Premier African Minerals (LON: PREM) shares recovered a further 52.8% to 0.0275p following Monday’s announcement that the Zulu lithium plant restarted on 6 July and optimisation of production will then happen.

Cybersecurity services provider Shearwater (LON: SWG) says revenues and profit in he 15 months to June 2025 were better than expected. The pre-tax profit forecast was raised from £400,000 to £600,000, but the 2025-26 figure is maintained at £1.1m. The share price is one-third higher at 62p.

Video games developer Everplay (LON: EVPL) has sparked an upgrade with it latest trading statement. There has been a good response to new game and Everplay has acquired the Hammerwatch franchise and two other games for up to £8m. The 2025 pre-tax profit forecast has been raised from £45.7m to £47.5m. Net cash of £73.8m is forecast. The share price improved 13.7% to 356.5p, which is the high for 2025.

80 Mile (LON: 80M) is increasing its interest in Hydrogen Valley from 24% to 49% and the cost of £80,000 is lower than previously agreed. A Hydrogen Valley subsidiary has signed a memorandum of understanding for the supply of 40,000 tonnes of biofuel each year. This number could increase. Other supply deals could be secured. The share price rose 12.5% to 0.27p.

FALLERS

Foreign exchange services provider Finseta (LON: FIN) says interim revenues rose 16% to £5.9m and the number of customers has risen to 1,101. Corporate client generated the majority of revenues. Finseta had already warned that profit would be lower this year due to investment in expansion and there was a slump in the first half. Net cash was £400,000 at the end of June 2025. A strong second half is expected. The share price decline appears to be a reflection of the start to the year, which was anticipated. The share price slumped 24.2% to 23.5p.

Marketing services company System1 (LON: SYS1) reported figures for the year to March 2025 that are in line with the April trading statement. Pre-tax profit rose from £3.1m to £5.2m. however, there was a decline in revenues in the first quarter of the new financial year. Europe has been a tough market. Canaccord Genuity has cut its 2025-26 pre-tax profit forecast from £7.2m to £6.9m. The share price decreased 9.93% to 390p.

Shares in Tap Global Group (LON: TAP), which moved from Aquis to AIM on 27 June, continue to fall since the introduction and are 10.5% lower at 1.7p.

Airline and tour operator Jet2 (LON: JET2) grew pre-tax profit by 11% to £577.7. Later summer bookings and a higher proportion of flight only bookings have not stopped Canaccord Genuity edging up its 2025-26 pre-tax profit forecast to £578.8m. The share price slipped 6.14% to 1713p.

Advertising giant WPP has lowered its full-year profit guidance following a deterioration in performance during the second quarter, citing challenging economic conditions and weaker client spending.

WPP shares were down 14% at the time of writing.

The company now expects like-for-like revenue less pass-through costs to decline by 3% to 5% for 2025, with headline operating profit margins falling by 50 to 175 basis points year-on-year, excluding foreign exchange effects.

WPP’s revised outlook reflects several pressures on the business. The group anticipates that first-half like-for-like revenue, excluding pass-through costs, will decline by 4.2% to 4.5%, with a steeper drop of 5.5% to 6.0% in the second quarter alone.

Advertisers have been slowing their spending on advertising for some time, and the problems for WPP are being compounded by a shift in advertising trends, driven by the rise of social media influencers and AI.

The reduced revenue, combined with severance costs at WPP Media, is expected to result in first-half headline operating profit of £400m to £425m. Headline operating profit was £646m in H1 2024 and £666m in H1 2023.

“WPP’s start to the year was poor, and its first-half performance fell short of its original underwhelming guidance,” said Aarin Chiekrie, equity analyst, Hargreaves Lansdown.

“Net revenue is now set to fall by between 3% and 5% over the full year due to client losses and a tough macro environment, which has caused continuing clients to spend less. To make matters worse, the new business pipeline is drying up, with performance in June being worse than WPP expected. There’s not likely to be much let-up over the second half either, so the group’s going to need new ways to engage clients and protect margins.

“The ongoing restructuring and severance actions at WPP Media are set to bring long-term annualised cost savings of over £150 million. But in the short term, the restructuring is proving a distraction for management and weighing on margins. Alongside the weaker-than-expected top line, that’s led to a downgrade to the full-year profit outlook. It’s clear that more needs to be done to turn WPP’s future around, and while the hunt for a new CEO continues, it’s unlikely that WPP will regain its crown as the world’s biggest advertising agency.”

JD Sports shares have staged a very welcome rally after touching lows around 70p in June as trade tariff fears eased and its core supplier, Nike, surprised the market with an upbeat earnings update.

JD Sports’ valuation would suggest the share price should be higher than the current 88p that the market currently affords them. Over the long term, JD Sports is likely to retest its all-time highs above 200p.

However, the market may need more convincing to take shares above 100p in the near term. Here’s why.

JD Sports enjoyed rapid growth in the UK and set its sights on the US. Such has been the strength of JD’s penetration of the UK market that its home market offers very little in terms of opportunity for new store openings. It has nearly reached saturation point.

This by itself isn’t a bad thing, but the group is heavily reliant on like-for-like growth. Unfortunately, over the last year, JD Sports recorded a drop in like-for-like sales growth in the UK. Total UK revenue fell 3.7% in 2024.

The poor state of the UK economy is curtailing demand for £185 trainers and this is likley to persist for at least the rest of 2025, especially with the Labour government in charge.

This makes the firm increasingly reliant on the US for growth. The US accounted for nearly as much revenue as the UK last year, and its growth rate was significantly more attractive, at over 6%. This was driven by store openings, with like-for-like sales rising a meagre 0.5%. It’s highly likley the US is JD Sports’ largest geography in 2025.

The concern for investors is that while JD has set out ambitious plans for store openings globally, the economic conditions in the UK and the US do not support aggressive expansion of discretionary spending.

With new store openings being the key driver of sales growth, investors will want to see whether JD is keeping to the pace of store openings it promised. Donald Trump’s tariffs raise questions about whether this is feasible this year.

For this reason, the JD Sports share price is unlikely to breach 100p until there is more certainty around trade tariffs.

JD Sports is also highly exposed to Nike’s fortunes, with Nike goods accounting for around 45% of JD’s sales. Until very recently, Nike’s failure to innovate has weighed on JD Sports and added to economic concerns.

A positive Nike earnings update released in June revealed early signs of a turnaround, which helped lift Nike shares and, in turn, JD. However, investors will want to see additional evidence that Nike is back to its best before declaring the mini crisis over.

There are too many unknowns for the JD Sports share price to break through 100p in a meaningful way. From a technical perspective, a double top is forming around 96p, which suggests a move back to the 70p-80p range.

The 70p-80p range is the buy zone for JD Sports shares, with an eventual retest of 100p expected later this year.

The FTSE 100 is trading in a holding pattern as investors try to work out what to make of the latest twist in the US trade tariff saga.

London’s leading index was trading up just 5 points after Donald Trump revealed his latest trade tariff plans overnight.

Trump’s latest round of tariffs made as little sense as his first round so there is some consistency on that front.

However, there is a severe lack of consistency in the timing of tariffs with a new date of 1 August touted as the deadline. The fluid nature of when tariffs will come into force raises the question if they ever will come into force and traders are opting to sit on their hands.

“The TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) trade is back on the table as the Trump administration’s latest announcements on tariffs offered some relief to financial markets,” said AJ Bell investment analyst Dan Coatsworth.

“While new levies were announced for 14 trading partners, news of a pause until 1 August to allow for further negotiations was received positively. This removes the immediate cliff edge created by a 9 July deadline and US president Trump has indicated that even this new date is not set in stone.

“On the flipside, this only extends the uncertainty with markets likely to spend the next three weeks trying to guess the ultimate outcome. If tariffs are a negotiating strategy it appears they may be a rolling one, with constant bartering and trade policy being used in the service of US foreign policy goals.”

The indecision in markets was reflected in a FTSE 100 that was split almost down the middle in terms of gainers and losers.

With little in the way of major corporate developments, sector-based gyrations kept the index fairly flat on Tuesday.

Pharma stocks were among the losers as a rebound in BP and Shell helped offset losses elsewhere. Miners were also among the winners.

Housebuilders were again in the red as the impact of an upbeat assessment of the UK property market by Halifax yesterday wore off.

Entain was the top FTSE 100 riser with a gain of 3%.

Data analysis software provider Celebrus Technologies (LON: CLBS) reported a rise in full year pre-tax profit from $7.4m to $8.4m, although it is likely to be loss making this year. That is du to the switch to a subscription model. The share price improved 11.9% to 165p.

Premier African Minerals (LON: PREM) shares rose a further      following yesterday’s announcement that the Zulu lithium plant restarted on 6 July and optimisation of production will follow. The share price recovered 11.1% to 0.015p.

Begbies Traynor (LON: BEG) has launched a buyback of up to one million shares on the back of its full year results announcement. This shows the confidence in cash generation.  Pre-tax profit was 7% ahead at £23.5m. Net cash was £900,000 at the end of April 2025. Total future earn out payments are £12.2m. Insolvencies remain relatively high compared with recent years. Growth is offsetting the increases in costs. There are headwinds for property advisory. Pre-tax profit could rise to £24.2m this year without further acquisitions. The share price increased 8.11% to 120p.

Jonathan Swann has increased his stake in Bezant Resources (LON: BZT) from 4.07% to 5.19%. The share price rose 6.52% to 0.049p.

FALLERS

Active Energy Group (LON: AEG) has closed a substantially oversubscribed placing raising £346,180. The biomass-based renewable energy technology developer will use the cash for working capital. The company is evaluating a digital assets strategy for its treasury management. A proportion of the fundraising is likely to be invested in Bitcoin and other digital assets. The share price slumped 32.9% to 0.235p.

Synergia Energy (LON: SYN) says Selan Exploration, its partner in the Cambay PSC, has contracted a workover rig for the C-64 well. Synergia Energy plans to sell its 50% stake in the Cambay PSC to Selan Exploration for an initial payment of $500,000 followed by $6.5m when the Indian government approves the deal. Then, 12 months later, the final $7m will be paid. The share price lost some of last week’s gains and is 10% lower at 0.0225p.

Optima Health (LON: OPT) mentioned a slight slowdown in new business revenues commencing in the second half when it reported results for the year to March 2025. The falling off of two contracts meant that revenues declined to £105m, while pe-tax profit fell from £13.4m to £12.8m. Panmure Liberum has trimmed forecast revenues for this year, and the pre-tax profit estimate has been reduced from £14.1m to £12.9m. The share price fell 8.53% to 193p.

Podcast company Audioboom has delivered a strong second quarter performance with adjusted EBITDA surging 400% to $1.2 million.

The London-listed firm reported Q2 revenue of $17.8 million, up 5% year-on-year from $17.0 million in the same period last year.

Gross profit climbed 35% to $4.0 million, driven by gross margins increasing to 23% from 18% in Q2 2024. This improvement reflects the company’s focus on higher-margin revenue streams.

The group’s Showcase advertising marketplace performed particularly well, with revenue jumping 16% year-on-year. Monthly distribution across the Audioboom Creator Network reached 100 million downloads and views, marking a 5% increase from the previous year.

Audioboom’s sales and profit growth was helped in part by expanding its creator network with new partnerships and launching new shows, including Something Was Wrong, Undisclosed, and On the Case with Paula Zahn.

These shows are expected to contribute more than four million monthly downloads and YouTube views. The company also launched a partnership with Gumball FM to bring AI-driven advertising to its Showcase platform.

“A very positive second quarter reflects the continued improvements we have made across the business. Revenue is up 5%, gross profit is up 35%, and adjusted EBITDA is up by approximately 400% – a fantastic achievement by the Audioboom team,” said Stuart Last, CEO of Audioboom.

“Topline growth is primarily driven by the expansion of the Audioboom Creator Network, and higher gross profit  – a key metric as we focus on higher quality, higher margin income – grew significantly as Showcase, with its higher gross margin, continued to perform strongly. Our stable opex base – a result of our platform’s scalability – helped deliver significantly higher adjusted EBITDA than for the same period last year.

“The second half of 2025 is primed for further growth as new podcasts join Audioboom, knowing we are leaders in delivering maximum value for their work. The advertising market remains stable despite global economic uncertainties, and with our highest demand season on the horizon I am excited about delivering Audioboom’s strongest ever year.”