Under fire support services firm Carillion (CLLN) has buckled under the strain, entering into compulsory liquidation. Trading in the company's shares is suspended on Monday as accountants move in to salvage any saleable assets.
You can read what the implications will be for shareholders in Shares news story here.
The shock waves reverberate across the the sector with tools hire business Speedy Hire (SDY) coming under stiff selling pressure. Its share price slumps 9.1% to 54.7p, largely due to significant contracts it had with Carillion.
Elsewhere on the stock market, the FTSE 100 starts the week down by 7 points to 7,771.67 as all eyes are waiting for inflation data due out tomorrow.
In Asia, markets are up slightly and the price of oil seems to have recovered from its brief dip on Friday.
CARCLO COLLAPSES
Plastics and chemicals company Carclo (CAR) plunges 42.4% to 72p after issuing a profit warning. The company warns that its full year performance is expected to be well below previous forecasts.
Consensus forecasts for the year to 31 March 2018 had been pitched at £149.6m revenue and £11.7m of pre-tax profit. Those figures are now clearly redundant.
The company adds that a stronger second half to the year, announced in November, is now not likely.
Graphene products maker Directa Plus (DCTA) ticks up 9.5% to 51.5p on saying that its order book is much improved. The company more than doubled its revenue during the second half of 2017 compared to the first and is expected to have a robust cash position.
MELROSE WOOS GKN INVESTORS
Turnaround specialists Melrose (MRO) dips 1.4% to 224.4p after announcing it has approached engineering firm GKN (GKN) shareholders over its rebuffed takeover offer. GKN is up 3% to 432.8p. Melrose has pointed out how much better it has performed than its target company in shareholder returns terms.
Gambling company Gaming Realms (GMR:AIM) gains 5% to 11.5p on news that it has signed a three-year agreement with another gambling company 888, including the distribution of its new ‘Slingo Originals’ content.
Construction company Watkin Jones (WJG:AIM) drops 7.1% to 210p despite the release of a strong set of full year 2017 numbers to 30 September. The company has also announced that its chief executive Mark Watkin Jones is stepping down and will not be able to take an executive role at the company for ‘personal reasons’.
BACHELORS ON THE BLOCK
Bisto maker Premier Foods (PFD) is up 2.6% to 42.25p after playing down speculation that it was considering selling its Bachelors brand to noodle specialists Nissin Foods. The company also confirms it is actively trying to reduce the amount of net debt it holds.
Sub-prime lender Non-Standard Finance (NSF) drops 1.9% to 73.6p on release of a trading update. While the company’s various divisions appear to have increased their respective loan books during 2017, its borrowings have ballooned to £208.1m from £87.3m the previous year.
Miner Gem Diamonds (GEMD) shines up 14.1% to 92p after revealing it has found two ‘high quality’ diamonds in its Letseng mine. The diamonds come in at 117 and 110 carat helping to reinforce the fact that the Letseng mine is the highest dollar per carat mine in the world.
Heat treatment company Bodycote (BOY) ticks up 7.3% to £10.21 after saying that changes to the US tax code will add around 5p to its earnings per share figure for 2017.
