The FTSE 100 advances 26 points to 7,155 on Tuesday, extending yesterday’s gains with miners, tobacco stocks, banks and healthcare firms helping to drive up the blue-chip benchmark early on.
Online trading platform Plus500 (PLUS) plummets 35.2% lower to £10.06 on a warning 2019 profit is likely to be ‘materially lower than current market expectations’ due to the revenue impact of tighter UK regulations twinned with Plus500’s intention to maintain high marketing spend. The CFD provider’s profit warning overshadows encouraging full year results for 2018 showing revenues up 65% to $720.4m and net profit nearly doubled to $379m.
Bombed-out department store chain Debenhams (DEB) rebounds 43% to 4.49p after securing fresh credit from lenders that will enable it to keep trading whilst it works out a ‘broader refinancing and recapitalisation’ package. In a further positive, the embattled retailer has agreed to develop a strategic sourcing partnership with supply chain solutions specialist Li & Fung, which marks a key part of CEO Sergio Bucher’s turnaround plan.
Elsewhere, British logistics leader Wincanton (WIN) accelerates 6p higher to 243p after being selected by HMRC to provide logistics services to support air and sea freight inspections.
Roadside assistance provider AA (AA.) improves 0.42p to 92.2p on the news trading EBITDA for the year to January 2019 should be ‘not less than £340m’, reassuringly in line with the previous £335m-to-£345m guidance. This is still a rather mixed full year trading update however, with the AA reporting strong growth from its motor insurance arm while its roadside breakdown business continued to stutter.
Marketing and media consultancy Ebiquity (EBQ:AIM) cheapens 8.2% to 56p on a warning 2019 profits for its continuing consultancy business will be flat amid ongoing cost pressures.
University intellectual property specialist Frontier IP (FIPP:AIM) firms 0.5p to 87p on news of strong progress in Portugal with a new spin-out, Insignals Neurotech. Frontier IP will hold a 33% stake in Insignals, its third spin-out in Portgual, whose first product aimed at Parkinson’s disease has already undergone two clinical studies.
Marketing tiddler Mporium (MPM:AIM) ticks up 10.2% to 5.4p on the news revenue has been substantially boosted following the signing of an agreement with consumer regulation group Allay.
Cybersecurity software firm Osirium Technologies (OSI:AIM) edges 1.5p higher to 120.5p after bagging a contract with a mystery ‘major UK provider of software and IT services to the public sector’.
