London’s FTSE 100 is struggling for direction on Tuesday, bid up a meagre 0.73 points to 7,453 as investors grapple with Brexit uncertainty and the ramping up of trade war tensions between the US and the EU and housebuilders and utilities weigh on the blue chip benchmark.
Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is unable to shake off the wider market malaise, the shares marked down 4.6p to £15.84 despite the news the US FDA has approved Dovato, a new two-drug treatment for HIV infections, in a move boosting the pharma giant’s growth prospects against competitor Gilead Sciences.
Shares in department store Debenhams (DEB) are suspended after the retailer rejects a new rescue plan from Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct (SPD) to underwrite a £200m rights issue in exchange for the retail industry maverick becoming CEO. Debenhams now looks set to fall into the hands of its lenders and file for administration after spurning Ashley’s rescue plan, leaving shareholders including Sports Direct facing total wipe-out.
Elsewhere, Harrogate-headquartered equipment rental specialist Vp (VP.) cheapens 5.9% to 960p on the news the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is probing its Groundforce business over suspected anti-competitive conduct in the UK groundworks supply market.
Video games developer Sumo (SUMO:AIM) improves 3.5% to 148p on full year results showing sales up 35.3% to £38.7m and a 24.6% surge in adjusted EBITDA to £10.4m. Working on two games for new client Apple - for the Apple Arcade subscription service - Sumo flags a positive start to the new financial year ‘with an unusually high degree of earnings visibility’.
Online women’s fashion brand Sosandar (SOS:AIM) struts 7.6% higher to 28.56p on a strong trading update for the year to March 2019, guiding towards 228% sales growth to more than £4.4m with a loss in line with market expectations.
Joint CEOs Ali Hall and Julie Lavington are ‘delighted to be reporting a year of substantial growth across all our key metrics including revenue, orders and new customers. This has been reflected in market expectations which have been upgraded twice during the year and we have now built a strong foundation on which Sosandar can continue to grow as a brand, providing our underserved market with quality, affordable clothing.’
Franchise group Cake Box (CBOX:AIM) bakes in a 1p gain at 157.5p on a strong trading update for its maiden year as a public company, with total sales from the fresh cream cakes seller expected to be up 30% year-on-year to roughly £17.1m including franchise like-for-like growth of 6.5%.
Advertising company Mission Marketing (TMMG:AIM) ticks up 5.4% to 68p after reporting a near-doubling of annual profits following new business from companies including Amazon, HP and Lindt.
Cyber-security minnow Defenx (DFX:AIM) shoots 56% higher to 7p as investors welcome the inking of a software distribution deal and software services agreement with majority shareholder BV Tech.
