Troubled mother and baby products retailer Mothercare (MTC) falls 4.1% to 179.13p on reports it has been forced to renegotiate bank loan terms a mere seven months after refinancing. The embattled high street brand, currently guided by interim chief executive officer Mark Newton-Jones, rocked the market with a severe profit warning in January. Responding to the media speculation, Mothercare says it is 'regular dialogue' with all of its financing partners and reckons it will remain compliant with existing borrowing terms.
Balfour Beatty (BBY) plunges 18.2% to 233.7p after a profit warning that prompts the departure of chief executive officer Andrew McNaughton. The construction group expects a £30 million revenue shortfall in its UK construction business. We take a closer look at the events in this article.
Barclays (BARC) falls 2.7% to 251.65p after first quarter pre-tax profit falls by 5% to £1.7 billion due to a decline in investment banking income and unfavourable currency movements.
Online food ordering platform Just Eat (JE.) jumps 5.7% to 232.5p after sayingthat revenue since the start of 2014 is ahead of expectations thanks to the bout of wet weather at the beginning of the year. Here's a reminder of the newly-listed company's investment case.
The IPO (initial public offering) factory continues to operate at full pace with three new names set to join the market. Clipper Logistics works for big-name retailers with warehouse and returns management; Marimedia helps publishers make more money from online advertisments. Big Red Cloud provides accounting and payroll software. We take a closer look at the companies in this news analysis.
Oil explorer Fastnet Oil & Gas (FAST:AIM) dives 35% to 6.9p as the FA-1 well offshore Morocco is abandoned after failingto uncover hydrocarbons in commercial quantities. Broker Cantor Fitzgerald, which retains its 'buy' rating and cuts its price target from 28p to 19p, says: 'it is important to highlight that Fastnet is carried through its share of the drilling costs of this well and one other'.
Commodities giant Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) dips 0.3% to 318.43p on a mixed first quarter production update. Copper production is up 24% year-on-year due to mine expansions and better production at the Collahuasi and Antamina deposits. But on a quarter-on-quarter basis, copper, zinc and gold output fell between 9% and 12% due to planned mine sequencing and/or processing lower ore grades.
North Sea oil play Xcite Energy (XEL:AIM) gains 20% to 76.5p as it announcesa collaboration agreement with Statoil (STO:NYSE) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) to share technical and operational information ahead of a potential plan for Xcite's Bentley heavy oil project to be developed in partnership with the neighbouring Bressay field. Xcite continues to own 100% of Bentley but is still in negotiations over a farm-out of the asset.
Video search business Blinkx (BLNX:AIM) is back under pressure as full-year results to March fail to match investor expectations. The shares fall 7% to 86p, with the acquisitionof LYFE Mobile adding to the view that growth is being bought amid struggles for organic progress.
Global remittances platform operator Earthport (EPO:AIM) continues to build its blue-chip customer base, signing a dealwith banking colossus HSBC (HSBA) today. The running Shares Play of the Week jumps nearly 7% to 47p, just a fraction off 49p record highs hit last month.
Having rallied 7% at the market open to 9.13p, Stratmin Global Resources (STGR:AIM) oddly reverses with an 8.8% drop to 7.75p despite sayingthat graphite production in April was better than expected. We flagged the small cap miner's turnaround potential last month in Shares at 8.63p.
Deal-hungry car retailer Vertu Motors (VTU:AIM) dips 0.4% to 59.75p on the acquisitionof Hillendale, operator of a Land Rover dealership near Burnley and a Jaguar dealership in Bolton, for £8.2 million in cash and shares.
