genedrive has achieved a key regulatory milestone that will enable its new pharmacogenomic test to be introduced in the NHS to help manage treatment for stroke patients.

The UK-based point of care molecular diagnostics company announced has secured UKCA marking registration for its Genedrive CYP2C19 System, a rapid genetic test that can identify how patients will respond to the common anti-platelet drug clopidogrel that is used to help prevent secondary strokes.

genedrive shares were 17% higher on Wednesday after announcing the UKCA marking registration.

The new point of care test only requires a simple cheek swab and can provide clinicians with clinically actionable results in about one hour, allowing more effective and personalized prescription of treatment for individual stroke patients.

Poor response to clopidogrel affects up to 30% of stroke patients in the general population and up to 50% in certain ethnic groups, leading to worse health outcomes. The new rapid genetic test aims to address this issue.

In draft guidance issued in May, the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommended that stroke patients should undergo CYP2C19 genetic testing before treatment. This has paved the way for adoption of genedrive’s pharmacogenomic test in the NHS.

Achieving UKCA marking now allows genedrive to start commercialising the test in the UK. The company will initially sell the test through its direct sales team.

The key next steps are to complete a UK clinical evaluation programme and secure CE marking in 2024 to enable wider commercialization in the EU.

Barratt Developments shares fell on Wednesday after announcing annual results which confirmed a year of slowing completions in 2023FY which has continued into the first quarter on 2024FY.

Barratt’s 2023FY completions fell 3.9% compared to the prior full year while operating margins fell to 16.2% from 20.0%.

Rising costs and falling sale prices have squeezed profitability and adjusted profit before tax fell 16% to £884m.

Barratt Developments shares were down 2% to 424p at the time of writing on Wednesday.

“Lower home completions combined with elevated build cost inflation have taken their toll on Barratt Developments and its peers. New home buyers are clearly exercising greater caution, and the outlook for the coming months is highly uncertain,” said Charlie Huggins, Manager of the ‘Quality Shares Portfolio’ at Wealth Club.

“Mortgage rates have increased significantly over the past year and have been highly volatile from one week to the next, making it very difficult for home buyers to plan their next move. First time buyers have experienced even greater pressure, given the limited availability of high loan to value mortgages and the end of the Help to Buy scheme in England.”

Although sales volumes are slowing and the economic backdrop is becoming increasingly uncertain, Barratt Developments are making progress in controlling costs and has a large cash pile to see them through the downturn.

“It’s not all doom and gloom,” said Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Build cost inflation looks set to ease to mid single-digits this year. And a sharp reduction in land spend last year more than offset the share buyback programme, helping to keep Barratt’s net cash position broadly flat at a mighty £1.1bn. That provides plenty of flexibility to smooth out any future bumps in the road.”

Analysts at Third Bridge allude to their cash position and how this is spent as being an integral element in the Barratt’s medium term outlook.

“The big question for Barratt is how it will deploy its cash war chest. Decisions on what to deploy and where to save are going to define its medium term future,” said Yanmei Tang, Analyst at Third Bridge.

Some of this cash will be used to fund Barratt’s 23.5 pence per share final dividend which be paid to shareholders on the register 29th September.

To help support dividend payouts going forward, Barratt’s is adjusting their dividend policy to maintain a dividend cover of 1.75x, a reduction of 2x covered.

Tekcapital has taken another step forward in creating shareholder value from its portfolio companies with the establishment of a new subsidiary to hold Guident’s regenerative shock absorber technology.

Guident has recently confirmed their regenerative shock absorber technology proof of concept through paid testing with a Teir-1 tire company.

Spinning out the technology into a new subsidiary, ReVive Energy Solutions, will allow Guident to unlock the technology’s value in a stand-alone entity separate from their autonomous vehicle safety systems.

The move will enable Guident to focus its shock absorber technology on the electric vehicle market while continuing to develop safety systems for autonomous vehicles.

Tekcapital shares were 3% higher at the time of writing.

Regenerative shock absorbers harness natural energy generated from motion and vibration to help extended the range of electric vehicles.

RNS Alert: Guident Update

Guident ltd forms new subsidiary to commercialise regenerative shock absorbers

— Tekcapital Plc (@tekcapital) September 6, 2023

“In light of our recent successes in collaboration with various independent test authorities, we are thrilled to announce the integration of RSA technology into a new dedicated subsidiary named ReVive Energy Solutions, ltd,” said Harald Braun, CEO & Chairman of Guident.

“This strategic move allows us to sharpen our focus on a precision-targeted go-to-market strategy for this what we believe is a revolutionary product. Most commercially available electric vehicles have regenerative braking.

“We believe that in the near future, most commercial electric vehicles will also have regenerative shock absorbers. This could extend the range between charges and provide power to active suspension to improve ride characteristics and comfort. Our commitment to innovation and sustainability drives us forward, and we believe this marks a significant milestone in our mission to reshape the future of EV technology.”

Early losses in the FTSE 100’s miners turned to gains on Tuesday and their transition helped London’s leading index swing from initial weakness to positive afternoon trade.

The FTSE 100 was trading 0.1% higher at 7,461 at the time of writing. The index had touched lows of 7,389 earlier in the session.

Natural resources stocks are trading from China headline to China headline and yesterday’s rally on positive support for China’s property market was today followed by dismal China export and services data.

“Nagging worries about the Chinese economy are a big contributing factor to the change in mood – the latest PMI reading from the services sector painting a shocking picture,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Undoubtedly expectations for a Chinese economic recovery following the removal of zero-Covid measures got way ahead of themselves, but the manner in which things have panned out is probably worse than even most of the sceptics would have predicted.”

The FTSE 100’s miners started the session in the red but soon reversed the rally and swept the wider index up with it.

Ashtead was the top faller after warning of slowing US media demand due to the writer’s strike and spluttering growth in the UK. The plant hire company did, however, record 19% revenue growth in the first half. Ashtead shares were around 2% lower at the time of writing.

Investors may be interested in Ashtead’s growth not only because of the implications for the company, but what their activity reveals about the underlying economy.

“Equipment rental company Ashtead is seen as a bellwether of economic health and its latest update is a warning for deteriorating conditions in the UK,” said Susannah Streeter head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Although sales are holding up Stateside, with the company expecting robust momentum to continue, it’s a very different outlook for the UK.  Ashtead has flagged softening market conditions and dropped its annual UK rental revenue growth significantly from 10-13% to 6-9%.” 

Ashtead has been one of the FTSE 100’s best-performing stocks over the past decade and has consistently produced very respectable growth.

While Ashtead delivered 19% revenue in the first quarter, it missed some analyst expectations and shares fell on Tuesday. Ashtead shares were down 1% at the time of writing on Tuesday but are 14% year-to-date having staged a rally over the summer months.

Over the past ten years, Ashtead has been the second-best FTSE 100 performer gaining 725%. Persimmon is the top performer with a 1,380% gain.

Ashtead’s success has been a result of strong growth in the US where revenue grew 22% in Q1 2023. Group revenue rose 19%.

Ashtead continued to be supported by US infrastructure projects but strikes across the film industry hit their media-focused operations.

“With Ashtead having a long history of doing well, investors are naturally going to expect a superior performance every single quarter. When expectations are elevated, the construction equipment provider will ultimately disappoint the market unless everything is firing on all cylinders. That’s exactly what we have seen following its latest results, which contain pockets of bad news,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“The impact of rising interest rates is starting to bite. Adjusted pre-tax profit ‘only’ grew by 11% in its first quarter, with Ashtead saying the lower rate of growth was down to borrowing more money and having a higher cost of servicing those debts.

“Ashtead normally benefits from the vibrant TV and film industry in Canada, renting equipment for productions that can go on for weeks or months. The writers’ and actors’ strikes have therefore been problematic for its business as productions have been shut down and earnings visibility is now uncertain.

“Furthermore, the UK operations continue to be weak. While they are only a tiny contributor to group profit, the fact it can’t seem to lift them out of a rut has led some people to suggest that Ashtead may be losing its magic touch. Margins are falling, higher rental rates haven’t been enough to offset inflation on its cost base, and it hasn’t got a repeat of the lucrative work from the Department of Health which helped its earnings last year.

“Despite the pockets of bad news, Ashtead still delivered a record performance overall, with the type of revenue and profit growth that most companies can only dream about.”

DS Smith said it had a strong start to the trading year despite challenging economic conditions in a concise update released on Tuesday.

The packaging specialist indicated that although inflation pressures persist, they were fighting back with pricing and cost control strategies.

“Selling cardboard boxes might not be the most exciting business model in the world, but DS Smith’s resilience in tough conditions continues to hold it in good stead,” said Matt Britzman, analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“There wasn’t much to go off from today’s short trading update, investors and analysts will have to wait for this morning’s call to delve a little deeper, but everything looks to be progressing as planned. There was positive news on volumes, which saw some weakness last year as demand in the group’s end markets came under pressure from the cost-of-living crisis. That pressure still exists, but de-stocking from its customers is easing which should improve the volume picture as the year progresses.

“Being a key supplier of packaging to giants like Amazon and Tesco puts DS Smith right at the heart of the evolving e-commerce trend. Economic woes mean the valuation’s moved down to levels that look pretty attractive, chuck in a decent yield and what’s not to like?”

Blackbird shares were down heavily on Tuesday after the cloud video editing platform released a disappointing set of first-half results. Revenue fell 36% during the period and EBITDA losses accelerated to £1.5m from a loss of £385k last year.

Blackbird was canned by a major client during the period which had a material impact on their revenue generation. Post-period revenue has continued to decline.

Compounding their problems, Blackbird’s costs have soared while revenue dumps meaning losses are spiralling.

The company has reacted to the poor performance by reducing headcount in sales and marketing to focus on product development.

“The recent cyclical and structural changes in the Media and Entertainment industry (M&E) have been considerable and impacted the professional Media and Entertainment part of our business, most prominently our deal with A+E Networks, which, as previously announced, was terminated at the end of June 2023,” said Ian McDonough, CEO of Blackbird.

“In anticipation of market shifts, we successfully raised money in 2021 to build a product for the Creator space. Therefore, we have reduced headcount in our UK sales and marketing team in order to maximise return on resources by investing in software developers and product specialists.”

Blackbird shares were down 32% at the time of writing.