MHA, the professional services firm, has got off to a strong start as a listed company with revenue rising 13% to approximately £121.3 million for the six months ending 30 September 2025.

The AIM-listed provider of audit, tax, and advisory services said revenue increased from £107.2 million in the same period last year, driven partly by recent acquisitions.

MHA listed on AIM in April this year.

Around 3% of the growth came from the acquisition of Baker Tilly South-East Europe Holdings Limited in August 2025, whilst 1.5% was attributable to a full period of income from Baker Tilly Ireland, acquired in July 2024.

The company said it remains on track to deliver full-year performance in line with market expectations of £249.5 million in revenue and underlying adjusted EBITDA of £44 million.

Operating margins and cash generation in the first half were consistent with board expectations.

“The Group experienced strong growth across all service lines in H1 26, reflecting the strength of our platform and the success of both organic and acquisitive expansion. Our core sectors performed well, most notably financial services, manufacturing, professional services and engineering and technology, each of which recorded significant double-digit revenue growth compared with H1 25,” said Rakesh Shaunak, Chief Executive Officer of MHA.

“The Group is well-placed to build on the momentum established in recent years, scaling further and driving innovation while maintaining high client standards. Supported by long-term structural growth drivers that underpin demand for our services and a compelling client proposition, the Board remains confident in the outlook for continued organic and acquisitive growth, in line with its medium-term goal of exceeding £500 million in annual revenues.”

Helium One Global has reached a major milestone in its Colorado helium development project, with construction officially commencing on the production facility pad and gathering system at the Galactica-Pegasus site.

The company also said that first production is on track for December 2025.

Helium One Global, which holds a 50% working interest in the project, said contractors Redbud Partners LLC and PVC broke ground yesterday on both critical components of the project.

The news will be welcomed by Helium One’s long-term shareholders who have suffered a series of setbacks over the years.

Investors will also be pleased to hear that current works are on schedule. Helium said the production equipment for the upgraded infrastructure has been procured and delivered according to schedule.

To prepare for future connections to other wells, engineers have designed the facilities to accommodate infill and expansion wells, complete with pre-installed taps and risers.

In terms of production, Helium production remains scheduled for December 2025 and CO2 sales will follow in the first half of 2026, creating dual revenue streams from the project.

The Galactica Pinon Canyon Plant will ramp up to full capacity as wells are progressively connected throughout H1 2026.

Fresnillo, the FTSE 100’s best-performing stock so far in 2025, has struck a deal to expand its operations into Canada, announcing the acquisition of Probe Gold Inc. for CAD$780 million in an all-cash transaction.

The acquisition price of CAD $3.65 per share represents a 24% premium over Probe’s 30-day volume-weighted average trading price on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The deal values the Canadian exploration company at approximately US$560 million.

Following a bumper year for the group amid soaring gold prices, Fresnillo is putting some of its cash to work by expanding its asset base.

This acquisition marks Fresnillo’s strategic entry into Canada, putting the company in Quebec’s prolific Val d’Or mining camp, an area with a rich history of gold mining and continued production growth.

The region offers significant advantages, including a skilled local workforce and established infrastructure, providing an ideal foundation for Fresnillo’s expansion plans.

Probe Gold will add the multimillion-ounce Novador Gold Project to Fresnillo, estimated to have a resource base of 8 million ounces. Probe has around 10 million ounces in total across its portfolio.

The Novador project has strong potential to produce over 200,000 ounces of gold annually for more than 10 years.

“Fresnillo has a significant track record of identifying, developing, building and operating successful gold and silver mines,” said Fresnillo CEO Octavio Alvídrez.

“We will take that considerable experience and build on the current work completed by Probe’s excellent team. We are confident that together we will continue to advance and further optimise the project. We are excited to be coming to Canada, an outstanding mining jurisdiction with a global reputation for responsible development, and to the Val d’Or region with its proud history of mining.”

Beyond the immediate production boost, the deal offers substantial exploration upside through Probe’s extensive land package. The company controls approximately 1,798 square kilometers of underexplored territory in Quebec, including both the Novador Gold Project and the early-stage Detour Gold Quebec project.

The FTSE 100 was lower on Thursday as markets adjusted to new interest rate expectations after last night’s Federal Reserve interest rate decision and press conference. 

Investors also digested the outcome of the US/China trade talks, including several agreements and concessions between the world’s largest economies.

The adage that ‘it’s better to travel than arrive’ could not be truer for the market reaction to developments in Asia overnight, as the FTSE 100 dropped more than 0.6% on Thursday after rallying into the talks yesterday.

“News of the emerging thaw in trade relations between the US and China wasn’t enough to power the FTSE 100 to another record this morning. It has retreated a little at the open, after reaching its best ever close of 9,756.14 on Wednesday,” said Derren Nathan, head of equity research, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Following the conclusion of talks in South Korea, President XI said that a consensus had been reached on major trade issues, while Donald Trump revealed he’d be reducing tariffs after resolving a roadblock on Chinese exports of rare earth minerals. Details, however, were thin on the ground.”

But it was not just the ‘buy the rumour, sell the fact’ fade that dragged stocks lower. Investors also turned up their noses at the Fed Chair’s comments that dented hopes of an interest rate cut in December.

“No-one likes a party pooper, especially when they’re standing in front of the punch bowl. That’s the role taken on by Jay Powell, who poured cold water on the prospect of a December rate cut. That’s put markets on the back foot when it looked like the music was just about to ramp up,” says AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“The Fed did announce an interest rate cut, but short-term Treasury yields jumped up on the back of the hawkish tone, and Jay Powell’s comments might well have elicited a hoot of derision from somewhere in the White House. The Fed chair likened the central bank’s current situation to driving in the fog, because the US government shutdown has prevented the release of key economic data.”

FTSE 100 company earnings didn’t help the equity bulls’ cause either.

WPP shares sank 14% and were languishing near the lowest levels since the turn of the century, following the release of dismal Q3 results that confirmed that the advertising giant was in big trouble.

“A 5.9% drop in third-quarter net revenue exposes how far the world’s biggest advertising group has drifted from the bravado of its Madison Avenue heyday,” said Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro.

“WPP’s new CEO Cindy Rose inherits a brief no less daunting than a rebrand of the word “decline”. The sharp slowdown at WPP Media, once the jewel in the crown, underlines how the company’s traditional engine is sputtering in a market running on algorithms and automation.”

Shell offered some positivity with strong Q3 results that beat analyst estimates.

“The results were underpinned by record production in Brazil and 20-year highs in the Gulf of America, alongside standout contributions from its Marketing division, which logged its second-highest quarterly earnings in over a decade,” explained Garry White, Chief Investment Commentator at Charles Stanley.

Shell shares were flat on Thursday, as results gave investors no reason to sell after a recent rally that pushed the stock to its highest level since 2023. But they weren’t strong enough to spur further buying either.

Lloyds shares have stormed to the upside and now trade close to the highest levels since the financial crisis.

With the Lloyds share price at 89p, investors will be eyeing the 100p as the next major target, especially if we see a break of 90p in the short term.

Whether Lloyds can hit this key psychological level hangs in the balance. There are valid bull and bear cases for the stock, both of which we will touch on here.

The main thing on the bull’s side is momentum. Lloyds is an oil tanker of a share. Once it’s set its course, it’s very difficult to change its trajectory.

Whether that was the range-bound, sideways trade around 50p over the three-year period after the pandemic, or the steady rally since the beginning of 2024, the Lloyds share price tends to settle into long-term trends. 

And the market has set Lloyds shares on a course for further gains.

From a technical perspective, the trend points strongly to a test of 100p as the stock makes a series of higher highs, underscoring the market’s willingness to push the stock further along the rising trend line. 

The uptrend is further underpinned by Lloyds’ share price reaction to the 50-day moving average, which has proved to be a buy signal each time it was touched this year.

Honing in on recent results, there’s a lot to like. Looking past the motor finance scandal, underlying net income rose 7% driven by strong demand and higher net interest margins.

Strong Q3 results were met with a string of broker upgrades, including RBC’s 110p price target.

What could knock Lloyds shares off course?

The UK economy is an obvious contender. Although Lloyds has so far shrugged off concerns about the underlying economic conditions, investors must have one eye on the UK jobs and property markets. 

Zoopla’s recent house price report showed falling prices and rising housing stock. Should this continue, demand for Lloyds mortgage products will soften. That said, encouraging UK mortgage approvals data was released this week, showing that approvals reached their highest levels since December 2024 in September.

The UK jobs market is also an area to watch. It is already showing signs of softening, and if Rachel Reeves has her way, it could be about to get a whole lot worse. 

The Bank of England’s natural response to both of these areas of softness will be to lower rates. And while this should be a positive for the economy and Lloyds’ customers, it will dent key net interest margins for the banks. 

A new era for the banks

Despite obvious risks for the economy, the UK banking sector has seemed to have turned a corner.

The recent motor finance scandal shows that the market is prepared to focus on underlying earnings and the value held in banking balance sheets. This is demonstrated by long-running discounts to book values turning to premiums. Lloyds now trades at 1.2x its book value after spending years trading at a 50% discount.

The dramatic shift in market pricing puts the banks back where they should be in terms of valuation, and there is no sense yet that valuations are looking frothy.

Taking this all into consideration, Lloyds shares touching 100p before the end of the year is a real possibility. But investors must be mindful of the evolving economic landscape and potential changes in sentiment.

Meta shares sank on the release of Q3 earnings, despite the tech giant beating estimates, as investors fretted about rising AI-related costs.

Revenue for the period was $51.24 billion, an increase of 26% year-over-year and higher than the $49.41bn analysts had predicted.

Meta shares were down 8% in the US premarket.

However, the decline in shares was not a fair reflection of the group’s underlying progress on key metrics. Core measures, such as average price per ad and the number of users, all showed strength.

Unfortunately, higher revenues and better performance were masked by a one-off tax charge of $15bn, which led to an 83% drop in net income for the period.

There were also concerns around higher spending and costs. Costs and expenses rose 32% to an eyewatering $30bn as the firm ramped up spending on AI.

“Meta’s quarter highlighted a familiar tension: strong user engagement versus rising costs. The company’s platforms continue to see impressive activity, helped by AI-driven improvements, but investors focused on two negatives – lower growth for the next quarter and a sharp increase in spending plans,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Zuckerberg is betting heavily on AI infrastructure, which means profits will likely come under pressure in the near term. He argues this is essential to secure a bigger long-term opportunity, but the trade-off is clear: higher costs now for uncertain future gains. For some, that’s a reasonable risk; for others, it’s a concern given how much control rests with one person.”