew Hore
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Director deals: boohoo founder buying but retailer still has problems

Founder and executive director Carol Kane bough 6.86 million shares in online retailer boohoo (LON: DEBS) at 14.5p each, following the recent full year results. That is just under £1m invested and takes her shareholding to 27.8 million.  
She has been buying shares since November 2024 and spent around £300,000 on share purchases at prices between 30p/share and 34p/share. Back in 2020 she bought two million shares at 214p each.
However, in 2017 she sold 4.65 million shares at 230p each, raising £10.7m. That means that sales in the past decade have raised around £5m than purchases.
Business...

AIM weekly movers: Positive exploration news from Oriole Resources

Andrew Hore
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AIM weekly movers: Positive exploration news from Oriole Resources

Oriole Resources (LON: ORR) says the number of gold bearing intersections at the Mbe gold project in Cameroon to 285, equivalent to one intersection for every 21 metres. A mineral resource estimate is expected before the end of the year. The share price jumped 135% to 0.47p, having been as high as 0.62p.

Synthetic binders developer Aptamer Group (LON: APTA) has launched a biomarker discovery service. Biomarkers are molecular indicators of physiological states, including disease presence and enable targeted drug development. The service will use the company’s own Optimer technology in combination with proteomic analysis and it can generate the binding molecules. This is a fee for service model. The share price increased 65.5% to 1.2p, which is the highest level since early 2024.

Fiinu (LON: BANK) has been readmitted to AIM following the acquisition of Poland-based foreign exchange brokerage Everfex. The initial payment of £8m was satisfied by the issue of 80 million shares at 10p each and the rest will depend on performance and be payable via up to 20 million shares at 20p each. Everfex made a pre-tax profit of more than £600,000 for the four months to April 2025. The share price rose 49% to 19p.

Empire Metals (LON: EEE) has made a breakthrough in process development at the Pitfield project in Western Australia. Recoveries are 77% at the rougher stage and 90% at the cleaning stage. Leach results achieved 98% titanium dissolution. Overall titanium recovery is 67% and this is expected to improve. This is a high purity product. The share price improved 38.2% to 52.5p.

FALLERS

Fire safety products supplier LifeSafe Holdings (LON: LIFS) is asking for shareholder approval to leave AIM. It has raised £700,000 at 3p/share and a retail offer, which closes on 5 September, can raise up to £500,000. Disappointing sales mean that LifeSafe requires more working capital. Overoptimistic expectations from the company have led to the share price slumping from the 75p placing share price in July 2022. It costs £300,000 each year to be quoted and management says that it has prospective investors that can only invest in private companies and are willing to invest at higher valuations than the current valuation. Executive chairman Dominic Berger acquired 1.37 million shares at 1p each, taking his stake to 5.85%. The share price slumped 46.2% to 1.75p.

Advanced engineering materials developer Versarien (LON: VRS) says that the sale of its remaining subsidiaries is near completion. The Chinese strategic investor has withdrawn from the investment process because of the UK national security review process only approving a restricted joint venture. The share price dived 40.7% to 0.008p.

Sorted Group (LON: SORT) finance director Mahmoud Wariah is leaving the company, but he is working his six months’ notice. The software supplier plans a share capital reorganisation to reduce the nominal value of the shares from 62.5p to 0.01p. The will enable placings of shares to raise cash. The share price fell 31.3% to 27.5p.

AI-based services provider to smaller businesses Pri0r1ty Intelligence Group (LON: PR1) has joined the OTCQB Venture Market in the US. This is designed to attract US investor interest. It works best when companies have business in the US. The share price slipped 29.4% to 3.6p.

Aquis weekly movers: KR1 NAV increases

Andrew Hore
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0
Aquis weekly movers: KR1 NAV increases

Lord Bethell has been appointed as a non-executive director of biotech Cardiogeni (LON: CGNI). He is a former health minister. Another director, Ajan Reginald, bought 10,001 shares at 20p each and 2,000 shares at 10p each. He owns 22.1% of Cardiogeni. The share price is one-fifth higher at 9p.

Phoenix Digital Assets (LON: PNIX) director Jonathan Hives has sold 350,000 shares at 5.085p each. The share price rose 1% to 5.3p.

FALLERS

The Smarter Web Company (LON: SWC) has raised a further £3.66m at 193p/share and there are 2.59 million shares still available for subscription. The company has bought 2,440 Bitcoin and the total cost was £201.1m. Net cash available to invest in Bitcoin has fallen to £600,000. PKF Littlejohn has replaced Adler Shine as auditor. The share price slipped 18% to 125p.

KR1 (LON: KR1) had net assets of 49.38p/share at the end of July 2025, up from 40.69p/share at the end of June. Aggregate income during the month was £419,630. The share price declined 14.3% to 36p.

Wishbone Gold (LON: WSBN) has raised £1.5m at 1.25p/share and this will provide working capital for drilling at the Red Setter Dome gold target. The share price dipped 3.33% to 1.45p.

Guident demonstrates systems management prowess with certification

UK Investor Magazine
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Guident demonstrates systems management prowess with certification

Guident has achieved ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification, the world’s leading information security management standard. The milestone confirms that the company maintains comprehensive security controls to protect critical assets and processes.

The company believes the certification strengthens client trust through internationally recognised security practices and enhances operational resilience with proactive risk management.

Ultimately, the AV safety company’s efforts to win new business will be enhanced because partners can now rely on Guident’s compliance with evolving cybersecurity requirements.

“This accomplishment reflects Guident’s top-down commitment to embedding security into our strategy and governance. Integrating this standard into our business model ensures that every technology decision and operational process is aligned with international best practices,” said Dr. Gabriel Castaneda, VP of AI and Research at Guident.

The certification marks a significant step for the Tekcapital subsidiary in reinforcing its security posture across all operations as it prepares for a potential NASDAQ IPO.

AIM movers: Avacta agrees changes to convertible and Eqtec capital reorganisation

Andrew Hore
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7
AIM movers: Avacta agrees changes to convertible and Eqtec capital reorganisation

Conroy Gold and Natural Resources (LON: CGNR) recovered a further 42.3% to 9.25p since yesterday’s announcement of an agreement to restructure liabilities, including the writing off of 20% of the €3.36m owed. Directors and former directors are swapping the remaining 80% owed into a capped net smelter royalty relating to the Orlock Bridge and Skullmartin projects in Ireland.

Nortrust Nominees has bought back some of the shares it had sold in oil and gas producer Empyrean Energy (LON: EME) earlier in the week and the stake has increased from 3.41% to 4.88%. The share price increased 12% to 0.07p.

Cancer drugs developer Avacta Group (LON: AVCT) is raising £3.25m at 50p/share and is deferring quarterly repayments of its convertible bond after the October payment. The next two payments will be deferred until October 2027. After the publication of data from the phase 1b trials of FAP-Dox (AVA6000) for breast cancer of 30 June 2026 the bondholders can demand an acceleration of one of the deferred payments in cash or shares. The conversion share price is 75p. This is conditional on the raising of at least £13m. The share price rebounded 14.6% to 63p.

CleanTech Lithium (LON: CTL) raised £250,000 from its retail offer at 5p/share and takes the total amount raised to £4.95m. This will finance the development of the Laguna Verde lithium project in Chile. The share price rose 8.74% to 5.6p.

Van Eck Associates has raised its stake in uranium investor Yellow Cake (LON: YCA) from 6.12% to 7.04%. The share price is 5.92% higher at 516.25p.

Logistics Development Group (LON: LDG) had net assets of 26.7p/share at the end of June 2025, up 8.67% over the quarter. Since then, £15m has been invested in a company that has taken a 78.3% stake in Alternative Parcels Company. The share price improved 5.26% to 15p.

FALLERS

Waste to energy technology company Eqtec (LON: EQT) is proposing a capital reorganisation. The shares have been trading below the current nominal value, and it would be reduced from €0.01 to €0.0001. If approved this will happen on 26 September. This will enable the issue of shares to provide further funding for the company. The share price slipped 22.2% to 0.35p.

Helium One Global (LON: HE1) has received a conversion notice for £1.725m of its convertible at a conversion share price of 0.42p. There will be 410.7 million shares issued. The share price fell 8.51% to 0.43p.

Metals One (LON: MET1) is making a C$750,000 strategic investment in Lions Bay Capital and taking a 19.1% stake. The plan is to commence production at a South African gold processing plant by the end of 2026. Lions Bay has an option to acquire the supporting generation plant for $1.4m. The plant will be modified and refurbished. The strategy is to acquire gold mines in the region once the plant is up and running. The share price declined 9.2% to 4.1675p.

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