Beeks Financial Cloud Group has won two significant contracts worth a combined £3.4m, which will maintain the company’s sales momentum into the second half of its financial year.

The cloud computing and connectivity provider has signed a three-year Private Cloud contract with a major Canadian bank valued at $1.5m. It has also secured a £2m extension of its Proximity Cloud with a large FX broker. This takes the total value of that particular contract to £4m over five years.

Revenue from both agreements is expected to begin in the second half of FY26 and build on an encouraging start to the year.

“As described at the time of our Final Results, we have a wide range of opportunities progressing through our sales pipeline across the breadth of our product offering, demonstrating the growing appetite for our cloud computing and connectivity solutions across the global financial markets,” said Gordon McArthur, CEO at Beeks.

“With the proof of concept for our newest offering, Market Edge Intelligence, progressing to plan, opening up a significant additional market for the Group, and Exchange Cloud contracts with major exchanges approaching completion, we remain confident in continued momentum across our business.”

Beeks recently announced 26% revenue growth in the year to 30 June 2025.

The FTSE 100 was on the front foot on Tuesday as strong banking stress tests boosted UK-centric sectors, including banks, retailers and housebuilders.

As the final month of the year gets underway, the FTSE 100 seems content with bouncing around the 9,700 mark in early trade before the bulls took control and pushed the index 0.4% higher.

Banks were among the top risers after the sector passed the latest set of stress tests with flying colours. Barclays, Lloyds, and Natwest were all higher by more than 1% at the time of writing.

But there were also winners away from the banking sector. Persimmon rose 1% on hopes that banks may increase lending activity and spur additional housing activity, while similar sentiment around lending saw DIY retailer Kingfisher higher on the day.

“The UK’s seven biggest banks sailed through the latest stress test, reaffirming their resilience and earning a regulatory nod to ease capital buffers,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Most banks already hold capital well above the minimum by choice, so any shift in strategy may take time – but in theory, it frees up extra capital for lending or capital returns.”

“However they use the new freedom, this is another clear signal that the UK banking sector is in robust health. This was largely expected, but the confirmation should still be taken well, especially after dodging tax hikes in last week’s Budget.”

Broker ratings also played a part in trading on Tuesday. Berkeley Group was unable to join the housebuilder rally after RBC downgraded its rating to underperform from outperform and cut its price target to 3,700p from 4,900p. Berkeley shares were down 1.6% at the time of writing.

Persimmon, coincidentally, was upgraded by RBC to outperform with a price target of 1,750p. Persimmon currently changes hands at 1,347p.

Polar Capital Technology Trust was 1.4% higher, with a 0.4% gain in NASDAQ futures pointing to a strong session ahead for US tech shares.

After a storming rally yesterday, gold miner Endevaour was the FTSE 100 top faller after the group set out a 5-year plan to boost production through exploration. However, this will come at a $100m cost, which investors don’t seem to be over the moon about.

Pantheon Resources shares sank on Tuesday after providing an update on its Dubhe-1 well in Alaska, reporting ongoing well clean-up operations amid spluttering production that remains largely dependent on stimulation fluids.

Pantheon Resources shares were down 20% at the time of writing.

Intermittent oil production commenced on 3 November, with consistent volumes beginning around 19 November. Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the announcement is that the firm still hasn’t managed to measure the well’s oil flow rate.

Approximately 40% of injected water has been produced alongside steady gas and modest light oil output. The company expects oil flow rates to improve as clean-up continues, noting that its comparable Alkaid-2 well achieved measurable oil production after 50% of injected water was recovered.

“I continue to be pleased with the ongoing safe and efficient execution of our operations to date and look forward to sharing more about Dubhe-1 results when we have them,” said Max Easley, Chief Executive Officer.

Drilling and completion costs totaled approximately $33 million, exceeding the initial $25 million estimate.

The increase reflects the decision to drill a pilot hole for core sampling and to evaluate both the Slope Fan System and SMD-C reservoir targets. The company characterised the outcome as “solid operating performance” given the expanded appraisal scope and inflationary pressures.

The new Dubhe pad, available for future drilling operations, costs an additional $2.5 million.

The FTSE 100 managed to hold on Monday, sidestepping most of Asia’s weakness, as precious metals helped support the index.

Despite strong gains for miners such as Fresnillo, the FTSE 100 was trading marginally weaker at 9,710 at the time of writing as investors looked to Asia and risks to the recent optimism sparked by Fed rate cut hopes.

“The FTSE 100 dipped in early trading on Monday despite post-Thanksgiving gains for US markets last week,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Further selling in cryptocurrencies reflected a risk-off mood as did some volatility in Asian markets – with Japan’s Nikkei 225 seeing material weakness.

“This followed a move higher for the yen, which affects the competitiveness of Japan’s export-heavy economy, on speculation the Bank of Japan might increase interest rates this month. US futures also pointed to a lower open on Wall Street later.

Miners were among the top risers after being buoyed by takeover interest in small-cap Solgold from China. Those with a gold weighting, such as Fresnillo and Endeavour, were the top risers in the sector.  

“A small cap miner seen as a potential takeover target for BHP is now in the sights of China’s largest integrated copper producer,” Coatsworth said.

“SolGold has rejected two approaches from its biggest shareholder Jiangxi Copper, the second pitched at 26p per share which values the UK-listed miner at £781 million.”

Investors will hope Chinese players have their eyes on other UK-listed miners that still trade at very attractive valuations.

BP and Shell were slightly higher as oil prices received a boost from news that OPEC+ would hold off on increasing production.

“Oil prices climbed nearly 2% this morning, with Brent closing in on its highest price in over a week, after OPEC+ reaffirmed plans to freeze production increases through the first quarter,” said Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“The move comes as the group wrestles with uneven demand and looming oversupply risks, while traders weigh fresh geopolitical tension following US warnings over Venezuelan airspace. Still, upside looks limited with hopes for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal that could unlock sanctions and flood the market with additional supply.”

Ukraine peace deal hopes were also evident in defence stocks Babcock and BAE Systems, which were among the top fallers.

Melrose was the FTSE 100’s top faller after its CFO announced they would step down. Melrose was down 5% at the time of writing.