Cohort, the AIM-listed independent technology group, has won a £17.5 million contract through its subsidiary Systems Engineering & Assessment Limited (SEA). The 32-month deal is with a UK customer to supply an External Communications System (ECS) for a major defence programme.

The ECS will enable real-time data exchange, information sharing, and coordination between systems. This will substantially improve the overall mission effectiveness, according to Cohort.

“This contract is another significant win for SEA and will deliver essential communications capability to our customer’s programme. It builds upon SEA’s long-standing reputation and record of successful performance in this technology area,” said Andy Thomis, Cohort Chief Executive.

“Together with other recent wins across the Group, this contract further underpins our order book and enhances the visibility of future revenues.”

Cohort also released their annual report for 2022/23 on Wednesday in which revenue rose 33% to £182m.

Bluejay Mining has raised £600,000 through a placing to advance exploration at its Hammaslahti copper-zinc-silver-gold project in Finland, the company announced Wednesday.

The AIM and FSE listed firm issued 60 million new shares at 1p per share to new investors in the fundraising round, sole-led by CMC Markets.

Bluejay Mining shares were down 17% to 0.96p at the time of writing.

The funds will primarily focus on delivering a maiden mineral resource estimate at Hammaslahti, where recent drilling intersected encouraging sulphide mineralization across all holes on the East lode ore body. Further drilling down-plunge and near-surface is planned to expand resources ahead of the estimate. Assays from the latest round of summer drilling are expected in early September.

According to management, Hammaslahti offers strong potential for near-term value creation. The private placement also provides working capital for planning at Bluejay’s zinc-lead-silver project in Greenland, while talks continue with prospective US and Nordic strategic partners interested in its portfolio of base metals projects in Finland and Greenland.

Exploration results so far at Hammaslahti have increased interest from potential partners, though no binding agreements are guaranteed, Bluejay stated.

The company said they were in discussions with five strategic investors with technical expertise to help progress their exploration activities.

The £600,000 placement comes after Bluejay raised £1 million in June through an oversubscribed share placing, also sole-led by CMC Markets. The junior explorer says its projects have continued to attract investor interest despite market volatility.

“We are grateful to receive funds for the further development of the portfolio, and welcome new investors in the Company who are excited to get involved with the new Bluejay story,” said Robert Edwards, Executive Chairman of Bluejay.

“The immediate use of these funds will position us for a productive and pivotal second half of 2023, and what we believe could be a transformational 2024. We have attempted to highlight the hidden value within our portfolio of energy transition focussed base metals assets.

‘First of all, we are awaiting the final assay results from our recent drilling campaign at Hammaslahti. Thereafter, we are aiming to develop a maiden mineral resource estimate for H2 2023 which encompasses recent drilling as well as some historical holes, notably the E-lode discovery hole (hole id. M424114-R325) which returned 8.65 metres (“m”) grading 2.2% copper (“Cu”), 2.0% zinc (“Zn”), 0.5 % lead, 47.5 g/t silver (“Ag”), and 0.5 g/t gold (“Au”), including 5.60m grading 3.2% Cu, 3.2% Zn, 81.1 g/t Ag, and 0.9 g/t Au.”

Wood Group shares ticked higher on Tuesday after releasing an upbeat first half-year report that reflects favourable trading conditions.

Revenue rose 16% to $3bn and adjusted EBITDA rose 8.5% to $202m. Wood Group enjoyed growth across all business units including their sustainable business which saw revenue jump 20%.

The strong performance in the first half of the year gave Wood Group the confidence to increase their guidance for EBITDA and profit for the full year. 

“After a bid from private equity firm Apollo collapsed earlier this year Wood Group has been under pressure to deliver, and these results go some way towards doing that as it pulls the rabbit of slightly improved full year guidance out of its hat,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“The energy services firm has endured a difficult few years after the 2017 acquisition of Amec Foster Wheeler brought with it a whole deal of problems which the company is still addressing. These continue to act as a drag on cash flow although the situation is starting to improve.

“The main driver of the better first half performance was tight control of costs, no mean feat given how volatile the backdrop has been. Wood Group, which is a big provider of services to North Sea oil and gas firms, has a longer-term challenge of adapting to the energy transition.

“Get it right and there could be big opportunities for the company to help its client base through this process, but it needs to put its legacy problems behind it first.”

Plexus Holdings shares were flying on Tuesday after the oil and gas engineering firm said the value of a major contract rose from £5m to £8m.

Plexus Holdings were 40% higher at the time of writing on Tuesday.

Plexus is providing its POS-GRIP “HG” wellhead equipment on a rental basis for use in a subsea environment.

“I am pleased to be able to announce the additional revenue attributable to this important bespoke solution contract,” said Ben van Bilderbeek Plexus’ CEO.

“Using innovative technologies, like ours, oil and gas companies and operators can transform the industry for the better, particularly in relation to reducing methane emissions and meeting Net Zero goals as part of the global energy transition cycle.  This is pivotal as governments across the world strive for energy independence, and more recently in the UK, with the news that hundreds of new oil and gas licenses will be granted in the North Sea.

“Common sense seems to have finally arrived with the realisation that it is far more damaging to the environment to ship oil, and in particular LNG, across the world by tankers than it is to produce local pipeline gas and oil. Indeed, it is reported that LNG sourced from afar is up to x10 more CO2 intensive than local North Sea gas. We are encouraged by the increased interest in our POS-GRIP technology and look forward to updating shareholders on our continued progress.”

The FTSE 100 was hanging on to gains on Monday afternoon after a rambunctious start to the trading week. The FTSE 100 surged in early trade before the rally faded into the afternoon.

The index was 0.15% higher at 7,270 shortly after 2pm in London. The FTSE 100 had touched highs of 7,317 earlier in the session.

Investors will be preparing for a raft of PMI manufacturing data and the Jackson Hole Symposium later this week.

“The FTSE 100 ticked higher on Monday despite an initially lukewarm reaction to Chinese policy measures aimed at righting a listing economy,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.

“Rate cuts did not go as far as anticipated but nonetheless oil and gas stocks were among the risers in London on the potential implications for demand of easier monetary policy in China.

“Later this week a flood of PMI data from Europe, the UK and US should provide some insight into the current economic trajectory in the West and serve as an hors d’oeuvre to the main course provided by the Jackson Hole symposium which starts at the end of the week.

“This meeting of finance ministers and central bankers will provide some insight into the thinking of the Bank of England, Federal Reserve and European Central Bank ahead of their next set of meetings this autumn.”

Global equity indices sank last week and if the FTSE 100 fails to hold on to gains today it will sap further confidence from traders.

Housebuilders sink

Housebuilders were facing the pressure of a profit warning from Crest Nicholson with Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group among the FTSE 100’s top fallers.

“Weak house price data is hardly a surprise. Economic uncertainty is elevated, mortgage costs have gone through the roof and the Help to Buy scheme has come to an end. However, Crest Nicholson’s profit warning has laid bare the scale of the impact of a housing slowdown on the housebuilding sector.

“Sales of new homes have plunged alarmingly and, while not all developers in the space are created equal, the news, allied to Rightmove’s latest reading on the property market, has had a knock-on effect on share prices in the rest of the sector this morning,” said Russ Mould

“The £7,000 drop in the average asking price observed by Rightmove in the last month, allied to a big drop in transaction volumes,  is the kind of statistic to make estate agents distinctly uneasy.

“The scale of Crest Nicholson’s warning may come as a shock to investors given it reported its first half results just a couple of months ago and this hints at the speed and scale of the deterioration in the market.”

InterContinental Hotels was the FTSE 100 top gainer, up 2%.