On the momentous day luxury car maker Aston Martin announces its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), with an expected value that could see it join the FTSE 100 in the near future.
London’s FTSE 100 firms 11.5 points to 7,629, the blue chip benchmark continuing to stage a comeback after the summer lull.
Enterprise software giant Micro Focus (MCRO) is marked up 4% to £13.33 after kicking off a planned share buyback programme with an initial tranche of up to US$200m. Last week, shareholders voted to approve the proposed sale of the company’s Suse business to EQTVIII for around $2.54bn.
Petrofac (PFC) perks up 14.8p or 2.2% to 674.8p after reporting a 20% surge in first half net profit to $190m, driven by stronger demand for oilfield services. Petrofac has secured $3.3bn of new orders in the year to date and insists ‘we are well placed on several bids due for award before the end of the year, have a healthy bidding pipeline and a strong competitive position.’
Marine and energy industry services specialist James Fisher (FSJ) sails 3% ahead to £18.40 after putting up strong first half results, with underlying pre-tax profits growing 20% to £21.7m and the half time dividend by 10% to 10.3p. ‘The board believes that the group’s outlook for the year is positive and that James Fisher continues to be well placed to provide further growth and value for shareholders,’ insists CEO Nick Henry.
Technical products distributor Diploma (DPLM) ticks 25p (1.8%) higher to £13.90 after assuring it is trading robustly and on track to meet full year expectations. This follows a 14p dip lower to £13.51 at the open on the shock news CEO Richard Ingram has been given the boot and has stepped down from his role with immediate effect.
Diploma's non-executive chairman John Nicholas is filling in as interim executive chairman interim until a permanent replacement CEO is found and investors are clearly taking the shock management upheaval in their stride.
Marketing services firm Jaywing (JWNG:AIM) jumps 10.8% higher to 20.5p after bagging over £2m of new business, including contract wins with SugarCRM and Hermes.
Elsewhere, budget no contract gyms operator Gym Group (GYM) reverses 7p to 318p after reporting a 14.4% slump in first half statutory profit before tax to £5.1m as an increase in exceptional costs relating to the acquisition of easyGym offset an impressive top line leap.
Sinclair Pharma (SPH:AIM) surges 35% higher to 27p after agreeing on the terms of a potential 32p per share cash offer from a unit of China’s Huadong Medicine.
