The FTSE 100 opens in an upbeat manner, starting the day 31 points higher at 7,646.98. The UK’s leading index is following the US where the Dow Jones continues to hit new highs. However, all eyes are on the World Economic Forum held in Davos, where President Trump is making his maiden speech.
In corporate news, National Grid (NG.) improves 1.5% to 807.5p thanks to an upgrade by investment bank Goldman Sachs. However Goldman is still not overly enthused with the UK electricity and gas supplier though given its ‘neutral’ rating on the stock.
EasyHotel (EZH:AIM), a subsidiary of budget airline titan easyJet (EZJ), adds 0.9% to 109p on news that it has acquired a property in Milton Keynes, where it plans to build a 14-room hotel, for £8.7m.
Mining company SolGold (SOLG) shines up 2.3% to 24.13p on announcing that it is beefing up its operations in Ecuador. The company now has 12 rigs operational at the Alpala site in the South American country, where it is targeting high level gold and copper. SolGold has also almost halved its drilling costs to $530 a meter, down from $1100, on a year-on-year basis.
Real estate investor Palace Capital (PCA:AIM) gains 2p to 334p on news it has entered into a 5-year £40m banking facility with Barclays (BARC). This deal brings the cost of borrowing to below 3% and combined with its other lenders the company now has £115.4m, ‘providing greater firepower for further acquisitions’.
Pharmaceutical tech minnow Physiomics (PYC:AIM) gains 3.8% to 8.8p on winning a new client. As yet unnamed, the new client will use Physiomics' Virtual Tumour technology in a pre-clinical setting under a deal worth approximately £35,000.
Software company Ingenta (ING:AIM) sparks up 12.8% to 312.5p after announcing that it has continued to see further margin improvements during the year with adjusted EBITDA increasing to at least £1.4m. Ingenta had net cash balances at year-end of £2.1m and intends to pay a 1.5p dividend for the 2017 financial year.
Medical equipment maker Scientific Digital Imaging (DSI:AIM) zooms up 15.4% to 30p on good results for the half to 31 October. The company’s revenue is up 34% to £6.5m, while pre-tax profits increased by 106% to £846,000.
