Diageo has delivered a mixed third quarter, with strong momentum across Europe, Latin America and Africa partly offsetting continued softness in North America.

Reported net sales rose 2.3% to $4.48bn, while organic growth came in at a slim 0.3%. Crucially, the drinks giant has reiterated its full-year guidance.

Is Diageo turning a corner? The 4% increase in shares after third-quarter results were released on Wednesday would suggest the market thinks that they are.

“Diageo’s Q3 trading update this morning shows tentative signs of stabilisation after a bumpy period, but the group is not out of the woods yet,” said Adam Vettese, market analyst for eToro.

“Organic net sales edged 0.3% higher in the quarter, a welcome improvement on the H1 decline. This was down to strong double-digit growth across Europe, Latin America & Caribbean and Africa, helped by Easter timing and World Cup stocking.”

But North America remains a headache and the biggest drag on growth.

Organic net sales fell 9.4%, with US Spirits down 15.4% as soft market conditions, weak mix, tough comparatives from last year’s pre-tariff distributor buy-in and a double-digit drop in tequila all weighed. CEO Sir Dave Lewis admitted the offer “needs to be more competitive”, with action already underway.

However, the softness in the US was offset by strength elsewhere in the world.

Europe provided some reason for optimism, with organic sales up 8.8%, helped by Easter timing and pre-FIFA World Cup buy-in. Guinness continued its run of form, with double-digit net sales growth in Great Britain and Ireland, while spirits posted high-single-digit growth led by Johnnie Walker in MENA and Türkiye.

Asia Pacific saw sales edge down 0.8% due to softness in Greater China, where Chinese white spirits fell double digits, a c.3% hit at the regional level, though international premium spirits and a later Chinese New Year offered some support. Guinness was a strong performer here.

Latin America and the Caribbean delivered the largest geographical gain for Diageo at 16.2% organic growth, with Brazil up double digits on volume and price, and World Cup-related buy-in giving an extra lift.

Africa rounded off a strong quarter for the international footprint, with organic sales up 17.1% on double-digit growth in East Africa and in Southern, West, and Central Africa.

On the outlook, full-year guidance is unchanged: organic net sales down 2–3%, organic operating profit flat to up low single digit, and free cash flow of around $3bn. The fact that things have not got any worse will reassure investors.

Diageo’s lowly valued shares, trading at around 12x earnings, may start to attract value investors should the stabilisation continue.

EnergyPathways has secured a major regulatory milestone, with the North Sea Transition Authority set to award a Gas Storage Licence to its wholly owned subsidiary for the MESH project.

The licence paves the way for MESH to become Britain’s largest integrated energy storage facility.

The award covers a substantial offshore area in the East Irish Sea capable of hosting up to 60 large-scale salt caverns, opening the door to multi-terawatt-hour storage capacity, subject to consents and financing.

MESH’s natural gas storage element alone would double Britain’s gas storage capacity and provide around six days of national energy supply, with a deliverability of c. 15 million cubic metres per day.

Alongside it sits a planned 300 MW / 55 GWh compressed-air energy storage facility, set to be Britain’s largest long-duration energy storage asset, plus low-carbon dispatchable power generation and low-cost hydrogen production to feed planned industrial users in Barrow-in-Furness, including the company’s proposed graphite plant.

EnergyPathways is working with a Tier One partnership group of Siemens Energy, Costain, Wood and Zenith Energy, with FEED on the CAES component launched last week.

Final Investment Decision is targeted for 2028, with start-up by late 2031, and funding and capacity offtake discussions already underway.

Ben Clube, CEO of EnergyPathways, said: “I am delighted that we have met the NSTA’s criteria to offer EnergyPathways this crucial Gas Storage Licence, one of only a handful of energy licence awards in the last two years.”

“The current Middle East crisis serves as a stark reminder of Britain’s limited energy storage capacity that leaves it vulnerable to global supply shocks and the resulting impact of higher energy bills.

“The UK Government recognises MESH and other forms of long duration energy storage as having a vital role in lowering energy prices, bolstering energy security and achieving a clean energy system.

“With the award of this licence EnergyPathways will now move at pace to get to FID as quickly as possible. Both the gas storage and CAES storage will each be commercially viable in their own right, however there are several synergies and cost efficiencies between the two projects that can now be secured.”

Brave Bison has flagged another major win for its MiniMBA marketing training platform, with a multi-year partnership signed with Omnicom, the world’s largest advertising holding company.

The deal will see more than 1,000 Omnicom Oceania employees complete the MiniMBA programme, in what’s described as one of the largest coordinated investments in marketing capability across Australia and New Zealand.

MiniMBA is fast becoming a meaningful growth engine within the group. Today’s deal is a strong follow-up to MiniMBA’s February win with a global food and beverage giant, its largest contract to date, and underlines the momentum building since Brave Bison acquired and relaunched the business in August 2025.

Mark Ritson, Founder of MiniMBA, said:”You don’t often see this level of commitment to marketing effectiveness within a single organisation. This is about embedding a consistent way of thinking at scale across markets, clients and teams and that has the potential to materially lift the standard of marketing in the region.”

“This isn’t training for training’s sake. When you put more than a thousand people through a rigorous, evidence-based program like the MiniMBA, you’re improving decision-making at scale. That leads to better strategy, better allocation of budget, and ultimately, better commercial outcomes.”

Light Science Technologies (LON: LST) has secured its first order as a supplier of the fire-resistant graphite barrier system, Injectaclad. The acquisition of the business was completed on 14 April. Light Science Technologies was previously only an installer. The contract is worth £410,000 and should be fully recognised this year. Additional work is on the horizon. The share price increased 17.7% to 1.825p.

Westmount Energy (LON: WTE) says that it intends to vote in favour of the bid by Eco (Atlantic (Oil and Gas) for JHI Associates. It is also buying an additional four million shares in Eco, taking its stake to 9.53 million shares. The share price improved 12% to 4.2p.

Acoustic and insulation materials developer Autins Group (LON: AUTG) returned to profit in 2025-26 even though revenues fell from £19.3m to £17.6m. There was an underlying net profit of £170,000, helped by an improvement in gross margin to 36.4%. This was despite a cyber attack at a major customer. There was an exceptional charge of £807,000 related to the cyber attack disruption and a cost relating to the German flooring business. Net debt is £1.6m. New contract wins provide a solid base for the current year, although expected revenues have been reduced from £24m to £22m. Post-tax profit estimate has been edged up to £800,000. Further growth next year could mean post-tax profit of £1.4m. this depends on vehicle production levels. There are consolidation opportunities. The share price recovered 11.8% to 9.5p.

Cadence Minerals (LON: KDNC) says the Amapa iron ore project has received a licence that will enable construction at the site that will enable the restart of the Azteca plant. The share price rose 8.91% to 5.5p.

FALLERS

Ethernity Networks (LON: ENET) has not received warrant exercises that it was counting on for cash, and the level of the share price means it is unlikely to happen in the short-term. Management costs are being reduced with the chief executive and R&D boss are reducing time on the business by 80%. Full year revenues are likely to be in the range of $1.6m to $1.8m. The share price slumped 37.5% to 0.0015p.

Fulcrum Metals (LON: FMET) has secured a £6m funding package with YA II to fully fund pilot plant development for Teck Hughes and Sylvanite tailings projects. This is a combination of equity and debt, plus an At-The-Market subscription facility with Clear Capital. There is an initial £500,000 subscription at 8.75p/share, plus £1m draw down of the convertible – conversion price of 11.375p/share. Once the company has gained shareholder approval for share issues a further £1.5m will be drawn down from the convertible. The share price slipped 11.4% to 7.75p.

UK Oil and Gas (LON: UKOG) shares returned from suspension following the publishing of accounts for the year to September 2025. The company has submitted a retrospective planning application for the Horse Hill oil field to Surrey County Council. This is to restore production consent. This is because of a court decision that the original granting of production was unlawful because there was no assessment of greenhouse gases. The share price declined 9.52% to 0.0095p.

Fusion Antibodies (LON: FAB) increased full year revenues from £1.96m to £2.13m and underlying gross margin nearly doubled to 43%. There was £1.04m in cash at the end of March 2026. There is potential non-dilutive funding. The board is cautiously optimistic about this year with increasing engagement with larger pharma companies. The share price fell 8.9% to 12.75p.

HSBC shares fell on Tuesday as rising credit provisions soured first-quarter earnings, leading the bank to miss estimates.

HSBC delivered a steady first quarter, with reported profit before tax of $9.4bn, broadly flat year-on-year, as growth in Wealth fees and higher banking net interest income offset a heavier credit charge and rising costs.

But this was below expectations, and shares sank about 5% on Tuesday.

Banking NII rose $0.7bn to $11.3bn, helped by deposit growth and structural hedge reinvestment at higher yields.

Wealth was the other engine, with strong fee income out of International Wealth and Premier Banking and Hong Kong as customer activity picked up. Customer lending grew $20.1bn on a constant currency basis with growth across every segment.

The issues for investors were a $1.3bn charge, $0.4bn higher than Q1 2025, dragged up by a $0.4bn fraud-linked UK securitisation exposure and a $0.3bn top-up reflecting the deteriorating outlook following the late-February onset of conflict in the Middle East.

“HSBC’s exposure to faster growing developing economies brings extra growth potential but there are risks too, and the Iran conflict has prompted meaningful impairments alongside first-quarter results,” said AJ Bell head of markets Dan Coatsworth.

“These, plus provisions for fraud-related issues in the UK, cast a shadow over the quarterly numbers with earnings coming in below forecasts. 

“The sizeable fraud-related charge is a reminder that risks don’t only exist in more far-flung parts of the world. It may also raise some questions about the robustness of controls within the business.”

Long-term investors won’t be overly concerned as today’s decline looks nothing more than profit taking after a strong run in the stock.

HSBC shares are 52% higher over the past year.

Light Science Technologies shares surged on Tuesday after securing its first material supply order for its fire-resistant graphite barrier system Injectaclad, just two weeks after completing the acquisition of RLUK Injection.

The contract with one of LSTH’s approved installers is worth around £0.41m in Injectaclad material over a 19-week window, supporting a five-storey residential project in East Yorkshire, kicking off in early May. Revenue is expected to land in full in the current financial year.

Investors will also be encouraged by the fact that there are already commitments from 5 of the 11 quality-accredited installation contractors, pointing to a swift ramp-up for what is a higher-margin supply revenue stream than LSTH’s previous installer-only role.

With the Building Safety Regulator pushing to clear cladding remediation backlogs, the company said its Passive Fire Protection division looks well placed to capture a larger share of the value chain over the rest of 2026.

Simon Deacon, CEO of LSTH, said “We are delighted with the recent order win, which highlights the significant opportunity to position ourselves as both an installer and supplier of Injectaclad. The PFP division is gaining increased visibility and is well placed to secure a growing number of projects that would otherwise require full façade removal and replacement, delivering substantial cost savings and minimising disruption for residents.”

“With 11 installers in the network, the Injectaclad acquisition provides access to a broad and growing pipeline of potential projects. The Company is also seeing a growing number of BSR applications specifying Injectaclad. This represents a highly exciting opportunity for the Group, not only within the PFP division but across all our operations, as we focus on driving order conversion, increasing recurring revenues and delivering sustainable profitability.”

Light Science Technologies has announced a steady stream of new contract wins in recent months and is well-capitalised after a recent fundraise.