Plus500 shares rose on Monday after the financial markets trading app reported strong results for H1 2025 driven by an uptick in activity in Q2.

Plus500 delivered solid financial results in the first half of 2025, with revenue increasing 4% to $415.1 million compared to $398.2 million in H1 2024. EBITDA rose to $185.1 million, maintaining a strong 45% margin (H1 2024: $183.9 million, 46% margin).

The company received a boost from higher volatility in Q2 2025, with revenue increasing 15% to $209.3 million and EBITDA rising 12% to $91.3 million.

Customer deposits reached a record high of $3.1 billion for the six-month period, more than doubling from $1.5 billion in H1 2024, reflecting the company’s strategic focus on attracting higher-value customers.

Plus500 maintained steady customer acquisition, onboarding 56,165 new customers in H1 2025, nearly matching the prior year’s 56,759. Active customers increased to 179,931 from 175,909 in H1 2024, with Q2 2025 showing particular strength at 132,602 active customers compared to 123,803 in Q2 2024.

The company made significant progress diversifying its business model, with its futures operations now representing approximately 13% of total group revenue, demonstrating successful expansion into the US futures market. Plus500 secured a new clearing membership with ICE Clear US to enhance its futures offering.

The company is becoming a global player in financial markets trading, with expansion in the US complementing new licenses and acquisitions across North America, the Middle East, and Asia.

“Plus500 delivered further operational and financial progress in H1 2025,” said David Zruia, Chief Executive Officer of Plus500.

“We expanded our global presence with new regulatory licences in Canada and the UAE, added to our growing list of clearing memberships with ICE Clear US and announced the exciting acquisition of Mehta Equities in India, which will provide us access to the largest retail futures market in the world. This progress is underpinned by our proprietary technology which drives our global business model and supports our relentless focus on innovation and growth, enabling the Group to deliver compounded returns through the cycle.”

Mkango Resources (LON: MKA) is planning to combine its Songwe Hill rare earths project in Malawi with the Pulawy rare earth separation project in Poland and list them on Nasdaq as Mkango Rare Earths. This creates a vertically integrated rare earths business. The pro forma value of Mkango Resources’ shareholding would be $400m before any fundraising and transaction costs. The share price jumped 102% to 31p, the highest level for more than three years.

Synergia Energy (LON: SYN) plans to sell its 50% stake in the Cambay PSC Selan Exploration Technology, which owns the other 50% after a previous farm-out agreement. There will be an initial payment of $500,000 followed by $6.5m when the Indian government approves the deal. Then, 12 months later, the final $7m will be paid. This will require shareholder approval because the company will become a shell. The share price increased 42.5% to 0.0285p.

Thruvision Group (LON: THRU) has secured a contract to supply 20 security systems with a total value of £1m to a customer in Asia. In the quarter to June 2025, the order intake was £2.3m. The additional business means that the company’s cash should last until the end of 2025. After the contract announcement, Thruvision announced plans to raise at least £2.5m via a placing at 1p/share and a retail offer could raise up to £250,000. The retail offer closes on 7 July. The share price recovered 36.1% to 1.225p.

Biotech Sareum (LON: SAR) has appointed Oberon Capital as sole broker. The share price is 35.5% higher at 21p.

FALLERS

Graphene technology developer Versarien (LON: VRS) improved interim revenues from £1.34m to £1.47m and the loss was slightly lower at £1.49m. At the end of March, there was £850,000 in cash and that has fallen to £650,000. The available cash will run out by August. Later in the week, Versarien announced that it has extended its manufacturing licence agreement with Montana Quimica, which allows it to use Polygrene compounds in products sold in South America. Versarien will receive £25,000 and there is a further £25,000 when manufacturing starts and then 5% of sales revenues from those products. These payments are in addition to previous ones. The share price still slumped 53.1% to 0.015p.

Chemotherapy drug delivery technology developer CRISM Therapeutics (LON: CRTX) raised £874,000 from a placing at 12p/share and the retail offer generated £54,000. This will finance the manufacture of a batch of ChemoSeed for evaluation of safety and efficacy in glioblastoma patients in a Phase 2 registration grade clinical trial, plus setting up of clinical trials. The share price fell back 47.6% to 11p.

Online video editing technology developer Blackbird (LON: BIRD) has raised £2m from a placing and subscription at 3p/share and could raise up to £200,000 more from a retail offer. The cash will finance further development of the elevate.io platform and help to grow sales. There were 325 paid users at the end of May 2025 and the cost of adding each new user has more than halved to £115. The cost for signing up a free user is £2.14 each. Usage is increasing. The share price declined 36.3% to 3.025p.

Capital equipment supplier Mpac (LON: MPAC) has suffered from uncertainty surrounding tariffs in the US and that has stemmed the flow of orders coming through. The first half held up because of the order book at the start of the year, but there will be a slump in the second half because of a lack of new orders coming through. Outside of the US, trading is not as bad. Panmure Liberum has cut its 2025 pre-tax profit forecast from £17.9m to £13.5m with significant reductions in the following two years – which appears cautious. There will be one-off costs of restructuring the North American operations. A pension scheme buy in has been agreed with Aviva. Chief executive Adam Holland bought 3,810 shares at 262.5p each. The share price slipped 34.7% to 281p.

Shares in sports and fitness data analysis provider 4Global (LON: 4GBL) jumped      ahead of the AIM cancellation on 7 July. The shares will be traded on the JP Jenkins matched bargain market. The share price jumped 104.6% to 22.5p.

On Thursday afternoon, it was announced that IT managed services provider Tiales Essential IT (LON: TIA) has taken a 10.6% stake in IT services provider CloudCoCo (LON: CLCO). The stake was previously held by MXC Capital. CloudCoCo has sold part of its business and improved its balance sheet. It has also reduced costs in order to move towards profit. The CloudCoCo share price rebounded 8.77% to 0.31p. The Tiales Essential share price is unchanged at 64p.

Graphene technology developer Versarien (LON: VRS) has extended its manufacturing licence agreement with Montana Quimica, which allows it to use Polygrene compounds in products sold in South America. Versarien will receive £25,000 and there is a further £25,000 when manufacturing starts and then 5% of sales revenues from those products. These payments are in addition to previous ones. The share price increased 11.5% to 0.0145p.

Excess inventory retailer Huddled (LON: HUD) has done a deal with THG Ingenuity to use its fulfilment centres, which will enable additional growth. Huddled is raising £1.5m at 3.2p/share. Management previously said it did not need more cash, but it believe it is the right time to acquire stock and increase marketing. Michael Ahley has been appointed chief executive. The share price improved 7.81% to 3.45p.

AFC Energy (LON: AFC) has announced a joint venture with Industrial Chemicals Goup to secure a low-cost supply of hydrogen produced from ammonia. Industrial Chemicals will procure the ammonia, and the joint venture will acquire technology from AFC Energy. The share price rose 6.28% to 16.58p.

FALLERS

Security technology company Thruvision (LON: THRU) plans to raise at least £2.5m via a placing at 1p/share and a retail offer could raise up to £250,000. The retail offer closes on 7 July. The share price slipped 14.3% to 1.2p.

Synthetic binders developer Aptamer (LON: APTA) is raising £2m at 0.3p/share. This will accelerate the commercialisation of Optimer technology. The stronger balance sheet will help with negotiations over licences. Manufacturing will be done in-house. A new service is being launched to offer biomarker identification. Some of the cash will fund the validation of the molecular target to deliver siRNA to hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in liver fibrosis. The share price slipped 2.63% to 0.37p.

Oil and gas company Enwell Energy (LON: ENW) is continuing to try to resolve the regulatory issues that have suspended production at the licences in the Ukraine. The licences generated more than $30m in free cash flow in 2024. There is still $100.7m at the end of June 2025. No revenues are forecast for this year and cash could fall to $98.4m at the end of 2025. The share price fell 2.78% to 17.5p.

The FTSE 100 was slightly weaker on Friday as investors battened down the hatches ahead of key trade deadlines next week.

London’s leading index was trading down 0.3% at the time of writing. With US cash equity markets closed for the Independence Day holiday, trading volumes were slightly lower on Friday.

“Optimism is evaporating at the end of the week, as the US tariff deadline looms and the signs are that many countries will face higher duties than expected,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“There’s a distinct lack of Friday fizz for the FTSE 100, as investors mull repercussions for the global economy. Investors are also assessing the implications of the passing of Trump’s big tax cut bill which will add to the mountain of US debt.”

The nervousness in Europe was evident in the failure of major indices to track US stocks higher overnight after an encouraging Non-Farm Payrolls reading.

Any weakness in the FTSE 100 this week has been met by a strong US session, which has fueled a recovery in afternoon trade. This will be absent on Friday.

Underscoring a risk-averse tone to trade on Friday, investors bought into defensive sectors such as telecoms and shunned those with cyclical attributes.

“Vodafone, Sainsbury’s and BT were among the top risers on the FTSE 100, but their strength was not enough to offset weakness from the mining sector,” said Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell.

UK housebuilders trade negatively again after peer MJ Gleeson said the ‘housing market lacks confidence’. Persimmon was down 1.7%, and Barratts gave up 2%. Housebuilders have been among the worst performers this week after Nationwide released data showing average house prices fell in June.

Mondi was the FTSE 100 top faller with a loss of 2%.

Housebuilder MJ Gleeson said the UK’s ‘housing market lacks confidence’ in a trading statement released on Friday that underscored the difficulties the builder faced over the last year.

MJ Gleeson delivered results in line with market expectations for the year ended 30 June 2025, despite facing significant operational challenges that have prompted a major reorganisation at its Gleeson Homes division.

The Group expects to report a profit before tax and exceptional items of between £21.0m and £22.5m for FY2025. This would represent a marginal decline from the £24.8m recorded last year.

Gleeson Homes completed the sale of 1,793 homes during the year, marginally up from 1,772 homes in the previous year, though multi-unit sales fell to 205 from 346.

Net reservation rates showed encouraging signs of recovery, averaging 0.88 per site per week over the past six months compared to 0.63 in the second half of FY2024. Excluding multi-unit agreements, reservation rates improved significantly to 0.64 per site per week, whilst cancellation rates decreased to 14% from 18%.

MJ Gleeson Management Shake-up

However, mounting pressures on gross margins and operational issues have triggered substantial changes. Mark Knight has stepped down as Chief Executive of Gleeson Homes and left the business entirely.

The company has restructured its operations under two divisions: Scott Stothard, joining from Vistry where he was Divisional Chair, will run the Central division, whilst Andy Davies continues to lead the Northern division. Both will report to Graham Prothero.

Simon Topliss, previously Gleeson Homes Finance Director, has been appointed to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer with responsibility for central functions, performance and governance.

Challenges and Reorganisation

The reorganisation follows a comprehensive review launched in autumn 2024 under “Project Transform” after issues around process compliance and cost overruns were identified. The company cited cumulative headwinds including increased build costs, flat selling prices, planning delays, and legacy site issues as factors that prevented anticipated margin improvements.

The restructuring will cost approximately £1.2m in exceptional items but is designed to shorten reporting lines, empower divisional leadership teams, and strengthen regional management whilst improving oversight and compliance.

Outlook

The board remains cautious about market conditions. They made this abundantly clear in this trading update.

“The housing market lacks confidence and remains subdued and the Board does not see a short-term catalyst for any substantial improvement,” the company stated.

For FY2026, the board expects profit before tax and exceptional items of around £24.5m, at the lower end of current market expectations. It would mark an increase on the current years’ trading but would still be lower than FY2024.

MJ Gleeson, like all housebuilders, needs the UK property market to pick up.