The following stocks are the leading risers and fallers among London Main Market small-caps on Tuesday.
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SMALL-CAP - WINNERS
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Petra Diamonds Ltd, up 8.6% at 26.06 pence, 12-month range 23.50p-50.70p. Shares recover after a 17% slide on Monday. The South Africa and Tanzania-focused diamond miner said Monday Richard Duffy stepped down as chief executive officer by mutual agreement, effective immediately. It named Vivek Gadodia and Juan Kemp as joint interim CEOs, with Gadodia overseeing corporate matters and Kemp handling operations. Petra reported a pretax loss of $92 million for the six months ended December 31, widening from the $11 million loss recorded a year prior. Revenue declined to $115 million from $164 million, as the company struggled with lower diamond prices and reduced sales volumes.
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SMALL-CAP - LOSERS
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Castings PLC, down 14% at 247.32p, 12-month range 224.00p-404.00p. The iron casting and machining firm, which primarily serves the European heavy truck market, warns on annual earnings. It says demand for heavy trucks dropped further in the third-quarter of its year which ends on March 31. ‘Although early indications are that volumes are recovering somewhat during the final quarter of the year. As a result, the underlying profitability of the established foundry and machining businesses is expected to be below market expectations,’ Castings says. ‘It is the board’s expectation that the company’s result will be substantially below market expectations in the current year.’
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Close Brothers Group PLC, down 4.0% at 307.20p, 12-month range 179.83p-564.00p. The merchant bank gives back another 4.0% after an 8.1% fall on Monday, with motor finance worries rife again. Shore Capital banking analyst Gary Greenwood said he understood that the Treasury’s application to intervene in the Supreme Court’s review of the Court of Appeal’s rulings in motor finance has been refused. ‘Ultimately, the situation and potential outcome remains subject to significant uncertainty and, although the mood music had arguably been improving, this news highlights that the process will be far from straightforward in its resolution,’ the analyst said on Monday. Car finance providers are facing costs from investigations into the potential mis-selling of finance. Secure Trust Bank PLC, a retail bank which provides motor finance through the V12 Vehicle Finance and Moneyway brands, was down 1.1% having shed 8.5% on Monday.
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